Two quotes to consider…
“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”
“I am afraid that there is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don’t want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.
Both of these quotes come from a great American hero (my opinion but shared by many). When someone like me (white) echoes this sentiment today… we are attacked as racist. If the messenger is black… the “Uncle Tom” label is applied. But I’ve often found giving voice to truth invites attack… it’s biblical after all…
Of course these quotes come from Booker T. Washington one of the generation of black leaders who were born slaves. He said this in 1911 (Chapter 5: The Intellectuals and the Boston Mob). Author of “Up from Slavery”, and founder of the Tuskegee Institute, Mr. Washington sought to raise up the black community though self-reliance, entrepreneurship, pride through accomplishment, education, economic advancement… (aka… conservative principles). To accomplish these goals he “mobilized a nationwide coalition of middle class blacks, church leaders, and white philanthropists and politicians”. (Wikipedia)
“Black militants in the North, led by W.E.B. DuBois,… set up the NAACP (in 1909) and tried to challenge Washington’s political machine for leadership in the black community. Decades after Washington’s death in 1915, the Civil Rights movement generally moved away from his policies to take the more militant NAACP approach.” (Wikipedia) …which is why the black community a century later finds itself with the same problems (only worse). They are still blindly following the poverty and race pimps beholden to the Democratic party.
A quote attributed to Booker T. Washington that was actually from George (our founding father and first President) says, “Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.” — George Washington (from a late 16th century French maxim)
Do you keep company with the likes of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Julian Bond, or Bobby Rush?
A century later there is nothing new under the sun…
The Texas Piney Woods (Blog) 