Prometheus 6   

Public servants needs "Big Momma's"
wisdom

By Roy Douglas Malonson

There's an old racial clich� that insinuates that "When White folks catch a cold, Black folks get pneumonia." We suspect you've heard "Big Momma," or whatever you called your granny, use that humorous proverb to describe how much "Colored people" depended on White people who controlled their destiny. Race cards aside, it has always amazed us how wise our uneducated elders were when it came to life's basics. Perhaps, that's why old-fashioned common sense is often referred to as "Mother Wit." But listening to today's Black faces in high places, they don't seem to have an ounce of "Mother Wit," when they discuss our people's unique problems.

We Must Understand, after several generations (of Willie-Lynch based education), African Americans have less common sense than we had during the antebellum era. It's baffling how unschooled freed slaves used their creative minds, not only to survive, but also thrive in a "Jim Crow" society that could legally discriminate against them. The freed slaves, in essence, were able to make a way when there was no way. "Big Mommas" who are now living historians say, "We took what we had and made it what we needed it to be." We're sure you've also heard an elder say, "The Great Depression didn't hurt us. We were use to doing without." But that was then. And this is now. Gone are the common sense survival skills that were passed from generation… to generation.

Many blame integrated public school systems for educating common sense out of our young people's minds. We Must Understand that most of the today's under 60 Black "Baby Boomers," were just entering the job market (when affirmative action functioned as designed), so they truly don't know the difference from being poor and broke. If you're wondering where we're coming from with this Black History lesson? Maybe we should explain. Houston hosted the annual National Conference of Black Mayors from April 23-26 and we attended several events that focused exclusively on problems unique to African Americans. Black Mayors expounded on a myriad of problems that exist in poverty stricken minority �hoods throughout America.

During their speeches, we suddenly realized that they were addressing uniquely Black problems from a middle-class White's perspective. Take, for instance, when Mayor Marilyn Murray, president of NCBM uses the 2000 Census figures to conclude that Black folks are living better today, than in the past. "The census data show that Black Americans are gradually improving their social and economic lot but they still lag behind whites in many categories," she explained. Need we tell you that her conclusion is hardly a news flash? But it really got our attention when she said, "Blacks remain clustered in the South, usually in urban areas, and they have disproportionately high numbers unemployed or living in poverty."

She lost us somewhere in between, "They still lag behind whites," and "Blacks remain clustered in the South," inasmuch as the reason we have historically lagged behind Whites has absolutely nothing to do with where we lived in this racist nation. Black America lags behind Anglos because of institutionalized racist and discrimination. Period! And Black politicians can talk until hell freezes over, but bigotry, racism and discrimination will still be our biggest problems. An uneven playing field aside, but discrimination will always be the primary reason we lag behind White Americans wherever we live. Quite frankly, Blacks are doing better in the south than elsewhere, since California became Alabama west.

No, this isn't an African American News & Issues Black perspective, per se. We're going strictly by the book on this one. Do you recall when the July 2001 edition of Black Enterprise magazine named Houston America's best city for us? If you check the list you'll also find Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis, Nashville, Jacksonville and, of course, New Orleans, high on the list. Conversely, most of the Black mayors were southerners, unless Mississippi, somehow, moved north of the Mason-Dixon line. Nevertheless, the purpose of this editorial isn't to dispel misinformation, but we would be remiss, as Black America's uncompromised editorial voice, not to challenge politicians who can't possibly solve Black America's problems, if they fail to identify them.

Instead, we would like to offer a possible solution to our public servants. Especially those trying to make ends meet during the current economic downturn, that's gotten worse since 9/11 and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We're sure public servants have "Big Mommas" of their own who can tell them how to balance a budget -- when you have more bills than money. But, if they don't, we would like to share our elder's wisdom with them. The first rule for being poor, according to our elders, is to realize that you must stretch whatever resources you have, because that's all you're going to get (No new taxes.) We Must Understand, being poor is different from being broke. Broke, ideally, is a temporary condition for the working poor.

Being poor, however, translates to using a little money wisely, because you're employed and won't be getting any more soon. Cutting to the chase: It's all right to rob Peter to pay Paul, but when you break Peter you're really poor. And that's exactly what time it appears to be in 2003 America. Our government, that states depend on to carry them through economic downturns, is broke. And cities that depend on state funds are in even bigger trouble. Big Momma's wisdom advises it's time for everybody to tighten their belts and start trimming the fat off the ham. If you missed her gem of wisdom, suffice it to say, since the ham bone holds it together, the fat on top is expendable. As simplistic as that sounds, capitalism is consumer driven.

Yet, for some insane reason, consumers are laid off first, although it's obvious that the excessive fat is always at the top. Common sense dictates that when unemployed consumers can't consume, taxes decline, money stops circulating and America's economy slumps. In other words, greedy people focusing on the golden eggs should be protecting the goose that lays them. And, in a Democracy (for the people, of the people, by the people), the goose that lays golden eggs are hard-working, grass-roots, tax-paying consumers.