This week I worked from home. I went into the office today after hours in order to check my mail. The bustling office by day was replaced by an array of workers after hours. Whereas during the day one might hear the clicking of keyboards, the unicast conversation of an individual talking into a telephone headset or some idle conversation among people gathered around an office or cube the night time crew had trash bags, cleaning cloths and my favorite - a backpack vacuum cleaner.
The one thing that I note from my reference from nearly 15 years is that there has been a dramatic shift in the composition of the cleaning crew. During the initial portion of my career Black owned building services firms (or at least "Black staffed" ones) predominated. Typically there would be a middle aged Black female who came through to vacuum. I would make sure that I spoke to her and had some type of conversation out of respect and appreciation. I would imagine that for her - seeing the "Black occupant" of the cube or office who's family portraits adorned the workspace was a source of comfort as well. Again - at least I imagine so.
This is my own reality of the immigration debate. I have been assigned to various offices in the Dekalb County Georgia area over the years. North Dekalb is a hotspot for immigration and diversity. One only needs to go to the various eating establishments to see the racial composition of the area. I am not making any particular indictment by noting this point.
As I was driving home today I listened to the NPR radio show "Tell Me More". In the "Barbershop" segment they talked about the new illegal immigration crackdown law in Arizona. In as much as this crew is typically populated with Black Progressive/Leftists - they were near uniform in their condemnation of the "racist" law in Arizona. I get the feeling that for progressive Blacks this is an iteration of the "Fugitive Slave Laws" updated for 2010. In as much as they are inclined to aspire to experience their own "Civil Rights Movement" (see "The Jena 6 'Astroturf Protests'") all new legislation by America's "right wing" is viewed from this reference.
This blog post is not about the merits of this legislation and the thought that all "brown people" might be stopped at the whim of the authorities to have their "emancipation papers" checked.
The Failure Of The Establishment To Migrate "The Least Of These" Upward Upon Their Assumption Of Control Over The Institutions Within The Black Community
This is the most appropriate context by which this debate should be considered. My executive summary question for this entire post is: "Why did you take over control of our schools, cultural entities and other civic service functions of the Black Community if you had no idea how to develop the competency level in our community by which proportionally larger amount of our people could qualify for jobs at a higher rung?"
(I realize that some of you think that I am biased against progressives and pick on them too much.)
My frustration with Progressivism is that too often it is decoupled from the painful economic choices that come with "opportunity cost" for the sake of their own "moral supremacy". In the case of how to handle illegal immigration it appears that they value their ability to say "I have never discriminated against any person who illegally entered this country all for the want of livelihood for his own family".
In pursuit of this "moral supremacy" they look at the right-wing who has the audacity to actually enforce the dimensions of our population and ultimately our labor force as acting upon their own hatred - racial hatred in particular. All of this flies in the face of the known history of the organized labor movement.
When the Progressives fomented the organized labor movement for pursuit of better wages and working conditions they functionally established a "labor monopoly". By cracking down on "Scab Workers" brought in by the corporate owners the ownership was forced to deal with the "incumbent work force" or remain shut down, thus losing money. It seems rather obvious then that to allow for unregulated expansion of our labor force out of this spirit of "moral supremacy" against discrimination - the elements of the progressive left that remain today in effect are working against their ultimate best interests.
The real problem is that they position themselves as not having to shoulder the burden of the choice that must be made. Thus they outsource the blame. Take a listen to the NPR "News and Notes" segment. Like clockwork - the blame is shifted to "the people who hire the illegals". Don't blame the laborers supplying the demand - blame those who have the demand.
This flies in the face of what I just noted above about the history of forming a "labor monopoly". With all due respect to the illegals who are mostly from Mexico - they are functioning as "Scab Workers". (This is a dispassionate analysis. I have no intention of fanning any racial flames. Nor will I be intimidated by anyone hurling claims of racism).
Now back to the key argument of the section. Look at the Black worker. With the Black unemployment rate at 16.5% we should consider these people or at least a portion of them as "Wage Holdouts". To be clear it is not necessary that we look at their own individual demand for a certain wage floor as it is the case that in their present desperation they indeed may work for a far lower rate than when they had the bargaining power. Instead the entire movement to drive a minimum wage rate/living wage rate that is hire than what the market will bear for the given set of skills that the segment of individuals have needs to be put on trial. Large patches of "urban America" exist today as the consequence of the "high stakes game of 'Chicken'" that those who claimed to have their best interests in mind have played.
I noted several times previously that a corporation that has a $300 million manufacturing plant with a 20 year lifespan is inclined to "tuff it out" and acquiesce to the demands of its labor force for more salary and benefits than what the bottom line says they should. However when the plant reaches the 17th year of its existence and the company needs to make a decision - do we retool this existing plant or do we build somewhere else - you had better believe that the cost of production will be considered in the decision matrix.
My argument is that it is in the best interest of organized labor to negotiate the most ENDURING set of terms, not the MAXIMIZED set of terms which pay out today yet which render the "consumer of labor" unable to compete as the market that they operate in changes.
Again - back to the Black worker. A sizable portion of the Black middle class was built upon good paying jobs in the manufacturing and industrial sector. As Detroit and Cleveland and Trenton shows - when these jobs were plentiful our wealth as a community grew. As these companies vacated (closed down, moved to other areas of the US, went overseas) our fate suffered in kind.
Few people ask the question about how the fiscal resources obtained during this time of prosperity were used. Fewer people cross index this point against the favorable political and institutional arrangement that came to predominate these places. Long story short - as we were "winning" what did we actually "win"? Who did "win" in the end?
Back to my argument about competency development and the illegal immigration debate. Clearly the illegal immigrant from Mexico is an unskilled worker. Add more of them to the USA labor pool and you have competition with others who are similarly unskilled.
As I frequently criticize the RITUALS of the Black Establishment the key indictment is that too often their antics are vacuous in nature. They are too often done for the purposes of INDICTMENT against our past treatment by America and White Folks. As such they remain popular because of the ease of finding Black people who allow their grievances to be tapped as such. When the person doing the tapping don't have your interests in mind but instead their ideological and partisan interests - sadly - the longer you ride on this train without demanding "earnest money" at fixed check points along the way - the greater the chances are that that pot of gold at the end of the rail line will be contingent upon you helping the conductor to lay more rail, continuing the struggle despite having crashed through the barrier which was to be THE ARRIVAL AT YOUR GOAL.
How long are you going to keep chasing after the carrot that they dangle in front of you? This is a self-recalibration question that needs to be asked.
As a people we are told that "EDUCATION" is the key enabler of our cause.
It is indeed EDUCATION that is required to move every Black American up - one standard deviation. The former "unskilled laborer" now has basic typing and computer skills. The former secretary now has computer programming skills. The former team supervisor now has the skills of a business analyst. She is able to take her advanced knowledge and work with local firms improve their bottom line.
So much of the anticipated benefits of our arrival at the state of "Once We Are In Control - Things Will Be Different" have been squandered. The quest for power and the attainment of the seats has brought forth the reality that certain key structures that are needed to allow us to "operationalize" these potential advantages.
At some point the Black rank and file must realize that it is in the same situation as the "Wall Street Banker". Beyond operating for selfish advantage - there is a need to submit one's self to a higher governing authority.
In my view as a non-Progressive and, more importantly a person who's real job functionally boils down to watching human resources as they execute business processes and make note of how various technological innovations might render their efforts more productive - a few things are obvious. First and foremost - a human being operating in the confines of a corporation differs little from a human being operating as a community, a church, a civil rights organization. In apply an effective management discipline their efforts can be made to be more impactful in advancing the collective goal that they are working toward.
I get the sense that when I criticize the Black Establishment, showing the audacity to demand that they actually DELIVER that which they sold us upon that it is ME who is being "racially disloyal". Of course this is the view of those who seek to protect the BLACK ESTABLISHMENT as they confuse them as being synonymous with "The Black Permanent Interests". They are not. They merely represent a POPULAR set of assumptions of the policies that are needed to be put into play so that our community can prosper. I make the case that a city like Chicago should serve as evidence of what we should expect when the "Black Establishment" WINS. If you believe that the Southside of Chicago represents the promised land for our people upon this victory - there is little that I can do for you in engaging you further.
An Accurate Model Of The Real World Is Needed
Operatives from left and right always seek selfish advantage. As they construct their own model of the forces in the world that both positively and negatively impact their cause you should expect to see bias which is in line with their interests. The key flaw at present with regard to Black community best interests is that there is no transparent force who is inclined to construct a dispassionate and transparent model of the REAL WORLD - 2010 that is faced by Black America.
- Police are the main criminals in Black America
- The gap between White and Black employment is due to the fact that a White boy with a criminal record can get a job that a Black man with a college degree can't get
- The damage from slavery is the primary negative force harming Black people today
- (Or in the case of the ACORN president Bertha Lewis) The coming round of "Jim Crow" in America is going to be worse than the original period of Jim Crow
Sadly the purveyors of these jewels are not asked to prove their claims using empirical evidence and a transparent model by which the evidence can be collected. The steady stream of news that "yet another Black person was murdered last night" is not enough for some people to see that the Tea Party need not even purchase any rifles to murder us. They are better off purchasing gift cards from the local gun dealer and handing them out to our people so that we can do this deed ourselves.
The damage of the squandering of our educational opportunities - with the failure to maintain a system of discipline - also means that effective management schemes, as learned first from classroom instruction and then real world experience - will never be deployed in sufficient quantity to turn the tide in our community.
While I don't have the unrealistic goal that 100% of the Black community will one day receive college education or advanced technical training, it is clear that a sizable portion of the desperation that is present within certain portions of our community is due to the vortex that we are in. In pursuit of their interests for power and control and the FIGHT AGAINST THE ENEMIES THAT PROFIT THEM THE MOST - those who have the greatest influence upon the Black community and our collective distributed actions are not inclined to turn inward and demand that we sacrifice the array of activities that we engage in and instead make a focused effort to develop the competency by which we are less impacted by the addition of a large group of unskilled workers into the country.
