A Farewell to ‘Black America’

[thoughtone]

source: truthdig.com

Posted on Oct 9, 2007
By Eugene Robinson

WASHINGTON—What do Fox News polemicist Bill O’Reilly, nappy-headed radio jock Don Imus, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the leading Republican presidential candidates, the National Urban League, the NAACP and much of the national media have in common?

They don’t see, or don’t want to admit, that “black America” is an increasingly meaningless concept—nearly as imprecise as just plain “America.”

Why is O’Reilly under siege? Because he was shocked to learn that there exists in this country an upscale black-owned restaurant with an affluent African-American clientele. Four or five decades ago, you could reasonably generalize that “black America” was poor. Today, African-Americans control nearly $800 billion in annual purchasing power—enough to dine occasionally at restaurants that have tablecloths.

Why did Imus get fired by CBS and NBC? Because now there are senior black professionals in both of those companies with the clout to march into top executives’ offices and argue that Imus had to go. Also because Al Roker, an African-American who happens to be one of the stars of “Today”—often described as the most profitable show in all of television—called publicly for Imus’ head, or at least his cowboy hat.

Why does Thomas, in his pugnacious autobiography, insist that he’s being persecuted for holding views that are somehow off-limits to black Americans? Apparently, it would destroy his sense of his own exceptionalism to acknowledge the many African-Americans who share his conservative social views and his ethic of personal responsibility and self-help. (He’s right, though, that on the subject of affirmative action, most black Americans do think he’s nuts.)

Why do the leading Republican candidates simply write off the African-American vote, even though there’s clearly a growing number of black voters who demographically fit the Republican profile? Hasn’t the GOP noticed that here in the Washington area—we’re in the vanguard, but other cities are following our lead—more African-Americans live in the suburbs than in the city proper?

The Democratic candidates haven’t really broadened their messages to take into account African-American economic and cultural diversity, either. But at least they noticed that there now exists a cohort of black Americans with unprecedented wealth and power—luminaries who are well worth pursuing for money and endorsements, just like their white counterparts. Hillary Clinton has snagged Magic Johnson, Bob Johnson, Quincy Jones and others. Barack Obama has nabbed Oprah Winfrey, who transcends even the rest of the transcendent.

Why does the National Urban League, an organization for which I have great respect, compile its annual “State of Black America” report in a way that makes the condition of African-Americans seem both better and worse than it really is? The 2007 report’s painstakingly calculated “equality index” says, for example, that African-Americans score 0.57 on the economic scale (full parity with whites would be a score of 1.0). But census data suggests that there’s a sizable cluster of educated, middle-class black households that would score much closer to parity with whites, and another large cluster of disadvantaged black households that would lag much farther behind.

Trying to encompass all of black America in a few easily grasped numbers is far from a meaningless exercise. But it doesn’t point the way toward specific policies for different segments of a diverse population.

Why has the NAACP, once such a potent force, lost so much of its membership and relevance? I would argue that it’s because the organization continues to look for a “black agenda” around which we can all unite with the fervor and passion of decades past, when in fact there’s a need for multiple agendas.

Why do editors, reporters, columnists and television producers keep only two phone numbers on speed-dial for use whenever any news breaks concerning a black person? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they shouldn’t call the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for comment—I like and respect both, and value what they have to say. But it’s a bit much when those same reporters, editors, columnists and producers then proceed to do stories asking who appointed Jackson and Sharpton as spokesmen for all African-Americans.

The problem is that we all say we want an “honest dialogue” about race, but we’ve been having the same old arguments for years—affirmative action, inner-city dysfunction, overt and covert racism—and we seem to be stuck. We need a new language, a new vocabulary and syntax.

Let’s start by opening our eyes and recognizing that if there ever was a monolithic “black America”—absolutely and uniformly deprived and aggrieved, with invariant values and attitudes—there certainly isn’t one now.

Eugene Robinson’s e-mail address is eugenerobinson(at)washpost.com.

© 2007, Washington Post Writers Group

 

[QueEx]

Instead of 'Farewell Black America' Eugene Robinson actually paints another picture, 'Hello Black America' - - hello to the diverse group that we are and, for a long time, have been. 'Hello' ... because few people, whites and fellow Blacks included, seem to grasp that diversity. White people ignore it and will probably continue to ignore it until it impacts their lives (their choices, their realities) and we often ignore it or struggle with it in hopes of one day realizing our 'caliphate' of perfect unity which cannot happen like many envision because of, diversity.

Diversity isn't a bad thing. It just shows how strong we are. How we, like the rest of life on this planet, have evolved and are continuing to evolve. We may be experiencing some growing pains in the process but the truth is, in my opinion, its Hello to a race of people who, through all adversities, are continuously striving, overcoming, and attaining.

QueEx

 

[qweedread]

Interesting points but who's reading?

 

[Cruise]

Instead of 'Farewell Black America' Eugene Robinson actually paints another picture, 'Hello Black America' - - hello to the diverse group that we are and, for a long time, have been. 'Hello' because few people, whites and especially fellow Blacks included, seem to grasp that diversity. White people ignore it and will probably continue to ignore it until it impacts their lives (their choices, their realities) and we often ignore or it and struggle with it in hopes of one day realizing our 'caliphate' of perfect unity which cannot happen like many envision because of, diversity.

Diversity isn't a bad thing. It just shows how strong we are. How we, like the rest of life on this planet, have evolved and are continuing to evolve. We may be experiencing some growing pains in the process but the truth is, in my opinion, its Hello to a race of people through all adversities striving, overcoming, and attaining.

QueEx

This guy, in his fervor to be a whiteboy wannabe, wants to dismiss the concept as if he no longer needs it.

Well, that's fine when the stock market is strong, jobs are plentiful, and unemployment (specifically his) is not an issue.

Let's see how fast he returns to reality once times get tight again in this country (and they will).

These people think just because they have a GOOD job, working in the masters house, then whitey is alright.

Ask a business owner how helpful whitey is and whether there is definitely two Americas in the US.

I now believe sell-outs in the pursuit of money have adopted this house-slave mentality where they think just because the honkeys let them have a few crumbs, somehow they are now a honorary honkey.

 

[Greed]

Black America Is Less Homogenous Than You Think

Black America Is Less Homogenous Than You Think
By Jamilah King | Takepart.com
7 hours ago
Takepart.com

“Black Lives Matter” has become one of the more memorable protest slogans in recent memory, and now a new study is shedding more light on whose lives that phrase represents. The study, released this week from the Pew Research Center, shows that a growing number of black people in America are foreign-born immigrants.

The study, which was based on U.S. Census Bureau data, showed that 9 percent of blacks in the United States were born outside the country—often in the Caribbean but, increasingly, also in African countries such as Nigeria and Ethiopia. The number of foreign-born blacks in the U.S. has tripled since 1980. The Census Bureau projects that by 2060, more than 16 percent of U.S. blacks will be immigrants. The study found that black immigrants tend to be older, better educated, and wealthier than U.S.-born blacks.

The report also found that in some metropolitan areas, immigrants already made up a sizable portion of black residents. In Miami, immigrants made up roughly one-third of black residents. In New York City, they made up 28 percent of black residents.

The numbers paint one of the most descriptive pictures of America’s diversity. They also come on the heels of increasingly public conversations about what such diversity means in a country with such a difficult racial history. “Immigrants in general have to deal with adapting to a new country,” William Frey, a demographer and a fellow at the Brookings Institution, told TakePart. “Often there’s a language issue, and sometimes it’s being able to find jobs. The African-American community goes back many generations and has its own set of issues that many feel haven’t been dealt with yet, but those are distinctly different concerns than the ones facing black immigrants.”

In recent years, the dynamic between native and foreign-born blacks has been thrust to the surface of America’s cultural and policy conversations. A 2004 Princeton study found that immigrants accounted for more than a quarter of black students at America’s Ivy League schools. That led some to question the relevance of affirmative action policies, which were originally intended to help bring talented members of historically marginalized groups into many institutions of American society. In 2007, Lani Guinier, a professor at Harvard Law School, famously theorized about why in The Washington Post: “It has to do with coming from a country, especially those educated in Caribbean and African countries, where blacks were in the majority and did not experience the stigma that black children did in the United States.” What Guinier and other black Harvard professors later argued was that affirmative action policies were not helping America’s most disadvantaged blacks—those who were the direct descendants of American slaves—access the country’s most prestigious colleges.

Central to this narrative is if—and how—black immigrants experience race and racism in America differently than U.S.-born blacks.

The conversation is playing out in Hollywood. It’s worth noting that some of the most popular recent films dealing with America’s race legacy have been driven by non-U.S. black actors. One example is 12 Years a Slave, which starred Chiwetel Ejiofor, the British son of Nigerian immigrant parents, and Lupita Nyong’o, who was born in Mexico and raised in Kenya. Similarly, Selma starred David Oyelowo, a British actor of Nigerian descent. One writer at Madame Noire, a popular black blog, wondered if Hollywood was replacing African American actors on screen with African ones.

Trevor Noah, the newly announced host of The Daily Show, is a biracial South African comedian who has sometimes made fun of African Americans. It’s humor that may not be popular with many blacks in the U.S., but it certainly doesn’t preclude him from offering a new and important perspective on race. After all, he grew up in the shadow of apartheid—he’s certainly got something to add, or else he wouldn’t have been chosen to host the show in the first place.

Still, others have argued that black immigrants are not immune to the hazards of American racism. It’s estimated that there are at least half a million 400,000 black people living in the United States who are undocumented.

Black America has always been diverse, and it’s important to have hard data on what that diversity actually looks like. But how to deal with that diversity is the bigger issue.

http://news.yahoo.com/black-america-less-homogenous-think-140415251.html