By Arthur Fleming
NDG Contributing Writer
We just celebrated another Fourth of (You-Lie) July. The Fredrick Douglas speech on July 5, 1852 at Corinthian Hall in Rochester N.Y. asked why the NEGROE should celebrate the 4th of July. This was in response to being invited to speak at a Fourth of July event, while America continued the business of owning African American families. The Frederick Douglas speech provides a clear marker for a comparison to today’s America.
In Mr. Douglas’ speech, he stated that You (white America) celebrate your freedoms, but on this day, you still deny the African American people their freedoms, which Mr. Douglas called American hypocrisy.
White privilege (a status not a race–see Clarence Thomas) is the residual rights or privileges that manifest in today’s economic and social spaces like politics, jobs, families, etc.
White privilege is the fuel that feeds the Black/white abusive relationship in a framework that results from enslavement of African people.
Today, African Americans must navigate and negotiate our way through the white privileged paradigm or frame.
White status is a requirement to access white privileges?
From America’s beginning to today, white privilege remains an obstacle to be overcome for African Americans. Frederick Douglas’ words serve as a reminder that white privilege has not changed much since Mr. Douglas’s 1852 speech.
Here are a few of the white privilege advantages since the 1852 Frederick Douglas speech.
College legacy — College entrance and admission are based on a family’s past affiliation with the school as alumni or financial donor. While overturning affirmative action, this anti-democratic Supreme Court had no problem with legacy considerations. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made the point that African Americans with an enslaved past had no College legacy opportunities.
Redline and deed restrictions for most of the 20th century denied generational wealth through land ownership.
Funding for Black colleges was denied, while entry into the white politically powerful colleges and universities was denied.
Public school funding was based on pre-civil war slave land owners’ rights, a model designed to limit educational opportunities based on economic class.
Political books were banned to avoid hurting white children’s feeling about America’s true history.
Racist testing systems have been used to redirect opportunities away from African American communities.
In law enforcement, the FBI authored a report to Congress stating racist organizations have infiltrated law enforcement systems, including the FBI ,where the name J. Edgar Hoover is still respected in the hallowed halls of that storied governmental agency.
The recent Supreme Court massacre of the Affirmative Action laws affirmed and confirmed the Leonard Leo Court Capture Program mentioned in previous Freedom Rides 2.0 articles.
The Court Capture Program has worked well for the super-rich and Oligarchs. The dark (light) money influencers’ effect was obvious by the astroturf organization that filed the Amicus brief for the Supreme Court Harvard Affirmative Action case. Mr Blum had no clear issue at stake, and many legal scholars say he had no standing to bring the case.
This recent Supreme Court Affirmative Action ruling was a Lenard Leo Federalist Society “special,” aimed directly at the African American communities.
For the record, it was a now 73-year-old white man name Edward Blum, a stockbroker, who filed the Harvard suit on behalf of Asian Americans who didn’t ask for it, and Asian students testified against removal of these admission rules. The real goal here is to divide and cause chaos between minority groups competing for the same small piece of the educational pie, while legacy that benefits wealthy white students goes untouched and unremarked.
Maya Angelou said “when someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time.” The Supreme Court has presented themselves as the Republican Party. I believe them.
Freedom Rides 2.0 is about bringing back the 1960s freedom rides with a 2024 flavor. The goal of Freedom Rides 2.0 is to connect the African American diaspora throughout the south by registering voters to increase the African American community’s economic and political power.
Freedom Rides 2.0 is a planned response to the growing storm of fascism organized by federalist society leadership led by Lenard Leo, with fascist talking points coming from the Republican Party aimed at the African American communities.
The fascism clouds have burst over the Supreme Court.
The main lesson or takeaway from the recent Supreme Court ruling is ”no freedom gained is guaranteed” but must be protected with “the African American vote.”
Dear white people: Now that you have successfully removed affirmative action as a tool for African American advancement, I sincerely ask, that as the African American communities rise again politically, economically and socially through community restructuring around this Supreme Court decision, I ask that you respect African American self-determination.
The Oklahoma courts on July 7, 2023 dismissed with prejudice the Tulsa Oklahoma Black Wall Street lawsuit, meaning the case can’t be re-filed in state court. The Black Wall Street case will be appealed to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. The judge ended the lawsuit in state court without explanation or reason.
As the African American communities rebuild post Affirmative Action, I again ask white America to not repeat Black Wall Street, Rosewood, and other violent economic and physical acts against the African American communities, as happened in the past when African American economic success was perceived or real.
The good news is the African American community possesses more tools than Martin L. King and the Freedom Fighters of that day. Today the African American community have more tech power, political power, financial power, business power, education skills and intellectual power, compared to our ancestors. Every man, women or person has their time. Every generation has its time. America is being reborn right before our very consciousness. What kind of future will African American leadership leave for the African American children? Let’s leave our children the ability to advocate for themselves.
Has America changed since the 1852 speech by Frederick Douglas? Of course, it has changed, as has the world for that matter. The many community tools mentioned attest to African American progress generally, but the white privileged systems of the 1800s have mind melded (see Dr. Spock) into the American infrastructure of local, state, and national government and civic institutions today—It’s called “systematic racism.”
As the African American consciousness expands through knowledge of history and self, know and recognize there is no resting or hiding place in the march toward African American constitutional justice and freedom. As of today, Frederick Douglas’ words in 1852 stand. I can’t celebrate the 4th of (You lie) July for the same reasons stated by Mr.
Douglas, but I remain hopeful that one day I can. The African American community doesn’t need Affirmative Action. The African American community deserves Affirmative Access.
From tilling the land to reaching the stars
African-American greatness knows no bars
With strength, resilience, and pride held high
The African-American self-determination reaches the sky.
Freedom Riders 2.0, Let’s Ride.
