[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyO02uNGo38&w=420&h=345]
I’ve had way too many conversations that ended with, “We could change things if all oppressed people just came together.” While it’s a nice thought, the opposite has actually happened. Races have unified against blacks even though blacks have the least resources globally.
Nonetheless, black people have been the first to embrace multicultural efforts (Some famous examples include Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Panther Party). We must become more ruthless, because when it comes to money we’re the only ones playing by such friendly rules.
This is obvious even in places like Portland, where multiculturalism is supposedly celebrated. For example, a black administrator put together Administrators of Color but soon after, Latinos split off and started their own administration organization.
The decision wasn’t a malicious one. It just shows that people look out for their own interests first when dollars and cents are involved.
Embrace of multiculturalism and political correctness has also made it so blacks must suffer in silence. Despite a history of gentrification, black people that have cried foul when bike lanes took precedence over other needs in historically black communities have been marginalized and characterized as playing the race card.
Never mind, that historically black areas like Alberta Street get whiter by the day. According to a Portland Tribune interview with Angela Martin of Economic Fairness Oregon, the subprime loans disproportionately handed out to blacks caused the “the biggest transfer of wealth from African-American homeowners to the pockets of banks, the biggest transfer of wealth in our lifetime.”
Why must we pretend that this isn’t a race issue?
Historically, crimes against humanity have always been economically motivated and now is no different.
It’s even more obvious at a national level that blacks have to fight for their lives for any small semblance of justice.
Black farmers that were denied land by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) because of race were only able to get compensation in partnership with Native Americans under the Claims Resolution Act of 2010. The Pigford settlement, which gave money to black farmers who were discriminated against, was a part of the resolution and was labeled as “reparations” by Representatives Steve King and Michelle Bachmann.
Conversely, according to the Huffington Post, Cherokee Nation expelled black descendants of slavery on Thursday despite a treaty dating back to the Civil War that granted Cherokee slaves’ descendants membership. The article notes that tribes get money from the government as well as profit from a $26.4 billion gambling industry.
It may be cynical, but we can’t expect people to love us when we don’t even love each other? Especially when money is involved.
I know blacks that don’t like other black people, Africans that refuse to go to other African country themed restaurants and black Americans that have traveled to Africa only to be treated like dirt by people they thought were their brothers. Yet many of these people believe in the power of a multicultural revolution.
To think, we have President Obama hiring a rainbow coalition to keep everyone happy but still receiving hate from all sides. Abroad, racism thrives in many shocking ways like blatantly racist Mexican television shows, Arabs enslaving blacks and worse conditions for British Blacks now than in 1985, just to name a few.
Unity is a beautiful thought and an ideal rule to live by. However, if we’re the only ones playing by that rule then we will continue to be taken advantage of. Other groups are unapologetic when it comes to looking out for their best interests.
There’s no shame in fighting for black empowerment first and foremost whether we’re taking the reparations owed to us, protecting our communities, or patronizing our businesses. We don’t need other races pretending to love us when it’s convenient. No one can free us from oppression but ourselves.