Of the Black Man’s Burden and White Pathology
by Rodney Foxworth
www.dissidentvoice.org
April 19, 2005



 

The great James Baldwin once confessed he had no reasonable expectations of white people; sadly it seems, at just a few short months shy of 21, I too find myself victimized by such pessimism, my idealistic formative years marred by the dual devils of nihilism and frustration. I dream of days untainted by inconspicuous hatred and directed rage, a rage that seldom comes to a slow boil. How I’ve managed to maintain my resolve without becoming prey to militancy and black separatism, I don’t know: perhaps this is an example of endurance, and not the machismo we black males are so alternately lauded and demonized for.

It should be understood that beneath the cherubic smile and nonchalant demeanor lays festering anger, the sort the “white world” rarely bears witness, or better yet, refuses to recognize. I learned not long ago that those beyond the Du Boisian veil perceive me, albeit subconsciously and not of their own volition, as one step above cattle and many, many steps below men; this seems to be my pre-determined legacy, my identity as a seventh son -- a descendant of slaves.

And so I know all about anger, frustration and marginalization; we are interesting bedfellows the four of us, lifelong companions it seems. Of course, I am no anomaly: most everyone of my phenotype contends daily with these forces, in addition to many others. So, it gives me pause when a white male, one I unfortunately had greater expectations of, would express apologetically the role white working class angst plays in their pathology: to call it by any other name would not do justice to the collective behavior. We have seen the manifestations of so-called “white working-class rage,” and they seem to only differ in degree and location; I remind you of Greenwood, the New York Draft Riots, and the Holocaust.

As a general rule, I don’t make it my business to critique or criticize my colleagues along the left; we are too few, and amidst too much dissension for that. But circumstances arise in which I must divorce myself of said rules of conduct, and this is one such circumstance.

Joe Bageant, with whom I’ve had brief correspondence, authored the recent essay, “Let’s Drink to the Slobbering Classes: A sordid tale of work release, hyenas and liberal weakness.” Bageant, whose previous works allowed him to advocate for the white lower-income laborer, giving them voice and cadence without invoking images of shaved-hair adolescents or Nazi Germany, betrayed my trust with this piece, an unfortunate, though not entirely unforeseen occurrence. A self-described “godless commie” and Virginian, Bageant asserts several postulates that appear beneath his intellectual capabilities; as well, it seems with this piece Bageant took for granted the relative diversity of the progressive community, for it is fair to say that my white colleagues (and it does seem as though the left is overwhelmingly “white”, but this is another topic to be discussed at another time) would have allowed this bit of unfounded diatribe to go unchallenged.

Bageant’s essay compares unfavorably to a statement that appeared in The Nation no longer than a few months ago, in which the staff had hopes that Americans would soon realize their mistake in re-electing George W. Bush. Of course, the pessimist within me responded: what you mean to say is white Americans need to realize their mistake. As I saw it, and still do, black Americans did their part in seeing to the defeat of the second Bush. The left never voices this assumption, and diverts attention from a true problem: as Richard Wright alluded so many moons ago, there is no Negro problem, merely a white one, but it seems “we” choose not to acknowledge this. According to Bageant, doing so might alienate “most of blue collar America.” This may be true, but whose fault is that? The fact is, his description of “white trash labor” differs little from large portions of black America, and this says nothing of the Native American: in his observation of the admittedly strenuous lives of the invisible white-working-poor, he gives no concrete reason to justify their allegiance to conservatism and self-defeatism; it is not as though black laborers aren’t living very much the same lives. Bageant refuses to ask the better question: why do white working class people vote against their own economic interests? His suggestion that white trash laborers view those “receiving a government assisted leg up” as cheating them, is coded word for, well, it need not be stated here.

None of the above points mattered much to me truth be told. What caught my eye was the assertion that what is needed is a “true” labor movement, one that doesn’t alienate (offend) working-class whites by “championing the fight against racism, sexism, hetero-sexism, xenophobia, religious bias, and other forms of intolerance.” This bluntly highlights Bageant’s inability to analyze properly the problems plaguing organized labor. I of course agree that the enemy is the rich capitalist class, but the “dumb damned mook on the gut line at Tysons who bitches about Mexicans on the plucking belt” is his own worst enemy and an impediment to fulfilling Marx’s plea that “workingmen of the world, unite!” Class solidarity is found only at the top of the American socioeconomic pyramid, as the lower classes are “being played against” their “fellow workers in Darwinian fashion by the free market economy,” but also by their own indoctrinated impulses. As Abraham Lincoln noted:

The money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until all the wealth is aggregated into a few hands and the republic is destroyed.

The first step to a true and healthy labor movement seems to be the eradication of division and prejudice, as the alternative may very well forever remain a war of race against race, rather than labor against capital. If the white laborer is alienated as a result of an inclusive movement meant to spur labor collaboration, this is a self-imposed isolation, and we must not allow them to use their own latent prejudices as an excuse for masochistic indulgence, as this would lead one to believe they are indeed content with a war of race against race. This may indeed be foolish, but for the time being at least, I have greater expectations.

Rodney Foxworth, 20, is a student at Baltimore College and an editorial intern at Baltimore's City Paper. He can be reached at: Theboyfox21215@aol.com.
  

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