Are African-Americans too timid? Are we making the right response to those areas of negative treatment that society metes out to us? These are questions that we need to ponder.
I have heard it said that an African-American under attack could take out his razor and cut you in his defense, but he is incapable of planning a war as a long term strategy to defend his right to be, and to serve as a lasting deterrent to further attacks on his people.
I do not subscribe to the above view. I think that we have been shaped by Christian acculturation to turn the other cheek, to wait for the other slap. We pray for the souls of our attackers, while we continue to be assaulted, in the full expectation that the good Lord will speak to the hearts of the heathen and stop them from abusing our hallowed institutions and our persons.
Sometimes I am tempted to think that the nearest people in the United States of America to the Christian ideal are African-Americans, and few of us recognize that the Black family is in the main a stronger harbinger of conservative principles than most other families. Someone needs to tell this to the Republican Party.
The White man has studied the Black man very carefully. We do not seem to have studied the White man. He knows us. He knows our attention span, and how we will react to challenges. We do not know how he reacts, because we have not asked him to react. The White man welcomes a fight, call it competition, and we will be denied by this or any society unless we fight back, unless we compete.
Do not for a moment think that I am recommending war or destruction, far from it. Weaklings do not win fights. We are weaklings and we must strengthen ourselves. The interesting thing is that all the ingredients are available to us in the society for us to strengthen ourselves. All segments of society want us to avail ourselves of these ingredients and come out to compete.
The major barriers to entry are preparation, capability, qualification, and desire. It all starts with the family. Let us observe the techniques of the immigrant groups. Get the children into disciplined programs. Help them to graduate high school. Point them to constructive areas of training: University, technical colleges, trade schools, the military, and the police. Teach them respect for each other, and tolerance for the views and cultures of others.
The country is waiting for us. We compete and are respected in sports. It may surprise some of us to learn that it is easier and more inclusive to compete in other areas than sports. The rewards are also more widespread, and much longer lasting. The White man will welcome us into the game, because we won’t be asking him for anything. We would have qualified ourselves to fill a need. Do this, and in less than a generation they can keep their darn welfare.
IDW
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