By Vanessa The “Afro-Conservative”

I’ve learned over time that the relationship between Blacks and the “government” is not as simplistic as pundits would like to make it seem.  On the one hand some liberals believe that Blacks cannot survive without government, while some conservatives believe that government need not play an active role, under any circumstances except that which is delineated in the Constitution. Both extreme positions invariably dismiss key times in history when Blacks utilized government in order to subsist, and times in history when Blacks were able to subsist without the help of bureaucracies.

During slavery, despite collective sharing between Blacks families, these families still had to rely on the slave owner for goods and resources.  Republicans understood the interdependent dynamics between the slave and slave owners.  Republicans also acknowledged how difficult it would be for Blacks if they just emancipated Blacks without any formal support systems, what we know today as “safety nets.” On March 3, 1865 the Freedman’s Bureau bill was passed primarily by Republicans in Congress and was signed by Abraham Lincoln in order to provide food, shelter, clothing, education, healthcare, and employment to newly freed Blacks. After vetoing a bill to increase the federal power of the Freedman’s bureau, Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s Democratic successor later disbanded the bureau.

After a mere 7 years of support from the Freedman’s bureau (1865-1872), Blacks began to develop informal mutual aid networks.  These mutual aid networks helped the two-parent (mother-father) survive by providing spiritual, physical, and emotional support during a very tumultuous time for Blacks.  It’s no secret that during the Great Depression, whatever White America felt, it was magnified for Black America.  Moreover, many “New Deal” initiatives, although lauded by those on the left, did very little to curtail the economic travails of Blacks.

Therefore, the Black Church was a powerful force that provided services for Blacks which included credit unions, sunday schools, job training, and various other services meant to elevate the spiritual, social, and economic standing of Blacks.

Government didn’t begin taking an active roll in the Black Community again until the 1960s.  So, needless to say for over 88+ years, Blacks were on their own.  According to the Department of Labor statistics between 1890 and 1940, Black males had slightly higher labor force participation as compared with Whites Males.  Moreover, during the time between Reconstruction and the 1960s, many Blacks began to reap the benefits of free enterprise.  For example, Greenwood, in Tusla Oklahoma, was one of the areas we know today as the “Black Wall Street.” Greenwood was home to many Black multimillionaires until the Race Riot (where Whites came in and burned down the homes and businesses of the thriving Blacks).  Even after the race riots, proving the resiliency of Blacks- Blacks still rebuilt the town and it became economically prosperous once more–until desegregation caused Blacks to stop shopping at Black owned businesses and opened the door for Blacks to fraternize White owned businesses.

Before the Black church comprised of race-hustlers, political opportunists, and prosperity pimps, the Black church enforced principles that included family cohesiveness, education, and economic stability.  Once government began to take an active roll in the lives of Blacks, the power of the Black Church in regards to setting mores (values) diminished.  Instead, a new sense of “entitlement” was unfortunately embraced.  This new formal aid network, otherwise known as “government social programs” began to dismiss the importance of the two parent (mother and father) family structure.  High illegitimacy rates which contributed to the many other social pathologies we see in the Black community are a direct result of “government programs” usurping the roll of the family, community, and Black church.

As Conservatives of all walks, we must first understand the history between the dynamics of Black people and government.  We must also acknowledge the times when government was beneficial to blacks (e.g. Freedman’s bureau) and times when  programs and initiatives were to the demise of the Black community (War on Poverty).  Currently, almost 70 percent of Black children (almost 90 percent) in the inner city are headed by single mothers.  Social scientists of all political persuasions acknowledge that these trends didn’t begin until after Liberals began to infiltrate the Black constituency.

The objective no longer remains to criticize liberals but to counteract their paternalistic policies by drafting policies and proposals that call for a re-emergence of mutual aid networks (Church, non-profits) to help with problems associated with poverty, job-readiness, drug abuse, marriage, and economic literacy that plagues the Black community.

Question: What do most women think about more than men?  Answer: Their Hair. Don’t get upset ladies-we know it’s true.
Many people don’t know that the first woman to become a self-made millionaire was a Black woman by the name of Madam CJ Walker.  She went from working in the cotton fields in the South-to distributing hair care products through her own manufacturing firm.  For those of you who chemically straighten your hair-you can thank her for the perm.  I’ll stick with my nappy hair. Thanks.

There are many lessons we can learn from Madam CJ Walker.  The first is that if we have enough drive we can accomplish anything even under the most inauspicious circumstances.

In Madam CJ Walker’s time, Black people weren’t an “interest group”-so most Blacks had to depend on one other (mutual aid networks) like the church in order to survive.  Madam CJ Walker understood that.  Because of her entrepreneurial spirit-not only was she able to become a self-made millionaire, she was able to help lift many Black people out of poverty through EMPLOYMENT. We should always avoid class envy because if Madam CJ was poor and part of the “why me” chorus–she wouldn’t have been able to create jobs.  I want you to remember that next time a Liberal politician tries to get you angry at “rich people”.  Madam CJ Walker was also a philanthropist. She left over 2/3 of her wealth to organizations she felt worked towards the betterment of her community– like the Tuskegee Institute, and a historically black college by the name of Bethune-Cookman College.

Many Black people hated Reagan because they say he cut many “essential” social programs.  What many Blacks fail to realize is that under Reagan, the number of black-owned businesses increased from 308,000 – 424, 000 which is equivalent to a 38 percent influx (compared to the 14 percent increase in the total number of firms in the United States). Moreover, receipts by black-owned firms doubled (went from $9.6 billion to $19.8 billion at the end of his administration).  Let’s give credit where credit is due. Part of the reason why receipts for Black owned businesses doubled is because Reagan understood that too much government can stifle economic activity.   Which do you prefer, a leader who promotes dependency through legislation-or one who promotes economic autonomy? I choose the latter.

Obama’s policies may sound nice but they aren’t doing anything to stimulate the economic activity in this country.  When the rest of America is in a recession-the ripple effects on the Black community are even more potent. While I have tremendous respect for Obama, as an individual, I cannot willfully blind myself to the fact his policies are having a retardant effect on our economy…because his father was Black, like me.

Instead of waiting for the government to step in where we come short-it’s important for us to look to the people who came before us, like Madam Walker-who had conditions significantly more arduous-yet still managed to turn their obstacles into opportunities.

The entrepreneurs in the Inner City should look more like the people who fraternize their businesses.  There are many non-profit small business networks which help individuals draft business proposals.  There are also programs that help small business owners with loans and grants.  Many of these programs are geared specifically for Blacks.  Madam CJ Walker didn’t have any of those things in her day.  So, therefore, -we have no excuses.

By Vanessa, the “Afro-Conservative”

In the wake of Derrion Albert’s death, I find myself increasingly disillusioned by the current state of Black America. While African Americans comprise 13.5 percent of the population, 43 percent of all murder victims in 2007 were African America. Of the 43 percent who were murdered, 93.1 percent were killed by African Americans.

Was it always like this? The answer is Unequivocally: NO.

The disproportionate crime rates, illegitimacy rates, divorce rates, drugs abuse, and disproportionate incarceration rates didn’t begin until liberals took over the Black Community in the 60s. Before liberals came and negated the influence of the Black father, over 80 percent of black children in 1960 were born in wedlock. In 1940 the illegitimacy rate amongst Blacks was 19 percent. Today, post the liberals monopoly in the poor urban areas, the illegitimacy rate is over 70 percent and almost 90 percent in the inner city. Surprisingly, between 1890 and 1940 Blacks had a marriage rate slightly higher than Whites. According to Herbert G. Gutman author of “The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom (1750-1925)”– for every 6 children under the age of under the of 6-5 of them lived in two parent households. In Harlem between 1905 and 1925, only 3 percent of all families were headed by a woman under 30. In this same time period, 85 percent of black children lived in two-parent families.

The training ground for any human being begins in the home. The dynamics of the home environment can do two things: it can set the child up for failure or for success. When Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat began seeing the negative trends of entitlement programs regarding the Black Family in the 60s he wrote the “Moynihan Report”. In the “Moynihan Report” he predicted that if the Black family continued to disintegrate, then there would be issues of delinquency, crime, disproportional educational outcomes, and other social problems that come when a father isn’t active in a child’s life.

What did the liberals do with this information? They called Moynihan a racist! They decried that he was “blaming the victim” and that he was against the “strong black woman” and that she could do it all by herself. Well, it wasn’t all by her lonesome because the nanny state (LBJ’s Great Society) was going to be there to replace daddy. Part of the stipulations for receiving welfare was that the Black father was not able to be present in the home. Therein lies the beginning of the destruction of our families.

Well, on behalf of the Black race, I want to thank all the liberal feminists who screwed up Black America with their entitlement programs and their warped world views. I want to thank the Saul Alinksy’s and all the “community organizers” who used the Blacks as pawns to advance their Marxist agenda. The progressives of this day had it all figured out. In order to eradicate the capitalist foundation of this country, they would need to put as many people on the welfare rolls as possible. The progressives didn’t care about Blacks before this. They were too busy empathizing with Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini. Look it up. Moreover, racist Progressives like Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood) were too busy pushing their eugenics (i.e. let’s kill off as many black people and other “undesirables” as possible).

Do you think Lyndon Baines Johnson and John F Kennedy cared about Blacks in this time? Lyndon Baines Johnson and John F Kennedy didn’t even support civil rights legislation until it became politically convenient to do so. Neither supported the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (pushed by REPUBLICANS). In fact, the same president we thank for Great Society, Mr. LBJ said, “President Truman’s civil rights program “is a farce and a sham–an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty. I am opposed to that program. I have voted against the so-called poll tax repeal bill. . .. I have voted against the so-called anti-lynching bill.”

Liberals managed to destroy an institution that survived the most heinous of circumstances.

So, what’s the answer?

More government? Obama? PUHLEEZE! Spare me! Obama has the same prescription for the REST OF AMERICA that the Liberals had for Blacks in the 60s. It’s not going to work. When you want to think of what a liberal utopia will look like in America (don’t think of Stalin’s Russia, Mussolini’s Italy, or Hitler’s Germany-I know it’s tempting) just picture the ghettos of America.

Hey liberals, You cannot help lift people out of poverty by taking from one group to give to another. All that happens with redistribution of wealth is a new “slave” that the liberals can count on that will always vote for them. Contrast that to the Conservative Republican response to poverty, which is change your values, maintain strong family structures that create human capitol, and then stay out of the private sector so the private sector can do what it does best-create WEALTH. That way it becomes nearly impossible to become slaves to the Conservative Republican “system” of economic revitalization.

The answer for Black America is getting back to our values. Not the values of the amoral, nihilistic liberals. We need to go back to a place where we reject moral relativity. We need to encourage Black men to marry Black women before they bring children into the world. We need to stop “dogging” Black people who are educating themselves and speaking proper english. We need to stop calling them “sell-outs” and “uncle toms”. We need to stop saying “You talk like a White person” when one of “us” speaks proper english. Intelligence is not strictly “white domain”-no matter what liberals tell you. Liberals continually want to absolve Blacks of personally responsibility. Liberals say we kill each other, we rob from each other because we “don’t know any better” or because ” we can’t help ourselves”. That’s bull. We do know better. We can do better. We will do better when we get back to our “roots”. What are those “roots”?–God, Family and Education. More Government, and Obama definitely aren’t part of the prescription for a better tomorrow.