The Chris Moeller Archives

Cultural residue of slavery?

Ta-Nahisi Coates at the Atlantic has a must-read post about liberal (Barack Obama) and conservative (Paul Ryan) arguments regarding African-American poverty. He rejects as disingenuous the conservative argument that denies a cultural white supremacy, but rebuffs the liberal one regarding slavery and “cultural residue” as well.

Despite being culturally torn and degraded by slavery, emancipation caused an extraordinary movement among African-Americans to reunite families, and fueled a strong desire for gainful work and quality education in the years after black literacy was forbidden even by law. The Great Migration to Northern cities is evidence of this collective ambition.

“It was not ‘cultural residue’ that threatened black marriages. It was white terrorism, white rapacity, and white violence. And the commitment among freed people to marriage mirrored a larger commitment to the reconstitution of family, itself necessary because of systemic white violence.” Playing the good little Socialist, I can’t help but point to the nationwide trend against upward economic mobility among all demographic groups. Also, as a white man, I identify a sizable “criminal and loafing element,” to use Booker T. Washington’s phrase, or cultural degradation, among my “own people.” Across the board, it’s capitalism that's gnawing at the flesh. This is inherent.

posted by CM @ 8:34 PM