What is this strange and counterproductive social phenomenon that dictates the decline and erosion of institutions that have long been the fabric of the community. I am woefully underwhelmed by our individual and collective appreciation for social cornerstones like Ebony magazine. And I am absolutely dismayed by the dismantling of institutions like the NAACP and the Urban League where the sentiment is too often echoed, “They are no longer relevant.” The invaluable connections that are made in these hallowed institutions have meant the salvation and the advancement of our culture.
Conversely, we have not heard grunge bands or white hip-hop bands or country western groups advocate against their history so vehemently. They don’t diss Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich openly and adamantly. We impugn our accomplishments and invalidate our own worthiness when we denigrate African American leaders on the world stage and besmirch them in song and music.
It is more than a little unsettling when historical figures enter a room and not only do we not recognize them, we really don’t know who they are — and we’re not trying to find out. All that is relevant to us is what we have heard on a CD or an iPod promoting ill-conceived notions that perpetuate our pursuit of materialism. Suggesting to an entire generation that education is not necessary and intelligence can be replaced with cool — worse yet — that social graces can be set aside to wallow in the drunken stupor of fame.
I happened to spend some time with Rev. Al Sharpton — a man who had just a short time earlier addressed Parliament in London. But yet I hadn’t seen that on a blog. A man who can and does speak with the president, and yet I had heard him dissed on a record. We find feeble ways to justify the tearing down of the people and things we should uphold. We tell ourselves the lie, that we no longer need our fathers, brothers or grandfathers, for we are men and women now. But the more we proclaim that ill-fated notion, the more we do to weaken our resolve to unite against a Willie Lynch mentality that has infiltrated the economic condition of the Diaspora’s children. That mentality perpetuates self-hate and finds fertile ground where “Negroes” are willing to tear each other down.
Reverse our attacks on each other. Reverse the attack on our institutions. Subscribe to Ebony and other African American publications and find reasons to appreciate those who may not be in the enviable positions you apparently find yourself in. Volunteer to help so that they can move ahead. Appreciate your history instead of reversing it, ignoring it and erasing it. For all of you who think, “I don’t owe them” — whoever “them” are — anything, look in the mirror and think again. From here forward let’s not diss-grace or diss-respect each other by dissing our culture and ourselves.
Peace.
Munson Steed, Publisher