We All Fish, Better Teach Your Folk;

Give him money to eat, then next week he's broke
Cause when you sleep, he's reaching for your throat...

Figured I’d ruminate on something that will set the tone for this blog, and my life, for a while. In my youth, I was somewhat of a revolutionary. Think ‘Huey’ from ‘Boondocks’, curly bush and all. As I have aged, my understanding of economics, sociology, and political theory has expanded (due in no small part to my “East Coast Tour” of every school I could attend while pursuing the elusive B.S.; and certain nameless parties who have helped broaden my experiences) and my views have changed. In short, I have grown.

What I have come to realize is that the success of our people as a group requires, in every respect, the pursuit of individual success. Things like generational wealth, social parity, economic parity and political parity are things that a society does not give—a people must take or earn. When a society grants you these things, you assure yourselves a second class citizenship. Now I know I sound like one of those Affirmative Action haters, when in truth, I am not. But their major argument, that underqualified candidates fill slots due to set asides, is not without merit and should be considered.

When we are given a subsidy, as here, we have to use that subsidy to the best of our abilities. This means that if you get that ‘black’ slot at Harvard, you serve as a representation of ‘us.’ You are our voice and you have to make the most of it, and bring the fruits of that subsidy back to us, the people that you serve. This does not mean moving back in to the ghetto, however, because you must also blaze trails and make inwards in other areas. Here is where the ‘individual success’ portion comes into play. You must strive for the highest heights attainable, while all the while sharing with and reminding others how you have achieved. And yes, it can be lonely, but heavy is the head that wears the crown. Think about it.

You must also make tough decisions and sacrifices. Heavy-crown, you get the point. In short, we are America’s last immigrant. The one’s who have yet to grasp that the rules of the game are simple, education-commerce-family, you succeed in these areas, and you will serve as a guidepost for the other ‘runaway slaves’ who seek that ‘Promised Land.’

Booker T. Washington has been much maligned for his espousal of the same principles that I note here. He laid a foundation, and built a school dedicated to giving his people, our people, a skill or craft. He told President Woodrow Wilson that he was trying to make the black man useful, to integrate him into society. But what he was trying to tell us is that he was trying to make us necessary; to integrate us into the economy—then we could have our say.

Ignorant and inexperienced, it is not strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the top instead of the bottom, that a seat in Congress or the state legislature was more sought than real estate or industrial skill, that the political convention of some teaching had more attraction than starting a dairy farm or a stockyard.

Booker T. Washington, “Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are” 1895.



So I guess this serves as both my post for the day, and my Manifesto, my mission statement. “I Am, Therefore I Hustle.” Hustle with me.