A few, short years ago, the Crips and Bloods were dancing in the streets down Crenshaw Boulevard and MLK Boulevard as Barack Obama was elected POTUS. Nowadays, we get Nicki Minaj, clearly not a cultural leader but a rich Black entertainer, publicly cozying up to Donald Trump like a cat in heat, without being excoriated from the Black cultural community.
Where is the mindset of the young Black community as the major gains of the previous 70 or so years are being systematically erased for Black folk in America?
Is this current generation even interested in continuing this long fight for freedom, dignity and respect, or has it concluded that we’ve arrived already, that Black folk are readily accepted as parts of the body politic and that, for the most part, racism is over?
Clearly, when one looks at objective evidence like voting totals in the last national election, Black youth do not really seem that interested in continuing the grueling fight for racial justice in America. It almost seems like for this generation, the fight is all about economics and bling. As long as they can look good and keep a few thousand internet followers, then that’s a wrap. To them, politics is boring and too hard to keep up with.
Shades of Dr. King, Jesse Jackson, Fanny Lou Hamer, the Black Panthers, etc. That kind of engagement is passé now. Now it’s just all about individual economics and “wealth accumulation” through the internet. We’ve got all kinds of Black American holidays to celebrate and make money in, we’re in the Olympics, we’re a distinct population in every major American sport that makes money, etc. We’ve made it in America, so why should we keep fighting as if we’re outsiders?
Parents, teachers, civic leaders—we are in serious trouble. We have got to re-establish the importance of continuing the fight for racial justice and respect for Blackness in the U.S. and the world. That fight is not over. Far from it. How can we get our offspring to see and understand that it ain’t over…not by a long, long shot.The Trump administration is systematically trying to erase Black American historical significance in the U.S., ordering the National Park Service to stop displaying important Black events and achievements, ordering national museums and monuments which depict important Black contributions taken down, etc.
Just when some of us are convinced that we’ve really made it and that they know how important we are to the development of this country and its institutions, they are systematically destroying the underpinnings of those achievements. And our youth do not seem to either care much about that decimation or aren’t interested enough in learning how to combat that decay.
Wherefore is the political engagement of the young Black population? Who convinced them that the fight is essentially over and we won? It clearly isn’t and we didn’t. Not yet.
We need the next generation of Black brilliance to manifest itself. The fight is far from over and AI will not save us. Rise up, young Black folk. Your history is calling you ! Our destiny needs you. It ain’t over, y’all.
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.