Joseph C. Phillips: Is America Only for White People?
By HHR | August 28th, 2010 | Category: Featured, General, HHR Contributors | 11 comments
By Joseph C. Phillips
Is America only for white people? The question stuck in my mind following yet another e-mail exchange with a friend of mine, regarding my conservatism. For this particular gentleman, being black in America is at odds with conservatism. As he put it:
“…Particularly as African-Americans, I feel we are in no real position to idealize the American experience and get too choked up about institutions and symbols that were not created with us in mind. Certainly, we cannot cast our lot with those who are actively seeking to destroy those gains we have made.”
I have a number of issues with the above statement, not the least of which is that the principles that inspired the American founding were always viewed as universal principles, which applied to all of mankind. Curiously, it wasn’t until the introduction of Historicist and Darwinian philosophy (which gave birth to Progressivism) that some Americans began to argue otherwise. And of course, I disagree that conservatives are actively seeking to destroy all of the gains black America has made.
It is important to note that the sentiments that my friend expresses are similar to the political attitudes which continue to permeate much of the black community. These same attitudes are also particularly present in the thinking of the black leftists, who have long held the conviction that the existence of slavery at our nation’s founding renders our Constitution a hollow document; the institutions and symbols that sprang from the founding were bereft of moral authority; the founders were hypocrites and liars, and the American dream is little more than a cruel myth.
From this conviction a kind of “cultural revolutionary defiance” has arisen, that is to say: black authenticity began to be increasingly measured by the degree to which black people defined themselves by way of their ethnicity, expressed anger at historical injuries, and were critical of, or rejected American symbols and institutions.
In this respect, my friend is a true new-revolutionary. But the issue he raises is not a new one, neither is it exclusive to American blacks.
In July of 1858, Abraham Lincoln addressed the question of how almost half of the citizens of this country could take pride and ownership in the accomplishments of the nation when they were not “historically related” to the founders, or those living on these shores at the time of the founding. Lincoln answered: “If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us, but when they look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,’ and then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration, and so they are. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together–that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world.”
The essential element that my friend and the black leftists have missed is that what binds us together as Americans is not shared blood, race, ethnicity, or tribe; it is the unshakable belief in certain universal principles. The American experience is not attached to men who were flawed, but is instead fixed to ideas that remain flawless. The institutions and symbols of America are reflective of the revolutionary idea that all men are the property of God, created with an equal right to life, liberty, private property, and the free pursuit of bettering their station in life. Martin Luther King, Jr., put it more succinctly: “The American dream reminds us…that every man is an heir of the legacy of dignity and worth.”
All of us, whether our ancestors arrived through the gates of Ellis Island or survived travel through the Middle Passage are heirs to that grand idea. It is this idea that animates true conservatism and moreover, it is ONLY that idea-those principles-that made possible the huge gains that black Americans have made in this country and indeed in the world. It is, perhaps, also the reason that more Africans have freely chosen to come to America than were ever imported in slave ships.
In response to my friend, all Americans should ask: If not America, where? If not American symbols, which symbols? If not American institutions, which institutions will do? If not the principles of the American founding, upon which principles do the black left propose to build a new America-an America they can “idolize” and “get choked up about”?
Ask Van Jones.
These forward-thinking paragons, nursed on the mother’s-milk of Marx and Mao, would build their new America on the bedrock of economic redistribution and racial favoritism. I believe we tried that once in this country…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph C. Phillips is the author of “He Talk Like a White Boy” available where ever books are sold. He is best known as one of the stars of The Cosby Show.
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America isn’t only for White people but if Black people don’t assert ourselves then we’ll surely be swept aside. If patriots like you and skeptics like me cannot work as a united front then we’ll be relegated to scrap heap of national history. We’ll see what our varied factions decide to do.
The country was founded with the sin of Slavery. To argue that all of those who signed the Constitution and the Bill of rights had Black people in mind as being included as full citizens is ridiculous.
Your statement that……..not the least of which is that the principles that inspired the American founding were always viewed as universal principles, which applied to all of mankind. Curiously, it wasn’t until the introduction of Historicist and Darwinian philosophy (which gave birth to Progressivism) that some Americans began to argue otherwise……can be easily dismissed.
Attempting to lay the problems of race on “Progressivism and Leftists” can be laughed out of the room.
Economic justice was at the core of MLK’s message. Glenn Beck’s rally was sullied by the presence of a man, Beck himself, who says that he disagrees with King’s economic message. Beck cannot carry the banner of King if Beck disagrees with King’s principles. The march was further sullied by the presence of Sarah Palin who is infamous for her “Don’t retreat, Reload” support of Dr Laura.
The truth is that until Conservatives give a more inclusive message to the Black community, Conservatives will be ignored. As demographics of the country change, Republicans will need Black votes more than Blacks need the GOP.
I don’t see what Beck has to do with this.
“Attempting to lay the problems of race on ‘Progressivism and Leftists’ can be laughed out of the room.”
Wasn’t it WEB Du Bois who supported the Japanese Empire’s atrocities against other Asians?
Wasn’t it Samuel Gompers who favored pro-white immigration laws?
Wasn’t Marx a blatant anti-semite?
Most of the founding fathers were well-aware of their own hypocrisy on the issue of slavery. They were not perfect, but they did leave us a valuable framework of universal rights.
Like the founding fathers, MLK was not perfect. That why I cannot endorse some of his views. But that’s OK, because so-called economic justice was not the core of MLK’s message. His lasting legacy was a critique of evil. That evil would exist in a hypothetically perfect egalitarian society. Segregation is not economically or politically inconvenient. Segregation is evil. And that’s the real reason for Republicans to reach out to black voters.
Let me simplify my words about Progressives and laying problems of race at their feet. You begin by noting that the Founding Fathers did not include everyone in their declaration of freedom. Battles had to be fought, and lives lost for Black American citizens to achieve full citizenship rights. Thus The race problem is not merely a Progressive problem.
Conservative hero Barry Goldwater sided with the racists on the State’s rights issue. Thus MLK said that a person of good conscience could not vote for Barry Goldwater. When the Democrats became slightly more open minded on the issue of race, the Dixiecrats headed to the GOP. Strom Thurmond, who hid his Black daughter,was a hero of the GOP.
Rand Paul bemoans the stress that White business owners were put under because they were forced to serve Black customers. Sarah Palin gives moral support to Dr Laura.
Before Conservatives can deliver a message to any minority group, the GOP has to clean up it’s own act.
As long as Conservatives avoid the elephant in the room which is how Conservatives have presented themselves to the Black community, nothing will change.
Rant on about Gompers, etc. Barry Goldwater, Strom Thurmond, Rand Paul and sarah Palin are our most recent memories of Conservative ideology on race.
Had Joseph C. Phillips been alive during the time of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, he would have been the property of one of them. What is interesting is that principles “that inspired the American founding” are for domestic consumption only. The world has seen how America applies its prism to universal principles. Countries like: Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea and China have witnessed via its African-American citizens how two-faced America is. Phillips does not feel that conservatives “are actively seeking to destroy all of the gains black America has made.” He might be hard pressed to present evidence that conservatives are actively seeking to retain the gains black America have made. Phillips mentions Abraham Lincoln, the same Abraham Lincoln who said the Civil War was not fought to free slaves but to preserve the union. Kind of you, Phillips to cite Martin Luther King Jr., the safe dead action hero and we all know how he got that way. I am glad you alluded to the Africans who freely chose to come to this country. In a future op-ed piece how about mentioning the schisms between Africans and African-Americans? This nation has a tendency to play favorites, some Africans have been known to look down their noses at black Americans. Perhaps they too have acquired the conservative mantle.
To me it goes back towards Rene Descartes theory: “I Think Therefore I am!” Whatever we as Black Americans think = what we will become and are.
Conservatives want to claim the mantle of patriotism as being their sole possession. Names like ayers are thrown out as demonstrating how unpatriotic “Libs” are.
Modern Conservative Governors are the ones who have talked about secession. Modern Conservatives are the ones who want to turn the “written in stone” Constitution into a “living breathing document” by changing the 14th Amendment.
It is Conservatives leaders who dislike the US so much that the want to form an independent country and change the Constitution. Some patriotism.
“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices – to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own – for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.”
Phillips poses the question of whether the US is only for Whit people. This strawman argument puts Blacks in he position of having to defend everything the country has done, or being considered unpatriotic. This is absurd. Blacks can argue that the country has not always lived up to it’s true potential and be the ost patriotic people on the planet. As noted above, it is the quarters who have leaders suggesting secession where patriotism should be questioned.
Confederate flags have been displayed at several Tea Party rallies. I cannot in good conscience support people who fly the flag of a group who wanted to secede from the United states of America. flying that flag is by definition, unpatriotic.. If the Confederate flag is allowed, why not the red, black, and green flown by so-called Black nationalists? Both flags are allowed given our God given free speak rights, but both are not signs of unity and representative of the entire country.
Blacks gave the first blood lost in the Revolutionary War. Blacks served in segregated US armed forces and many lost their lives in the Civil war and the wars in the Middle east of today. To suggest that Blacks who question our country’s actions in certain cases are unpatriotic is itself jingoist and unpatriotic.
The treatment of Indian tribes, the imprisonment of Japanese citizens and the Jim Crow era were dark days in the history of the United States. Those who ignore this history and who are in full agreement with the whitewashing of history being attempted by the Texas school board should be ashamed. The US can deal with past mistakes, learn from them and improve. Ignoring history is cowardice.
Any elected official who has mentioned secession is unqualified to be a Presidential candidate. Any ex-Governor who agrees that every Black person in the country should understand that they can be called a derogatory name because rappers and comedians use the word is too stupid to e considered a source of political insight.
Black Conservatives have to rely on the past history of the GOP to attempt to increase the ranks of Blacks in the GOP because the current crop of rodeo clowns that influence the GOP always treats the African-American community with condescension. Put simply, Black voters are not going to go where they feel unwelcome.
Secession and the “Don’t retreat, reload” statement on the n-word is the current face of the GOP. Blocking the payout to the Black farmers by the majority of the GOP is the current face of the GOP. Mr Phillips turn your attention to your own side of the aisle first. After the GOP reforms, we can have a conversation.
rmrd…Why don’t you join the Republican party and change it from within?
Keepyourpower,
It’s easier to be a right-leaning Democrat, than to be a Moderate Republican. Besides, I don’t think America would know how to handle of group of highly focused Black Nationalist Republicans. They struggle dealing with Integrationalists regardless of political affiliation, and have a penchant for parading Self-hating Sycophant Integrationalists as the standard for Black Republicans in the media. I’m surprised Michael Steele got the RNC chair considering how competent he is. What am I talking about? That was just a knee-jerk reaction to Obama get elected. Anyways…
Overall the article seems like fluff. Pointing the finger at leftists doesn’t solve any problems or do anything to help the Black community, therefore it’s a poor motivational tool. Actually describing a plan of action that would help the Black community or alternatively, just impoverished Americans would be a lot more effective.
But it’s easier to point the finger than come up with a solution. Leadership is about taking action, not laying blame. Spitting out the same rhetoric that the White GOP does isn’t productive.