Isnât it an innate human characteristic to belong to a group of one form or another? Humans have been organizing since the first village was formed. The fascination with 23 and me, ancestry.com, etc. are manifestations of this desire. I had very little knowledge of my âgroupsâ of blood. I could trace my familial tree back to my mother and my grandfather on my fatherâs side. As far as I was concerned, itâs irrelevant. However, one of my daughters has this urge to know and so she started using ancestry.com to sleuth it out. I was amazed at what she was able to find out. Kinda spooky actually. I never encouraged a tribal mindset, but there it was. Where did I come from, which helps to identify the I, which is but an illusion.
A good guest for the show would be Ian McGilchrist about the nature of the brain.
Who is this guy? I really mean it. He is great. I love the charts and data. ( I studied economics). What is interesting to me is the basis for the wide spread belief that racism is the cause of black relative academic performance. What is it and who does that narrative benefit?
Add âpoorâ in front of Black or White and we can better understand. My parents were working folks with little education. Whatever I attained was from âhard workâ with Private School kids ( even people of color) always at the front of the line. Even with no body of work or talent. Obama ( the number one black leader) was the son of 2 college educated parents and raised by well off white parents. His blackness added affirmative action which he used. He doesnât speak for Poor Black Folk other than to race grift. I proudly voted twice for Obama but he is no real leader of the black poor anymore than Sharpton thinks he is. Martin Luther King was that leader but probably someone like Kanye will end up as the Real favored Black Leader. Or BLM with âhate speechâ and Gender polities. Glen needs a larger platform....
Think how much more of a leader Le Bron could have been with a different reaction to the Jerry Jones photo. He could have said that while segregation is bad thing, and was really bad in those days, it was 60 years ago, there's no proof that Jones was anything but a curious teenager, you are trying to make something out of nothing, isn't it time we all moved on from this kind of finger pointing and blame game, virtue signalling, etc. Opposite of Colin Kappernick and much more helpful to the community and himself.
I'm reminded of this passage in Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son," written after the death of his stepfather and the Harlem Race Riots of 1943:
âIt was necessary to hold on to the things that mattered. The dead man mattered, the new life mattered; blackness and whiteness did not matter; to believe that they did was to acquiesece in oneâs own destruction. Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated and this was an immutable law.â
I am a Spanish American white writer living in France. Twelve years ago, I left the USA, actively removing myself from the violent realities of the USA that have plagued any national--let alone human--sense of identity since the beginning. I don't know what the reality of Black Solidarity is in America today; this piece shined some necessary light on it for me. But I do know that the reality of any [insert skin color] Solidarity Movement sounds terrifying to most other "liberals throughout the world, but this is also because the Black American experience is singular when it comes to parsing through the pros and cons of identity politics and finding a voice for the subaltern in a nation founded upon the conflation of innocence and ignorance. TLDR, the USA was founded on the principles of white skin versus all the other skins, and we aren't out of the woods yet, by a long shot. This is why I am still considered "white" to everyone that looks at me, but if I have to check a box on an official form, I am encouraged to check "hispanic" or "latino" because of my last name.
If the belief within the black community is that BLM is helpful and that racism/police remain major problems, that in itself suggests far bigger issues. Who did BLM help and how? Crime spiked in the aftermath of reactions to George Floyd and the fallout was far more harmful to black Americans than to anyone else. And that's not going to change as states like Illinois prepare to usher in the SAFE-T law and other jurisdictions turn suspects loose as soon as they are booked.
Clifton's commentary acknowledges "overt racism has mostly disappeared," but here we are, with racism as the ready made excuse for any outcome not to a black person's liking. There is no credible argument to be made that life today is no better than it was 50-100 years ago. No one was talking about diversity then. No one was lowering standards in order to increase black enrollment or black participation in certain professions. An American Bar Association committee wants to ban the LSAT, a move that mostly says "we don't think black student can measure up," which is a horrible indictment of these young folks. What happens when they're done with law school and face bar exams? Will those be banned, too, in the name of whatever this is? Lastly, the evidence re: police violence shows the exact opposite of the claims that led to rioting, but those figures are inconvenient, so they're ignored. Perhaps the more cogent argument is that "you're not a victim; stop acting like one," but that would deprive the various hustlers and grifters of power and a means of making a living.
It's almost impossible to not look at the findings of the Pew polls and NOT correlate them to voting patterns. That's quite the nice plantation Team Blue has built across urban America and into smaller states with large minority populations. School systems are failing black students, yet which side adamantly opposes choice? Crime is out of control, yet which side hand waves concern about it? The border impacts lower-skilled black men as much as anyone, yet which side is happy keeping it open?
At some point, reality compels a person to acknowledge that none of us can change the past and that today is far, far better than yesterday or the day before. Until that occurs, nothing positive will follow. When might that happen? When will people who tell me that slaves, their ancestors, built the country take pride in and ownership of what was built? As Glenn has noted repeatedly, the Western tradition is his, and black America's tradition, too, just as much as it is for me, the son of immigrants. The past cannot be a perpetual crutch, especially among people who had nothing to do with it, and eventually, racializing everything is going to spawn backlash.
Well, the Pew research results were certainly eye opening.
And to anyone on the left it was like manna from heaven. Black people will not require any internal leadership, just continue following the Democratic Party.
According to Lyndon Johnson, you have another 42 years to go.
And if the democrats start shaking that reparations cup, they can look forward to another 100 years of.....sevrice.
Institutions are important and the most important, immediate and impactful is the institution of the family: Mother, Father and their biological children. Only 60% of white kids are raised by their birth parents. This is terrible. Only 30% of black kids are raised by their birth parents. This is beyond words. Without this institution being dramatically strengthened, everything else is minutia.
Most White Americans are an amalgam of different nationalities or ethnicities. I myself have English, Scottish, Scots-Irish, Welsh and Dutch and even a bit of African and Native thrown in. To say I identify as a specific nationality is of little consequence because I am a mix of so many. I could argue that my Irish ancestors were mistreated by my British ancestors, and also that my Native and African ancestors were mistreated by my White ancestors, but to what purpose? The fact that so many White people have such a mixture does not really support a huge shared "White" identity in America other than Americanism.
Now we have Black Americans who were descendants of slaves, and Jim Crow policies who may say
"Well, we have a shared history of slavery and oppression from the White community." But again, what purpose does that serve in light of multiple Constitutional amendments and laws prohibiting the use of race, ethnicity or religion to discriminate, other than divisiveness?
The best one could hope for is a joining of those of various racial and ethnic heritages to regard ourselves as Americans struggling for most of the same things. Someone can wear green on St Paddie's day, celebrate Robbie Burns' Day, wear a Dashiki, celebrate Dewali or Ramadan, or Dia de los Muertos, but still be essentially American.
I still remember the following quote from Greg Tate circa 1991:
"Perhaps the supreme irony of black American existence is how broadly black people debate the question of cultural identity among themselves while getting branded as a cultural monolith by those who would deny us the complexity and complexion of a community, let alone a nation. If Afro Americans have never settled for the racist reductions imposed upon them -- from chattel slaves to cinematic stereotype to sociological myth -- it's because the black collective conscious not only knew better but also knew more than enough ethnic diversity to subsume those fictions.
-- Greg Tate"
Once again we are stuck in neutral when we make efforts to deal with black diversity. That's because of a determined refusal to disambiguate race from culture from citizenship when it is more convenient to make something of a 'racial' statement. American politics remains entirely too racial, and this becomes abundantly clear when black Republicans clash with black Democrats, or on those occasions when we deal with those damned Baptists or those damned West Coast rappers. Black America remains cripplingly dependent on myths of racial unity. Consequently black elites who can nationally or internationally code switch with ease are always tempted to take advantage of those myths. I struggle myself sometimes. But what I don't do is feel compelled to second guess whatever it is that self-identified blackfolk do as blacks.
The irony thus is that I know, like Greg Tate knew, that all black Americans are perfectly free to do whatever they want, as blacks. Nobody ever stops blackfolks from being exactly the kind of black they want to be. Its the moment one black person steps over the line to tell what another black person ought to do where all the trouble starts. That doubles down on the irony because it implies a kind of ownership of blackness. So who owns blackness? This is the core of today's debate. Who is authentic, and given that, what are they owed?
I can't tell you how tired I get of the sort of statistical representations of black populations no other people seem to suffer. But I must admit these Pew numbers catch my eye. Put me in the 'not so [self-] important' category of black identification. It is rightly what we should expect two mountaintops past MLK's. What statistical representation can you put on a love of bebop? What bar chart best describes a second-line funeral? We abandon our inheritance of cultural edification when we submit to the racial boxes. Race always has and always will define a manner of control. You cannot truly desire freedom and also truly desire racial categories.
Ultimately this is about fear. The fear of "If I am not black, then what am I?" Remember Akeela? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. There's that special black American fear that maybe I've held my own self back. The special fear that one cannot stand to hear somebody who is not black tell us truthfully so.
First of all, I wanna say TYTY, M Clifton! Another *great* article.
Here's the problem I have: I agree with a lot more than 95% of what You wrote, Sir. However You wrote these two sentences:
"Black America isn't at a point where most of us have faith in 'white' institutions and leaders, so we have to strengthen their black counterparts if the goal is to put Black America on a better path."
"We're not prepared to thrive in a world where overt racism has mostly disappeared."
I wish there was a Way to "say" this without appearing racist. Why are You all *not* prepared to thrive? IMO, because You all have been conned into thinking that You shouldn't have faith in "white" institutions. You've been mislead. You've believed some blatant falsehoods.
Because is there any question about the FACT that it was *largely* "white" institutions which eliminated overt racism?
I won't make an absolute claim that America has outdistanced all other countries when it comes to eliminating racism and sexism. (I'm sure there's a Pew study which could answer that question, but I'm not overly fond of Pew. And I don't believe it can accurately be measured, but that's just me.) I would, instead, just ask what other countries did a better job leading the Way in these areas in the past 40 to 60 years? There are probably some, but not all that many.
And I would ask if the current Woke Black Culture-leaders are increasing or decreasing racial comity?
I could go on with some harder, IMO, home truths. But I'll leave it at that for now. TY again for writing the article, Sir.
I will join the prior praise for Mr. Roscoeâs writing here. Very well done. I was struck when he wrote that until the K-12 achievement gap closes, other measures related to success will not close relative to other racial groups (I am paraphrasing here). I agree with his argument. Thank you Mr. Roscoe for that essay, and keep writing!
Black solidarity is no different than white solidarity. Its a vice. Abandoning racial solidarity is moral progress for any individual. When will more racial minorities begin to accept that racial tribalism for their own race is no less shameful than the racial tribalism of white people? "White Nationalists" are rightly viewed with a contempt by most people; it shouldnt be any different for "Black Nationalists" or "Latino Nationalists" or any other racial / ethnic nationalists. Our tribal loyalties should transcend and eschew race. Its superficial, ignorant characteristic to have solidarity around.
There are 20 people drowning and only 10 people can be saved, and 10 people are black and 10 people are white, and a person can also know anything they like about those peoples' characters and personalities, their professions, their families-- and none of them are "equal"; and if they factor in race to make their selection on who to save, that would be a demerit In the same scenario of 20 people drowning and they are one of the people drowning, their "racial solidarity", should be a mark against them being one of those who should be saved.
"Even if we desire a world in which race isnât important, we donât live in that world yet."
Why don't we?
Who or what or why or where or how is 'race STILL being made important' in this, our particular world...that we would otherwise choose (maybe??) to change?
Our laws are not race-centric; our organizations do not hire, fire, or promote on the basis of race (and let us ignore, yet again, affirmative action). There are no venues which admit or refuse admittance because of skin color. No schools which gauge entry by melanin. No institutions which determine policy per skin tone. No banks whose loans decisions are made by race. No neighborhoods in which home sales are a function of dark or light. These things aren't happening and haven't happened for generations.
And if, in some stagnant backwater, we do indeed discover such racist practices, our media highlights them; America deplores them; and the Justice System eliminates them. This truth has been demonstrated over and over again for decades (even to ridiculous extremes).
So what is it, exactly, and who is it, exactly who keeps insisting that 'race is important' ...so important, in fact, that their insistence actively prevents us from achieving the 'post-racial' world we supposedly desire?
The answer is .... Black Adults. That's who's insisting. (As Pogo might say, 'We have met the enemy and he is us!')
95% of all Black adults say race is important to how they see themselves." 54% say it is EXTREMELY important. Skin color, in other words, is critical to a sense of self if that 'self' is Black. None of the other colors really seem to care.
So what's this mean?
If...we truly desire a world in which skin color is unimportant....WHY do we keep behaving as though skin color is critically important? If the institutions, organizations, policies and practices of the world are explicitly set to ignore race, why does one Race continue to insist that race must be emphasized, even as they say they prefer a world in which it isn't?
At a fundamental level, skin color is simply a demographic marker -- no more, no less. Some of us are tall, some short. Some of us are fat; some thin. We are old; we are young; we have big feet & small feet, long hair and short, curly & straight...red hair, dark hair, blonde hair, no hair. We are Black, White, Tan, Brown, Sepia, etc.. These are all just simply demographic tags which have absolutely nothing to do with who we actually are as human beings. They have nothing to do with what we can achieve or whether or not we can build a good & decent life for ourselves and our families. Nothing, that is, unless we listen to that demonic voice whispering in our ear: "COLOR is what & who I am!"
The data from the Pew Survey is sad.
We are told that there is "little hope among Black adults that changes to racial inequality are likely". But what are those desired 'changes' for which there's little hope?
It's just outcome rebalancing. It's not behavior changing; it's not working harder; it's not better study habits, better graduation rates, better learning, better job performance, etc. It's not saying no to teenage sex and accidental pregnancies and astronomical, out-of-wedlock birthrates & single-parent households filled with lost children No...it's none of those things. Rather it's White People giving Black People dollars because Black. It's White People giving Black People dollars because of the incredibly perverse belief that White Babies in Newborn Nurseries are born holding a past-due bill to the Black Newborn who lies next to them.
This is insane. The White child is not born in debt; the Black child is not born with an account receivable.
Half of all Black adults surveyed tell us that they believe the World needs to be REBUILT ENTIRELY in order for them to be 'treated fairly'. They say that Reality itself must shift in order for them to be as successful as White People.
Should we stop measuring 100m. dash winners across a 100m distance with the same start and finish lines? Should we eliminate standard Board Scores because test results from Standard Tests yield racial imbalances? (Wait, we've already done that) Should we substitute an essay on 'me' for a GPA? Should we just draft people for Medical School and eliminate performance hurdles because it's more important to see MORE BIPOC Cardiologists than to graduate good ones who can pass tests? Again this is insane. (especially insane if it's my heart they're operating on!)
If 63% of Black Adults say racism is an 'extremely big problem'....shouldn't someone ask, "What Racism??" Shouldn't we able to see the racist law, the racist policy, the racist procedure, the racist behavior that actually proves this assertion and provides strong evidence for this belief? Absent that proof, outcome imbalance is simply outcome imbalance, and proves nothing. How many times must that be said? If you beat me 10/10 times in that 100m. dash, I'm betting it's because you're faster....not because the race is fixed.
If I find myself convinced that the World must change in order for me to be successful....if I come to believe that everyone else is wrong and I'm the only one who's right....then maybe it's me and not the world who needs to wake-up? Maybe it's me and not the world who needs to change? And maybe that change needs to begin by recognizing who I am as a human being has nothing to do with how I look and everything to do with what I do.
Race is an artificial construct based on superficial characteristics and intended solely to divide people and elevate one group at the expense of another. It would make as much sense to divide people by handedness or by those whose second toe is longer than their big toe. Blacks, by accepting this division, continue to secure their group position at the bottom of the pack because they continue to accept the misdiagnosis of their problem as being external to themselves. I got the sense that all four of the discussion participants understand this and accept it, at least in the abstract. Not being willing to give up the group security blanket can only prolong the agony of disfunction which has nothing to do with any external characteristic.
Until a black man can rise to his feet and declare âI am a man!â and demand that every other person accept that identity, he cannot achieve his potential as an individual human.
The alternative is to continue to accept the destructive idea that externals are fate.
I am very grateful for the forum Prof Loury and his colleagues have provided in which to press this discussion. Glenn is clear in his contention that his meaningful identity is in his culture, it defines him in how he thinks about himself and his place in the world; if I can cautiously put words in his mouth. It seems confusing then to state that Blackness remains an important part of his identity. He is transparent about his struggle with that and I commend him for his honesty on the matter. Until we recognize ourselves as individuals of the same kind, we seriously limit our ability to function, let alone thrive in this world. âAs a man thinks, so is he.â
Maybe Iâm missing something but I actually understand Kmeleâs post-race argument as a sound one. Think about it. The problem seems to be that the more a group identifies as A Group, the more susceptible they are to seeing overarching societal factors as the problem. Certainly there must be some degree of truth to that. But isnât a lot of whatâs going on here more about perception management a la the leftist media? For example, the narrative that black men are being murdered by racist white cops every two seconds, when we know the number is roughly 15-20 a year, in a nation of 340 million. Does this contribute to the perception of structural racism? Does this back up a group victim narrative? This can be for any group, say white working class in Trump country, too. Etc. Wouldnât it be more ideal to ditch your racial group Association and think of yourself as a free individual with agency and worth? Couldnât you then take concrete steps to succeed? The education and cultural parts seem most problematic to me here. Like the article said: Weâre living in a time when real serious racial havoc is actually over. Systemically, legally, culturally weâre just much, much less racist as a nation than say 50 years ago. What remains is the battle over perception, narrative, belief, facts.
Isnât it an innate human characteristic to belong to a group of one form or another? Humans have been organizing since the first village was formed. The fascination with 23 and me, ancestry.com, etc. are manifestations of this desire. I had very little knowledge of my âgroupsâ of blood. I could trace my familial tree back to my mother and my grandfather on my fatherâs side. As far as I was concerned, itâs irrelevant. However, one of my daughters has this urge to know and so she started using ancestry.com to sleuth it out. I was amazed at what she was able to find out. Kinda spooky actually. I never encouraged a tribal mindset, but there it was. Where did I come from, which helps to identify the I, which is but an illusion.
A good guest for the show would be Ian McGilchrist about the nature of the brain.
Glenn,
Who is this guy? I really mean it. He is great. I love the charts and data. ( I studied economics). What is interesting to me is the basis for the wide spread belief that racism is the cause of black relative academic performance. What is it and who does that narrative benefit?
Add âpoorâ in front of Black or White and we can better understand. My parents were working folks with little education. Whatever I attained was from âhard workâ with Private School kids ( even people of color) always at the front of the line. Even with no body of work or talent. Obama ( the number one black leader) was the son of 2 college educated parents and raised by well off white parents. His blackness added affirmative action which he used. He doesnât speak for Poor Black Folk other than to race grift. I proudly voted twice for Obama but he is no real leader of the black poor anymore than Sharpton thinks he is. Martin Luther King was that leader but probably someone like Kanye will end up as the Real favored Black Leader. Or BLM with âhate speechâ and Gender polities. Glen needs a larger platform....
Think how much more of a leader Le Bron could have been with a different reaction to the Jerry Jones photo. He could have said that while segregation is bad thing, and was really bad in those days, it was 60 years ago, there's no proof that Jones was anything but a curious teenager, you are trying to make something out of nothing, isn't it time we all moved on from this kind of finger pointing and blame game, virtue signalling, etc. Opposite of Colin Kappernick and much more helpful to the community and himself.
I'm reminded of this passage in Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son," written after the death of his stepfather and the Harlem Race Riots of 1943:
âIt was necessary to hold on to the things that mattered. The dead man mattered, the new life mattered; blackness and whiteness did not matter; to believe that they did was to acquiesece in oneâs own destruction. Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated and this was an immutable law.â
I am a Spanish American white writer living in France. Twelve years ago, I left the USA, actively removing myself from the violent realities of the USA that have plagued any national--let alone human--sense of identity since the beginning. I don't know what the reality of Black Solidarity is in America today; this piece shined some necessary light on it for me. But I do know that the reality of any [insert skin color] Solidarity Movement sounds terrifying to most other "liberals throughout the world, but this is also because the Black American experience is singular when it comes to parsing through the pros and cons of identity politics and finding a voice for the subaltern in a nation founded upon the conflation of innocence and ignorance. TLDR, the USA was founded on the principles of white skin versus all the other skins, and we aren't out of the woods yet, by a long shot. This is why I am still considered "white" to everyone that looks at me, but if I have to check a box on an official form, I am encouraged to check "hispanic" or "latino" because of my last name.
If the belief within the black community is that BLM is helpful and that racism/police remain major problems, that in itself suggests far bigger issues. Who did BLM help and how? Crime spiked in the aftermath of reactions to George Floyd and the fallout was far more harmful to black Americans than to anyone else. And that's not going to change as states like Illinois prepare to usher in the SAFE-T law and other jurisdictions turn suspects loose as soon as they are booked.
Clifton's commentary acknowledges "overt racism has mostly disappeared," but here we are, with racism as the ready made excuse for any outcome not to a black person's liking. There is no credible argument to be made that life today is no better than it was 50-100 years ago. No one was talking about diversity then. No one was lowering standards in order to increase black enrollment or black participation in certain professions. An American Bar Association committee wants to ban the LSAT, a move that mostly says "we don't think black student can measure up," which is a horrible indictment of these young folks. What happens when they're done with law school and face bar exams? Will those be banned, too, in the name of whatever this is? Lastly, the evidence re: police violence shows the exact opposite of the claims that led to rioting, but those figures are inconvenient, so they're ignored. Perhaps the more cogent argument is that "you're not a victim; stop acting like one," but that would deprive the various hustlers and grifters of power and a means of making a living.
It's almost impossible to not look at the findings of the Pew polls and NOT correlate them to voting patterns. That's quite the nice plantation Team Blue has built across urban America and into smaller states with large minority populations. School systems are failing black students, yet which side adamantly opposes choice? Crime is out of control, yet which side hand waves concern about it? The border impacts lower-skilled black men as much as anyone, yet which side is happy keeping it open?
At some point, reality compels a person to acknowledge that none of us can change the past and that today is far, far better than yesterday or the day before. Until that occurs, nothing positive will follow. When might that happen? When will people who tell me that slaves, their ancestors, built the country take pride in and ownership of what was built? As Glenn has noted repeatedly, the Western tradition is his, and black America's tradition, too, just as much as it is for me, the son of immigrants. The past cannot be a perpetual crutch, especially among people who had nothing to do with it, and eventually, racializing everything is going to spawn backlash.
Well, the Pew research results were certainly eye opening.
And to anyone on the left it was like manna from heaven. Black people will not require any internal leadership, just continue following the Democratic Party.
According to Lyndon Johnson, you have another 42 years to go.
And if the democrats start shaking that reparations cup, they can look forward to another 100 years of.....sevrice.
Institutions are important and the most important, immediate and impactful is the institution of the family: Mother, Father and their biological children. Only 60% of white kids are raised by their birth parents. This is terrible. Only 30% of black kids are raised by their birth parents. This is beyond words. Without this institution being dramatically strengthened, everything else is minutia.
https://ifstudies.org/blog/growing-up-with-mom-and-dad-new-data-confirm-the-tide-is-turning
Most White Americans are an amalgam of different nationalities or ethnicities. I myself have English, Scottish, Scots-Irish, Welsh and Dutch and even a bit of African and Native thrown in. To say I identify as a specific nationality is of little consequence because I am a mix of so many. I could argue that my Irish ancestors were mistreated by my British ancestors, and also that my Native and African ancestors were mistreated by my White ancestors, but to what purpose? The fact that so many White people have such a mixture does not really support a huge shared "White" identity in America other than Americanism.
Now we have Black Americans who were descendants of slaves, and Jim Crow policies who may say
"Well, we have a shared history of slavery and oppression from the White community." But again, what purpose does that serve in light of multiple Constitutional amendments and laws prohibiting the use of race, ethnicity or religion to discriminate, other than divisiveness?
The best one could hope for is a joining of those of various racial and ethnic heritages to regard ourselves as Americans struggling for most of the same things. Someone can wear green on St Paddie's day, celebrate Robbie Burns' Day, wear a Dashiki, celebrate Dewali or Ramadan, or Dia de los Muertos, but still be essentially American.
I still remember the following quote from Greg Tate circa 1991:
"Perhaps the supreme irony of black American existence is how broadly black people debate the question of cultural identity among themselves while getting branded as a cultural monolith by those who would deny us the complexity and complexion of a community, let alone a nation. If Afro Americans have never settled for the racist reductions imposed upon them -- from chattel slaves to cinematic stereotype to sociological myth -- it's because the black collective conscious not only knew better but also knew more than enough ethnic diversity to subsume those fictions.
-- Greg Tate"
Once again we are stuck in neutral when we make efforts to deal with black diversity. That's because of a determined refusal to disambiguate race from culture from citizenship when it is more convenient to make something of a 'racial' statement. American politics remains entirely too racial, and this becomes abundantly clear when black Republicans clash with black Democrats, or on those occasions when we deal with those damned Baptists or those damned West Coast rappers. Black America remains cripplingly dependent on myths of racial unity. Consequently black elites who can nationally or internationally code switch with ease are always tempted to take advantage of those myths. I struggle myself sometimes. But what I don't do is feel compelled to second guess whatever it is that self-identified blackfolk do as blacks.
The irony thus is that I know, like Greg Tate knew, that all black Americans are perfectly free to do whatever they want, as blacks. Nobody ever stops blackfolks from being exactly the kind of black they want to be. Its the moment one black person steps over the line to tell what another black person ought to do where all the trouble starts. That doubles down on the irony because it implies a kind of ownership of blackness. So who owns blackness? This is the core of today's debate. Who is authentic, and given that, what are they owed?
I can't tell you how tired I get of the sort of statistical representations of black populations no other people seem to suffer. But I must admit these Pew numbers catch my eye. Put me in the 'not so [self-] important' category of black identification. It is rightly what we should expect two mountaintops past MLK's. What statistical representation can you put on a love of bebop? What bar chart best describes a second-line funeral? We abandon our inheritance of cultural edification when we submit to the racial boxes. Race always has and always will define a manner of control. You cannot truly desire freedom and also truly desire racial categories.
Ultimately this is about fear. The fear of "If I am not black, then what am I?" Remember Akeela? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. There's that special black American fear that maybe I've held my own self back. The special fear that one cannot stand to hear somebody who is not black tell us truthfully so.
First of all, I wanna say TYTY, M Clifton! Another *great* article.
Here's the problem I have: I agree with a lot more than 95% of what You wrote, Sir. However You wrote these two sentences:
"Black America isn't at a point where most of us have faith in 'white' institutions and leaders, so we have to strengthen their black counterparts if the goal is to put Black America on a better path."
"We're not prepared to thrive in a world where overt racism has mostly disappeared."
I wish there was a Way to "say" this without appearing racist. Why are You all *not* prepared to thrive? IMO, because You all have been conned into thinking that You shouldn't have faith in "white" institutions. You've been mislead. You've believed some blatant falsehoods.
Because is there any question about the FACT that it was *largely* "white" institutions which eliminated overt racism?
I won't make an absolute claim that America has outdistanced all other countries when it comes to eliminating racism and sexism. (I'm sure there's a Pew study which could answer that question, but I'm not overly fond of Pew. And I don't believe it can accurately be measured, but that's just me.) I would, instead, just ask what other countries did a better job leading the Way in these areas in the past 40 to 60 years? There are probably some, but not all that many.
And I would ask if the current Woke Black Culture-leaders are increasing or decreasing racial comity?
I could go on with some harder, IMO, home truths. But I'll leave it at that for now. TY again for writing the article, Sir.
I will join the prior praise for Mr. Roscoeâs writing here. Very well done. I was struck when he wrote that until the K-12 achievement gap closes, other measures related to success will not close relative to other racial groups (I am paraphrasing here). I agree with his argument. Thank you Mr. Roscoe for that essay, and keep writing!
Black solidarity is no different than white solidarity. Its a vice. Abandoning racial solidarity is moral progress for any individual. When will more racial minorities begin to accept that racial tribalism for their own race is no less shameful than the racial tribalism of white people? "White Nationalists" are rightly viewed with a contempt by most people; it shouldnt be any different for "Black Nationalists" or "Latino Nationalists" or any other racial / ethnic nationalists. Our tribal loyalties should transcend and eschew race. Its superficial, ignorant characteristic to have solidarity around.
There are 20 people drowning and only 10 people can be saved, and 10 people are black and 10 people are white, and a person can also know anything they like about those peoples' characters and personalities, their professions, their families-- and none of them are "equal"; and if they factor in race to make their selection on who to save, that would be a demerit In the same scenario of 20 people drowning and they are one of the people drowning, their "racial solidarity", should be a mark against them being one of those who should be saved.
"Even if we desire a world in which race isnât important, we donât live in that world yet."
Why don't we?
Who or what or why or where or how is 'race STILL being made important' in this, our particular world...that we would otherwise choose (maybe??) to change?
Our laws are not race-centric; our organizations do not hire, fire, or promote on the basis of race (and let us ignore, yet again, affirmative action). There are no venues which admit or refuse admittance because of skin color. No schools which gauge entry by melanin. No institutions which determine policy per skin tone. No banks whose loans decisions are made by race. No neighborhoods in which home sales are a function of dark or light. These things aren't happening and haven't happened for generations.
And if, in some stagnant backwater, we do indeed discover such racist practices, our media highlights them; America deplores them; and the Justice System eliminates them. This truth has been demonstrated over and over again for decades (even to ridiculous extremes).
So what is it, exactly, and who is it, exactly who keeps insisting that 'race is important' ...so important, in fact, that their insistence actively prevents us from achieving the 'post-racial' world we supposedly desire?
The answer is .... Black Adults. That's who's insisting. (As Pogo might say, 'We have met the enemy and he is us!')
95% of all Black adults say race is important to how they see themselves." 54% say it is EXTREMELY important. Skin color, in other words, is critical to a sense of self if that 'self' is Black. None of the other colors really seem to care.
So what's this mean?
If...we truly desire a world in which skin color is unimportant....WHY do we keep behaving as though skin color is critically important? If the institutions, organizations, policies and practices of the world are explicitly set to ignore race, why does one Race continue to insist that race must be emphasized, even as they say they prefer a world in which it isn't?
At a fundamental level, skin color is simply a demographic marker -- no more, no less. Some of us are tall, some short. Some of us are fat; some thin. We are old; we are young; we have big feet & small feet, long hair and short, curly & straight...red hair, dark hair, blonde hair, no hair. We are Black, White, Tan, Brown, Sepia, etc.. These are all just simply demographic tags which have absolutely nothing to do with who we actually are as human beings. They have nothing to do with what we can achieve or whether or not we can build a good & decent life for ourselves and our families. Nothing, that is, unless we listen to that demonic voice whispering in our ear: "COLOR is what & who I am!"
The data from the Pew Survey is sad.
We are told that there is "little hope among Black adults that changes to racial inequality are likely". But what are those desired 'changes' for which there's little hope?
It's just outcome rebalancing. It's not behavior changing; it's not working harder; it's not better study habits, better graduation rates, better learning, better job performance, etc. It's not saying no to teenage sex and accidental pregnancies and astronomical, out-of-wedlock birthrates & single-parent households filled with lost children No...it's none of those things. Rather it's White People giving Black People dollars because Black. It's White People giving Black People dollars because of the incredibly perverse belief that White Babies in Newborn Nurseries are born holding a past-due bill to the Black Newborn who lies next to them.
This is insane. The White child is not born in debt; the Black child is not born with an account receivable.
Half of all Black adults surveyed tell us that they believe the World needs to be REBUILT ENTIRELY in order for them to be 'treated fairly'. They say that Reality itself must shift in order for them to be as successful as White People.
Should we stop measuring 100m. dash winners across a 100m distance with the same start and finish lines? Should we eliminate standard Board Scores because test results from Standard Tests yield racial imbalances? (Wait, we've already done that) Should we substitute an essay on 'me' for a GPA? Should we just draft people for Medical School and eliminate performance hurdles because it's more important to see MORE BIPOC Cardiologists than to graduate good ones who can pass tests? Again this is insane. (especially insane if it's my heart they're operating on!)
If 63% of Black Adults say racism is an 'extremely big problem'....shouldn't someone ask, "What Racism??" Shouldn't we able to see the racist law, the racist policy, the racist procedure, the racist behavior that actually proves this assertion and provides strong evidence for this belief? Absent that proof, outcome imbalance is simply outcome imbalance, and proves nothing. How many times must that be said? If you beat me 10/10 times in that 100m. dash, I'm betting it's because you're faster....not because the race is fixed.
If I find myself convinced that the World must change in order for me to be successful....if I come to believe that everyone else is wrong and I'm the only one who's right....then maybe it's me and not the world who needs to wake-up? Maybe it's me and not the world who needs to change? And maybe that change needs to begin by recognizing who I am as a human being has nothing to do with how I look and everything to do with what I do.
Race is an artificial construct based on superficial characteristics and intended solely to divide people and elevate one group at the expense of another. It would make as much sense to divide people by handedness or by those whose second toe is longer than their big toe. Blacks, by accepting this division, continue to secure their group position at the bottom of the pack because they continue to accept the misdiagnosis of their problem as being external to themselves. I got the sense that all four of the discussion participants understand this and accept it, at least in the abstract. Not being willing to give up the group security blanket can only prolong the agony of disfunction which has nothing to do with any external characteristic.
Until a black man can rise to his feet and declare âI am a man!â and demand that every other person accept that identity, he cannot achieve his potential as an individual human.
The alternative is to continue to accept the destructive idea that externals are fate.
I am very grateful for the forum Prof Loury and his colleagues have provided in which to press this discussion. Glenn is clear in his contention that his meaningful identity is in his culture, it defines him in how he thinks about himself and his place in the world; if I can cautiously put words in his mouth. It seems confusing then to state that Blackness remains an important part of his identity. He is transparent about his struggle with that and I commend him for his honesty on the matter. Until we recognize ourselves as individuals of the same kind, we seriously limit our ability to function, let alone thrive in this world. âAs a man thinks, so is he.â
Blessings.
Maybe Iâm missing something but I actually understand Kmeleâs post-race argument as a sound one. Think about it. The problem seems to be that the more a group identifies as A Group, the more susceptible they are to seeing overarching societal factors as the problem. Certainly there must be some degree of truth to that. But isnât a lot of whatâs going on here more about perception management a la the leftist media? For example, the narrative that black men are being murdered by racist white cops every two seconds, when we know the number is roughly 15-20 a year, in a nation of 340 million. Does this contribute to the perception of structural racism? Does this back up a group victim narrative? This can be for any group, say white working class in Trump country, too. Etc. Wouldnât it be more ideal to ditch your racial group Association and think of yourself as a free individual with agency and worth? Couldnât you then take concrete steps to succeed? The education and cultural parts seem most problematic to me here. Like the article said: Weâre living in a time when real serious racial havoc is actually over. Systemically, legally, culturally weâre just much, much less racist as a nation than say 50 years ago. What remains is the battle over perception, narrative, belief, facts.
Michael Mohr
âSincere American Writingâ
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/