Keep Moving Forward
I was listening to the National Public Radio program Fresh Air with Terri Gross. The guest she had was comedian Robert Schimmel and the subject was his experience with cancer. Mr. Schimmel was struck with cancer of the lymph cells when he was fifty. He wrote a book about his experience titled Cancer On Five Dollars A Day.
Mr. Schimmel recalled a particular time during his treatment when he was in the hospital where he had one more chemotherapy treatment to go. But the physical drains on his person were so severe that all he wanted to do was die. His father paid a visit to him in his hospital room and Mr. Schimmel asked him to help him die. The father understood and left the room. A moment later the father returned with his grandchildren, Mr. Schimmel’s children, and asked him to repeat his request.
Mr. Schimmel said that his father was an Auschwitz survivor. The man saw a lot of death and destruction and had his share of Nazi horror stories to share. Mr. Schimmel shared one particular story that his father shared with him. One day in the camp there was a man with his son and the prisoners were being told to march for no particular reason. Maybe it was busy work to give the guards something to do. Or maybe it was just a chance to be cruel. But the boy could no longer continue and dropped to the ground from exhaustion. A guard walked up to the boy and shot him in the back of the head. The father went to his son and knelt down to hold him. The guard shot him in the head as well. Then the guard told the rest of the prisoners, if you want to survive keep moving forward.
Mr. Schimmel said that he seized on this memory of his father’s story as a source of inner strength as he continued the rest of his medical treatments on his way to a full recovery.
I tried to imagine what it would be like to be a father and to have your child ripped away so cruelly in an existence so bleak. An ancestor memory or imagination popped into my head. I seriously doubt if my bloodline includes any experience in the concentration camps of Auschwitz. But I’m confident that my bloodline includes experiences with the substandard living conditions of the African American on the southern plantation at the peak of America’s institutionalized slavery. There, black families and communities were broken apart based on the sadistic whims of plantation owning enslavers and their employees. And all the survivors had left to do was to keep moving in order to survive.
Everyday I am reminded of this philosophy. Everyday black people are told to keep moving in order to survive. But it’s not said so coldly and succinctly. When black people falter or when someone says that things are unfair, the standard white mindset retort is to quit complaining and just keep going. Black people have no choice but to keep on keeping on in this environment of disparity where conditions and opportunities are so unfairly skewed against the black community. Keep moving if you want to survive. Exercise some personal responsibility if you want to survive. No one is coming to help you. Suck up your frustration and keep going. Other black people are fabulously wealthy. Why don’t more black people get a work ethic or learn a skill or obtain an education that will make them employable?
And in this environment that supports and rewards people’s negative racial stereotypes of blacks, the black community must keep moving in order to survive. Never mind that we are paid less for doing the same work. Never mind we are racially profiled when driving automobiles. Never mind we are racially profiled when walking down the street. Never mind we are more apt to fall under the gears of the justice machine. Never mind that our children are more apt to be arrested and sent off to be murdered in boot camps for having sex and other behaviors that hardly gain a second look from children in the white community. Black people need to keep moving if we want to survive.
Black people have adopted this philosophy so well that if we found ourselves as the prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration camps, we would be more likely to grab the soldier’s rifle and shoot any weak or exhausted prisoners for causing problems. Black people are quick to tell the other black people, the ones that we should have the most in common with, to shut up and just fall in line. If these people sound like they toe the line of the status quo it must be because that is exactly what they are doing. The prison yard guards aren’t even necessary any more. Without a doubt we have to keep on going. There are no allied forces gathering in a land far away to come here and free the black community from these bonds. We are in a perpetual march of keeping forward with little to sustain us. And when one of us stumbles heaven helps the one that actually turns around and shows signs of caring.
Morning everyone.
“And when one of us stumbles heaven helps the one that actually turns around and shows signs of caring.”
This was a well written and thoughtful post like all of your others. However, I wanted you and Sentinel to provide your views on personal responsibility. For example, I live in Texas and currently any student at ANY school who graduates in the top ten percent of their class are accepted to state funded colleges and universities. The enrollment of minority students has dramatically increased but more so for Hispanics than Black youth. So this may be completely off topic from your post but with an admission policy such as this why are more black youth in under-served areas not taking full advantage of this policy. White people in Texas are currently working fast and furiously to change this because they feel that their children are disadvantage by blanketed acceptance of minority students who’s curriculum they view as less challenging than their own.
I am not blind to racism as a black individual if you work outside of the home you experience it at multiple points during your career. I feel from browsing you and Sentinel posts that what Black Americans like me have worked hard to achieve is an ultimate sellout because we choose to move out of deteriorating neighborhoods and that we have completely bought into the White hype. I do feel this could not be further from the truth not all black people that have moved on have forgotten those that have not. However, I truly feel that the greatest aid to the black community is the belief in personal responsibility. If an individual has no thought of respect for themselves and for the people around them then how can the black community achieve that Black Wall Street status again.
Black Wall Street was not a success because white people were not racist; Black Wall Street was a success despite of white racism. I believe their success was due to their pride and respect for one another. This country is never going to accept black skin why is it that we must work hard at changing their perceptions of us instead of working towards towns like Tulsa, Ok which had industrious black people.
sorry for the long post
Jazzy,
My reply was so long I had to put it in a post.
Thanks
Sorry Sentinel where is the post linked? I tried your website but did not locate it.
Thanks for the feedback Jazzy,
But like a lot of people, you want to dissect instances of racial discrimination into separate pieces and explain away only certain components. Texas offers the upper ten percent of graduates from school an education but many black people don’t take advantage of it so the problem must lie in the black community. How many whites and latinos choose not to take advantage of it as well? Do they have a full one hundred percent saturation? What is the black saturation rate? Please reply with a link so we can discuss this intelligently.
But one thing I must say is that college alone is not the answer for the black community. We must look at the entire spectrum of the black experience. Texas offers the top ten percent of blacks a higher education. But Texas also has some of the most blatant instances of social discrimination. Last year I went to a job interview in San Antonio, Texas. The company flew me in on a last minute thousand dollar ticket and gave me a rental car. I have family in San Antonio so it was a very attractive database development opportunity for me. As soon as I walked through the VP’s door his eyes went wide with a deer in the headlights stare. I wear locks so I’m used to the reaction. But as soon as we sat down to review my resume the first question he asked was about my working experience in VB.Net. My resume clearly stated that I studied VB.Net but did not work with it. Suddenly there was a misunderstanding and I wasn’t a good fit. They offered me the position but on a trial basis clearing about ten dollars an hour. Needless to say I did not take the job. From what I saw the company didn’t have a single African American in their employment.
I have two sisters in Texas with degrees who could not find a job in their field of study. So black people in Texas go to school for four years only to graduate and not find jobs. What’s the point? Why would black people go to school wasting time on an education when apon graduation we still are not able to find a job?
As far as me thinking that black people who have worked hard being sellouts I do not know where you got that impression. I have worked hard all my life and I don’t consider myself a sellout. My mom was the director of nursing services at the hospital when she retired. She had a masters in nursing administration. I wouldn’t call her a sellout. The neighborhood I live in has many teachers, lawyers, politicians, and others who I wouldn’t call sellouts. Whatever gives you the impression that I believe that success or professionalism is an automatic qualification for being a sellout?
The black community needs successful black professionals. It is foolish to presume that the black community will be successful if everyone remains unemployed and uneducated. That’s just plain dumb. This is more of the stereotypical racist hype that continues to plague black people. This is more of the stereotypical misinformation that high profile black people like Bill Cosby and Chris Rock keeps feeding people who refuse to learn what life is truly like in black neighborhods.
Peace
PS – My success is not measured by the size of my wallet. I consider myself very successful.
Jazzy,
I just posted it. Sorry about that.
Thanks
Brotherp,
That was poetry. I could never have said it that poignantly. That is exactly my point, that if all the successful people leave and all you have left is uneducated, unemployed people then of course the community will deteriorate. And then you will have a bunch of people asking why this is the case and saying how they need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Yet, those people saying this will have had the benefit of growing up around successful people who made their success almost a guarantee. Blacks living in these deteriorating communities have no one assuring them any reasonable degree of success. Yet they are expected to just do it because they see Oprah, or Chris Rock or any other black who has made millions and are seen as a huge success.
Thanks
“Texas offers the upper ten percent of graduates from school an education but many black people don’t take advantage of it so the problem must lie in the black community.”
My question to this is simply why more black people are not taking advantage of this policy. I think the association of blame is the problem. Because my question was why are people in the black community not taking advantage of this problem I am automatically assigning blame to my community? No! What is keeping us from moving forward, institutionalized racism can only be blamed for so much, I am responsible for how I choose to live the life I am given, I can do all that I can to change it. The institute of racism will only change through our ability to fight it and conquer it using the same tactics they have used to subjugate our community.
“How many whites and Latinos choose not to take advantage of it as well? Do they have a full one hundred percent saturation?”
I am first a black individual I look at the behavior of those that look like me. You and I and everyone else who looks like us want the best for their community. So to the above statement I truly could care less about the saturation level of white and Latinos who take advantage of this opportunity. My want and desire in visiting your page is to learn how other people would propose to change and improve the black community. I state yesterday that your opinion and Sentinel opinions are different from the ones I currently hold but that would not keep me from taking and learning and possible reshaping my own viewpoints.
What is the black saturation rate? Please reply with a link so we can discuss this intelligently”
I will look for a suitable link and provide for you at the end of the day.
“But one thing I must say is that college alone is not the answer for the black community. We must look at the entire spectrum of the black experience. Texas offers the top ten percent of blacks a higher education. But Texas also has some of the most blatant instances of social discrimination”
I live in Texas I have lived here my entire life I am well aware of the social discriminations that abound in Texas. If college is not the answer to the problems of the black community what is? A change in legislation? Yes of course but that will only come when you have educated voters, educated individuals that are willing to go to capital hill. That will come about when people understand how the court, legal, and legislator work, that comes through education.
“I wear locks so I’m used to the reaction.”
I understand they reaction you received when I cut my head bald to become natural I could have sworn my boss was going to swallow her tongue when I came to work the next day.
“They offered me the position but on a trial basis clearing about ten dollars an hour. Needless to say I did not take the job.”
Good for you for not accepting the position. Let me be clear when I say that I am aware that racism exists I too encounter it. There are plenty of positions that I too pass on because I know there is no way they would offer a white person or an Asian with my experience the pay they offer when I apply.
“The black community needs successful black professionals. It is foolish to presume that the black community will be successful if everyone remains unemployed and uneducated. This is more of the stereotypical racist hype that continues to plague black people. This is more of the stereotypical misinformation that high profile black people like Bill Cosby and Chris Rock keeps feeding people who refuse to learn what life is truly like in black neighborhoods.”
I am not intending to be obtuse; however, I thought my original statement was about just this. We do need educated, equally, and fairly employed black individuals, which is why I brought up the lack of minority enrollment regarding the 10 percent rule in Texas. Second how are Bill Cosby and Chris Rock perpetuating the desire for black people to want to remain unemployed and uneducated? Yes both are vocal about the misgivings within our community and they both could balance their commentary with positive aspects of the black community. However, would that balancing act then excuse Bill Cosby for calling black people out.
“PS – My success is not measured by the size of my wallet. I consider myself very successful.”
Success is how you live your life, that is what my grandmother and grandfather told us. Money is nice but when I leave my job in the evening I leave knowing that I represented myself and those like me in away that could never be misconstrued as stereotypical.
Jazzy,
You wrote…
“I live in Texas I have lived here my entire life I am well aware of the social discriminations that abound in Texas. If college is not the answer to the problems of the black community what is? A change in legislation? Yes of course but that will only come when you have educated voters, educated individuals that are willing to go to capital hill. That will come about when people understand how the court, legal, and legislator work, that comes through education.”
In yesterdays article, I made the following comment…
“Part of the solution is for black people to develop our sense of pride and self. That can’t happen with high profile blacks pointing the finger at other blacks and saying you are the problem. Bill Cosby wants to point at the black people buying five hundred dollar tennis shoes but says nothing to the company that markets five hundred dollar tennis shoes to black people. Bill Cosby says nothing to the other black entertainers that make the image of expensive tennis shoes so attractive that impressionable black people are willing to obtain them at any and all costs.
“Racial disparity is a complex problem that has taken well over four hundred years and millions of people to create. It will take a comperable effort to repair. But it won’t start happen as long as so many black people are so quick to separate themselves from the black community and make issues of racism so much fun that there is no need to face the issue. It is not all clean fun. Racism is a problem that must be addressed.”
You cannot legilate away four hundred years of discrimination. You cannot outlaw a personal philosophy. If people want to be racially prejudice to the point that they are willing to condemn an entire segment of their fellow citizens to subjugation and despair there is nothing in the world we can do to change that. In America, a racist has the right to be racist. Black people who want to abandon the black community have the right to abandon the black community. We cannot do this alone. But as soon as we say we need help people want to say the black community expects handouts. These conditions won’t change unless we make a concerted effort to change it.
Legilation might help. But legislation will not do it alone. Opportunities for college will help. But these opportunities will not do it alone. The black community needs jobs. The black community needs role models who are proud to be affiliated with the black community and not point their finger at black people saying you are less than and you are a failure and you need to simply submit to the racism of the establishment.
When we quit giving people the impression that being black is a crime, or being black and poor is a justification for being murdered by police. When high profile blacks stand in solidarity with the black community in front of the police and offer to add their voices to the voices expressing concern and outrage over police brutality against other black people, maybe then their criticism of the black community can be taken to heart. He or she is one of us and they truly do have our welfare at heart.
But when high profile black people know nothing about what happens in the black community and they aren’t even pretending to try and learn, when they promote the same racist stereotypes of the dominant community, then there is a problem. People don’t respond to nothing but rhetorical beration. Show me your care. Show me that you see me and are not just making assumptions of my condition based on the misinformation the dominant community wants to promote.
Peace
Jazzy,
Please take a moment to read this post Coaching The Black Community!
Peace
Thanks BrotherP the analogy was helpful and apt. I look forward to taking this debate home to discuss with my husband.
BrotherP the website listed below is fairly current. So I stand corrected the enrollement for black youths have increased. The study placed into account the decline population of the black community and the rising population of the latino community. Enjoy the article it I found out a lot of information that I was not aware of.
http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/tif/higher.html