Page 58
December 2002
The AC Phoenix
What Would We Do Without White Folks?
By: James Clingman
—Guest Columnist—
Remember the e-mail that posed the question, “What would
this world be without Black people?” It was really a history
lesson on all of the things Black people invented, and suggested
that if Black people had not been here, our traffic lights would
disappear, many of the machines we depend upon would not
work and many other conveniences we enjoy everyday would not
be here. It was a nice reminder of the importance of Black
people to this country. However, even though Black people
invented a great deal of the items we use today, with a few
exceptions of course, they could not get patents on them or they
were simply relieved of their inventions by White people.
Now, let’s take a look at what Black people would do without
White people. First of all, some of us would simply throw up our
hands in exasperation and call it a day—no, we would call it a life.
Some of us would feel so bad, so lonely, so dispossessed, so
depressed that we would not know where to turn. “What are we
going to do now?” some would ask. Others would lament the
loss of all of those stores and all of those products and services
they are so used to purchasing. Some would cry, “Where will we
buy our clothing, our cars, our houses and our food? For whom
will we work? What about our jobs?” Others would just go
insane trying to figure out how they would get their banquet
tables sold for their annual dinners and soirees. What a sad day
it would be for many Black folks.
On the other hand, rather than complaining and crying, some
Black folks would immediately get to work on those issues.
Some would say, “Let’s do for ourselves.” Others would rally the
people and call for new businesses and new products and ser
vices and efforts to support our people.
Some Black folks would even have the audacity to think they
really could run major corporations, industrial farms, airports,
states, and even this country. But then, what other choice would
we have?
What would you do without White people? Would you suffer
from lack of the essentials of life? Would you wilt under the
pressure of having to figure out this thing called life all by your
self? Could you successfully navigate through the swirling
waters of life’s uncertainties? Could you survive? Marcus
Garvey told us we are living on borrowed goods, and we must
get something of our own. So, instead of wondering what this
country would do without Black people, just imagine what we
would do without White people.
Suppose they closed all of their supermarkets to us, could we
feed ourselves? Imagine them denying us the right to use their
banks, would vye pool more of our money and start more. Black
banks? If Whites said we would no longer be allowed in their
department stores, would we create our own? You get the pic
ture, I am sure. What would we do?
It’s nice to call for “Black Out Days” and “Stay Home From
Work Days” and “Don’t spend Any Money Days,” and all of the
rest of the Black absentee efforts we hear about. But what would
we do if there were a “White Out Day?” Maybe even a “White
Out Month?” Would we panic? Or, would we finally start doing
more for ourselves? Would we finally start preparing an
economic future for our children, the same way other groups in
this country are doing for their children?
You know, sometimes I wish it were so. Maybe if White folks
stopped doing what they are doing for us, we’d be more inclined
to do more for ourselves. Maybe if they would back off a bit and
we would step us a bit, better relationships would exist between
the two groups, because there would be more reciprocity, more
leverage available to Black people, and a greater likelihood of
positive responses from White folks when we really do need their
support. Maybe, if Black people get our economic act together
by recycling our dollars, supporting our own businesses, and
building income producing infrastructure, maybe Whites would
be knocking on our doors asking to play ball with us.
What would we do without White folks? The same thing our
fathers and mothers did before integration; that’s what we’d do.
We would develop economic enclaves second to none in this
country.
But a similar question was probably asked by some of the
Children of Israel about Pharaoh. While Moses was telling
Pharaoh to “Let my people go,” he should have also told the
people to “Let Pharaoh go.”
(James E. Clingman, an adjunct professor at the University of
Cincinnati’s African American Studies department, is former
editor of the Cincinnati Herald newspaper and founder of the
Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce. He
hosts the radio program Biackonomics, and is the author of
“Economic Empowerment or Economic Enslavement—We have
a Choice.” He can be reached at: (513) 489-4132, or by e-mail
at: jclingman@blackonomics. com.)
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