(ThyBlackMan.com) The rhetorical contrast of Democrats and Republicans…is akin to a sly wily fox (Dem)…the other an inimical wolf (GOP). The appetites and motives are the same, only their mannerisms and methods differ. It takes discernment and acumen to see through the illusions that there is no difference between the two parties. Black conservatives unabashedly aligning themselves to the tenets of the Republican party are unimaginative, shortsighted and mindless.
The most basic tenet of Black conservatism is a deep-seated respect albeit quixotic for the culture and institution of an ambivalent, conflicted American society; and the related conviction and insistence that African Americans…though void of self-empowerment… has a place within the American society.
They accept the present with the conviction and hope that things will get better thus present circumstances are accepted though not necessarily enjoyed. This usually has entailed an acceptance of a subordinate and second-class status…with the hope…that things will get better. This is generally called accommodationist which is what Black Conservatives are.
Other words Black conservatives believe if they play by GOP rules and prove their worthiness according to GOP standards, their oppressor will have no choice but to accommodate and acknowledge their equality. This myopic view of the political landscape lends to their being 
anywhere from malleable to preposterous. Though there are many, leading the retinue are Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Candace Owens, Larry Elder and Terrence Williams. Rev. Peterson is also on record saying that it was a blessing for Black/African Americans to have been enslaved.
Black conservatives place their focus on individual achievement rather than on group self-determination, however, this doesn’t mean that they are indifferent to racism. A crucial corollary is the conviction of the ultimate benevolence of the American social order and the belief that racial caste system will ultimately prove ephemeral. Racism tarnishes what America has been and can be, but what is valuable is America can, and will be separated from its terrible legacy…so they tend to believe.
Their focus is on individual accomplishments in the face of obstacles rather than emphasizing group hardships of the past or proposing a radical new restructuring of society. Their greatest hope is to be like their oppressor as opposed to liberating themselves. They are content with being imitators as opposed to innovators.
The idiosyncrasy that’s most characteristic of black conservatives, though they may acknowledge the racism of white America…is primarily directed toward black folk…is a self-critique of failure of black people to take full advantage of their opportunities. Blaming African Americans for any slothfulness, dissipation, parochialism, and reliance on panaceas; seeing inner city Black people as solely responsible for their own deprivation, impetuously chasing the symptoms…while disdaining…the primary causes. Giving credence to the mindset of their white counterparts refusing to acknowledge the effects of systemic discrimination.
It is a central tenet in almost all forms of Black conservatism that, however important political and legal action may be the most effective and most lasting strategy for collective advancement is through the multiplication of individual stories of success.
George Schuyler, an iconoclastic figure of the Harlem Renaissance, was outraged by the Civil Rights Movement. He felt it had tarred the achievements of the Black middle class by focusing on Black failures and that its followers were dupes for anti-American Communist propaganda. Like other eternal optimistic Black conservatives, he believed that Black folk had to accommodate themselves to the dominant mores and institutions of American society or be destroyed; that pushing too hard to create change would lead to disaster.
When the institutionalized systemic acquiesce to doing something for Black America, do we ever bother to notice that they are not giving up any of their power in the process? Black conservatives are very uncomfortable rocking the boat, reluctant to agitate their oppressor, which…definitively…is the only way social change will ever come about.
It runs so deep the oppressor feel they have the right to arbitrate on and decide on the degree to which another group is oppressed. Privilege is exactly that having the power to decide right and wrong and where responsibility lies and most importantly, who can suffer. What is the difference between this hypocrisy, and that of the slave holder of yesteryear, who tightly held the keys to the shackles while laughing that his property enjoys their enslavement?
The white population is approximately 10% of the world population yet control 80% of the world’s economic resources, and in control of the other 90% of the world’s population. This becomes possible when you can maintain the larger populations in a state of false consciousness, a state of deception and by outright lying…the falsification of reality. You cannot acquiesce to an interlocking system whose purpose is to maintain your subjugation, at interpersonal, personal and cultural levels. Your job is to liberate yourself not to be in…mindless compliance.
The systemic must by necessity…recruit and control those from within the Black community…to try and help rule all the others e.g. Rev. Peterson. In a society that’s based on lies and deception…the truth is always reversed…to which impaired consciousness falls victim to.
Black conservatives go along with the notion that President Lincoln’s 1863 signing of the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves was a benevolent act; when the true purpose was about the safety of White America…to stem the tide of slave revolts. Lincoln once stated: “If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others I would also do that.”
Lincoln didn’t believe Black people were equal to white people and went on to say that white people should be given the superior position in society. He further stated that white position shouldn’t be a matter of hard work or effort but rather he wanted the white position in society to be…guaranteed by the state.
When Grant…a Republican…became President, he pursued an ethnic cleansing campaign by attempting to annex Haiti to send all recently freed slaves there for the purpose of reinstituting chattel slavery. Abolitionist Wendell Phillips and Senator Charles Sumner fought against this diabolical plan…thus due to their efforts…in 1870 the Senate failed by one vote to ratify the bill, sending President Grant in a fit of rage, and Senator Charles Sumner subsequently beaten by a fellow senator with a cane.
America’s policies are no different today for African Americans than what they were 157 years ago or when the Ronald Reagan’s administration flooded the Black community with crack cocaine in order to fund his illegal war in Nicaragua. That one action destroyed millions of Black lives, and presently still having a negative impact on many African Americans.
Reagan’s administration had other xenophobia strategies in place as well: Never speak ill of Black people in public. Only speak the negative when you know where you are and who you are with. ALWAYS put your personal self-interest before justice for Black folk. Incredulously Black conservatives are supportive of all that the GOP stands for which is against the psychological and spiritual liberation of Black people.
Oppression cannot be overcome by simultaneously sympathizing with the oppressor. Being afraid to meet obstacles head on as a UNIFIED group is sympathizing with the oppressor…clearly Black conservatives are displaying symptoms of…Stockholm Syndrome.
A hidden truth is that although the United States Government portrays itself as the leading ethical and moral authority of the world and professes equal rights for all American citizens, its oldest and most important objective has always been an unyielding commitment towards the preservation of its White dominance and control.
This objective has always directly correlated with the necessity to suppress the advancement and growth of its Black population. Because if the U.S. government treated its Black population in a manner which does not promote its interest of maintaining White dominance and control…this would render the U.S. Government diametrically in opposition to itself. Therefore, it surreptitiously uses every conceivable means and opportunity to suppress its Black population; even those that trample upon its own stated ethical values.
Accordingly, the ruling class does not bring Black/African Americans closer together but conveniently extracts the unity destroying the ability to thrive as a unit.
How can Black people work out their own salvation? It involves a change in belief or mentality to be followed by a corresponding change in behavior…signifying a mental emancipation liberating Black people from the chain of traditional falsehood, which for centuries have incarcerated them in the prison of inferiority complex, world humiliation and insult.
All things are possible! Who…you are is limited only by…who you think you are?
Staff Writer; H. Lewis Smith
This talented brother is the founder and president of UVCC, the United Voices for a Common Cause, Inc. ( http://www.theunitedvoices.com ); and author of “Bury that Sucka: A Scandalous Love Affair with the N-Word“.
Also follow Mr. Smith on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thescoop1.
