We live in Black people’s fate is also fate era. As a community-based rally slogan and a formal organization (Black Life is Life Global Network), BLM stood up and responded to the multiple killings of unarmed blacks by volunteers and white police. But it has evolved into something bigger, which is the most important catalyst for social change in this generation. For the first time in American history, a consensus has been reached that the lives of blacks are very important, and we must solve the long-standing inequality problem of black Americans.
The question is how to achieve this goal. On the one hand, you have the views embodied by the “Black’s Fate is Fate” movement and its followers, which focuses on external factors such as systemic racism and white supremacy. On the other hand, you have views supported by conservatives (both blacks and whites), and they advise the black community to look inward for the root causes of the continuing inequality faced by black Americans.
These two positions are generally considered incompatible. Conservatives condemned the BLM’s talking points about disbanding nuclear families and cutting funding for police, immigration, and customs enforcement, while many leftists believed that we were looking for solutions within the black community to address our accusations of being victims of racism. Considering the history of the United States, is there really reason to think that we should remove the responsibility of anti-black racism from white Americans-which has plagued this country since its inception-and put the burden of healing entirely on blacks?
This is a fair question.However, place Do not The responsibility to black people is not that we might hope to get a fair golden ticket. Because the fact is, Both Both sides of this debate have their own opinions: We must solve the problem of systemic racism-we must heal ourselves. These are not conflicting positions; both are necessary to create a truly equal America, and if we are afraid to point out the real and complex culprits behind our inequality, we will not be able to achieve this goal.
This is true because this inequality takes many forms.The typical black family just One-tenth of wealth A white family.If in 1863, black Americans owned half of 1% of national wealth, thenToday it is just over 1.5%This astonishing inequality clearly stems from the roots of the whole system. Affirmative action attempts to solve this problem; it was designed as a primitive BLM to confirm that the lives and economic prosperity of multi-generation African Americans are ultimately important, and this This prosperity is being hindered by external factors such as racism in recruitment.
This should have happened long ago: the government did not target other ethnic populations of generations like the black community. No other population is unilaterally excluded from full participation in the US economic process like us.The duration and scope of this damage is Exclusive to Multi-generational black America-especially the descendants of slaves.
Of course, we now know that affirmative action is not the solution many people hope for. most The beneficiaries of affirmative action are not the descendants of slaves at all, but white women. But it is not just the ineffective implementation of affirmative action that deserves criticism, because economic inequality is not the only form of inequality that we continue to face.
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Because although policies such as affirmative action try to address the external causes of inequality, we somehow come to a situation where three-quarters of non-immigrant black children are born to unmarried mothers.These children usually grow up in low-resource families, they have limited opportunities and are at risk of being imprisoned Much higher. This risk is exacerbated by the fact that One of the biggest The people who fall victim to gun deaths are young men aged 15-35, most of whom are black and/or Latino. every day In the United States, 26 blacks were killed.
There is no doubt that external factors determine why so many black children are born to single mothers, and why so many black men are killed by others in gun violence. Of course, some of them are systemic racism. Things like red lines and white runaways played a role in these inequalities. When our communities gave up most of their own institutions and cornerstone businesses, causing dependence on non-black resources, black America was not prepared after the abolition of apartheid good. Black Americans believe that the abolition of apartheid will provide us with all the opportunities and material resources for which we will fight and sacrifice. It took us a long time to realize that civil rights legislation, which focuses mainly on interstate commerce and national economic interests, does not focus on Punish anti-black prejudice.
In this regard, our community has a naivety: apartheid is “unfair and unequal”, not only because blacks and whites cannot commute, marry, and share tables together; separation and inequality are unjust because of the US dollar There is no fair crossing of ethnic boundaries. Ironically, the source of these dollars is the forced labor of enslaved ancestors on ordinary black Americans in the 1960s and most southern blacks today.
But again, it’s not just external factors at work. The naivety after the initial isolation has evolved into another epidemic in the black community: self-hatred. Our black community still has internal issues regarding hair texture and skin color preferences (such as the “brown paper bag test” that determines beauty standards and social treatment). These preferences affect the ability of blacks to live together, love each other, and cooperate. This makes black people distrust people in the black community, and at the same time they don’t trust—but still rely on—people outside the black community.
We black Americans must give up and forget about this unrealistic legacy of the past.
In addition, I often meet black Americans who believe in the media’s narratives about their innate inferiority and crime. This causes black people to fear each other and distrust the money or well-being of their fellow black people. Unlike other economically savvy communities, contemporary blacks will not strategically gather their dollars or consolidate their political will. For example, I noticed that if black people shop in black companies, we tend not to tolerate customer service mistakes. However, we seem to tolerate disrespect and even direct verbal and physical abuse from other agencies. This casual attitude towards community life shows a low level of self-esteem that will not win the respect of others, because it is obvious that we fail to really value ourselves.
How do people learn to act like this?How do these traces of marginalization still exist in 21 yearsYingshi Century Black America?
The black community needs to heal itself in many ways. Although the white-led system shares responsibilities, we cannot rely on or wait for white Americans to solve our problems for us.
In the past two generations, black Americans have made some progress in eliminating stereotypes through television shows, movies, and literature. But there is still a lot to do.
When we discuss the personal or government responsibilities of the status of the black community, we are essentially asking a question about balance. While we must demand racial and economic justice in the United States, we must also demand our own personal and community responsibilities.
We must establish systems to instill resilience in our young people, provide cushioning relationships and safety, so that the community trauma and family challenges experienced by black youth will be reduced. Black Americans must implement accountability in the community; we must be accountable for the results of our youth, especially when no one else wants to. We must promote a prosperous mentality through all necessary means. We must pursue self-advocacy.
There are many treatments to be done, and treatments and restorations must come from within the black community and From the American system. It is/and, not/or: the United States as a country must respond to the trauma caused by its past decisions, which means maintaining fairness and responsibility. What I mean by fairness is to return what we deserve and what we have systematically detained to black Americans. Emphasize that good results are the way to repair the chaotic marriages between multi-generational African Americans, descendants of slaves, and the United States.
Perhaps with a conscious intention, accepting shared responsibility and a real commitment to change, we can heal our country in this generation.
Pamela “Denise” Long is the principal consultant, therapist and founder of Youthcentrix® Therapy Services, a company focused on implementing trauma-informed practices and diversity, fairness, inclusion and anti-racism (DEIA) at the individual and system levels. Denise is the creator of “Humane Antiracism”, an online course that puts interpersonal relationships at the center of anti-racism changes. Connect with her on Twitter @pdeniselong, LinkedIn or @YOUTHCENTRIX.
The views in this article are those of the author.
