For generations racial segregation stifled the opportunities of bright,
energetic young black Americans. In the ’60s the walls of artificial
separation began to come down, thus opening up for the first time new
avenues of opportunity. Opportunity by itself, however, is never enough; one
must recognize the opportunity and seize it. In today’s world the best way
to do so is through education, for the best positions go to the best
educated.
A black minister in Chicago, Jesse Jackson, understood this reality quite
well. Through an organization he called PUSH, Jackson extolled black
children to study hard and strive for excellence. He called on parents to
turn off the television, to make sure their children did their homework and
to see to it that they went to the library to better themselves and thereby
to increase their chances of success. This was sound advice indeed for it
has long worked for poor whites in America and for millions of immigrants
from all over the world, many of whom suffered the added disadvantage of
having to learn a completely new language from scratch.
Today, however, Jesse Jackson no longer preaches self-discipline,
self-reliance, and academic achievement. Instead he preaches what writer
Shelby Steele calls the “Can’t Do Philosophy.” This philosophy proclaims
that black achievement depends not on the efforts of individuals, but is
instead contingent on external forces such as middle men like Jesse Jackson
who extort special concessions and racial preferences from the white
establishment. This doctrine also holds that any talk of black strength and
self reliance endangers racial preferences and must therefore be suppressed.
This is a pernicious doctrine indeed since it requires blacks to
continually plead weakness when strength lies so close at hand; a doctrine
that discourages the only real means of individual success and thus eventual
group advancement. In this way Jackson’s “Can’t Do Philosophy” continues the
long and dreary policy pursued by one kind of elite or another (plantation
owner, segregationist, government bureaucrat, race hustler) of denying black
individuality and black independence in favor of group weakness and
continued dependency.
But it gets even worse, for not only has Jackson become the foremost
advocate of the “Can’t Do Philosophy,” he has also become a staunch defender
of anti-social behavior and mob violence. The latest example is his splashy
protest over the expulsion of black students from a high school in Decatur,
Ill. The action came as a result of a fight after a high school football
game in violation of the school’s zero tolerance of violence. The fight,
which Jackson called “something silly,” was described by police as gang
related and was serious enough to result in felony charges lodged against
four students for inciting mob action.
Jackson condemned the suspensions as excessive. He then demanded that the
school board revise its punishment, backing up his demand with his own
gang-like action of bussing in demonstrators to intimate the school
authorities. As a result the Decatur public high schools closed down for two
and a half days the week of Nov. 8, thus losing time that students can ill
afford to lose.
There was no reason for the authorities to negotiate, yet under the glare
of national publicity they did. But Jackson has a zero tolerance policy of
his own and instead of bringing the situation to a close he insisted on
being arrested. The message Jesse Jackson sent to black youths everywhere by
this action is that an arrest in support of violence is a noble thing, as if
black crime were equal to the civil rights of black citizens. Also, by
undermining the school authorities’ attempt to assure the safety of
students, Jackson has paved the way for perhaps more violence down the road.
It is time to stop this kind of exploitation since those harmed the most
are the very people Jackson once strove to help, namely black youth. It’s
time to stand up and say what everybody already knows; that Jesse Jackson
has sunk from the level of a civil rights leader to that of a street
hustler, who like his colleague Al Sharpton, exploits every incident for his
own advantage, even when the end result is to strengthen crime, further
violence, and to discourage black children from seizing the opportunities
that lie before them today as never before.
Glynn Custred is a professor of
anthropology at California State University, Hayward. He also co-authored of
Proposition 209
