Part 2: Black Leadership has abandoned the People
The Way to the Promised Land cuts through the wilderness. So, when Dr. King says that we – as a people – will get to the Promised Land, it assumes that we will have to go through the wilderness. (Hence King’s talk that “we’ve got some difficult days ahead.”)
But given the state of emergency for Black people, you’d have to agree that we ain’t there yet – right? You gotta agree that we aren’t in the Promised Land…
Even if you – yourself – enjoy the good life and a measure of success, you have to agree that we – as a people – have not gotten to the Promised Land.
Like the Israelites, in Egypt, Black people suffered brutality and were forced to build a global superpower. Like the Israelites, in Egypt, our ancestors appealed to God who – at long last – heard them. And through the plagues that culminated in the first born sons that were lost in the Civil War, Pharaoh had no choice but to let our people go.
As Dee and I continued our journey, this became the focus of our conversation. Neither of us could claim that Black people – in 2018 – had reached that place Dr. King saw from the mountaintop. We had to admit that the Promised Land was still off in the distance.
But do most of us even realize that? Do we even consider it?
Like the Israelites coming up from slavery in Egypt, we’ve been stuck in the wilderness for the last 50 years (10 years longer than the Israelites, btw)…
“If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”
Like the Israelites, many of us longed to return to Egypt.
Those of us who had skills that were useful in Egypt – the Talented Tenth – made our return. Believing that if we could just show White folks how smart and nice and non-threatening we are, our former masters would accept us and welcome us into their establishments: their businesses, their schools, their communities, their churches…
And in order to get into their good graces, we led our own people back to Egypt. Especially once assassinations became prevalent…especially when those assassinations resulted in the looting of Black owned businesses, we – the Talented Tenth – fled the wilderness for the false safety of Egypt, leaving “the Ninetieth” out there to die.
So, many Black businesses closed down. Black business owners and professionals moved out of the Black community. Black intellectuals left Historically Black Colleges and Universities in preference for Predominantly White Institutions.
It’s like we created our own personal Wakandas…
Isolated empires where we do well for ourselves and our immediate families, and pretend not to see the degradation all around us…
Or seeing it, but pretending to be powerless because we don’t want the larger society to realize how powerful we really are.
Not everyone does this…
Some of us remain committed to our people…
Even those of us who live in the suburbs (like me)…and graduated from White schools (me again, although I did at least attend three HBCUs, but that’s a story for another day)…
Yet, the general consensus is to “Get Out”…to leave…to Exodus…
And when we leave, everyone loses.
#WeAreOurOwnWorstEnemy #ButBlackLivesMatter?
Before the end of the Civil Rights Movement – despite our differences (we ain’t never been a monolith), our people were committed to progress as a people…
We were driven to follow our dreams, and we knew that achieving those dreams created opportunities for others to dream. That knowledge reinforced our drive and determination in an endless upward spiral of progress.
But the “Nadir of American Race Relations” brought a degree of White terrorism that was more harsh than the days of Slavery…
Southern tress bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees…
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh…
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop…
Black towns were burned and terrorized in a slew of race riots instigated by Whites who were jealous of the progress made by Blacks and who wanted to “put us in our place.”
Black Wall Street in Tulsa, OK…East St. Louis, IL…Rosewood, FL…Ocoee, Fl – again…and numerous others serve as examples…
Then as Blacks responded with greater political agitation for equal rights and justice, the American Government and White society began to assassinate Black leadership and discredit Black civic organizations.
Through COINTELPro, the FBI declared Civil Rights Activists essentially to be “Black Identity Extremists” and organized State sponsored assaults on Civil Rights groups and Black leadership. COINTELPro was either directly responsible for – or played an integral part in – the assassination of Dr. King, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton and countless others.
And these tactics finally made things the way they are now…
