The commission recommendations include: 1. Government compensation of heirs of victims who can prove loss via statutes. 2. Government implementation of new redevelopment authority. 3. Government imposed economic incentives to encourage minority business. 4. Government imposed incentives to encourage home ownership in the Northside and Brooklyn areas, which were among the sites of race rioting.
But other NAACP members want more. Lewin Manly said he favors the state of North Carolina awarding compensation funding for education. He also wants government funding for subsidized housing. Other voices at the NAACP conference said we must think about what the race riots of 1898 have done to “vast millions of people who are still crawling on the ground trying to get up” adding “We need to make amends for all of that.”
While the NAACP was discussing more government support of blacks for things that happened in 1898, there was little discussion about the reality of black entrepreneurship in the current century. The reality is, of course, that all of the government money awarded to blacks stays in the hands of blacks for only a short time. Those drawing government checks and living in government housing spend the money in stores owned almost exclusively by whites.
Put simply, white government officials give money to black citizens to give it right back to white business owners. That is why black progress is about as common as feminist orgasm and safe sodomy.
While blacks are trying to remedy this problem by forcing the government to prop up black businesses, they are being made to look foolish by another minority group. Indeed, Hispanic businesses are popping up in Wilmington faster than the sentences I end prepositions with. Our Hispanic brothers and sisters are doing this without lobbying for government-mandated programs. They are simply doing it with hard work.
There is a reason why so many Hispanic families have made more progress since 1998 than many black families have made since 1898: They come from a culture of self-reliance rather than a culture of victim hood.
By keeping blacks focused on their past, the NAACP is robbing them of a chance to compete in the present – this to the delight of Hispanics willing to seize on their missed opportunities. In some ways, then, the future prosperity of the Chicano population depends on the continued efforts of the NAACP – even though black leaders seem to be unaware of the obvious connection.
The current situation may be ironic but it is not necessarily a bad thing. Though they need less help in their advancement, I guess Chicanos are colored people, too.