| REPARATIONS (CONTINUED) |
| We’ve got to focus on modifying our cultural mindset. While reparations would be nice, we’ve got to make our primary goal education, and helping our young people to recognize their innate potential—their birthright. Evidence of how dire that need is can be heard in casual conversation in the community. We’ve all heard our brothers and sisters remark, “Listen to that chump talkin’ all proper—he must think he’s White or somethin’.” That statement speaks volumes. What it says is, too many of us assume that the White man owns knowledge. It also indicates that too many of us think that being black dictates a moral obligation to be ignorant, and the pursuit of knowledge is the White man’s domain. So while we might want to pursue other goals on the side, our primary responsibility is to turn that perception around. It is no accident that during slavery it was against the law to educate a Black man. History clearly shows that White folks knew exactly what they were doing, because as Black people, we’ve repeatedly demonstrated that we become the best at whatever we set our minds to. White folks have known for at least a couple of centuries now that to educate a Black man is to create a monster—like Johnnie Cochran, for example. O.J. Simpson is one of the most hated men in America--but it's not because he is alleged to have killed a White woman, it's because he brought Johnnie Cochran to the world’s stage. Racists see O.J. as responsible for allowing Johnnie Cochran to destroy the White Man's comfort zone. Prior to the Simpson trial, the racists in White America use to imply that, due to Affirmative Action, Black professionals were professionals in title only, and weren’t quite as competent as their White counterparts. But then, in walks Johnnie Cochran to represent O.J., and he immediately proceeded to play the judicial system like a fiddle. Now those same racists say, the only reason O.J. got off was because he could afford “exceptional representation.” That’s a far cry from their claim of Black incompetence. The very same thing happened in music, sports, and even the military and government, when Colin Powell came upon the world stage (Let us not forget that George Bush was a second choice among White folks—even the Republicans wanted Colin Powell to run for President). So the sad fact is, historically, White people have had a better understanding of our potential than we’ve had of our own. That’s got to change--and the only way it is, is not to allow ourselves to become distracted by side issues. We’ve got to recognize that as African Americans, we’re neither fully African, nor fully American—we are a hybrid of both cultures. Like it or not, we are a brand new culture, and in the infancy of our development. That makes us what they call “a gathering threat.” Because if Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Johnnie Cochran, and Colin Powell comes from a culture in its infancy, just imagine what we’re going to be when we come into our own. Thus, our history lies before us, and it is up to us to lay the foundation for a people who, I think, are destined for greatness—reparations or not. |