A Brief History of How Other Groups Have paved Their Roads to Success Through Black Suffering
Blacktop (blak' tŏp') n. A bituminous material such as asphalt used to pave roads, to pave with blacktop.
A road will always have two common elements that never change- a beginning and an ending. However, the surface materials that the pathway is composed of may drastically differ. Some materials may be soft, pliable and unstable- subject to great and adverse change when conditions like weather changes. On the other hand, there are sturdy, hard and seemingly unbreakable materials that have withstood the tests of pressure and adversity are proven to make up the most reliable and dependable roads to travel. The durability of the road material determines the quality of travel as well as the quantity of time taken as the traveler journeys from the first step to the final planting of the feet as he arrives at his destination. For this reason, the term blacktop is more than appropriate, and it springs forth out of the sea of nomenclature to claim it’s double-meaning, both literally and figuratively.
As we know the word literally, there is a trend that has been developing for the past 40 or so years based upon a roadway that was built through great sacrifice, pain, blood and yes, even violent death- the well-traveled road paved by black people in America. It is a travail from subhuman treatment in the yoke of slavery to positions of power today that were never imagined! This particular roadway was forged through a vastly-harsh wilderness of unprovoked and irrational hatred, aligned with hostility and indifference on either side. It was a road that no one group of people in America had experienced before- no, not even the native Americans- who had to press forward, hoping that one day, the road-building would come to an end because America itself would welcome black people home. So as it is true that the road to success, dignity and humanity has been paved, there is yet some distance to go!
It is true that through Black America’s ongoing path to acceptance, dignity and equal opportunity has inspired many, however, I question how the admiration has been returned in kind. It is said that “imitation is the greatest form of flattery,” but the form of imitation in mind is questionable. Specifically, several groups have benefited by co-opting the Black cause and using it as foundational material for their own paths towards their own goals, acquisitions and demands. So often, we hear groups liken the struggle against racism to their own. Although there can be nothing as desperate as the need to be recognized as a fellow human being- a full-fledged member of the human race, some have taken the noble intentions of our African-American forefathers and turned them into arguments against a fair, moral and legal social order. This is the figurative side of blacktopping- the taking of the historical journey of the Black experience and using it to build one’s own road to success. Again, there is no group that has had to endure the pain, humiliation and suffering that is embedded deeply within the social structure of Black culture, seemingly down to the molecular level! The residual is inter-woven tightly and firmly into the fiber of the average black person- the blood that was shed, the lynchings, the beatings, the separations from families- the haunting question that hides in the shadows of black thought when he meets a stranger from another part of the country- “Can we actually be kin?”
The following issues represent a brief summary and review of several highly-charged issues we find common to the black experience. Although most of them came into existence solely as efforts to address issues and concerns within the African American society, they soon became expanded to cover other groups, some of which even surpassed the success of the intended group:
Citizenship- “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States…” The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had to be created to ensure that the descendants of former slaves were guaranteed full citizenship in America and its territories. It was proposed to the existing state legislatures a month after the Emancipation Proclamation came into effect on January 31, 1865. Apparently, there was enough resistance and confusion to cause the 38th Congress to bring this amendment forth. The core of the matter was whether the United States was obligated to consider the children and future generations of recently-freed slaves as citizens by birth. Many had accepted the obligation of citizenship for current blacks, but the greater concern became over those who would be born in the future.
This particular amendment is now one of the least understood, and therefore the most abused. Though not intended to be applied in the manner it is perceived and used today, the road for other groups’ benefit started with the beginning of the landing of the first black slave, but actually continued beyond the time-barrier established by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1865! As it has clearly established citizenship for blacks in America, the gross and intentional mis-interpretation of the 14th Amendment is now used to establish citizenship for illegal entrants across our borders. We have fallen to the false pretense that citizenship is granted simply by the means of “being born” on American soil. The way the amendment is (mis)construed is “All persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” However, there is an often-overlooked clause that makes the matter absolutely clear. Between the phrases “All persons born or naturalized in the United States” and “are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside” is another phrase is “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”
Illegal entrants and even legal guests of in the U.S. are not naturally subject to its jurisdiction! We often forget that the initial premise to obey the laws of the United States of America has become secondary. The black slaves on the other hand, were subject to U.S. jurisdiction because the government sanctioned bringing them into the country, managing and controlling the population, and eventually becoming the instrument of freedom. Having been systematically separated from native homelands, cultural heritage and even familial ties, the freed black slaves were totally alien, but totally dependent until the U.S. Congress remedied the dilemma with the Fourteenth Amendment.
In contrast, those who voluntarily and willfully came from other nations were, and still are subject to the jurisdictions of their native lands. Without going through the well-defined, legal process of naturalization, citizenship does not apply! So the obvious conclusion is that many groups now use the 14th Amendment, originally intended to protect the citizenship rights for black people born in America, has been stretched to include any person who happens to be born here is a citizen. Today, the closest thing to the black enslavement episode is the sex slave industry! According to the original purpose of the 14th Amendment, simply sneaking across the U.S. border from another country and intentionally having a baby on American soil does not mean citizenship, but is a greater indication of how deficient and negligent our governmental leaders have been. Even though they place their hands upon the Holy Bible and swear to defend and protect the Constitution, the swearing-in ceremony only appears to be for many of our elected officials an inconvenient photo-op.
Affirmative action- originally intended to encourage employees to hire minorities, particularly blacks the federal government took to the forefront in making black employment increasingly possible. Let us not be distracted. The primary group targeted by affirmative action during the period of the civil rights struggle was the black male and female. The efforts by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson to “redress discrimination that had persisted in spite of civil rights laws and constitutional guarantees.” Clearly, the heart of each original piece of affirmative action mandate, whether by executive order or federal legislation focused upon the plight of blacks, especially the male. As a whole, practically a other non-black ethnic groups enjoyed significantly more freedom and social fluidity than black Americans. Their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was more of a reality than a dream, and with white southern democrats controlling both houses in Congress, practically no legislation came forth to change the cultural fabric.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy’s executive order No. 10925 created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and instructed federal contractors to take “affirmative action to ensure that applicants were treated equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin.” In 1964, then President Lyndon B. Johnson, going against the majority of his Democratic Party and with the support of the Republicans in the Senate, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. This earth-moving legislation proved to bear the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation. It prohibited employment discrimination by employers with over 15 employees whether they held government contracts or not, and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The road for greater economic opportunities for blacks, particularly black males, was seemingly destined to become smoother. Additionally, year 1965 brought an even more supportive position from the federal government. President Johnson issued Executive Order 11246, requiring all government contractors and subcontractors to take affirmative action to expand job opportunities for minorities, while establishing the Office of Federal contract Compliance to ensure enforcement.
Voting Rights- That year also brought the Voting Rights Act. Adopted at a time when African Americans were substantially disfranchised in many Southern states, the Act employed measures to restore the right to vote that intruded in matters previously reserved to the individual states. Section 4 ended the use of literacy requirements for voting in six Southern states (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia) and in many counties of North Carolina, where voter registration or turnout in the 1964 presidential election was less than 50 percent of the voting-age population. The effort to assure that black Americans were guaranteed free exercise of the right to vote was designed to bring an end to such forms of racial discrimination.
As time progressed, the road being paved for blacks soon began to become over-crowded, and the paradigm to redress racial discrimination against blacks began to shift in focus, as other groups began to mimic black strategy. In 1967, Johnson amended executive order 11246 by requiring federal contractors to earnestly seek to hire women and minorities. The white female became the prize employee, as she was eagerly hurried to the front of the line ahead of the black males in particular. The black male found himself in still competition to earn middle-class wages in a yet hostile environment. What might be considered a minority has now been expanded to any non-white male as well as a cluster of multi-faceted qualifications having nothing to do with racial discrimination. Though one might have hoped that the essence of affirmative action legislation would have be an instrument to somehow close the economic gap between blacks and whites, it remained the same if not reversed. Today, a black person who is hired through a real affirmative action program is viewed as being substandard and unqualified. Again, ahead of blacks the other groups advanced, paving their own roads to success with pleadings borrowed from the black struggle.
Hate Crimes/Homosexual Rights- Another group dominating the struggle for civil rights is the homosexual movement in America. There is hardly a dialogue in the gay vs. straight argument where the right to function in society according to one’s sexual preference is not likened to the black person’s right to human dignity. Across the nation, rules and laws are being changed to accommodate homosexual lifestyles. Even the Walt Disney empire has established a “gay weekend” at its Orlando, Florida complex! (Have you seen an African-American weekend yet?). Under pressure from blacks financed by the homosexual community, local, state governments and Congress itself have gone to the all ends to pass “hate crimes legislation” as a means to exact additional punishment upon offenders when existing laws did not do enough.
When Jasper resident James Byrd was so savagely murdered on June 7, 1998 by the three white supremacists, the penalties for the convicted men ranged from the death penalty to life imprisonment. Along with the expected outrage of the nation, the movement to establish laws based upon what is determined to be one’s personal prejudices or hatreds became the after-effect. As an attractive idea for many blacks, a look behind the curtain revealed the influence of the organized homosexual movement. Through the use of the black concern about the psychology of racial hatred, the homosexual community have begun to build off of it for their sakes a system of policing that lashes out at anyone, subject to criminal penalty for even thinking about homosexuality as being wrong, much less speaking out publicly against it.
Along with the hate crimes legislation momentum, the homosexual community has begun to radically and aggressively push same-sex marriage. Again, within the lexicon of the argument where the laws refuse to recognize same-sex relationships in this manner is their comparison the when many states refused to recognize or allow interracial marriages.
This progression of homosexual rights through the black experience was accurately described in 2007 by Rev. Ted Pike of the National Prayer Network. "Most persons who are concerned about imminent passage of the federal 'anti-hate' bill don't realize that S. 1105 in the Senate and H.R. 1592 in the House are actually amendments to a federal hate law passed in 1969. During the height of the civil rights movement, 'Title 18, U.S.C., Sec. 245' stipulated that no one could verbally '…attempt to…intimidate' another person (chiefly black) away from enjoyment of their federally protected right to equal employment, public services, housing, voting rights, jury privileges, etc. If the government finds such verbal 'intimidation' in a state and state officials are not enforcing these guarantees, the federal government can invade states' rights in local law enforcement, upholding Title 18," he said.[i]
Today, we have seen a flood of African American legislators, state and local feign empathy for homosexual dollars. Playing upon the false premise that the struggle of blacks is the same struggle for sexual preference acceptance, we now see bills introduced by African American political leaders (against the fundamental beliefs of their black constituencies) flooding our state and national legislative bodies! Again, black suffering paves the road for another group whose issues cannot stand upon the merits of their own substance and argument.
Immigration- A prelude to citizenship, many concerns were voiced about the impact of an influx of people from one part of the world flowing into America. Its effect upon the minority community was though then to possibly have a devastating outcome for the black community in general. In 1965, then Senator Edward Kennedy confidently stated during a debate on the Senate floor, “First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same.... Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset.... Contrary to the charges in some quarters, [the bill] will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and deprived nations of Africa and Asia.... In the final analysis, the ethnic pattern of immigration under the proposed measure is not expected to change as sharply as the critics seem to think.... The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.” With black Americans finally beginning to realize an amount of social liberty and political power never imagined before, the road they traveled is quite different as compared to the many immigrant groups today!
What black America achieved with prayer, blood and tears, and non-violence, today’s groups seek to achieve by anarchy. The most current groups are now in the process of laying down another layer of pavement for illegal immigrant rights and eventual citizenship through the adoption of the strategies of the civil right’s movement. There is basically a false claim to citizenship through the abuse of America’s hospitality, in conjunction with the violation of our own immigration laws! Where the descendants of slaves sought and began to excel in America, immigration today has created balkanized regions and communities resembling the third-world neighborhoods the immigrants came from. Black America has always craved to reconnect with its African ancestors, but has never sought dual citizenship—having a foot in America, and a toe in the land or their origin!
In 1975, the Voting Rights Act was amended to require that ballots and other election assistance be provided in languages other than English in jurisdictions where at lease 5 per cent of the voting age citizens were not proficient in English and the literacy rates were below the national average. There were no legislative upheavals then, neither were there any acts of civil disobedience one might recall. There were no police dogs unleashed upon a Spanish-speaking community- no Rosa Parks. Instead, through what might be seen as political alliance-building, these laws were quietly attached to the then current Voting Rights Act. Today, with the increasing probability of amnesty and citizenship for illegal aliens, the African American community’s progress in civil and voting rights will be devastated with such a disproportionate influx of homogenous groups. One cannot help but wonder whether our political class would be so eager to open our southern border if the countries to the south were Nigeria and Ethiopia?
Racial Profiling- From slavery, through Jim Crow and even in main stream America today, blacks have experienced scrutiny and suspicion as they traveled. The origination of this term developed from the problem that many blacks feel occurs when law enforcement in particular places above-normal scrutiny upon blacks while driving automobiles. This may even extend to black presence in neighborhoods where there is low black residency, shopping in stores, presence in groups, dress appearance and more. A primary charge is that white police officers, state troopers and law enforcement personnel in general tend to single out blacks (especially youth) for suspicious activities much more frequently than people of other racial and ethnic groups.
This concern, though justifiably raised from within the African-American community across the nation, is now being used by other groups as a means to decrease incidences of traffic stops, security checks and immigration status. The foremost group is within the Islamic community. Since 9-11, there is no part of U.S. society that still lives with additional caution and fear for terrorism. The 19 hijackers had so many things in common and fit such a narrow profile, that authorities all over even today still rely upon the facts that (1) radical Muslims are willing to become suicide killers, (2) the targets are usually civilian, (3) the perpetrators are usually young to middle aged males, (4) they are Arabic or of Middle Eastern descent (5) their behaviors make them stand out when scrutinized.
Parallel with that is the adoption of the pattern of the racial profiling issue by mostly Muslim groups to apply those principles to their religious behavior, especially at airports and public places where great numbers of people gather.
The final observation is recognizing that people of other races are not the only ones who have benefited from the plight of the African American dilemma. Fellow blacks have not only plucked tiles from the roadbed and have laid out for themselves expansive pathways of prosperity from coast-to-coast, but have also built runways for them to jet set across the globe. This group of beneficiaries range for the super prophets like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to an entire culture of rap artists who preach the same message of eternal victimization as the “old school” generation, but with a beat. In conclusion, it is no stretch or exaggeration to say that every since slavery in America, there has been a profit realized at the expense of black suffering. From agriculture at the beginning, to the public education and criminal correctional systems, money is being made. It could be said that many are still benefiting from the pandemonium that still exists within the black experience. This is why it should be called blacktopping. Many roads have been paved, and many have reached, or has come closer than many blacks, the goals of success and full citizenship.
[i] Source: “Christians in Bull’s-Eye in New ‘Hate Crimes’ plan” ; WorldNet Daily, April 26, 2007
