An Email on Racial Inequality I sent to a Friend

I sent this email in response to a friend of mine on a listserve, who seems to think that African-Americans who challenge the system are whiners. This is interesting, since it seems that calling someone a "whiner" when they demand changes to obvious inequality is a good way to get the oppressed to shut up. I wonder if major corporations are called whiners when they lobby for changes in the tax code?

I also addressed in the email my "Nation of Super Negroes" theory. It's the one that says "If one person out of 100 can overcome all these obstacles, then everyone can." They point to people like Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice and Bill Cosby as examples. So, it must be easy: If every black child in America would simply study 10 hours a day, have an IQ of 150 and get extremely lucky, then all would be fair in the world.

This goes back to what I've mentioned in my book, "What if George Bush were a Black Man?" White men and women have a "right to be lazy" that black people don't get. If they make a mistake, it can be recovered. If we make a mistake, we deserve to pay for the rest of our lives, and it's our own fault because we chose to make the mistake in the first place.

Here is the email I sent my friend:

I would not say that most middle class black people don't care about the poor. I would say that, at worst, some of us don't understand them. It reminds me of when I was on the track team and I would get frustrated by my teammates who could not run as fast as I could. The reality was that I had some talent, training and conditioning that they did not have. So, my ability to empathize was minimal.

Many middle class African-Americans have either been born with advantages they are not aware of, got a little extra luck or possess an ability to endure that not everyone has. It doesn't mean that poor people don't have potential - they certainly do, but it's easy to say "If I can make it, then anyone can." That leads to the "Nation of Super Negroes" Theory, that says that if one in every 100 black people can achieve something, then that is clear evidence that anyone who did not achieve the same thing is just being lazy.

So, that one kid who dodges bullets every morning on her way to a school with no books after not eating breakfast because her mother had no money becomes middle class. She then looks at her friends still in poverty and says "It's because I care about you that I am going to tell you how pathetic you are. All of you should have been able to do what I did, so complaining about the school with no books and dodging bullets makes you into a whiner."

I argue that perhaps the woman should try to empathize and realize that not every person is going to be able to do what she did (and luck also plays some role, since there is some other girl out there who did the right things but was shot by one of those bullets). I argue that the woman should go back to the hood, demand personal responsibility, accountability and hard work, but then go down to the city councilman's office and raise hell there too.

But for her to sit in her cushy little office at some Ivy League University and talk to Bill Cosby about how pathetic her people are would be counter productive and weak. Also, one would have to question her quick willingness to attack those who are poor, but her fear of attacking those who are in power. That's like the house slave attacking the field slaves, when in fact, they should both be going after the master.

Boyce