Page 8
December 2002
The AC Phoenix
UNTIL JUSTICE
nalns Oown
ARE YOU VYAITIING
Oil/ SAINTA CLAUS FOR
JUSTICET
By Rodney Sumler
As a child, I had a recurring vision each November of how I would enjoy
Christmas. I would be with my family in a big house, I could see quite
vividly, in a large family room with a fireplace and Christmas tree. My
mother and two sisters would be there, enjoying the spoils and toys of the
season.
But the fact of the matter was - we were poor and I didn’t know it. Still,
I had my vision and I liked it.
My bubble of a vision would start to burst about the beginning of
December, when I would realize we would probably be looking at a
Christmas with no toys, no gifts and no means to give to others.
The idea of Santa Claus and Christmas must have been painful to me
back then, for reasons I care not to remember. Later, after college, after
working numerous odd jobs, working as a lifeguard for the Winston-Salem
Recreation Department , working at the U.S. Post Office, A Recreation
Center Director, high school teacher, Assistant Director of Recreation with
the city of Winston-Salem and later as a “field rep.” for B&C Associates, I
learned to appreciate my “Christmas Past.” In fact, after a while, I began to
like it.
I felt right at home enjoying not having some of the things other children
had, who had a mother and father. My father abandoned our family when
my youngest sister was born. But for years, I would return to that world, my
December world. But always I returned with a sense of relief and release. I
had love, good health, pride, self-respect and a competitive spirit. These
were the only gifts that my mother could afford to give us. But they are the
kind of gifts that last a lifetime.
This will be my first Christmas without my mother. We celebrated her
homegoing last July. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about those days.
Especially now that it seems Black Americans are making their way to the
bottom of the pot in national consciousness and economic development.
As a race, it seems. Black Americans with an annual buying power of
more than 550 billion dollars, still have their hands out asking for others to
give us something. As it appears, this time of the year, the trouble begins
with the words “Santa Claus.” As children, we looked for some jolly white
man to bring us our Christmas presents and many blacks grow into
adulthood expecting to get something for nothing.
Many blacks grow up with the “Santa Claus Complex” expecting to
receive, instead of being able to give. Fact of the matter is, if you can give,
you are able to help others and, indirectly, help yourself. Perhaps that is why
it is better to give than to receive. It is true....God blesses the child that has
his own and wili give to others.
The “Santa Claus Complex” manifests itself throughout Afro-American
history. Black Americans seem to hold on to the “Santa Claus Complex”
and expect others to constantly give to us. We expect the gift to filter down
through jobs mostly. The biggest reason being, blacks have not used their
economic resources to create business and industry, and thereby create
jobs. There are three (3) times more blacks in Winston-Salem than there are
people living in Kernersville, Waikertown, Lewisville, Clemmons or Pafftown.
Why does East Winston not have ail or more than each of those small
towns? Why do blacks build mostly churches? We need all of the church
es but we need to build more black owned businesses in our communities.
Blacks constantly demand that white landlords come in and clean up our
neighborhoods because we refuse to stay behind and rebuild our
communites.
Not surprisingly, blacks also insist that white people come in and solve
the drug problem in our oommunities and biack-on-black crime. Someone
else has to do it because we refuse to share our time and resources to solve
our problems ourselves.
To put it bluntly, a majority of Black Americans are suffering from the
“Santa Claus Complex” and there doesn’t appear to be any magic potion
that can cure it. We are waiting on solutions to our problems to come in the
form of gifts from some great benefactor. Instead of doing for ourselves -
digging deep within for pride and self-respect - we turn elsewhere for
solutions.
Why didn’t blacks in North Carolina go to the polis in real record
numbers, 85% or better? Are loyal black voters concerned that we have a
democrat for governor, a republican won the N.C. presidential vote and a
black democrat chief supreme court justice was defeated? Voting is the real
power that controls everything in America. The central focus of this writing
is directed at the nature of the failure of too many Black Americans.
Currently, we are failing in appropriate economic progress, educational
achievement and the control of our destiny as a people. True, there have
been some major individual breakthroughs, but can one black, or a million
for that matter, carry the rest of us on his shoulder?
The first step in the quest of blacks to become self-sufficient is to rid our
selves of the “Santa Claus Complex.” Whky don’t we give Santa Claus back
to children and restrict him to our children only? As a people, blacks need
to learn to give to ourselves. Maybe then we’ll understand the meaning of
the Biblical phrase that states: “It is better to give than to receive.” Justice
requires money.
Wishing
li)ua Happy
and Healthy Holiday
Deck the halls and trim the trees.
Get on with the festivities!
At this time of season's cheer,
We wish you all a joyous year.
Having customers like you makes
it all worthwhile for us. Thanks.
Ann & Rodney Sumler
“Tis the season to lose weight, feel great and make
some money. Let us show you how and make you a
“SILVER STAR”
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