Posted by What happened to our ancestors was more than slavery. Slavery almost implies that your labor is not worth paying for, as if the expectation is that you get nothing. The fact is, brothas and sistas, that wages and wealth were stolen from our ancestors. We weren’t taught the full truth about the economic concept behind slavery, indentured servitude and what is now called employment. When the announcement came on June 19th, 1865, that slaves in Texas were free, the question we should have asked is:
- What were we freed from?
- What economic principle led the so-called architects of the new world to not pay any wage to the workers who built this nation?
- Why did the US Census keep changing our true identity between 1790 and 1860?
- Why did so many free blacks, then called negroes or colored, have their lands stolen, often accompanied by ethnic cleansing as we saw with what eventually became Central Park in New York?
Starting with this Juneteenth, all the way till the so called Independence Day of July 4th, let’s each of us research the answer to these questions so that we can become more effective in seeking tangible economic and political outcomes.
Speaking of political outcomes, we have to stop being so naïve as to think voting only one party is the best strategy for our people. We have essentially erased the spirit of Juneteenth by re-enslaving our minds to the enemy. After our ancestors gained some kind of freedom in the 1860s, they naively voted only for the Republicans because they felt (incorrectly), that Abraham Lincoln “freed” them. First of all, freedom is a mental state of mind. What’s the use of physical freedom if you’re just gonna voluntarily enslave yourself to the enemy?
That brings me to the second point: The Republicans did a few things for our ancestors, but when the Democrats attacked what little gains we got after the Civil War, the Republicans ghosted us. The Freedman’s Bureau crumbled in a few years while the kingdom of Jim Crow, which BOTH parties allowed, took over. The wise ones among our ancestors would out maneuver the agents of Jim Crow by founding flourishing Negro Wall Street cities. But the Jim Crow soldiers in both parties established (Republicans allowed) racial segregation laws starting in 1905 Oklahoma.
The most damaging outcome of the segregation laws was that the fake good cops in government started pushing for desegregation laws. Some of our ancestors knew this was a trap so they resisted desegregation as we were doing fine as a nation state within a racist nation. Why get too close to the enemy? But the naïve ones among our people gave in to the socialist strategy and fought for desegregation.
The result? Instead of being an independent thinking state within a state, forging our own political and economic destiny, we all loaded up the moving truck and went from the Republican party to the Democratic party. How has that turned out? We don’t even keep score. Our median incomes and net worth, which was already struggling in the 1930s through 1960s, stayed flat, not far from zero, till this day. That’s a dam shame.
In order to improve our median incomes and net worth, we have to start by looking at the circumstances leading us to picking low wage jobs. Can’t keep blaming racism. We are setting our kids up for failure by not providing them at least a strategy towards better financial health, which starts with education or training in real income careers like STEM or technical trades. Also, we have to stop only voting one party. The Latino community, which is gaining ground thanks in large part to the Democratic immigration policy, does NOT vote only one party. They tend to vote 60% Democrat and 40% Republican. That’s enough for BOTH parties to cater to them in some tangible way. And now, in 2023, that community is boldly proclaiming that they will be the swing vote in 2024.
And you know what? I agree.
They are pimping the system effectively by not letting one party dominate them and take them for granted. To be a swing voting bloc, you have to have at least two parties swinging your way. If you recall a swing in a playground, it has two hooks or latches on either end of the saddle. If one latch is broken, the swing is useless. The same principle applies to swing voting. We only have one latch, my people. Make that make sense. We should be active in all parties. Some of us incorrectly think that if ALL brothas and sistas vote Democrat, that will change things. Stop that silly thinking. If you invest all your eggs in one basket, you risk losing everything. This is a common investment principle. Maybe that’s why most of us are not good investors. So what is the meaning of Juneteenth if we’re still enslaved to the enemy? I’ll let you ponder that. Happy Juneteenth, if it still means anything tangible.
Affluent Blacks of Dallas 