Page 6
MICHIGAN CITIZEN
Nov. 28 - Dec. 4, 1993
By JaDl�S E. Alsbrook
The spoken and written
babblings of paid and unpaid
.Black so-called conserva­
tives who cater to white su­
premacists remind me of two
significant experiences:
Several weeks ago I
stood on the rear deck at the
home of a white pro r,
pointed downhill over a mile
of wilderness toward the
river and asked, "Who lives
down there?" He looked at
me painfully and replied,
"That's where the rednecks
and white trash are."
"Do they come up here?" I
asked. He said, "They know
their place and they feel very
ill at ease and uncomfortable
up here." He said the land
along the Hocking river was
cheap and "those people"
didn't mind ifthe roads were
not paved. ,
When I was in Cincin­
nati several years ago, a
sweaty white man in dirty
overalls joined me in an ele­
vator in Closson' "high-end"
home furnishing store. He
moaned, "What gawd-awful
prices they have in this
joint!" He said be a car­
pet 1 yer' helper, adding
th t Clo son' pe onnel
1"8 "b6ity-toity" and
"snooty."
He knew where he stood on
the ladder of upward mobil­
ity. He has been taught and
socialized from childhood to
behave and to set values and
priorities within the
boundaries of his advanta­
geous, life-long outlook and
mindset.
The lowly whites also
knew where they stood on
the ladder of upward mobil­
ity. Th y knew they were
members of a less-valued
lind more-degraded group.
Their thoughts and actions
were programmed by their
previously internalized, re­
stricting, limiting and disad­
vantageous mindset.
Just as the priorities, val­
ues, beliefs and actions of the
poor whites are determined
by their restricting mindset,
oJ\) are the thoughts and ac­
tions of less-advantaged
Blacks. Moreover, Blacks
carry an additional baggage
of impediments because of
rampant racism and race
awareness that appear to be
always present.
READERS WRITE
Dear Editor.
The campaign logan -let th future begin- eviden a
current confusion of the old with th new, and a reversal ofrol
betw n the People as actors with them objects, as cted
upon. P pi m t . not the . of th
future. Th Peop must make the future not -let- it ppen to
them.
Nor should the future be '"back to the future- of the Fords
and th . r gang ruling Detroit.
We male! history by doing n things not old thi . Doing
old things is the way to be . tory. Doing truly new things is
the way to ma history. Ifw want to malt! hi tory we mus
create newly. Ifw do old things, if we return to Ford ism, which
today comes as greater "suburban" control, we will be history.
W will history ifw just Ie th "back to h future" hap n
to us, if w just I t George do it to u again.
Let's m ke ,the fu ur and hi tory. Let' v rn ou elves
Denms X