Inequality and black poverty have been linked together so long that it’s hard to distinguish what is fiction and what is fact. The problem with writing a brutally honest article about race, using facts and evidence, is that it contradicts the institutions that claim to be advocates of black and brown people.
While many claim they want to have an honest conversation, what I learned was that what many on the left side of the argument want to do is define the terms of the conversation. Who can forget when many cried foul when Bill Cosby went off script by not consulting traditional black leadership and had a candid conversation about race? Cosby said what many blacks feel but dare not say, that we need to stop blaming the man for our fate; then he doubled down, saying many blacks are not holding to their end of the bargain.
Those before us were spat on and attacked in order to get an education, so those in this new generation walk around not wanting to learn or go to school.
This rationale also pertains when the conversation switches to who are the friends and who are the foes of black people. Many get disgusted when I say the only difference between a conservative and a progressive is that the conservative will say “Let’s keep ‘negroes’ in their place,” while the progressive will say “Let’s keep African Americans in their place.” But since so many support us, we will deceive them more with condescension and charity such as free cell phones and a few black firsts.
Unfortunately, many African Americans have been led to believe that there is a moral distinction between progressivism and conservatism; in reality the only difference is that progressivism is a more kind way to be racist. Both believe you’re not the white man’s equal, however.
At least conservatives are upright and honest in their assessment of minorities. With a conservative, you know where you stand, they tell you the truth, they believe you are inferior and nothing you do will change their opinion of you.
The progressive believes you are inferior but will convince you they are your friends and care about you. Too many blacks will bite this apple believing that charity is help instead of tapping into your God-given instincts of using your own resources and wits.
What many African Americans fail to realize is that condescension and charity are not help, but an acknowledgement by many, but no means all, progressives that there was a robbery and exploitation in American history which they benefitted from. There are some that actually feel remorse and guilt about what took place in American history, so they spend their lives trying to prove they are not racist by showing acts of generosity such as giving a homeless guy a few dollars or donating to a black progress organization in order to signal to their right-wing counterparts how noble they are because they’re helping African Americans.
What makes progressivism so seductive to many African Americans is that too many confuse condescension with love, when in reality, condescension is more distasteful than blatant discrimination.
Truth is, if I had to choose between a conservative or a progressive, I would rather deal with the conservative. You know exactly where you stand.
While many will say, “Jeffery you make good points but you don’t give any suggestions or solutions,” I like to counter with a quote from Frederick Douglass when he told good intentioned progressives on how to help free slaves.
“Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are worm-eaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall!…And if the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone!…your interference is doing him positive injury.”
I conclude by saying that If you really want to help the poor, the best way is to hold them responsible for the choices they make; reward them when they do good and punish them when they do wrong. That is what every other ethnic group has done and we should not lower the bar for African Americans. Hold them up to those that are winning, do not make excuses and feel sorry for them.
That’s what progressivism has done for African Americans: lowered the bar and diminished that human instinct that gives one the desire to prosper.
