A Letter To Interracialpower

If I have insulted you then I must apologize. It is not my intention to belittle guest to my blog. Obviously, you care somewhat about the black community. That in itself is a lot more than what can be said about a lot of people, black or white. But your opinion and theories on the future of the black community and its relationship with the dominant community are based on fairy tales of human behavior that just do not apply to the realities of the black community.

Black people who have done well are not the saviors of the black community. If Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Tiger Woods, and etcetera were to go broke today it wouldn’t have any effect on my personal life. If every rich black person was to lose their money it would have no affect on the black community what so ever. If Oprah Winfrey’s business went bankrupt based on her penchant to hire white people, it would impact far more white people and their families than black people and black families. Ms. Winfrey doesn’t support her family. She cut her family out of her life once she made it big. Montel Williams, Tiger Woods, James Earl Jones, O.J. Simpson, Sidney Poitier, Richard Pryor, Clarence Thomas, Venus Williams and others took their fortune and married or white people. How did their money help the black community? It didn’t. They took the vast majority of their resources to help white people.

High profile blacks who make it a personal priority to help the black community obtain equality in America are not a common phenomenon. They are rare. High profile black people who have children with white people have children who levitate towards the dominant community. Nicole Richie just loves to hang out with black people. Sherri Belafonte loves to hang with people in the black community as well. And Tiger Woods is bending over backwards trying to promote himself as a champion of the black community and issues of racial equality. Mr. Wood’s fortune went to a white woman and his children will grow up so removed from their black identity and their black ancestry that they too will grow up and identify with the white community in ways that their father could only dream of. Where do you come up with the notion that these people are gravitating towards helping their black brothers and sisters?

You wrote, <strong>”Give me Allan Keys any day over Newt Gingrich. Which of those two will do more to help Black people. I am sure that even Mr. Allan Keys helps his Black family. Rich and famous African Americans are better than Rich and famous White people for the improvment of the conditions of African Americans. They smash open glass cielings.”</strong> When it comes to their impact on the black community there is absolutely no difference between Mr. Keyes and Mr. Gangrich. As far as the black community is concerned, they are one and the same. Mr. Keyes would do no more, no less for the black community. As far as I’m concerned, you can have both.

High profile black people do not identify with the normal black people. High profile interracial people are even less inclined to help the black community. High profile white people are even less likely. This is not to say that it doesn’t happen. Bill Gates has given a lot of money and equipment to the black community in Seattle. A black person probably managed to slip through Ms. Winfrey’s employment requirements with their racial identity intact. But the idea that this is the norm or that these people will do whatever they can for the rest of the black community is not the way reality happens.

Rich black people don’t automatically make things easier for other black people. Bill Cosby standing in front of white people telling them that the white community has already done enough and ridiculing other black people does nothing for me. In fact, it makes it more difficult to convince people of the racism that continues to impact the black community. These people are not stepping stones. These people are rocks that are being used to stone other black people. These people do not make my life any easier. They cause more damage than good. While they may help their family members they distort reality for people such as you who think they have so much love and interest in developing racial equality. Where were these black people when the Jena Six were being prosecuted for second degree murder? Where were these black people when Katrina impacted so many black people in Louisiana? Where were these black people when Martin Anderson was killed in Florida or Sean Bell was gunned down in New York?

If you wish to continue to believe things are so much better you are more than welcome to say so. If you want to quote statistics that say the average white household net worth was twenty times that of African American’s income in the 1980s and is now only six times the average income is a sign of improvement, then go ahead. I would like to know where you get these numbers from because I find them pretty difficult to believe. Regardless of the numbers, the racial disparity that continues to permeate every facet of life in America is truly despicable. I refuse to rejoice because disparity is getting better. I will save my celebration for when the job is truly done.

Peace