The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

It is that time of the year again where we pay homage to a man that became the undisputed symbol of the Civil Rights movement here in America. While his “I Have a Dream” speech beautifully fused all the hopes and dreams of those who were against racism and bigotry together, it was both attitude and determination of the Black community (and those that supported us) that deserves the greatest honor in my view. For without the people behind King, King would have just been another Black preacher.

Everything starts with the family

When racism was legal part of the American fabric, Blacks had nobody but themselves to turn to for support and comfort. If you take a look at marriage rate back in 1950, roughly 64 percent of Black men were married. Today, that rate is almost half. Amongst all races, high school graduation rates peaked in the 1960′s and then began to decline the decades that followed. In today’s world, the graduation gap between Blacks and Whites ranges from 20 to 45%+ depending the area. Black on Black crime? Not even a measured statistic in those days.

Look back further in the past, in the very face of legalized racism we created our own economies, founded our own banks, schools. Below is an excerpt from a post I did some time ago (“Black achievement in the shadow of slavery“). Much of the information comes from the work of author William Loren Katz.

“In 1860, the census reports for a dozen western states and territories showed the 50 percent school attendance for black women that equaled that of white women. The 26 percent illiteracy rate for African-American women on the frontier was much lower than that for white frontier women. Women of color in the wilderness consistently distinguished themselves through their dedication to self-improvement and zeal for education.”

“In Sacramento, in 1859, African-American parents began their own school for thirty to thirty-five pupils, mostly girls, and hired a white teacher. Within a year the city Board of Education awarded three of its female pupils silver achievement medals.”

For a white woman, a job on the frontier usually served as a bridge between arrival time and marriage. For a woman of color, married or unmarried, a paying job was a necessity. Black women of the West were five times as likely to be employed as white women and twice as likely to be employed as Asian or Native American women.”

On the founding of Dearfield, Colorado by black homesteaders and how they valued education:

“Residents were proud of their schools and teachers. They turned out in large numbers to hear and encourage their children’s recitations. To finance education, they collected money from neighbors and sometimes from white employers.”

Langston City, Oklahoma

“By 1892, Langston City had six hundred people from twenty different states. The Herald boasted that Langston City was a town of “homes, churches, and schools, where you can raise your family in good and respectable society.” Three white businessmen and their families were among the residents.

The Herald emphasized middle-class values and Victorian chivalry toward women. Men were sternly told to give their church seats to women. The Herald asked, “How do you expect other races to respect our ladies when you fail to do so yourselves?” The town founders outlawed prostitution and gambling and serious crimes were unknown within its borders.”

“From the beginning, Lanstonians, particularly its women, embraced education with a passion. the nearby Catholic Holy Name College, which also had whites and Indians in its first-grade to high school-grad classes, began to accept African-Americans, and in a few years they constituted a majority of the student body.

In 1892, town officials began a tax-supported public school with classes up to the eight grade. As students graduated, a new high school was begun, its governing board announcing acceptance of students “regardless of race, color or number.” In 1892, some of Langston City’s founders and their wives decided to make their town the educational center of black Oklahoma.

The educational efforts of the town’s early women and men led to spectacular victories. By 1900, Langston City boasted a literacy rate among the highest of any frontier community in the United States: 72 percent of its citizens could read and 70 percent could write. For Langston City’s pioneer women between the ages of fifteen and forty-five, the figures were even higher–96 percent could read and 95 percent could write.”

All the above excerpts were taken from the book “Black Women of the Old West” by William Loren Katz.

We did not have much in those days, but we had each other. Racism and bigotry gave us no other choice but to build something from practically nothing. Black schools in those days may not have been as thoroughly equipped as the White schools, but we did not use that as an excuse. We simply came together and made up the difference with the little we had.  Although we were fully aware of the hurdles our kids faced in those days, we demanded no less from them. Why? Because we understood that we were the only ones that could determine the value of our kids. And that value was priceless. It was out of this very mindset that helped birth people like King. In this regard, King was one of many and not one of a kind. It was fate that made him the embodiment of the struggle for civil rights for the Black community.

It is time we stop raising this one man (King) to the level of sainthood and ask ourselves “How was the Black community able to raise such a leader and what changes do we need to make today to produce more history-makers?”

When a Black child today knows more about the color and hatred of King’s assassin; than strength of community that helped raise King- we completely disrespect history. We also place a higher value on recanting the evils of racism, than the untold thousands of stories of what Blacks were able to accomplish in spite of it.

When 90+ young women turn up pregnant at just ONE high school, what King and others had in their lives is missing in this generation.

If we really want to honor King, how about digging a little bit deeper beyond the parades, recitals, TV specials, banquets, and find out why, with all our advances our greatest challenge is not Jim Crow’s rope but keeping the family together.

King is dead. But these  90+ children that are about to be born (hopefully) are going to need a community that can inspire them to go beyond the statistics.

Stop asking if we are the fulfillment of King’s dream. The real question is are you the fulfillment of the vision you have for yourself? This generation does not know King, but they know you.