This Black History Month inevitably reminded us of the oppressive times that forged the heroes we celebrate. With the installation of Donald Trump and the obvious desire of his white supremacist administration to return us to those times. We wonder if there is anything we can learn from those heroes besides the need to persevere.
The three basic paths blacks took to resist white was to (1) agitate for economic and social rights in the manner of W.E.B. DuBois; (2) try to negotiate with the white establishment for limited economic rights like Booker T. Washington; or retreat into the self-imposed separation of black nationalism as Marcus Garvey did. DuBois, one of the founders of the Niagara Movement that became the NAACP, fought for social and economic integration. He argued that any attempt to limit rights would eventually lead to the subordination of all rights. Washington, on the other hand, while publicly arguing for limited rights in the economic area espoused separation in the social sphere. Interestingly, during the period Washington was espousing social separation as a way of advancing economic welfare, blacks who made had attained some measure of economic success were brutalized by whites who use white supremacy to claw back those economic gains. Garvey, a Jamaican who had traveled throughout the world and thus put U.S. racism into a global perspective, developed a Black Nationalist perspective. He aimed his appeal to non-elite blacks and promised uplift for the entire black community.
Although very different perspectives, both the Washington and Garvey approaches entail some degree of isolation from the rest of the U.S. Regardless of whether these approaches were viable early in the twentieth century, they cannot work now. Bantustans or nationalism (black or white) will not work in a globalized system of commerce. Conducting business, however, means necessarily erasing boundaries rather than erecting them. It should not come as a surprise that citizens from none of the seven countries on Trump’s Muslim ban list did business with Trump.
DuBois was right. The approach that is left now, as in previous times, is the struggle for equal social and economic rights that will give us all a shot at making the most of the opportunities we have. What is also true is that must continue to persevere in light of Trump and his administration’s efforts to limit rights.
The three basic paths blacks took to resist white was to (1) agitate for economic and social rights in the manner of W.E.B. DuBois; (2) try to negotiate with the white establishment for limited economic rights like Booker T. Washington; or retreat into the self-imposed separation of black nationalism as Marcus Garvey did. DuBois, one of the founders of the Niagara Movement that became the NAACP, fought for social and economic integration. He argued that any attempt to limit rights would eventually lead to the subordination of all rights. Washington, on the other hand, while publicly arguing for limited rights in the economic area espoused separation in the social sphere. Interestingly, during the period Washington was espousing social separation as a way of advancing economic welfare, blacks who made had attained some measure of economic success were brutalized by whites who use white supremacy to claw back those economic gains. Garvey, a Jamaican who had traveled throughout the world and thus put U.S. racism into a global perspective, developed a Black Nationalist perspective. He aimed his appeal to non-elite blacks and promised uplift for the entire black community.
Although very different perspectives, both the Washington and Garvey approaches entail some degree of isolation from the rest of the U.S. Regardless of whether these approaches were viable early in the twentieth century, they cannot work now. Bantustans or nationalism (black or white) will not work in a globalized system of commerce. Conducting business, however, means necessarily erasing boundaries rather than erecting them. It should not come as a surprise that citizens from none of the seven countries on Trump’s Muslim ban list did business with Trump.
DuBois was right. The approach that is left now, as in previous times, is the struggle for equal social and economic rights that will give us all a shot at making the most of the opportunities we have. What is also true is that must continue to persevere in light of Trump and his administration’s efforts to limit rights.