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| Williamsport's blacks. December, 2007 |
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| The Influx versus the Originals |
Airing out our dirty laundry.
Influx vs. Originals Revisited
What follows is an essay about black Williamsport. It was posted on the website but not printed in the newsletter until now.
Almost invariably, a discussion of African-American solidarity turns negative. “Black people can’t get their act together,” is the general consensus.
Negativity looms large in the consciousness of many African-Americans. Rather than expressing a “can-do” attitude, we are bombarded with a thousand reasons why something cannot be done.
The purpose of this newsletter is to bring the African-American community together. I want to see a healing among the original black residents and the “influx” of black newcomers. There is a lot of resentment on both sides. Now is the time to come together.
Both groups have suffered from racial discrimination and injustice. Both groups have known the experience of being locked out of the American mainstream of wealth and prosperity. The blacks from the large cities and the descendants of the black settlers (and black slaves) have common roots of a cruel historical past.
Yet, we continually bicker among ourselves. We classify ourselves as “crabs in a barrel”. We denigrate each other. We deny our common-ness. We do not trust each other.
Initially, the native Williamsporters welcomed the newcomers with open arms. But that soon changed. One person described the situation, “Some of the influx crowd messed things up. We need to accept our responsibility in that.”
According to some residents the “influx” brought an increase in crime. One black man said, “When I came here many years ago, there was only one murder! Now, we have two or three per year!”
Another black man said, “Hey! I am not buying it! I am an American. I can live anywhere I want. These things were bound to happen. Don’t blame me.”
Perhaps Williamsport was overdue for a dose of cold, hard reality. Every major city in the nation has been struggling with the affects of poverty and neglect for over 100 years. W.E.B. Dubois in 1899 described how blacks were denied access to jobs in his report, the Philadelphia Negro.
He wrote, “In the Negro’s mind, color prejudice in Philadelphia is that widespread feeling of dislike for his blood, which keeps him and his children out of decent employment, from certain public conveniences and amusements, from hiring houses in many sections, and in general, from being recognized as a man.”
An historian wrote this about DuBois’ work, "It revealed the Negro group as a symptom, not a cause; as a striving, palpitating group, and not an inert, sick body of crime; as a long historic development and not a transient occurrence." This was the first time such a scientific approach to studying social phenomena was undertaken, and as a consequence DuBois is acknowledged as the father of Social Science.”
In order to come together, we must understand our past. We need to recognize the factors that shaped our condition. We must acknowledge the harm that was done and our complicity in it. The impoverished black ghetto of Philadelphia is the result of a social, political and economic exclusion by a white power structure. Blacks in Philadelphia did not make any substantial social progress because they were restricted from doing so.
In Williamsport, blacks were also expected to mind their place. They lived in the “Browntown” section of Williamsport. Recently a friend described what life was like for a black teen in the 1970’s. “We better had not crossed Hepburn Street or else we got our butts beat!” he said.
In many ways, Central Pennsylvania reminds me of Alabama, circa 1965. Those attitudes that DuBois complained about in 1899 still exist today.
It is important for African-Americans to come together in a spirit of brotherhood. We need recognize that we are in the same boat. Our dark skin tones unite us. Let the healing begin. We can do it!
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