In light of the recent report that shows that during this current recession the already-wide racial wealth gap has grown even more wide, I thought it would be appropriate to post a series I wrote in 2007 when I was a contributing editor for the Black Agenda Report. Regrettably, the information is just as prescient now as it was then.
In part seven, I attempted to tell the untold story about the predicament of Black males during the economic boom of the nineties and what the governmental and societal response to the black victims of Hurricane Katrina tells us about where we are today.
Today marks the conclusion of the series with part eight. What are the real dollar costs of this deep and abiding racism? What should our response be to these extremely troubling realities?
The Conclusion of the Whole Matter
It is ironic that the patriotic (both conservative and progressive) don’t view the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or the Revolutionary & Civil Wars as historical curiosities divorced and detached from where we find ourselves today. On the contrary, the significance of those documents and events are invoked into the debate and dialogue consistently in regard to current events. So what sort of collective and selective amnesia has to take place in order for us to deny the equally important role that racism has played in the shaping of America?
For example, politicians on both the left and the right; the fiscally-conservative and the socially progressive speak of “runaway spending” and how the government is leaving a deficit that our children and grandchildren will have to pay---and many people say amen to this. Yet, those same people will either ignore or deny the historical and current debt and deficit of racism that has been piled on this nation’s oppressed, that their children and grandchildren, past and present and future, are now paying and will pay in generations to come.
Yet, those same people will either ignore or deny the historical and current debt and deficit of racism that has been piled on this nation’s oppressed
Thomas M. Shapiro in his book “The Hidden Costs of Being African American” perfectly encapsulates the impetus for this series of writings: “Because wealth sometimes represents inequalities from the past, it not only is a measure of differences in contemporary resources but also suggests inequalities that will play out in the future. Looking at racial inequality through wealth changes our conception of its nature and magnitude and of whether it is declining or increasing.” Additionally, the African Policy Forum’s Focus on Affirmative Action website presents the facts as thus:
$1.6 trillion: The estimated economic loss for African Americans as a result of legal segregation for 1929-1969 (in 1983 dollars).
+ Several trillion dollars: The cost of discrimination from the end of slavery in 1865 to the year 1969, the end of American style apartheid, based on year-2000 dollars.
+ $94-123 billion: The estimate of how much Black workers lose annually from continuing discrimination and informal segregation in employment.
+ 100 billion: The estimated amount that Blacks in this generation have lost in home equity as a result of the racial discrimination they confront when they attempt to secure mortgages for homes and businesses = $5 to $24 trillion: The sum total of the worth of all the Black labor stolen through the means of slavery, segregation, and contemporary discrimination in today's dollars.
To Black folk and people of goodwill, this must seem like an insurmountable task that lies before us, and I understand. In light of the history and information detailed here, who wouldn’t? However, we cannot be paralyzed by the real obstacles we face or by the oppressive images that invade our mental skies. To overcome this history it will take every ounce of will we possess. It will require us taking risks that we dared not take before. It may necessitate a collective discipline that goes beyond anything we have done previously. No matter how dire the circumstances we face, we MUST rise to the challenge--- when all is said and done, what is the alternative?
We are not responsible for historical, institutional or systemic racism. However, we will be held responsible by the generations that follow if we devolve in to a congregate malaise of inactivity and apathy. The vast majority of us may not be able to leave a large material inheritance for our children in terms of dollars and cents, but we can leave a legacy of striving in spite of obstacles; a bequest of perseverance. For that is the inheritance that we ourselves have received and it is time we corporately cash it in.
Those who trod the road before us were caretakers of the vision, not the vision itself---we too, must be caretakers. Only a mentally and spiritually-liberated people can affect the vast social and political realities that we face. A great deal of us were convinced that we had “arrived;” we hailed the banishment of the signs of “colored” and “white” (and rightly so). Yet, we were not diligent in eradicating the attitudes and systems that produced those signs. Things such as the Civil Rights Act, the Brown decision, the Montgomery bus boycott and so on, were signs pointing to the destination of full equality, not the destination itself. I respect monuments, but a movement is what is necessary. A movement as powerful and as deep as the level of our frustrations; and a movement that realizes our highest and most just aspirations.
As I stated in the introduction of this series, there are many who will view my critique and analysis as some sort of hate-filled rant against white people or an exercise in victimhood---a phrase being used in greater frequency among professed white progressives. The notion that one has to be angry or bitter in order to discuss and deconstruct the history of American racism and white privilege is, to me, bewildering and frustrating. Victimhood has become the catch-phrase for any and everybody who challenges the mechanisms and vehicles of historic and institutional racism. Like the signs “keep off the grass” or “beware of dog,” it is meant as a deterrent for any deep or challenging discussion regarding race and racism in America. Nevertheless, I am willing to address this erroneous assertion and suspect reasoning.
What is an injustice if not a moral, social (and sometimes legal) crime? What components are necessary for a commission of a crime? A perpetrator and a victim (whether real or property). When the woman who has been raped or the man who has been assaulted details the crime in the form of a police report, they are not reveling in victimhood, they are merely stating what happened, how it happened and who was involved. This is the case with those of us who continue to insist that racism plays a part in where we find ourselves today and will continue to impact our tomorrows. The point of departure between those who don’t believe that racism has much bearing on our lives today and those of us who do (going back to my crime analogy) is that they believe that the perpetrator has been subdued and apprehended; while we believe that the assailant has not been, fully, brought to justice.
I began each entry of this series with: in light of the recent report. We must remember that the recent report has a centuries-old genesis. The price and stakes are too high for us to forget that.
Note: thanks to all the regular and faithful readers of this series. My interaction with you all was the greatest part of writing this.