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Commentary By Walter E. Williams
John
McWhorter, linguistics professor at the Berkeley campus of the University of
California, has written a compelling essay in the summer 2001 issue of City
Journal titled, "Toward a Usable Black History." In his article
McWhorter says that, while it would be folly not to teach the history of the
injustices of slavery and gross racial discrimination," a history of only
horrors cannot inspire."
McWhorter says, "When 'learn your history' means 'don't get fooled by
superficial changes,' and when 'today's New York City Street Crimes Unit can't
be distinguished from yesterday's Bull Connor,' and our aggrieved despair over
our sense of disinclusion from the national fabric remains as sharp as ever,
could any people find inner peace when taught to think of their own society as
their enemy?"
Instead, a better, more usable history would be one that gives greater emphasis
to black successes in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. That kind of
history inspires, instead of breeding victimhood.
From the late 1800s to 1950, some black schools were models of academic
achievement. Black students at Washington's Dunbar High School often outscored
white students as early as 1899. Schools such as Frederick Douglas (Baltimore),
Booker T. Washington (Atlanta), P.S. 91 (Brooklyn), McDonough 35 (New Orleans)
and others operated at a similar level of excellence. These excelling students
weren't solely members of the black elite; most had parents who were manual
laborers, domestic servants, porters and maintenance men.
McWhorter says that instead of "romanticizing failure" in black
communities, young people should be taught that successful economic communities
can be had. Chicago's "Bronzeville" is a handy example. After 1875,
blacks occupied a three-by-15-block enclave on the South Side. During the early
1900s, Bronzeville was home to several black newspapers and 731 business
establishments in 61 lines of work. By 1929, Bronzeville blacks had amassed $100
million in real-estate holdings.
Chicago wasn't the only city where blacks established a significant business
presence. Other cities would include New York; Philadelphia; Durham, N.C.;
Atlanta and Washington, D.C. — and Tulsa's Greenwood district, which was
destroyed by rioting whites.
Keep in mind that when blacks established business successes such as those in
Bronzeville and Durham, it was accomplished in a harsh racial environment. No
one can attribute their successes to SBA minority loans, business set-asides,
affirmative action and measures deemed indispensable by today's race experts. It
was accomplished through hard work, sacrifice and, as my father used to say,
coming early and staying late.
Ignoring or downplaying black achievement promotes the victim attitude, where
people believe that in order for them to be successful somebody else must
perform some benevolent act. The bottom-line, indisputable fact of business is
that black Americans have made the greatest gains, over some of the highest
hurdles, in a shorter span of time than any other racial group in mankind's
history.
That speaks well of the intestinal fortitude of a people, and it also speaks
well of a nation in which such gains were possible.
Walter E. Williams is a syndicated columnist.