"You running and you running but you can't runaway from yourself.." ~~~Bob Marley~~
I recently saw a 2004 article from the National Review while googling "black bloggers" on the web. The article was by some guy named Dan LeRoy and it was basically a praise job of conservative and right of center black bloggers. No problem with that, if you know anything about me you will know that I encourage opposite points of views on damn near everything. One of my favorite writers on the net is a guy named Cobb, a conservative from the left coast. I met the guy, and I found him to be a decent person who really cares about his race. So I totally embrace the notion that black folks aren't monolithic, and it really bothers me when right wing black folks try to imply that their voices are being drowned out by those of us with dissimilar views.
The language that these right wing black folks use to describe other blacks who are to the left of them always pisses me off as well. They throw around words like "defeatist", "victimology", and "victimhood". And they swear that left wing progressive black folks always play that role. Personally, I am tired of hearing it, and my question to them would be this: Is someone being defeatist if they want black people to work harder and be more self sufficient? Are they playing the victim role if they want white America to be accountable for past injustices to their ancestors and older family members? Are they succumbing to victimology, if unlike their right wing brothers, they don't want to depend on the majority population and the crumbs from their table? I don't think so. And I don't think it's playing the victim role at all to demand accountability from a country that claims to be the greatest democracy on earth.
Black conservatives remind me of a girl I dated once.(Stay with me on this analogy) She was from a very poor family; single mother, brother doing hard time, older siblings on welfare, the whole nine. On the other hand, she was a hard worker, did very well in school, and ultimately ended up getting a law degree and working for a very large law firm. Girlfriend got hers and never looked back. She was always admonishing me for caring so much about black causes and things that effect black folks. She said it's because I never had it as hard as she did so I could never understand the hard work that it took to get out of her condition. "No" she said "If those other black folks want to make it they can. Just like I did, look at my family and what I made of myself; what's stopping them from doing the same thing"? And I always tell her; "the same thing that could have stopped you. They didn't have an even playing field from the jump, you were lucky because you just happen to be an extra hard worker". Of course our relationship didn't last too long. Too many fights, and too much of me pulling her back into something she just wanted to get away from. I think that's how right wing black folks see us, and thus the victimology tag. Most of them, I suspect, come from circumstances where their families had some serious struggles, and some people would have considered them victims, (look at Clarence Thomas) and like Catholic alter boys, they are trying to suppress those bad memories. That's why when field Negroes like yours truly comes along to remind them what and where they are running from, it really pisses them off.
So no my conservative black friends I am not a victim, and neither are you. But our ancestors and those who came before us were, and America still suffers from its effects. Actually, I take that back, we are all victims; not just right and left wing black folks, but until we get this shit right; you can include everyone else in America as well.
