DIFFERENCE AND UNIFIED

Black people are not monolithic, homogenous in thought or deed. That being said, we cannot afford a separation between what racial classification denotes as “black” people and wickedness classifies as, “nigger.”

Chris Rock’s infamous observation was a profound one at the time he presented to the masses in one of his many successful and socially relevant cable television comedy specials. But there are certain elements of black professionals who seek to banish lower class, see poor, out of the black community. Issues of teen pregnancy, unwed mothers, sexually transmitted diseases, disbelief in education and false pride about the authority of a “boss” must be addressed, but by no means should be utilized as a tool to wedge a divide between the black lower class and their quickly descending compatriots in the shrinking black middle class.

I was six years old, in first grade, caught in the middle of an unruly line of children awaiting entrance into the classroom the first time I was called a nigger. He was dirty blonde, plump, disheveled white boy named Lee. At thirty-two years of age, two academic degrees and a job at a major Hollywood studio later, in a traffic dispute in a kitschy Los Angeles neighborhood, a white man, whose name I did not know and never found out, felt he could put me in my place with the same word that had slapped my ears more than twenty-five years earlier. This is the foolishness of a black people versus nigger mode of thinking. Accomplishment does not buy a black man or woman an out clause in the contract of ignorance. In the example I shared I was just a nigger with two degrees, one a Master’s degree, and a sexy job in show business. In the mind of a racist there is no delineation or bonus point for a status stamped upright citizen or doer of great deeds. In some backwoods Mississippi farm houses or skyscraper board rooms Oprah Winfrey would be nothing more than a nigger. Some would tell her that to her face while others would no doubt have the great courage to whisper it behind her back.

Volunteering, mentorship, public policy focusing on educational and economic development are some ways to repair some of the issues that have kept poverty-stricken black Americans an item that the black bourgeoisie would like to shove into the back of a dark closet. The means mentioned above must be implemented to stop the slide of that very same bourgeoisie into the nigghetto that many of them have risen from. Black America does not need to think alike, act or re-act alike, but the crucial and basic thing we must be about realizing is that we are all people imbued with a humanity that should be respected for its own value. Poor is a lack of wherewithal; specifically, cash and opportunity. It does not, inherently, mean ignorant or morally inferior, although immorality and ignorance exists in some project developments, apartments, and people in this economic bracket. However, those same immoralities and purposeless ignorance exists in the various tiers of government, the judiciary, the Christian right and the Christian left. None of these agencies would use a cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face mode of operation. Not only would this serve to weaken any nation or agency, but would rob any socio-political agenda of its life’s blood. The civil rights movement, the farm workers, and the unions of northern blue collar industries were all manned and led by people who were not economically dominant. Young, poor people are the foot soldiers in a war for change. When politically engaged and shown a proper path, these soldiers are priceless. Yet, it is this very group, a sub-section within a sub –division of class that is being cast adrift.

Dr. Bill Cosby went on a barnstorming tour of the United States highlighting problems of the black underclass. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson has defended the honor of these black people. I believe that both Dr. Cosby and Dr. Dyson have offered truths that must be acknowledged. The black underclass should be treated with respect and with an eye that takes in the societal barriers that cause the economic drought and opportunistic blight they find themselves in, while at the same time being held accountable for the bad choices or lack of making any choices, that serve to keep them stuck in a place of immobility and helplessness.

If one truly subscribes to W.E.B. DuBois concept of a talented tenth reality then black people have as many issues to answer for as our “niggers” do. The chief questions that have to be asked, in front of bathroom mirrors or car window reflections, is why has that tenth given up the promise and reach of their assumed power to help ninety percent in need? Are the ninety percent to blame for all or some of the problems of the lower class brothers and sisters or has the tenth sold them out of the black race into a nigghetto to banish faces they were not talented enough to help in the first place? The more horrific question looming on the horizon is if the house and field slave mentality been preserved within this very battle of black middle class versus black lower class. Have the tenth turned their backs on the field in an attempt to curry favor with the economic house that keeps them one step beyond the portal back into poverty? This scenario, allowing, in essence, a talented tenth disciple an ability to feel better in their accomplishment and have the basic capitalist need fulfilled that calls for one to feel better than another based on class and economic standing. This scenario must be spoken against and fought at every turn to ensure the black nation, not of homogeny, but of a mutual respect that allows counsel, acceptance and transformation.