Dr. Boyce Watkins states~~~~~ I recently observed the dialogue that took place between the legendary Bill Cosby and the not-as-legendary Don Lemon on CNN about the state of the Black Community. I have a hard time stomaching these conversations because it seems that most of us are comfortable scratching the surface of issues without having the courage necessary to dig to the root of a problem. It’s easy to conclude that people who make choices that are different from our own are somehow irrational, ignorant and subhuman. But if you believe that all men and women are created equal, you must confront the possibility that the reason someone responds to the world differently from yourself is because they are dealing with a very different situation. I am neither a liberal, nor a conservative. In fact, I am not sure which group annoys me the most. Overly liberal thought can sometimes promote the idea that any form of behavior is acceptable, and that simply pushing people to be more disciplined and responsible in their lives is somehow a restriction on their individual liberties. Also, legitimate tough love is often replaced by a long list of excuses for what are ultimately selfish, myopic and irresponsible choices. In other words, telling brothers to pull their pants up and do their homework doesn’t make you an elitist. It makes you a productive role model. The truth is that we live in a community where one person’s actions affect the other. If half of the ship is sinking due to poor choices, then those of us who care have the obligation to stand up and say, “No, you’re not going to do that anymore.” That’s the entire premise of our New Paradigm Tour that we’re doing this year. In fact, I dare say that anyone who seeks to harm the black community is an enemy of the community, even if that person is Black. Those who harm our children must be threatened with exile and even annihilation (this is why I don’t regret what we did to the artist Lil Wayne). We don’t have time for the mass promotion of self-destructive ignorance, there is too much at stake and our future husbands and fathers are falling into too many avoidable death traps, like sheep being led to slaughter. Unfortunately, conservative thinking can sometimes prop up White Supremacy by concluding that the reason some people are less successful than others is because they are simply choosing to fail. It refuses to question the growing gap between rich and poor or the difference between the status of Black Elites vs. the rest of us. Elitism is easy to point out and hard to combat because Black folks in high places are powerful enough to squash the voices of those who disagree with them: Hence, you have Don Lemon and Bill Cosby using a predominantly White network to make unchallenged and narrow-minded remarks about Black people in front of a majority White audience. If Lemon and Cosby were to be equally bold about the role that White irresponsibility has played in the perpetuation of racism, they’d be yanked off the air before you could say, “I’m sorry boss.” Courage should not be a part-time job.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 01:17:13 +0000
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