Freedom Rider: Black America Left Behind

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

"Forty-five percent of black Americans whose parents were
classified as ‘middle class' are now worse off than their parents." FRBrownstones

If a group of people were enslaved, terrorized, and legally
excluded from all routes to improvement and prosperity, how would they fare? If
they somehow managed to better their lot but then lost jobs, and were
incarcerated in high numbers would they succeed or would they fail? If those
economic and social changes were accompanied by political and economic
decisions that put more money in the hands of the wealthy, would it be possible
for that group to emerge from its awful predicament? The answers are obvious.
That group of people would move backwards economically, politically,
culturally, and spiritually. The decline would be certain and it would be
awful.

Of course the people in question are black Americans. The
state of disarray and regression observed by anyone with common sense was
proven recently by a Pew Charitable Trust study, Economic
Mobility for Black and White Families. The study indicated that 45 % of
black Americans whose parents were classified as "middle class" are now worse
off than their parents. In other words, they are now poor.

The propaganda that America is always the land of
opportunity is manifestly untrue and particularly damaging to black people. If
America is good and perfect, then any who fail are themselves to blame for
their plight. Black people are by these terrible definitions inherently more
blameworthy than any other group. After all, they were grudgingly given a break
or two in the Sixties and Seventies. Because America is great and good, the
redress of centuries of injustice was seen as a favor, not as the righting of
many great wrongs. If the undeserving group doesn't thrive, then obviously that
group is populated by lazy, ungrateful, inferior beings, entirely responsible
for their plight.

"The downward mobility of black Americans should not be
treated as a mystery."

The downward mobility trend is hardly mysterious. The term
middle class is indeed relative, so much so that it is almost meaningless.
White Americans, who have ten times the assets that black people do, would
scarcely consider themselves middle class if, like black Americans, they
depended almost solely on income to protect themselves from misfortune.

Every closed General Motors plant represents not just one,
but two or more generations who fall out of what constitutes the middle class
for black Americans. Increases in college tuition that outpace inflation
prevent an already vulnerable group from getting an additional leg up. The downward
mobility of black Americans should not be treated as a mystery, yet the same
academic researchers who saw the indisputable facts didn't believe them. They
claimed the statistics were "stunners" for which they "don't
have an explanation." They were so shocked that they even reworked the
numbers. It just couldn't be true that America is not as wonderful as
advertised.

If the data results are doubted by so-called experts, can
there be any hope of redress? Sadly, too many black Americans are either
themselves in denial or see the truth in their own families and communities but
conclude that they are at fault. Bad news is inevitably greeted with worthless
assessments that amount to little more than self hatred.

Those assessments never change, even as the economy
changes for the worse. The usual routes to middle class-ness are being closed
off one by one. The young people who manage to go to college instead of to jail
graduate with massive amounts of debt. The sub-prime mortgage scam has
destroyed what is essentially the only wealth black people manage to acquire,
their homes.

"The usual routes to middle class-ness are being closed
off one by one."

While economic and political conditions worsen, the level of
discourse is dumbed down as never before. Inevitably, discussion of the data
revealed in this study will amount to little more than questions about "why we
can't get together," "do right," or which moral weaknesses are most to blame.
There will be little mention if any of how powerful forces have created
downward mobility in the land of opportunity.

So why can't black people improve themselves? The answer is
simple. They aren't allowed to. If big business destroys entire industries that
provide well paid employment, poverty is not far behind. If black people are
targeted for prison, low marriage rates and lower incomes will be the result.

The truth is not so terrible after all. It is the lies that
hold us back. Acknowledging truth does demand action, but it brings feelings of
empowerment, compassion and understanding of what we really must do. There is
little room for self-delusion when the truth, which makes one free, is
acknowledged and embraced. That alone is enough reason for honesty.

Margaret Kimberley's
Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York
City, and can be reached via e-Mail at
Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com. Ms. Kimberley' maintains an
edifying and frequently updated blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com. More of her
work is also available at her Black Agenda Report archive
page.

More Stories