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Not knowing the depth and the extent of Biden’s
knowledge of American History and the intransigence of the
problem of racism since 1619 to current date, he will be
confounded and bedeviled when he gets a firm grasp of the
stranglehold that classism and racism had and still has on
this country.
I contend the following raging bulls will meet Biden in
the public arena and will succeed in goring his ambitious
resolution to death.
One: Money…Money…Money: The one percenters who control the
vast majority of wealth in these United States will coalesce
around their leaders, known and unknown, and will flood
their opposition to such institutional changes will billions
of dollars. That is “billion” with a capital, “B”.
When you go after the monied class and inform them
that their good thing is about to come to an end (all
apologies to Lou Rawls), they will marshal their
considerable forces in the media and their politicos
stoogies to fight until the death.
The ruling elites are not going into the night
without a Herculean fight that will send tsunami waves
through the stock market, Wall Street and the Halls of
Congress. They will fight both fair and unfair; and the
unfair being employing surrogates to spew animosity on such
a plan that they will label as being, socialistic or
communistic at best.
Understand that the bedrock of this country stands on
the backs of minority people and the unfair taking of their
undervalued labor; and for rich fat cats to give up the
perks and privileges of power, it will not be a stroll in
the park.
Imagine if you can, a phalanx of media personnel,
politicos, lawyers, disgruntled people all being drawn into
a societal conflict that could very well result in public
disruptions and demonstrations that will make the worse seen
civil rights eruptions appear as child’s play.
That is what is at stake when you attempt to reorder the
pecking order of society and attempt to re-distribute wealth
in America, and that wealth is seen as going to “those”
people!
Considerations that the initial bedrock of the rise of
capitalism in America which allowed it to become a voracious
powerhouse in the international scene was wealth and labor
obtained by ill-gotten means and methods, to wit: slavery
and the suppression of honest wages for working class poor
people, be they black, brown or white and the theft of land
and resources from the land of Native Americans
Rich folks who are fighting for their perceived
right to rule the roost for an ad infinite period of time,
will torch the city rather than share wealth and power with
a DeMarcus or a Lakeshia and have such “marginalized”
citizens have access their halls of learning and residential
neighborhoods.
I say that to state that institutional racism has a
firm choke hold in America’s DNA and any attempts to excise
it will be a journey of a thousand miles, akin to walking
barefoot on barbed wire and glass shards thrown on the
pathway.
TWO: People, People, People: Imagine telling people
who have not met or conversed with a minority person all of
their lives, now being told or informed that they must get
to know those whom they have held in low esteem or outright
hostility.
If you think that Colin Kaepernick took some heat
and flak for kneeling at a pro football game, you are sorely
mistaken if you think there will be a series of Kum-By-Ya
moments and we all hug and dance around a culturally neutral
maypole!
Think of it, this way. You must practically redo
American history textbooks and as it is currently taught to
show the real America and how that America came to be. You
will have to re-define what is fair in the marketplace and
why people should be paid living wages for doing needed and
necessary work.
You will have to examine the harmful legacy of mis
applied Christianity as it was used by White American
theologians to justify slavery and the docility of black
folks. Not an easy task to tell churches that they should
take down pictures of a white blue-eyed Jesus and at least
display what a Semite looked at that time in Biblical
Jerusalem.
That revision alone will have nominal Christians
running for their church exit doors!
And for the record, this proposed reordering of
American society can not be done in a drawn-out fashion. Can
you imagine frying chicken in cold oil in the skillet and
you wonder why it is taking so long or that it is not cooked
or even crispy? To fry chicken, you need hot oil and you
dip that chicken piece in and let the fat pop and smoke, but
the result is….”Ahhhhh!”
Residential segregation is still big, big in America
as is stark segregation in the nation’s classrooms,
boardrooms, churches and recreational outlets. Saying it
simply, White America does not mix with other Americans who
are of a certain culture or racial complexion. That is not
how we roll.
If Biden, when he wins the presidency, can cobble
together an august commission studded with named and learned
people who can clearly articulate, over and over again, why
such racism must be dismantled for the good of us all, he
still must convince the monied class that it behooves them
to make room at the public and private troughs for others,
other than their own!
Simply stated, we are talking about a re-education of
American values and principles that does not give “fudge
points” for white folks to continue to suck out all of the
air in the room and which leaves others on the sidelines
looking in, saying, “ I can’t breathe!”
Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@juno.com
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