Page 147 - Fighting Against the Injustice of the State and Globalization

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Fighting Against the Injustice of the State and Globalization
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The new racism asserts that racial discrimination is no longer a serious problem in Amer-
ican society.That is, those blacks who are “qualified” are succeeding in climbing the eco-
nomic ladder and making it into the middle-class; and it is only those blacks who are
“unqualified” who are falling behind.The purpose of this ideology was to convince whites
(and middle-class blacks) that the black masses were being held down, not by racism and
capitalist exploitation, but by their own individual cultural deficiencies: lack of thriftiness,
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lack of work ethic, lack of respect for education, and broken families.
The conservative Whites and Blacks argue that the current tragic problems of the
Black majority are caused by the effects of welfare work disincentives, a ghetto-spe-
cific culture, Black nationalism, lack of traditional American values, and Black self-
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doubt.
In their attempts to exonerate the racist American capitalist system and its
institutions, conservative scholars and politicians blame the Black community and
those leaders who have struggled to liberate this community from racial domination
and exploitation. These conservatives assert that Black problems are perpetuated by
Black culture and the ineffectiveness of the civil rights leaders.They criticize the strat-
egy of group rights and reliance on political power rather than on individual initiative
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and traditional values. For instance, S. Steele comments that Black nationalism does
not “help us much in this challenge because it is too infused with defensive grandios-
ity, too given to bombast and posturing.” 26 For conservative politicians and intellec-
tuals, the Black problem is internally created by the unconscious replaying of
oppression and racial self-doubt.
These conservatives ignore chains of external factors, such as the political economy
of racism and institutional discrimination, that have contributed to Black poverty and
underdevelopment. For instance, Steele suggests that to overcome their current prob-
lems,African Americans should abandon their Black collective identity and deal with
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their individuality. There is no society that has abandoned its collective cultural iden-
tity, including White society, because individuals cannot exist outside of collective cul-
tural identity. Based on the ideology of individualism, which conservative and liberal
White elites falsely promote, conservative Blacks and some liberals reject the notion
of reaching back and supporting the struggle of the less fortunate Blacks.This self-
serving ideology justifies burning the bridge on which these conservative and liberal
Blacks crossed to the side of the privileged groups and classes. All conservatives and
some liberals promote the ideology of individualism, which creates a superficial di-
chotomy between group and individual identity and claims the primacy of the latter
over the former. Only Black elites who are determined to promote their personal and
class interests at the expense of the Black majority accept this position. Molefi K.As-
ante notes that “black super conservatives negate history because they refuse to accept
the source of their problem.Their lack of historical consciousness underscores their
inability to approach a problem scientifically.” 28
The Black conservatives are compensated for attacking Blacks, and “they are given
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high profiles by the white conservatives who created them.” By sponsoring and pro-
viding privileges for conservative Blacks,White conservatives have established a base
of political support within African American society. By attacking the principles of the
Black movement, some conservative Blacks can easily climb to political power, as As-
sociate Justice Clarence Thomas did by being appointed as a Supreme Court judge.
Marable argues that “given the profound level of confusion in both the strategic and
ideological perspectives of the African-American middle class, its present inability to