Several friends have left already because they were convinced that America was not a place where American Africans can live in peace and harmony. Others are looking at places where they want to go; the only one they are sure of is it will not be the United States. These are creative and talented people who feel that America is stifling their growth, and they can only flourish in a different racial environment.
The country of Ghana has been the big winner, and there is a growing group of American Africans now living in Tanzania, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Some have decided to stay in this hemisphere and like the countries of Belize and Panama, two predominately black countries that speak English.
We are the most skilled groups of Africans in the world and, unfortunately, the most confused, as well. We are clearly in demand in the less-developed countries, while it’s not often clear we are needed here in the United States.
Things can change
I hear the common refrain that we are not wanted here, and after nearly 400 years of unrelenting racism, there is no reason to believe anything will change. When black people are gunned down in our churches and another black church seems to burn every night, a battle fatigue sets in. It is during these times that the bags are half-packed and the cost-of-living charts for various countries began to appear.
For 25 generations, we have been trying to get this relationship right, and even with a black president, the living standards of American Africans are at an all-time low. The average white family makes more than $100,000 more than the average black family, and it’s getting worse.
What befuddles me about this entire process of black economic and social stagnation is that we see millions spent by the enemies on the right to thwart our progress and see very little spent by our friends of the left to stop it or create something different.
We are living in a society where messages count, and if the right is the only one pushing messages, their narratives will eventually become America’s narrative. The conservative Koch Brothers are pushing their messages through the media and the dozens of nonprofits they finance all over the nation. Only the Bloomberg organization is carrying our torch on the left, and it needs some help.
I have long advocated for a black think tank operating from Martin Luther King Jr. County, where we bring the best and brightest minds from around the nation and solve problems. Then we take those solutions back to communities and try them out to see what works. Or we take our little black community here and make it the incubator for these new ideas.
Change happens because someone or some group dares to have a vision about what they want to create. We spend thousands of hours fighting against or denouncing issues that we don’t like, but we put very little time into shaping those ideas that we do like.
Finishing the job
Most of us don’t like where this nation is going, and some of us will leave because of the uncertainty. But some of us believe the old African proverb, “Your work is where your ancestors are buried.” I have 24 generations of my people here through the black blood and hundreds of generations through my Native American blood (Blackfoot of Missouri Valley), so my ancestors here are whispering in my ear every night: “Finish our job.”
We have the resources right here in Martin Luther King Jr. County to lead this nation in building a new reality. We have the money, intellect and the people skills to get the job done, but we are still stuck in the old belief that we (the Northwest) are the backwoods of America and the smart people back east should have better answers than we do.
They don’t. You saw their best ideas a long time ago.
But no one in the nation has this unique multiracial community we have, with racial input from all corners of the planet living in Martin Luther King Jr. County.
I know some of the things I am saying are getting old to many of you, but I am looking for that new person with the resource base that can make a difference, who hears it for the first time and realizes he or she has heard this calling in life. So if you are as tired of this narrative as I am, help me find the people to create a new narrative of racial progress, from Martin Luther King Jr. County.
CHARLIE JAMES has been an African-American-community activist for more than 35 years. He is co-founder of the Martin Luther King Jr. County Institute (mlkci.org). To comment on this column, write to MPTimes@nwlink.com.