When Blacks Become Racists

In his book, "The Content of Our Character," Shelby Steele states, "If conditions have worsened for most of us as racism had receded, then much of the problem must be of our own making. To admit this fully would cause us to lose the innocence we derive from our victimization. And we would jeopardize the entitlement we've always had to challenge society. We are in the odd self-defeating position in which taking responsibility for bettering ourselves feels like a surrender to white power." This idea of taking responsibility for bettering ourselves that Steele wrote about in 1990 is still, in 2007, absent in the black community. And why is it absent? A good answer could be found in the same book where Steele talks about the challengers and the bargainers. The challengers are those blacks that say, "if your innocent then prove it. The bargainers says, "I already believe you are innocent (good, fair-minded) and have faith that you will prove it." He goes on to give examples of blacks that fall into these two categories.

Throughout the years there have been many challengers and bargainers in the black community. The first bargainer that comes to mind is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the challenger that immediately comes to mind is Malcolm X even though it could be argued that he later became a bargainer. There are others throughout black history and today we have Councilman Charles Barron. Councilman Barron is never at a loss for words especially when he is calling out whitey. The latest episode in a very vetriolic life, Councilman Barron says, "We are not bowing down to white supremacy, never, never, never. He was chanting this after Council Speaker Christine Quinn suspended Barron's chief of staff Viola Plummer. They have since brought a law suit against the speaker.

This has come about because Plummer was accused of calling for the assassination of Councilman Leroy Comrie after he did not vote for a name change of a street in Brooklyn. Plummer, however, denied that and said she called for an assassination of his political career. Plummer was suspended by Quinn for sixe weeks but continues to work in Barron's office.

So what's the problem? The problem is this-if Charles Barron was a white councilman he would be "forced" to resign because he would be tarnished as a racist. But we live in a society that says that blacks can't be racist because of their innocence. Blacks can't be criticized because they are the victims. Blacks can't have power because they are the oppressed. The other problem with this issue is that Barron and his chief of staff refuse to listen to those who think that the renaming of a street in Brooklyn the Sonny Carson Street. Sonny Carson, who died in 2003, claimed to be antiwhite. So why would the City Council name a street after him? Because Barron and Plummer says so. Sonny Carson as written about here by Tamar Jacoby not only does not deserve a street named after him he also doesn't deserve to be discussed in a positive light. The name of Sonny Carson should be brought up as an example to young black children that people like Mr. Carson owe a debt to society instead of the other way around.

I do not believe that there should be any street naming. It is not necessary and simply a waste of our time and money. But what's more important is that we need to start talking up and against people like Charles Barron. We need more bargainers and less challengers.