Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: Rage, ranting and race
From: galan@netlink.cts.com (Greg Gross)
Date: Thu, 05 Nov 92 23:14:37 PST
Organization: NetLink Online Communications, San Diego CA

This is response to a post by David Johns -- a very good, thoughtful 
post, at that:

> In article <08m9sB2w165w@netlink.cts.com> galan@netlink.cts.com (Greg Gross) 
> # Indifference on the subject may be your experience; it isn't mine.
> # Among the white who suffer this affliction, you can usually find
> # pretty consistently a pattern of denial that the problem exists.
> # It's welfare, they'll tell you. It's busing. It's affirmative
> # action. It's quotas. It's law and order. They desperately f{lail at
> # the leaves of the dead tree and resolutely refuse to look at its
> # poisonous root, which is racism.
> 
> Well, yes and no.
> 
> I hear these whiners, of course, but I don't really think most of them
> are the hard-core racists you make them out to be.  Mostly they're
> just bitching -- in addition to what you list above, they probably
> also complain about taxes, their bosses, the way old people drive, and
> their inlaws.
> 
> But more importantly, with programs like affirmative action and busing
> (and let's add welfare), you have a chicken-and-egg problem.  Even
> people who believe strongly in the goals of these programs will
> usually admit that they are poorly designed and implemented.  As they
> stand, these programs have accomplished very little in proportion to
> what they have cost, and they have the very nasty side-effect of
> giving the bitchers a target.  You seem to be assuming that people are
> against help programs because they benefit blacks; I think it's more
> likely that much of the anti-black rhetoric you hear is because of the
> programs.  But even so, it's not the same sort of vicious racism that
> typified previous generations and lives on in some contemporary
> groups.

It's the same old racism, David. Perhaps it's not being manifested in the 
same old ways, the old, ugly, open bigotry, but the racism itself is 
little different.
> 
> Let's not forget also that the Republican party's "hate-thy-neighbor"
> philosophy has fueled a lot of the antagonisms between whites and
> blacks over the past decade.  When speakers can get on all the major
> networks in prime time and rant against every "abnormal" group in the
> country -- including women! -- it's not surprising that combativeness
> spreads through society.  Whatever anyone might think of Clinton's
> "character" or economic policies, I don't think they can deny that he
> will bring a more tolerant attitude to American politics.

Amen.
> 
> Back to denial, now -- I don't think it's normal for average people to
> care about global issues.  This is only secondarily a race issue.
> White suburbanites are not flocking to aid poor Appalachians or
> Bosnians, any more than American blacks are crying over conditions in
> Somalia or even Haiti.  People live in small worlds.

What makes you assume that we as a group have no interest in what is 
happening in Somalia or Haiti?  Do not mistake a sense of powerlessness 
for a lack of concern.

> 
> What really bothers me about this focus on white people's attitudes
> and alleged responsibilities is that it perpetuates the notion that
> salvation for blacks will come from the white community.  While it's
> certainly true that there are race-based obstacles to advancement for
> blacks -- especially at higher levels -- it is also undeniable that
> many blacks are not taking advantage of all the opportunities
> available for them.

Unfortunately, David, there is more at work here than just discrimination 
or withholding of opportunity. At the heart of all this is a sort of 
psychological warfare that has left far too many of us discouraged, 
dispirited and resigned to a lesser lot in life, embittered as hell, but 
resigned.  This is not a minor problem. You can make available all the 
opportunities in the world, but the first step to doing *anything* is 
believing that you *can.* And some of us have been listening too long to 
people telling us we *can't.*
> 
> We've seen a lot of suggestions here for actions that can help
> overcome the obstacles.  Tutoring programs can compensate for rotten
> schools.  "Loan circles" can bypass racism in lending.  Other groups
> have test-run programs that can be used to help blacks -- for
> instance, the Jewish Anti-Defamation League has been successful in
> attacking *specific* instances of antisemitism rather than orating
> about antisemitism in general; decades ago the Chinese Merchants'
> Association worked to make Chinese neighborhoods safe and attractive
> enough to attract money from outside the community; Koreans have been
> successful in focusing the entire family on making one business
> successful, and then using that business to start another; and so
> forth.

These are intriguing, and specific, ideas.  Comments, anybody?
> 
> Some whites in positions of authority will continue to put obstacles
> in the way of upwardly mobile blacks.  But the vast majority -- those
> you accuse of being in denial -- will neither hinder nor help blacks.
> As I see it, the goal of the black community should be to use those
> whites to its own advantage, sometimes by hiring them for their
> expertise, but more often by offering them something they're willing
> to pay for.  In effect, this is what athletes and entertainers are
> doing, since their income is paid disproportionately by whites.  But
> since even black athletes are interested only in themselves and their
> own families, their success represents too much of a concentration of
> money in too few hands.  We need a less spectacular, more evenly
> distributed advance.
> 
> Anyway, I guess I prefer to think of the glass as half full.
> 
Full or empty, half a glass is half a glass. I prefer to look for ways to 
fill it, which is what makes the specific ideas you mention valuable.
G.


--
Gregory Alan Gross      Welcome to life, where no good deed goes unpunished.
San Diego Union-Tribune         (619) 293-1270 (voice)
P.O. Box 191                    (619) 293-2333 (fax)
San Diego, CA 92112-4106        galan@netlink.cts.com (Internet)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american