The Black Informant

African-Americans and the Whole Entitlement Thing

This is a really big topic, so I will try my best to discuss it in this posting. I know that throughout the day, if I think of more to add to this posting, you will see it posted. So Stay tuned!

While on Booker Rising’s site, there was a posting on there that dealt with situation that to me is a small representation of the whole entitlement debate. In short, some in the African-American community in Detroit are wanting to establish a town called Africa town that will serve as an empowerment zone for the Blacks in that community. The only thing is that they want Federal dollars to fund it. Now I have very mixed feelings about the Federal government getting involved. I say mixed because if other ethnic parts of the city have received federal funding to build from the ground up (those last 4 words make a huge difference), then of course, I have no problem with it. Otherwise, the government needs to stay out of it.

Now, let me give you the history behind my approach to this issue:

Although all people groups in this country had to endure some type of discrimination, none have had to endure the deep levels of discrimination, oppression, and just downright racism that Blacks had to endure in this country. We are the only people group that, for the most part, came to this country on an involuntary basis. We were taken away from our homes, brought to this country (if we survived the trip), had our families split up via the slave auctions, and if that was not destructive enough, indoctrinated to trust no one except white people. The result of all of this was a total wipe out of African culture from our minds and spirit. Slavery came and eventually went away:however, discrimination, injustice, and racism did not go away so quickly. Meanwhile, you had other ethnic groups pouring into this country by the hundreds of thousands, finding their little corner of the world and building it up. Many of these people came with absolutely nothing except the clothes on their back and raw will and determination to make it in this new world. When these immigrants began to establish their little corner of the world, there was very little if any government funding available to assist in the Establishment of their communities and cities. You see, because their sense of culture was intact, they instinctively knew that in order for them to survive in this new world, they had to stick together and make it happen. When businesses were established, it was a community effort that eventually benefited the community as a whole. Eventually, many of these immigrants, who by this time had children and grandchildren born into this new world, established their own banks and/or financial repositories that brought further collective benefit to their communities.

While all of these ethnic groups were allowed the opportunity to grow into maturity via self-reliance, it enabled them to become competitive with the rest of the world at large. Blacks, on the other had were still heavily discouraged to grow fully like the rest of these people groups. Systematic tools such as the jim crow laws made sure we did not have the opportunity to fully blossom into the self-reliant, high competitive (competitive meaning within the global marketplace) people that we were in Africa before all of this happened. The successes of the Civil Rights movement gave a punishing blow to these old systems that were keeping Black people down. Since then, Blacks have made some great strides socially, financially, educationally, etc. But the damage had already been done.

In an effort to right the wrongs of all the mistreatment that Blacks had to endure since arriving in this country, the federal government began to tailor make various entitlement programs that were designed for (mainly Blacks) us to regain equal status in this society—so they thought. Most Blacks saw it as a well deserved payback. Programs like affirmative action’s goal was to further even the playing field for Blacks. Sounded like a very good plan, I mean, we should have got something back for the bum deal that was given to us, right?

Now here is when the dark side of entitlements began to arise. With all of this free stuff being thrown in our direction, very little is being done to ween Blacks off these hand-outs so that we can mature into a self-sufficient people just like all the other races had to go through. Since then, years and even decades have come and gone and we are still in a state where we are asking the government for more while the message of self-sufficiency is scoffed.

There are those that would say, “Well, the only way that we can get to the place of self-sufficiency is by government assistance.” To make such a claim would be to totally undermine the process of endurance that so many others had to go through. Yes, our ancestors did take a greater beating that the other people groups;however, unless you are close to 200 years old, you have not been directly touched with the atrocities of slavery. In addition, we have had many years since the civil rights era to prove to the world that we can be totally self-sufficient apart from government intervention;however, the opportunity to prove this has been blocked by more and more entitlements from the government. This even brings into question how we refer to ourselves as African-Americans. If we really had that tie to Africa, then like most Africans that come to this country, we would totally reject the notion that it is the government that is responsible to get us to the place of self sufficiency.

When you keep giving someone something for free instead of making them earn it, you lower that person’s personal drive and will to be the best that they can be. If you pass a Black student up to the next grade without using his grades as a determining factor, what you are doing is not only destroying his will, but a community. The attitude of the student would be something like:” Why should I take care of my community? That is the government’s responsibility”. Ethnic communities we built on raw determination and will. Government entitlements at this stage are doing nothing but eroding our communities away.

So should that black community in Detroit receive funding from the federal government to establish Africa Town? My ultimate answer is no. At some point we have to stop allowing government to interfere in our attempts to leave a legacy for our children. Legacies are forged in the fires of hard work, determination, and perseverance. Legacies are not legislated, but earned.