Hooray for Black Men

In slavery times, Negroes were expect to pay deference to the plantation owners and this included holding an umbrella over the masters’ head to keep the sun or rain off of him. There was nothing wrong with this because it was expected that slaves would provide and for their masters.

When this same act is performed today, it brings about questions and concerns. Why would an employee hold an umbrella over her supervisor’s head to keep the rain off him? Is the employee doing it out of respect, common courtesy, tradition and/or fear? Let me give you a true example of what I am talking about; recently, a group of concerned voters met with city employees to talk about a nuisance problem. The attendees were three city employees, two white male supervisors and a black female worker. Four black males were the opposition. During the outside meeting, it began to rain very hard. One of the white males had an umbrella as did the black female. There were two umbrellas among the black males. Continually during the falling rain the black female attempted to provide cover for the white male supervisor without an umbrella. This so embarrassed the white male that he rejected her attempts to shield him from the rain. She never offered to share her umbrella with the black males standing there in the rain. Since my thinking is sometimes way out of the box, I want to know what others think?

Some would say it was just the Christian thing to do. I agreed, but there were two other black men there who had not rejected her offer for protection from the rain, but she never offered them to share her umbrella. Some would say she was proving to her white superiors that she was team players, very important in Corporate America. Some would say she was doing whatever was necessary to provide for herself and her family. Some would say, I am making too much of nothing. I would say, until the Blacks recognize that they are free, we will always act like slaves.

Here is the irony of this situation; all the black males knew that the black female was being setup as the fall guy. She was only added to the team when it appears to be a confrontation between the blacks and whites. She was not the lead person until problems arose. Strange as it seems, although she was with her team, all the black males refused to challenge her very weak position. Black males are together when it comes to our ladies. We would rather stand in the rain rather than embarrass our women.

After an Ox has grounded out grain for a very long time, if all restrains are removed, that Ox will continue to go in circles. No matter which of the above reasons you choose for the black female behavior, in the final analysis, she does not see herself as a competent individual. There is no longer a need for chains and whips because we are so brainwashed, we still act like slaves.

I'm So Proud

For a long time now, we Blacks have been preaching the value of diversity, but we as a people have never practiced this notion. As a graduate of Atkins High School, I remember when only light skinned, shapely girls with beautiful legs could be majorettes. Back then, the color of your skin was a primary predictor of your IQ, no matter how smart you were. If you had dark skin, your opportunities for success were limited to the athletic arena.

Remember when your grandmother would say you had good hair or bad hair depending on how straight and easy to manage it was. In fact, the more closely you resembled the majority race the more beautiful and accepted you were. This was a self-filling prophecy, because if you were white-looking and acting, you got the best grades, and all the young girls loved you. Remember the singers Billy Eckstine, Arthur Prysock and Johnny Mathis and how our parents loved them. In their time, these men were the epitome of Black Manhood.

Just last weekend, I attended the Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) Homecoming Parade and it made me so very proud that my people are now finally practicing diversity. Like everything else we do, we are the best at it. Majorettes are now large, very dark, well-rounded, young ladies. They come in all sizes and shapes; there were short ones, tall ones, attractive ones and intelligent ones, in all colors from ink to pink. They were all doing their own things and finally realizing that nothing or no one can keep them from achieving their dreams and aspirations. Their mothers walked along the parade route with bottled water ready if their babies got thirty.

The young men were also something to behold as they led the bands and played those African Rhythms on the drums. They marched tall and proud as young men, protectors of our women, families, neighborhoods and the future or our race. Think about hundreds and hundreds of Blacks coming together just to have fun and meet and greet old friends and college classmates.

At the place where I stood, there was a young mother with her three children. The youngest of these was a two year-old boy who was afraid of the clowns but found the courage to wave to all the lovely ladies on the floats. I never attended WSSU but I was in the U.S. Air Force and I got the same feeling of pride when my company passed in review of the parade strand. The city should also be proud of the parade’s Grand Marshals, Police Chief Patricia Norris, Fire Chief John Gist, Recreation and Parks Director Tim Grant and Mayor Allen Joines. This is the kind of pride that swells up inside and gives you a feeling of wellbeing. I get this same feeling watching our people as God made us, happy, free and loving to all mankind. There was a Hispanic Family with two sons and they fitted right in to the crowd and celebration. From the guys selling T-shirts to the woman selling Candy Apples, everyone seemed to have a good time. It has been a long time since I have had something to be genuinely happy and proud about. Thank you black neighbors and friends, you made me feel oh so very proud to be an African American.

Harold Lee Hairston 

Can a Black Person be a Racist?

Some of my Black friends have asked me to tone down the rhetoric because it forces them to answer questions about whether or not I am a Racist. It is impossible to be a Christian and a Racist at the same time; therefore, I choose Jesus Christ and reject Racism. These same friends would never think about asking the Forsyth County Commission if they are racist when they cut the funding for the Downtown Health Plaza from $1.5 Million to less than $800 Thousand while at the same time spending $4.0 Million at Tanglewood Park. The Downtown Health Plaza provides health care for the poor and those without insurance. The health plaza is the result of a promise made to poor people to allow the closing of Reynolds Health Center. These same people would never accuse the Board of Education and School Administration of Racism when only 57% of Black Students read at grade level. Both actions have an adverse effect on the Black Community and because there is little or no concern about these issues, this behavior fits well within the definition of Racist as stated below:

Any action, practice, or belief that reflects the racial worldview—the ideology that humans are divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called “races,” that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and traits of personality, intellect, morality, and other cultural behavioral features, and that some “races” are innately superior to others.

I believe that all men are created equal, “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness --” Through the years I have learned that the color of your skin does not make you a Racist, it is the thought that because you are one color or another, you are entitled to Rule or to Serve. A Real Man raises or fall on blessing from God and his abilities to turn what life provides into advantages.

To be a Racist, you must have the authority or power, either by yourself or along with others of your Race to negatively impact the life of people of another Race. As a Black Man in this country, I have neither. If I had such authority and power, I would only use it to uplift Black Folks, not bring White Folks or any other Race down. So I say to my friends, I am very much for equality and self help of my People, if that what you called a Racist, so be it.

City-County Planning Board

The Winston-Salem City Council or the Forsyth County Commissioners, which one of these political organizations has the most impact on your day to day life? Which one makes life and death decisions about you, from the time you are born until you die and then dictates where your will be buried? Neither, most of these decisions are decided in Advisory Boards and Commissions.

If you are poor, a minority or not of the proper social and economic level, you will never serve on these Boards and Commissions and probably do not know what decisions are being made about you daily. Our elected officials hide behind recommendations from these Boards and Commissions and the Boards and Commissions say they only advise and are not responsible for the negative impact of their decisions on Black Communities.

Did you know that the New Beginning Assisted Living Center Building on New Walkertown Road, old Highway 311, will be replaced with a new 16 Unit Apartment Complex? Did you know that the people in that neighborhood did not want this project in their community? Mainly because this is an old well established community with people in their mature years that are under able to relocate or deal with the life style of young apartment dwellers. Think about how this mature single family community is being turned into a transit community of apartment renters. Who is responsible for the taking care of the people who live in this neighborhood?

The City/County Planning Board is one of the most professional Board I have encountered. In their last meeting they voted to allow a new 16 Unit Apartment complex to be built on New Walkertown Road. The six Whites and three Blacks that are the Board’s members are no doubt, good and honest people. This Board is filled with Real Estate Agents and Developers, who know nothing about the conditions facing people in minority communities. All the Board Members seem to have incomes or more than fifty thousand dollars yearly and can pickup and move to where they want to live and raise their children. How can they possibly understand the plight of the elderly woman who lives in this community, asking them not to put another apartment complex next to her home? No one was there to speak on her behalf, not like the Developers and Real Estate Agents that have their attorneys speak for them; she never had a chance and went away crying and begging for help. The vote was unanimous against her. Other communities have the right to decide what kind and type projects they want in their neighborhoods; some have even turned down Wal-Mart Super Stores while we who live on the East Side of town have nothing to say about where we live and no input into who makes these decisions.

In this lady’s neighborhood, there are these apartment complexes, Anderson Heights, up the street from Anderson Heights on Tenth Street is a unnamed apartment complex. Down New Walkertown Road is Rolling Hills, up New Walkertown Road is Lakeside and across from Lakeside is Eastgate Village. Less than two miles away, a new development called River Chase will have 184 new homes. All these developments uses New Walkertown Road for access.

In White Communities, someone would have requested and impact study. Someone would have wanted to know, “How will this impact driving conditions on an already dangerous New Walkertown Road, especially in commute times?” Someone would have asked, “Don’t we already have too many Apartment Complexes?” In White Communities, Homeowners Associations would have stood up and protected their property values and the character of their communities.

Since we are never told about Planning Board decisions about where we live and poor people are not candidates for these Boards and Commissions, we never know what is going on in our communities until we see the bulldozers. Taxization without representation was the basis for the founding of this Country, we MUST work together to change how these Board and Commissions Members are chosen. We must demand that Boards and Commission are loyal to the voters rather than the politicians who appoint them. Their appointments must be based on service to the community instead on cronyism.