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Calvin's Journal

Writer's pictureCalvin Mitchell

The Lack of Desire

Updated: May 9




I must say that, on the day after the election, Trump spoke like a man in possession of common sense. He was reconciliatory, mature and (to a certain degree) assuring.


In the days following he wore an air of dignity and pensiveness that was encouraging. As do many, I embraced the hope that, having won a hard-fought election, Trump would finally settle down to the business of running our government’s executive branch with the business acumen one would expect…

…and then I heard that Steve Bannon had been appointed Trump’s Chief Strategist.

(sigh)

Malcom X stated that an overtly racist President was actually a positive event. It was his hope that such a turn of fortune would inspire the Black community to finally stop crying on the shoulders of white liberals (a.k.a. the Democratic Party) and get down to the business of doing for ourselves what we’ve been asking everyone else to do for us.

Emancipation is essentially releasing a tiger born and raised in captivity into the wild, expecting it to do what it was never taught to do: fend for itself.

The 40 acres and a mule never came, and we have out of necessity have banded together as best we could in the 152 years following to fend for ourselves.

Nevertheless, looking at our present economic state, I must conclude that we can do better. There are those among our numbers that know how to run a business/company, know how to lead an industry and know how to make money grow; we need these few to teach the rest of us how to fish.

The thing that frightens me most about the state of American Blacks is the lack of desire in  those of us Blacks that are “successful” or “well-to-do” to even TRY and consolidate our efforts to raise the standard of economic independence for the majority of us. It’s as though, after decades of failure in trying to be seen as equals by those that run our country, we have accepted our place as 2nd- and 3rd-class citizens, be we ever so wealthy.


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