Civil Rights Veteran: "Black Folks Ain't Free"

Continuing our quest to put an end to victimology rhetoric, this time at the National Newspaper Publishers Association convention. We agree with Thomas Todd, former president of the Chicago chapter of SCLC and Operation PUSH, that the black media is still needed in society. However, he then kicks into victimology mode, claiming blacks folks aren't free:

“You’re free to eat at hotels you can’t buy. You’re free to eat at restaurants you can’t buy. You’re free to elect politicians who don’t represent you. You’re free to put your money into banks that won’t give you loans. There’s something about us. We like counterfeits. We like fakes....So, we come here this morning, 385 years after the first blacks came here, 147 years after the Dred Scott decision, 141 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, 139 years after the 13th Amendment, 136 years after the 14th Amendment, 134 years after the 15th Amendment, 50 years after Brown and 49 years after the Montgomery Boycott and we’re still not free."

So there's equivalency between us today, and our ancestors who underwent slavery and Jim Crow?! This is a sacrilegious insult to our rich legacy as key players in USA's very rough road to democracy and equality. Who is stopping black folks from buying hotels and restaurants? In fact, Magic Johnson and many other black folks own some. Given that black homeownership is at an all-time high (49.3%), somebody is giving loans to plenty of qualified black folks. Ahem, there are black-owned banks. Also, what about black folks spending less and saving up for a business? Shouldn't black folks be using our voting bloc or other avenues as leverage to pressure politicians when they don't stray from our interests? If maids and railroad porters could do it in the 1950s and 1960s, surely we can do it now. If we're not as free as he likes, it's only because such defeatism ignores black progress and fuels hopelessness.

(Big up to Larry Elder's site for the anti-victicrats image)