Talking About Race In This Election

[monicaangela]

19. What you are describing IMHO is Tribalism

more so than racism. Tribalism implies the possession of a strong cultural or ethnic identity that separates one member of a group from the members of another group. Based on strong relations of proximity and kinship, members of a tribe tend to possess a strong feeling of identity. Objectively, for a customary tribal society to form there needs to be ongoing customary organization, enquiry and exchange. However, subjectively, intense feelings of common identity can lead people to feel tribally connected.

African Americans along with most other minorities in this country have been systematically excluded partly because of tribalism. Tribalism for me is something more than a conscious effort or a realization, it is almost something that is inbred, not so much as would be in the case of biological or sexual inbreeding, but a character or trait that is fixed in the character or disposition as if inherited; deep-seated. African Americans since we are discussing this group, have had that trait systematically removed from their character by their captors. Many slaves came from different tribes, and once in the U.S. and other countries had no time to cultivate their tribal instincts.

In most communities this tribal instinct is held together by a sense of belonging, that affords members of the tribe to coordinate their efforts so that the rest of the community can prosper. I don't feel African Americans have come to the realization that their economic power is as great as it is, because if they did or even if they had years ago, the community as a whole would have been able to prosper and advance more rapidly than what has occurred to this point. Yes, I know that most times when African Americans have even gotten the idea of banning together there have been efforts by the majority community to prevent the cooperation of the group. History shows of this:

Atlanta Race Riot (1906)

When the Civil War ended, African-Americans in Atlanta began entering the realm of politics, establishing businesses and gaining notoriety as a social class. Increasing tensions between Black wage-workers and the white elite began to grow and ill-feelings were further exacerbated when Blacks gained more civil rights, including the right to vote.

Greenwood , Tulsa, Oklahoma “Black Wall Street” (May 31 – June 1, 1921)


During the oil boom of the 1910s, the area of northeast Oklahoma around Tulsa flourished, including the Greenwood neighborhood, which came to be known as “the Black Wall Street.” The area was home to several lawyers, realtors, doctors, and prominent black Businessmen, many of them multimillionaires.

Greenwood boasted a variety of thriving businesses such as grocery stores, clothing stores, barbershops, banks, hotels, cafes, movie theaters, two newspapers, and many contemporary homes. Greenwood residents enjoyed many luxuries that their white neighbors did not, including indoor plumbing and a remarkable school system. The dollar circulated 36 to 100 times, sometimes taking a year for currency to leave the community.

Chicago Race Riots (1919)

The “Red Summer” of 1919 marked the culmination of steadily growing tensions surrounding the great migration of African-Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North during World War I. Chicago was one of the northern cities that experienced violent race riots during that period.

Drawn by the city’s meatpacking houses, railway companies and steel mills, the African-American population in Chicago skyrocketed from 44,000 in 1910 to 235,000 in 1930. When the war ended in late 1918, thousands of white servicemen returned home from fighting in Europe to find that their jobs in factories, warehouses and mills had been filled by newly arrived Southern Blacks or immigrants.

Rosewood Massacre (1923)

Rosewood was a quiet, self-sufficient whistle-stop on the Seaboard Air Line Railway in Florida. By 1900 the population in Rosewood had become predominantly African-American. Some people farmed or worked in local businesses, including a sawmill in nearby Sumner, a predominantly white town.

In 1920, Rosewood Blacks had three churches, a school, a large Masonic Hall, turpentine mill, a sugarcane mill, a baseball team and a general store (a second one was white owned). The village had about two dozen plank two-story homes, some other small houses, as well as several small unoccupied plank structures.

Spurred by unsupported accusations that a white woman in Sumner had been beaten and possibly raped by a Black drifter, white men from a number of nearby towns lynched a Rosewood resident. When the Black citizens defended themselves against further attack, several hundred whites combed the countryside hunting Black people and burning almost every structure in Rosewood.

Washington, D.C. Race Riots (1919)

Postwar Washington, D.C., roughly 75 percent white, was a racial tinderbox. Housing was in short supply and jobs so scarce that ex-doughboys in uniform panhandled along Pennsylvania Avenue.

However, Washington’s Black community was then the largest and most prosperous in the country, with a small but impressive upper class of teachers, ministers, lawyers and businessmen concentrated in the LeDroit Park neighborhood near Howard University.
By the time the “Red Summer” was underway, unemployed whites bitterly envied the relatively few blacks who were fortunate enough to procure low-level government jobs. Many whites also resented the influx of African-Americans into previously segregated neighborhoods around Capitol Hill, Foggy Bottom and the old downtown.

In July 1919, white men, many in military uniforms, responded to the rumored arrest of a Black man for rape with four days of mob violence. They rioted, randomly beat Black people on the street and pulled others off streetcars in attacks. When police refused to intervene, the Black population fought back.

Knoxville, Tennessee Race Riots (1919)

In August 1919, a race riot in Knoxville, Tenn., broke out after a white mob mobilized in response to a Black man accused of murdering a white woman. The 5,000-strong mob stormed the county jail searching for the prisoner. They freed 16 white prisoners, including suspected murderers.

After looting the jail and sheriff’s house, the mob moved on and attacked the African-American business district. Many of the city’s Black residents, aware of the race riots that had occurred across the country that summer, had armed themselves, and barricaded the intersection of Vine and Central to defend their businesses.

New York City Draft Riot (1863)

The Draft Riot of 1863 was a four-day eruption of violence in New York City during the Civil War stemming from deep worker discontent with the inequities of the first federally mandated conscription laws.

In addition, the white working class feared that emancipation of enslaved Blacks would cause an influx of African-American workers from the South. In many instances, employers used Black workers as strike-breakers during this period. Thus, the white rioters eventually turned their wrath on the homes and businesses of innocent African-Americans and anything else symbolic of their growing political, economic and social power.

On July 13, 1863, organized opposition broke out across the city. The protests soon morphed into a violent uprising against the city’s wealthy elite and its African-American residents.

http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/12/04/8-successful-aspiring-black-communities-destroyed-white-neighbors/4/

So you see, when it comes to discussing race or racism, I believe it has more to do with tribalism, I believe some get uncomfortable because it somehow raises their inbred instincts. I believe unconsciously some feel it is an attack on the privilege they enjoy and have enjoyed since inception of this nation as the USA. So don't feel so bad, so left out, so hurt, or so misunderstood. Join with the members of your tribe and try your best to concentrate on educating those that will listen on the importance of tribalism and above all keep those hard earned dollars circulating within the community.