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Of The Sons Of Master And Man

© W. Owen Brown

If you close your eyes - then listen to the words - so deep, so profound - your mind will begin to form a picture that portrays the sad but true analysis of the plight of African Americans today. As your heart saddens at the thought of the bleak circumstances that befall our people, you are prompted to ask, which social activist of our time has such a clear understanding of the status of racial relationship in America? W.E.B. Du Bois gazed deeply into his crystal ball and prophesized a 100 year struggle, in which, has been unable to adapt to changing times, in his essay "Of the Sons of Master and Man", his insightfulness rings so true at every turn.

When you break down the simple elements of the struggles between racial classes, it is clear to see how Du Bois' complex analysis still hold true today. In noting his key points concerning the "contact of men and their relations to each other", we see that our neighborhoods are still as segregated as they were many years ago. If you look around your city you will find the affluent majority population still resides in segregated communities cut out of a swath of land adjacent to a poor minority community - surrounded by gates and fences to keep the less desirables out.

As the less wealthy minority population gained economic success and began to move into these segregated communities, it spawned the birth of white flight. The affluent majority population moved to even more segregated communities, leaving behind their less wealthy and undesirable. Still today, you will find the most mean spirited prejudiced and disenfranchised Caucasians sharing communities with the affluent African Americans. The hostilities between these two groups are never ending.

In our economic contact, you find that the glass ceiling has cut off the wealthy majority population from racial diversity leaving the affluent minority population to displace the less affluent majority worker...competing for the same piece of the pie. The displaced white worker blames the system for allowing the minority citizens to take what is rightfully theirs, ignoring the fact that 100 years of conditioning has taught us to be twice as good just to reap half the benefits. However, you find in the workplace, many African Americans who fail to grasp the concept of achieving their maximum potential thru education and training.

So they languish in low paying, menial positions with no opportunity to succeed. W.E.B. Du Bois raised the question of whose responsibility it was to training the former slaves to compete successfully in a free society. 100 years later, the questions is not so much as to who had the responsibility to train but why a majority of African Americans have failed to seize upon the limited opportunities that presented themselves. Again, I must disagree with Du Bois approach to the training of black men. We have failed to change the mental condition of African Americans, to spark within the souls of a people, the passionate desire to be the best at whatever we do.

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