WHICH WAY FOR BLACK AMERICA?
By Norm R. Allen Jr.
Throughout the history of Black America, many people have proposed many strategies for Black uplift. Many, if not most, theorists have been more strongly wedded to their theories and proposed strategies than to the pursuit of freedom by any means necessary. They have been extremely stubborn and dogmatic, even doubling down when their ideas have obviously failed on many levels.
Various tried and/or suggested strategies have included ideas rooted in capitalism, Marxism, self-help, conservative politics, progressive politics, integration, separatism, reparations, violent revolution, and so forth. However, despite all of these ideas, we Blacks still lead in categories no one wants to lead in (poverty, infant mortality, lack of education, poor health care, and so forth.)
What we need to do is seriously ask ourselves why Blacks are still on the bottom rungs of society. For example, Blacks have been advocating Black capitalism since the 18th Century. As former talk show host Tony Brown used to say, Black capitalism advocates always say that if every Black person in the U.S. donated one dollar to a unified effort to economically empower Black people, we would be well on our way to economic freedom. However, this is never done.
In the 1960s, Black capitalism held great potential in Rochester, New York. According to a story in the September 12, 2021 edition of THE BUFFALO NEWS, “There was a time….when Rochester was on the cutting edge of Black ‘community capitalism’ — an effort to create companies owned, staffed and managed largely by Black people that could lift up the broader community.” (“In the 1960s, ‘Black capitalism’ promised a better city for everyone; what happened?”)
Xerox worked together with “a Black Power group” to bring into existence a factory that produced parts for copying and the processing of film. Workers had part ownership in the enterprise. The company, which came to be known as Eltrex Industries, put hundreds of Black people to work.
Sadly, the company closed in 2011. Many blamed the closing on racism and too much financial dependence upon Xerox and Kodak. (Kodak went bankrupt in 2012 and Xerox experienced financial problems.) According to Tony Jackson, a Black Rochester businessman, Eltrex “…could have been the nation’s first billion-dollar Black-owned business and the start of many others….But it failed to adapt.”
Booker T. Washington advocated self-help and Black business development. Later, Marcus Garvey advocated Reactionary Black Nationalism and founded and headed the Black Star Line of steam ships, which eventually failed. Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam had an $80 million empire with several businesses ostensibly geared toward the economic uplift of Black people. Malcolm X advocated Black nationalism and Black business development. In the 1980s, Minister Louis Farrakhan advocated People Organized and Working for Economic Re-birth (POWER) which he pretty much guaranteed would bring Black people to widespread economic prosperity.
In 1967, Harold Cruse wrote THE CRISIS OF THE NEGRO INTELLECTUAL: FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE PRESENT. Cruse had a conception of Black nationalism that was anti-Semitic, but otherwise, not very reactionary. He was of the opinion that any movement to uplift Black people must have strong cultural, political, economic, social and intellectual components. Cruse viciously attacked numerous Black intellectuals and seemed to imply that he had the true answers to Black uplift.
Cruse saw Harlem as the capital of Black America. He thought highly of Malcolm X and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Cruse lived in Harlem, yet he did not join or help the OAAU. Cruse talked the talk but he could not walk the walk to help his people.
Many have advocated Marxism, but Marxism has never caught on in the U.S., and has never brought about widespread prosperity wherever it has been practiced (Cuba, the former Soviet Bloc, North Korea, and so forth.) In China, however, with the acceptance of capitalist principles, there is strong economic development and widespread prosperity.
Farrakhan still advocates separation, even though, in the 80s, he used to understand that most Blacks would never accept it. Most U.S. Blacks have no interest in leaving to live in another country. Even if they did, who really wants to live under the Ayatollah Farrakhan? Most U.S. Blacks would never accept Farrakhan’s conception of Islam.
Most Blacks have long ago abandoned any unrealistic plans of a violent revolution. Many of us do want reparations, but there is no guarantee that we will ever receive them. If we don’t, should we conclude that our plight is hopeless?
I believe that the best way forward is building social democracies like those in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and so forth. Those nations are wealthy and healthy, and they look out for the poor. There is widespread happiness and secularism. Women’s rights are largely respected in these nations and there are strong democratic institutions.
Malcolm X had the best idea. He favored bringing our brightest Black minds together to come up with answers to our problems. We need humble critical thinkers rather than arrogant critics who are absolutely certain that they have all of the correct answers.