COBB COMMENTARY: Battle for the Souls of Black Folk?

Commentary (Cobb's blog)

Cobb argues yes. It is manifesting itself in the controversy over Bill Cosby's comments, especially coming off the 50th anniversary of 'Brown vs. Board of Education.' Cobb says:

"There is no singular black leadership, and no particular need for one. So into that vacuum are a number of contingent groups trying to own black. I'm certainly a partisan in that representing what I call the Old School...Black liberals are astonished at the nerve of a black man who dares to criticize dysfunctional blacks. White conservatives are astonished at the nerve of a black man who dares criticize dysfunctional blacks. The fundamental agreement between these groups is disbelief, both undercutting Cosby with anti-black prejudice. One from the perspective that he can't be trusted from now on the other from the perspective that he couldn't be trusted until now. And yet, from the perspective of conservative and successful black families, there's nothing new in Cosby's utterances. Indeed one black blogger noted that the only interesting thing about the whole dustup was that Cosby said it and not his mom."

Cobb hit the nail on the head, and the shifting politics between black liberals and white conservatives make it quite difficult for black moderates and conservatives to get our message out there. Nykola also touches upon the battle, as does moderate Debra Dickerson's book The End of Blackness: Returning the Souls of Black Folk to Their Rightful Owners. We agree that a fierce battle for Black America's soul is afoot. We argue that the pendulum is swinging back to the Booker T. crew since (1) W.E.B. DuBois' "Talented Tenth" (now Talented Twentieth) crew's elitism has ruled black thought for almost 90 years; (2) black Americans' move back to USA's most non-liberal region means the future is on our side; and (3) Mr. Washington's message of self-reliance, entrepreneurship, and mass leadership and power is far more useful than Mr. DuBois' civil rights and elite leadership approach now.

Stage I was civil rights, a (largely) bloodless revolution that ordinary black folks -- maids, railroad porters, teachers, college students and schoolkids as young as six, businessfolks, and lawyers -- won by electrically shaking the foundation of the world's most powerful nation (our nation) to the core. Liberal blacks seem to forget this fact, in their defeatist attitudes that ignore progress and thus fuel black helplessness. Our 40 years in the (transitional) wilderness are now up. Black folks under age 45 are growing ever impatient with the current leadership, just as current leaders did when they were our age. Stage II is to further build upon our strengths and our economic empowerment to propel us to the mountaintop!