Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2000 From: criticalman@earthlink.net The Lesson Of Election 2000: Neo Slavery By J Tolbert Jr, When it was published in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. asked a critical question in the title of his book, 'Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?' Even before King considered it, this question was not unfamiliar to generations of Black people in America. In fact, 'Where Do We Go From Here' has always been central to our struggle. Unfortunately, this necessary cultural imperative, for any people is no longer an important consideration for many of our people. Our collective political behavior during the recent presidential election demonstrated that many of us are incapable of ever addressing 'Where Do We Go From Here' because we are satisfied being America's 'neo-slaves.' When 17th century Europeans went to Africa in search of labor to build their empires, they did not find a continent of 'slaves.' Instead, they found human beings who they (the Europeans) hoped to develop into slaves. The captured Africans eventually succumbed to servitude, but they didn't make it easy for the Europeans. Africans committed many acts of resistance and rebellion. They remained vigilant until the end of the 1960s, when someone told them they could be Democrats. Since then, the 21st century descendents of the enslavers have found a large population of 'free' and 'willing' Blacks to build the political empires of others without compensation. Touted as the best educated, wealthiest, and most sophisticated group of Africans ever produced in America, many of our people have totally abdicated their destiny to the whim of corrupt electoral politics. Consistently used by the Democrats and permanently ignored by the Republicans, we spend our time and energy narrowly fixated over which wing of the white supremacist population is going to rule us. No matter what party wins; white folks are in sole charge of determining "Where do we (Black people) go from here?" There is no better example of this 'neo-slavery' than what occurs in the 'City of Brotherly Love.' Every four years, 'Philadelphia Negroes' with money, good jobs, titles, and delusions of importance, berate the masses of the city's Black population with the slogan 'if you don't vote, you don't count.' What they might as well say is, 'if you don't vote Democratic, you don't count.' Partisan cheerleading then degenerates into a holy war against those Blacks who, critically analyze or question the sincerity of Democratic candidates. Black media people, Black politicians, and various HNICs, using the moral suasion of the civil rights movement, buttress this crusade by resorting to the 'racial guilt trip' -invoking the spirits of our ancestors and those who 'died for the vote.' When 'National Negroes,' are sometimes brought in to stir up the masses, they suffer from selective amnesia when questioned or reminded of their previously expressed doubts over their party's turn to the right. Any rational dialogue about Democratic Party's treatment of its Black constituency is dismissed as a Republican plot to send us back to Africa. Our ancestors and those who 'died for the vote' have to be spinning in their graves' seeing how we relent to 'plantation politics' and end up, once again, being the recipients of political welfare-not power sharing in the Democratic Party. In retrospect, some of us need to stop criticizing the Republicans. For all the buck-dancing and fiddling that Blacks did on the stage at the Republican convention, at least the Republicans pay their 'help.' ---- Copyright 2000, J. Tolbert Jr., All Rights Reserved. J. Tolbert Jr. is the editor of The Digital Drum 2, an electronic newsletter which disseminates information and encourages critical thinking among people of African descent. To subscribe, email TheDigitalDrum2-subscribe@egroups.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 12/06/00 EST