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 The very idea of black
conservatism seems fanciful to some observers, both black
and white. This reveals an almost total lack of
understanding and awareness of black history and of the
black intellectual tradition in the United States.
In the days of slavery,
Frederick Douglas was not nearly as pessimistic about the
future of the country, of black Americans, or of the
motivations of the Framers of the Constitution as many in
today's civil rights establishment. He did not want to
change the American society but wanted only for black
Americans to be able to enter it on an equal basis.
Similarly, in the days
after slavery, black leaders urged self-help and hard work
as the way to succeed, even in a society in which genuinely
equal rights were still not a reality. Booker T.
Washington, considered by many a forerunner of modern black
conservatives, cultivated a spirit of coexistence with
whites and advocated technical and industrial training
programs for blacks.
When we review this
history — even briefly — we see that today's black
conservatives come out of a long and honorable tradition.
Let us also not forget that the black community is a
community of individuals, the vast majority of whom no
longer seek a place for themselves on the liberal
plantation, which condescendingly stereotypes blacks as
victims of society — unable to care for themselves — much
like the old racist stereotypes that originally victimized
blacks.
Sadly, the black civil
rights establishment has been all too eager to embrace the
liberal plantation politics of victimization. By
abandoning its long-term goal of a color-blind society in
which all Americans would be judged on the basis of their
individual merit, the black civil rights establishment
transformed itself into just another special interest group
fighting for its "share" of political power and of the
nation's economic wealth. It has lost the moral high
ground and no longer represents the constituency in whose
name it persists in speaking.
As president of The
Lincoln Institute, I invite you to help us continue our work
of building support for conservative principles in the black
community and thereby free more black Americans from the
liberal plantation.
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