Conservatives Need Not be Afraid of Black Conciousness
White Conservatives need not be afraid of Black "consciousness". Many times people confuse "black consciousness" with "black supremacy". In general Black consciousness can be defined as the realization by the black man of the need to rally together with his brothers and sisters,accept and love the blackness of their skin, and to work together to free themselves of the shackles that tie them to perpetual servitude. I went from being a black nationalist to a black conservative because of the strong desire I felt to psychologically emancipate Blacks from the perpetual servitude to the system set up and designed by Liberal Democrats. Besides, what's the problem with this message? Don't Asians,Hispanics, and the Jewish community stick together?
When I call myself a “Nappy Head Republican” it’s because of the pride I feel to wear my hair kinky-instead of accepting the message inculcated in me from when I was a child-that Black skin and Nappy Hair is a handicap. I received that message from my family and also from the society. Yes, Blacks have made many strides since emancipation, but since liberals infiltrated our communities, we’ve also regressed tremendously. At the same time, Conservatives cannot forget that there are still vestiges of slavery seen through internalized oppression. We cannot ignore these things because they make us feel uncomfortable. My students have definitely internalized a message of inferiority especially when they say things like, "This is the way Black people are supposed to act..."
Blacks are constantly talking about “good hair” and “good skin”and I always have a visceral reaction because all of these positions came about AFTER European colonization. Two notable Black Psychologists by the names of Kenneth Clarke and Mamie Clark conducted several doll experiments in the 1940s. On several occasions they gave young black children the choice to pick between playing with a “White doll” and a“Black doll”. An overwhelming majority of the black children picked the white doll because they believed the black doll was inferior. The same experiment was re-administered in 2005 with the same results. Why?Because blacks still feel inferior. This inferiority is perpetuated by liberals especially with policies that coddle blacks instead of structuring policies which tap into our potential. I was also told that being a Republican/Conservative isn’t something productive.Fortunately, I rejected both of those messages.
When urban conservatives boast about the Black Conservatives like Mary Mcleod Bethune, Sojournor Truth, Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington,and Frederick Douglas it’s because Ronald Reagan, Ayn Rand, and Milton friedman aren't the only faces of Conservatism.
Steve Biko wanted Blacks in South Africa to internalize the fact that black is beautiful. Whites misunderstand these phrases because most whites don’t understand why you have to say "Black is beautiful"because it's not necessary to say things like “White is beautiful”. The reason why the latter doesn't have to be said is because it's understood through Euro-centric Images of beauty constantly being displayed in the media. Even our "Black role models" have blond hair.Asian women are constantly trying to emulate European standards of beauty. In the Caribbean black women are constantly buying products(TODAY) to bleach their skin. If you walk into a beauty supply store in the inner city, you will more often then not find a section dedicated to skin bleach. This is why we still say "Black is BEAUTIFUL". Whites don’t have to deal with internalized oppression. Whites don’t see a barrage of negative images of themselves in the media. I understand that whites may feel guilt because of wrongs committed by their forefathers. Please don't misunderstand the purpose of this post-it's not to make you feel guilty. I just want you to understand why it may seem as though I have a slightly different message.
Black consciousness is really about ingraining in blacks that we don’t need the proverbial “white man” “liberals” or “republicans”—what we do need are conservative principles and policies driven towards economic,educational, and social parity. Need I remind everyone that before we became a political interest group we owned our own businesses and were learning in the segregated classrooms.
When I am challenging my students, I have to also challenge archaic beliefs about the black race and an inherent sense of inferiority that they feel like (e.g. Intelligence is a white solely a white domain).The reason why liberalism is so dangerous is because liberals unknowingly perpetuate the belief that Blacks are inferior-thus blacks need the help of liberals because liberals especially “white liberals”assume they know what's best.
Jesus Christ said that our “brothers and sisters” are those who do the will of our Father in Heaven. To my white conservative brothers and sisters, don’t be afraid when you hear me and other urban/black conservatives talking about black empowerment, a need to be conscious,and also a need for blacks to stick together. It has nothing to do with us feeling superior-we just want to be equal. We want economic parity for our brothers and sister in the hood. We want educational parity for our brothers and sisters in the hood. We all know liberalism has failed us tremendously. We aren’t any “less conservative” than you because we talk about race and acknowledge that there are different cultural elements and different axiology's (value systems). We simply have a slightly different focus because we want to emancipate people in the inner city from archaic belief’s regarding “government handouts”. We want our people to realize, the same way kids in suburbia realize that we are in a global economy-- a global marketplace. We need solutions that aren’t naïve-but concrete policies packaged in a way so that Black people can see which political side holds pragmatic approaches for true urban revitalization.
Statistically, we know that Blacks lag behind whites as it relates to standardized testing, college graduation rates, employment rates, and salaries. So, again, when urban conservatives talk about "black consciousness" don’t be threatened by the empowerment message-because AGAIN it’s about ECONOMIC PARITY, EDUCATIONAL PARITY, and SOCIAL PARITY…NOT SUPREMACY. We’re all in this together-we’re just assigned different roles, all for the same goal: Economic FREEDOM and Social equality FOR ALL. Just because my focus is different than yours doesn't make me any less of a Conservative. If the Democratic Party is a big tent party with social conservatives, communists, Marxists, and KKK members, why can't the Republican Party include Social Conservatives,Fiscal Conservatives, Black Conservatives, Conscious urban conservatives, Hip Hop Republicans, and Libertarians?
Succinctly put! It's hard to argue with TRUTH. Sad that we chose to to embrace lies and false realities more than we chose to embrace the TRUTH. I believe we've been hitting and missing for so long and denying TRUTH, which is why we haven't gone forward since the 70's. It's like we've been going around these same "mountains" for years, but not overcoming and achieveing anything. Keep telling the truth!
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Hello,
I am the editor for a Republican Women's club. I would like to quote 3 sentences from this article. I found it VERY well written. It expresses some profound truths. If you would like to see the sentences I would like to quote please email. THe newsletter is not sold.
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As long as it's sourced, no problem! Stay blessed!
Vanessa
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Good article.
One point of clarification in the model of Black cultural and political thought.
I make the argument that there is an "American Political Domain" and a "Black Community Consciousness Domain". Though these two domains have substantial interplay due to the realities of where we live, they are distinctly different with respect to the development of our people.
I am a Black Conservative who is an independent in the American political domain. Though I am more inclined to prefer conservative political policies - I don't see any particular benefit to the Black community by positioning the Republican party as a gateway to Black development just as the Democrats have been sold. (Note - I am not accusing you of promoting this. Just commenting in general terms).
It is a sad truth that many Blacks will sour upon "conservativism" IF it is tied to the Republican Party. Which it need not be as they don't have a monopoly on the subject.
It is the Black Establishment forces that control the messages that stream into our community and thus any force that they register as a threat to THEIR INTERESTS will be systematically attacked thereby insuring that it is made to be seen as being against the "Black Best Interests".
My goal is to put forth more effective management structures by which those who CLAIM to be working in our people's best interests can be made to PROVE that this is the case.
Instead the incumbents leverage the perverted notion that "popularity" equals "effectiveness". The rhetorical question of "So you think that Black people are STUPID and don't know who has our own interests?" is frequently used.
This merely sets up the permanent "change" and "struggle" meme that we are presently enduring. Regardless of how many "favorable people" are put into power over our community institutions those in power merely need to play upon the people's hatred for their adversaries to yield more of their power to ultimately help those who have been failing them to KEEP TRYING.
My view is that before you even begin to talk "conservatism" you must challenge the progressive-fundamentalist to agree to TRANSPARENCY and be bound to MEASUREMENT.
Ironically if he does submit there will be two outcomes:
1) Progressivism will be proven to be effective and the Black Conservative would be silenced
2) The flaws of Progressivism will be exposed an a blended approach that is more EFFECTIVE will be rendered.
The only losers in the unwillingness for inspection is the Black community itself.
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