"White men are producers—we are consumers. They build houses, and we rent them. They raise produce, and we consume it. They manufacture clothes and wares, and we garnish ourselves with them. They build coaches, vessels, cars, hotels, saloons, and other vehicles and places of accommodation, and we deliberately wait until they have got them in readiness, then walk in, and contend with as much assurance for a "right," as though the whole thing was bought by, paid for, and belonged to us. By their literary attainments, they are the contributors to, authors and teachers of, literature, science, religion, law, medicine, and all other useful attainments that the world now makes use of. We have no reference to ancient times—we speak of modern things."
"These are the means by which God intended man to succeed: and this discloses the secret of the white man's success with all of his wickedness, over the head of the colored man, with all of his religion. We have been pointed and plain, on this part of the subject, because we desire our readers to see persons and things in their true position. Until we are determined to change the condition of things, and raise ourselves above the position in which we are now prostrated, we must hang our heads in sorrow, and hide our faces in shame. It is enough to know that these things are so; the causes we care little about. Those we have been examining, complaining about, and moralising over, all our life time. This we are weary of. What we desire to learn now is, how to effect a remedy; this we have endeavored to point out. Our elevation must be the result of self-efforts, and work of our own hands. No other human power can accomplish it. If we but determine it shall be so, it will be so. Let each one make the case his own, and endeavor to rival his neighbor, in honorable competition."
Martin Delaney -- The Elevation of Colored People -- Published 1852.
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I guess Delaney was a "c00n" too?
If black people are waiting for a society that allows individuals to cultivate and foster racist ideologies unimpeded, one rife with covert and overt white supremacist sentiments, and the dominate society to somehow
change -- we are woefully lost. This position we've been shoe-horned into isn't one of our own choosing. Obviously, it did not happen in a vacuum, either. Yet, ultimately getting out of this place is entirely up to us. Entirely! Either we will use our guile and resourcefulness to navigate out of this storm, or we'll just sit here capsized. This doesn't mean we don't hold white people culpable for their actions and eternally keep a mirror handy so they view their wickedness in real-time. But, if you think what's happening in Chicago is going to be ever be fixed by anyone other than black people, I don't know what to tell you.
The music is also problematic. Basically, we've lost complete ability to police our communities. Anything that can be perceived as a criticism towards black ethos is demonized and then all this mental gymnastics takes place. They were tired of talking about whose fault and such in the 1800's! 200 years later and we're still having the same conversations.
