Reform or Soverignty

[Dr. G]

Sorry folks I am new to this website and don't know how to start a poll. Please state your position.

REFORM OR SOVEREIGNTY: A Fundamental question for Blacks in America.

I begin this essay by asking three simple questions. Do you think the U.S. government works in the best interest of Black people? Do you believe, based on you life experience, that there will ever come a time when Black people are treated in a fair and equitable manor, no different form white folks? If you and I were playing cards and you knew that I was cheating, would you continue to play?
I have asked these questions again, and again at college campuses and various public forums across the country for the past 10 yrs. In each and every instance 95%+ of the Black people in the audience answer a resounding no to all three questions.
I raise the third question because if we would not knowingly play cards with a cheater, why do we continue to play with America as though it were playing fair? If we collectively feel that this Govt. doesn’t work in our best interest, and we feel that there will never come a time when we will be treated on a fair and equitable basis, then why are we trying to reform a society which we have already concluded is beyond reform???
Ultimately the most fundamental question for Blacks in America is what do we really want: Reform or Sovereignty?
Reform is the primary method that black people have used to improve our condition since we have been in America. We have attempted to follow white folks rules and laws to the letter. We have gone along with rules that we knew discriminated against us and left us with the short end of the stick. We have capitulated, and gone along with rules, laws, and systems that we knew worked to our disadvantage, and we have done so in a mostly quite and docile manor. We have gone along to get along, to our own demise and not complained or only complained to each other. We have always understood that to make it as a Black person you had to be twice as good as whites. We have remained more loyal to America, than most Americans, despite its inequities. We have also understood, however, that any time we used white folks rules to improve our lot, white folks have traditionally change those rules, often in mid stream.
What we don’t seem to clearly comprehend is that in using the legal system to improve our conditions, we are essentially asking white folks to pass laws to protect Black folks from white folks, and then have whites to fairly enforce those laws. Herein lies the fallacy of reform. What do we do if and when whites decide NOT to enforce those laws designed to protect us? What options are we left with?
How many people realize that we had more Black elected officials during reconstruction (1865 to 1877) than we have today? Obviously, simply having Black elected officials and making laws designed to protect our interest can only be a temporary solution based on the whims of white folks, otherwise we wouldn’t still be trying to catch up to where we were 130 yrs. ago!
The bottom line is that reform is wholly dependent on white peoples cooperation, integrity, honesty and willingness to enforce laws designed to protect Black interest. Anytime they change their minds, our condition deteriorates!!! My final question on
reform is what is white peoples history in regards to cooperation, integrity, and honesty when it comes to Black people, and are we willing to bet our future on them???

Obviously the hardest questions regarding the issue of sovereignty is where and how. To be perfectly honest, I cannot answer either of these questions at this time. What I do know however, is that no matter how intelligent, creative, or willing we are to cooperate, that we can never reach our highest potential in America as we know it! How far would a Jesse Jackson or a Colin Powell gone in America if they were white?
Historically speaking, from the time Blacks were first forcibly brought to America through the greatest act of terrorism in human history, the African slave trade, some Blacks have sought sovereignty as a solution as opposed to reform. From the Maroons who set up their independent communities during chattel slavery, to the various colonization societies designed to repatriate Blacks back to Africa after the Civil War, to the efforts to make Oklahoma and Nebraska all Black states, to Elijah Muhammad’s efforts through the Nation of Islam, to the Republic of New Afrika’s attempt to secure five states in the south, there has always been an attempt to secure sovereign territory for Black people in the U.S. because it was obvious that we could never reach our highest potential in America, and that America has absolutely no intention of doing right by us.
For those who think this is impossible my question is why? How possible do you think the British thought it would be for their colonies to defeat them? How realistic do you think Chairman Mao sounded saying he would take over China, while living in a cave? How many Jews laughed at Theodor Hertzel’s idea of a Jewish state 50 yrs. before it came to fruition? The impossible is always possible when you think outside of the box!
We can find the specific answers to where and how we can become sovereign once we can agree that this is the solution we need. I think it is better to try and become a sovereign people than to continue going through life hoping I won’t be the next Rodney King, Amodou Diallo, Abner Louima, or James Byrd. Trying to become sovereign is like leaving a dead end job to start your own business or severing yourself from a bad relationship. It takes a special effort to leave the known, even if it is bad, and seek the unknown, even if it has good potential.
Black people in America are the 4th largest group of African people in the world. Only India, Nigeria, and Brazil have more Blacks than right here in the U.S. Black people in America are the 9th richest nation in the world with over half a trillion dollars passing through our hands last year. Black people in America are the most highly educated and technically trained Black people in the world. Yet for all this potential, we are wallowing in misery with over a third of us living under the poverty level with the majority of the rest, living two paychecks away from welfare. Our lot is not significantly different from our Brothers and sisters on the African continent living in poverty and misery on the richest land on earth! The key to white supremacy’s ability to create these contradictory conditions is to train us to see reality through their eyes instead of our own, and to pursue their interest, as though our interest was the same. What is missing is a sense of people-hood! We have allowed ourselves to become atomized into a bunch of people who happen to look alike!
Whether it takes 10 yrs. or 50 yrs. or 100 yrs. we are better off trying to become a sovereign people, than to continue spitting in the wind with the fallacy of reform. Let us dare to be different, and put our energies towards a permanent, long term solution where we can develop to our highest potential, rather than continue to settle for second class citizenship and hoping we won’t become the next victim of white supremacy!