When Do We Stop Crying About the White Man

A man digs in a trash can

Chris Bastian/Flickr

We keep hearing from civil rights leader how white people are holding us back but if we pause a moment one will come to the realization African Americans are running this country.

Our president is black and so is our attorney general as well as heads of the Departments of Homeland Security, Labor and Housing and Urban Development.  Most of our major cities are run either by a liberal Democrat or an African American. There is a Congressional Black Caucus as well as numerous black judges, civil rights leaders and preachers all claiming to fight for the cause of racial equality. However, despite the overwhelming representation of African Americans, there are those that still grumble that the reason so many blacks are mired in poverty is because of white folks.

There has been a narrative perpetuated so long it’s become an urban legend that racism is the cause of black failure. However, before Civil Rights and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society blacks were uplifting  themselves way before do gooders and great white progressives marched in Selma and Birmingham.

Before 1965 there were great black metropolises such as Greenwood, North Carolina ,Tulsa Oklahoma and Shaw in Washington, D.C., which were thriving economies for blacks. Before Brown vs Board of Education there were many black schools such as Dunbar High School where blacks outperformed whites academically.

When I hear black leaders grumble about the white man I think of Jackie Robinson, who managed to hit 90 mile an hour fastballs despite death threats. Bill Russell won 11 championships despite living in a city that didn’t want to rent to him. Ditto for Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali, at whom  the white man threw everything they had but who never once laid down or made excuses. But  today we are suppose to believe blacks’ shortcomings are because whites won’t help us.

The common wisdom perpetuated by white liberals and Civil Rights leaders is to feel sorry for blacks and never hold them accountable for their choices. But is there a racist telling blacks to quit school, shoot each other and make a bunch of babies and not take care of them?

When do African Americans get tired of being the butt of everyones jokes.  No one fears us; they pity us. We are the only group that has “leaders.”  Who leads the Jews, Asians or Latinos?  Every one of these groups came here broke, busted and disgusted and every one has came into our communities controlling our economics while we march and protest, demanding they give us jobs.

When do we quit reminiscing about 1965 and plan for the new century. It’s time for us to quit moaning about the white man and free ourselves.


Issues |Civil Rights|Systemic Racism


Region |Maryland|Virginia|Washington DC

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