Black Rage

During the 1960’s, black rage was a serious topic of discussion.  The cities were burning, the Black Panthers threatened to take Mississippi out of the union, and ordinary blacks seethed with indignation.  African-Americans were no longer going to put up with the humiliations they had long suffered.

Today black rage has returned.  It is less virulent than previously, but it is still aimed at the alleged degradations inflicted by whites.  Nowadays the primary targets are the police who are said to murder young black men without any compunction.

Then as now, whites do not know how to handle this anger.  They see the riots and are aware of the protest marches, but are unsure how to respond.  Their guilt, especially among liberals, is so great that they are unable to think clearly about these issues.

The first reaction is usually appeasement.  When accused of oppressing blacks, they hasten to fulfill any demands made of them.  Because whites are aware of the injustices perpetrated against African-Americans, they attempt to buy the complaints off with reflexive compliance.

Unfortunately appeasement does not work.  Angry people seldom become less angry when others capitulate to their demands.  That is because what is insisted upon rarely alleviates the source of their anger.  It does not extinguish their rage because it does not eliminate their frustration.

People become angry when they are frustrated.  They become enraged when their frustration is profound and little is done to assuage it.  When I was a clinician, I often counseled abused clients.  This made it imperative to discover how they might be satisfied.

The same applies to African-Americans.  They will not become less angry until the cause of their exasperation is eliminated.  Taking out unwarranted vengeance against the police will not achieve this.  The cops are not the wellspring of what has gone wrong.

Slavery was a horrendous institution.  So was Jim Crow.  They visited grievous harm on their victims.  No wonder these barbarities instilled a rage that has been handed down from generation to generation.

Nonetheless, slavery is over.  The damage it did was meted out in the past and cannot be undone.  Just as my abused clients could not un-ring the bell of the mistreatment perpetrated upon them, neither can African-Americans.  It is thus time to move on.

The rioters believe insensitive policing causes their distress.  It, however, is a relatively minor irritant.  What really rankles is the comparative lack of economic and social success of African Americans.  Others are prospering, whereas, particularly in the inner city, they are unemployed and despised.

The answer?  The only viable answer!  It is success.  Only when blacks are able to enter the mainstream on a par with others will their rage dissipate.  Only then will they achieve the respect they crave.

The race-hustlers blame this lack of success on racism.  They are wrong.  True, racism has not disappeared.   Yet it has so atrophied that it cannot hold back minorities prepared to help themselves.  The path may be hard, but it is open.

What matters is developing the skills and temperament to participate in the complex jobs available in a techno-commercial society.  A strong back and calloused hands are no longer sufficient for economic advancement.

Today success requires a good education and a good education demands self-control and perseverance.  Nobody can supply African-Americans with these—but African-Americans.  However sympathetic whites may be, they cannot do what people can only do for themselves.

More transfer payments will not work.  They only create dependency.  Groveling white guilt will not do the trick.  It merely invites retaliation.  Castrating the police will surely not help.  It simply re-victimizes the victims by exposing them to additional crime.

There is no substitute for hard work and self-discipline.  Angry people may not understand this, but those who want to assist them must.  The wounded may not want to hear that they must save themselves.  Yet, there is no alternative.  Tolerating unruly behavior just makes a bad situation worse.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University