With all the uproar lately about Sen. Trent Lott's remarks and the fraternal debate some of my chapter bruhs have ben having over whether the King memorial is something worth while
, I was wondering what do some black folks think is important, symbols or actions? Immediately people will respond with actions. But consider the full ramifications of symbolic jestures, they belie the true intent of a person or a movement and set the agenda or basis for future action. For instance, with the King memorial, many people say Dr. King wouldn't have liked things like a king Holiday or a Memorial because it's purely a symbolic jesture lacking in any true redeeming value for social change, and it uses up resources that could be used better. But with a national reminder of the issues that Dr. King championed, it could inspire people to think, and if new generations of people are thinking, innovative ideas come to play and from those ideas, actions are born. As it is now, we have no new, innovative ideas about affirmative action, educational achievement gaps, incarceration rates, etc. What we are beginning to see is a conservative backlash that has middle class blacks disguising conservative ideology in religious rhetoric and greed as "blessings" from God.
These instances would not have sat well with Dr. King. I think that they are taking root in our society because we do not value moral thought and communal identity anymore. Things that 40 years ago were not accepted in the black community (Like minstrel shows) are now embraced because they make money (have you seen groups like Field Mob and Nappy Roots
?). Just Friday I was talking to a young man who stated that though drugs are bad, selling them is okay because you make money, regardless of what they do to our community, as long as you don't take them yourself
. Contrary to Marx, Greed is the opiate to revolution, not religion. What we have now are calls for pragmatic solutions that do not value our total humanity; mind, body and spirit. Without the "symbols" searing our consciousness, we have fallen into a complacive maylaise of "Bling Bling" and "thank You Jesus" for it. We need symbols to inspire us.
What do you guys think?
Blackwatch!!!!!!