Black History Month — Remembering Every Black Man and Woman’s Contributions, Part III — Looking to the Future
Note: We began writing this series in time for the February 1 beginning of Black History Month. It has “marinated” as a draft this long because of our desire to tackle what could be controversial issues without causing unnecessary offense.
Where Do We Go From Here?
We are all aware, at least a bit, of the extent to which our country was built on slavery and servitude. Hopefully we also realize that the after-effects of slavery and Jim Crow remain very much with us.
The question isn’t so much what we do or do not know about these things. The question is what we are prepared to do about it.
It seems clear to us that the unpaid wages of our slave forebears cannot be repaid on a practical level. We are way past the days when forty acres and a mule might have sufficed.
Yet in some sense, as a matter of fundamental social justice, what was given with unpaid sweat, blood, and brilliance must be repaid.
The First Step: Acknowledge the Contributions, as Well As the Wrongs
The first step is simply to acknowledge that the debt Americans owe the slaves and their descendants — for both their suffering and their contributions — is a universal one.
The Black American contribution to all aspects of American life is so intertwined with the rest of American history that all Americans — of all races — are the beneficiaries.
George W. Bush and his predecessors wouldn’t have had a superpower to govern if slaves hadn’t built much of it — but neither would Barack Obama. This country wouldn’t have had the dirt-cheap labor that continued to build it if former slaves hadn’t continued to be exploited for decades after emancipation.
White Americans need to get over the idea that acknowledging these facts and expressing deep regret and apologies for past hurts and their continuing negative impact is tantamount to taking personal responsibility for them.
We need to drop the defensiveness, once and for all, and fully acknowledge that the United States of America built itself into a superpower to a considerable extent on the backs of slaves and oppressed free black men and women.
We must get over the shame and blame of slavery, and move on to honor and appreciate the contributions our black forebears made to this country. We all, black and white alike, need to acknowledge that to one degree or another each of us benefits today from both the labor and the innovations of the black women and men who came before us.
This approach will take us far beyond our history books, and make every month Black History Month. And that is how it should be.
Beyond Acknowledgment — Repairing the Damage
Acknowledgment of the contributions of Black Americans, slave and free, is just a first step.
It is also our responsibility to acknowledge the damage that slavery and its aftermath has done, and continues to do, to both the economy and the soul of America — and to dedicate ourselves individually and collectively to repairing it.
Wonderful as it has been to see the election of Barack Obama, we firmly believe that it would be a tremendous mistake to view this historic development as a sign that this repair work has all been done.
Paying It Back By Paying It Forward
Dr. King’s dream wasn’t just for African-Americans. It was for all Americans to be able to work, live, and thrive together.
How do we get there?
Education Is the Road to True Equality of Opportunity
We believe that the first thing we need to do as a nation is to re-create our educational system into one that equally serves every child, of whatever race, and whether they live in the suburbs, urban areas, or rural ones.
The continuing racial achievement gap in education is unacceptable. We must be able to say we have made every conceivable effort to eliminate it. We are far, far from being able to say that, given the current condition of American public education.
We must also do all we can to ensure that each American adult has fair access to the education and training they need to be fully contributing members of our society.
Initiatives presently underway to improve access to and affordability of higher education to all who desire it and are qualified for it are important aspects of this approach to moving forward towards a unified America in which all reap the benefits of what our nation has to offer.
Gaps in Quality of Life Indicators Must Be Addressed
No child born in America should go without shelter, food, and health care.
While many different facts and measures point to the unacceptable failure of the American system of employer-provided healthcare, racial gaps in health measures are among the strongest indicators of the system’s deficiencies.
As we watch with great concern the crash in housing prices and stock prices, and the dramatically rising unemployment rate, it is easy to forget that many African-American communities never saw a housing bubble, in terms of asset value, new construction, or upgrading of existing housing; many African-Americans own little or no stocks or mutual funds; and some African-American sub-demographics would view 10% unemployment as a tremendous improvement.
And we have to ask ourselves — do we really want to continue spending billions per year incarcerating 3,138 black men for every 100,000 in our population (over 3%), approaching ten times the white incarceration rate?
There are no easy solutions to any of these social problems. Blaming some of slavery’s descendants for making poor choices is easy; it allows all of us, whites and successful blacks alike, to turn our backs on our fellow human beings. But while personal responsibility is one key, realizing that there is no such thing as responsibility without opportunity is another. We all owe it to each other as Americans to be making every reasonable effort to make progress in these areas.
Taking full responsibility for America’s history of slavery and the continuing Black American disadvantage stemming from it will take work. It will take money, and it will take sacrifice. But going all out to ensure that every American has an equal opportunity to shine will pay all of us back many times over.
Do we want to leave the potential Benjamin Bannekers of the world uneducated? Do we really want to deprive ourselves of the inventions, the business savvy, the brilliance of our people?
If all this sounds too bleeding-heart liberal for your taste, think in terms of economics. Frankly, there’s a lot of underdeveloped “human capital” in this country. Converting people from net drains on the Treasury to productive taxpayers benefits the bottom line of the U.S. Government as well as private employers.
Nor should our efforts be directed to Black Americans alone. America’s history of slavery and servitude also contributed to huge class divisions in this country by impacting wages and educational opportunities for every person not born into the elite. Those class divisions not only fuel racism today, but have also been a drain on the human capital of Black and White Americans alike.
My great-grandfather was a white coal miner in Kentucky, the probable descendant of generations of southern white men and women denied a decent wage because slavery was such a cheap alternative source of labor. His family, including my grandmother, knew what it was to go to bed hungry at night.
Four generations later, and I’m one of only two people in my entire extended family (on my mother’s side) with a Bachelor’s degree.
Our country has wasted a good part of our human potential for more than four hundred years because of the greed and bigotry of our past. Do we want to continue wasting human potential during the worst economic crisis of our generation?
This isn’t just about repaying the debt of slavery and servitude. It is about the economic and cultural future of our country.
This is the time –- while the country is in crisis and every possible solution is on the table -– to heal the present mess that our shameful past has helped create. And to capitalize on the role model provided by the Commander in Chief. As St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Sylvester Brown wrote about a visit to the middle school two of George’s children attended:
It was a refreshing experience, and it had little to do with me. Obama has ignited something in this hip-hop generation. I’m wagering that Black History Month 2009 means more to these kids than any other year. Obama helped them connect the painful past to the promising present. An African-American’s ascension to the White House provides an irrefutable example of how self-discipline, self-respect and tenacity lead to success.
The bulb came on. But for how long?
“The day after he won, it was like a celebration in the cafeteria. It sparked something.” Yet, [the teacher] added, “Keeping it alive is the challenge.”
Keeping “it” alive for this generation will be how America continues and completes the healing and repayment of the unpaid wages of slavery. The vast expenditures and policy changes undertaken in response to the current economic crisis should be managed so as to ensure they benefit all Americans — and close the gaps between the descendants of slaves and the rest of America.
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