Prometheus 6

Dear Black people of the U.S.ofA.:

This is from the second page of The Covenant with Black America:

Frederick Douglass once famously said, "Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will." And yet this Covenant with Black America is not really about a power struggle between "us" and "them." No, there is no "them"; there is only "us."  Remember "us"? We the people?

My brothers and sisters. You are the only people in America STUPID enough to believe that.

That, in a nutshell, is the major part of your problem.

The United States has gone from being exclusive (the goal being to keep everything by excluding people from the mix) to being competitive (the goal being to defeat you so they can keep what they gained through exclusion).

People claim there is no Black community then in the next breath tell you what "America" should do, or talk disparagingly about how "New Orleans" handled the hurricane, shout for joy because their alma mater made the Sweet 16 for the first time in 20 years, and otherwise give props to collectives of far less importance.

And you believe that crap. There's another part of your problem.

Yes you do. If you didn't you wouldn't be justifying or seperating yourself from half the damn population all the time. You wouldn't beat yourself up because though you travelled the same distance you didn't get as far.

You might notice that the wealthy Black kids Ogbu found to be so shiftless are no more shiftless than the private schooled white kids whose popularity falls when they get above a C average...both have no ambition because they're already at what they perceive to be the top of the ladder.

Oh, you thought only ghetto kids see themselves as limited?

You might notice the old "you have to work twice as hard to get half as far" was a call for superiority, not acceptance. In fact, you might even notice that no oppressed people has ever freed themselves without seeing themselves as superior. Chosen People of God, anyone?

How many of you got a chill down your spine over the previous paragraph?

When asked why Black people vote Democratic, Walter Mosley said "We think they might not kill us." And people laughed...but you know they'll laugh if you speak out and close with "But I better stop before I get shot." That bitter laugh.

You want to silence a room full of angry Blacks? Tell them they might get shot. Potential leaders sit down fast...while folks line up behind Conservative leaders, Christian leaders, business leaders, people who call themselves political though the somehow always seem to target people of color.

And you, you're a member of may different communities, you assemble the requirements of life by working in and with them. Let me ask you: do they collectively cover everything you need, or is a little of your ass hanging out?

Just wondering.

Be back later.