By Ronald Court
Two years ago, (July ‘05) when the Society was no more than an idea I was mulling over, I flew to Buffalo NY to attend a Harlem Book Fair. I especially wanted to meet Sarah O’Neil Rush, a great-granddaughter of Booker T. Washington who was to participate in a panel discussion on the philosophies of Booker T. Washington and WEB Du Bois.
Mrs. Rush found herself in a debate with the other three panelists — all ‘DuBoisians’. Yet she acquitted herself admirably. Afterwards, I happened upon one panelist, Prof. Ronald W. Walters alone at a book signing table hawking his most recent book, “Freedom is Not Enough“.
I introduced myself and asked simply, “What do you think of Bill Cosby?” I wanted to know what others thought about Bill Cosby’s recent NAACP speech challenging blacks to take more personal responsibility.
Dr. Walters responded by characterizing Mr. Cosby with a derogatory epithet I shall not repeat here. I was astounded. I asked him how he could say such a thing. Dr. Walters said that Cosby didn’t know what he was talking about… that he wasn’t qualified to…”
I cut him off, telling him Cosby was as qualified as anybody as was Booker T. Washington. Furthermore, he had a degree…”
Dr. Walters then cut me off. “But not a real degree. He…” I cut in again, telling Walters that Cosby held a Doctorate in Education from the U of Mass and earned it after becoming rich and famous (that makes Cos, because he didn’t have to, a double hero in my book).
In retrospect, Dr. Walters may have been referring to the honorary degrees that Booker T. received from Harvard and Dartmouth. I can’t be sure, but surely, even an Honorary Masters from Harvard and an Honorary Doctorate from Dartmouth says more than Walters’ PhD from American U.
He said BTW was a tool of white industrialists, that BTW encouraged blacks to go North to fill the demand for menial labor in their factories. I had to correct Dr. Walters yet again by reminding him that BTW specifically called blacks to stay in the South in his famous 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech to, “Cast down your bucket where you are…”
Dr. Walters responded that he meant BTW in his later years. Then he abruptly ended the exchange by turning away, adding “Perhaps we’ll have a chance to talk again.”
I never anticipated such an exchange. It opened my eyes into a mind-set that seemed to find it too hard to consider even the possibility that accepting a degree of personal responsibility to improve oneself might alleviate some of the distress some blacks experience today.
If Dr. Walters wants to lay primary responsibility for blacks who fail in society at the feet of “whitey,” then it follows that primary responsibility for blacks who succeed in society should be attributed to whitey as well. Such would be the logical conclusion. But here’s a better way. Hear what hero Bill Cosby had to say here.
Meanwhile, Dr. Walters might do well to recall Booker T. Washington’s observation that…
There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don’t want the patient to get well.
(There’s more of Booker T’s wisdom & common sense here. Enjoy.
Yet, it looks like only about half of those seem to feel that by working and playing by the rules, they will get to live a comfortable life. Why so negative?
The Exact Moment I became an American
Thursday, September 11th, 2008By Ronald Court.
It was 11:35 in the morning, seven years ago today, September 11, 2001. As I was driving home – classes at the local college where I taught were cancelled for the day – I found myself muttering, then loudly with determination, “I am not French-Canadian, I am an American, dammit , just as I turned off Route 15 to head towards a local flag shop.
Even then, so soon after we had been attacked, a few others were already ahead of me, purchasing U.S. flags in a shared spontaneous impulse to explicitly demonstrate our love of country, come hell or high water.
It occurs to me, as an American (of French-Canadian descent) that the age of hyphenation is over – or should be. It has done little to bring us together, and may contribute to keeping us apart. This is not so say we must set aside differences and disagreements. Indeed, entirely within the spirit of being an American is to celebrate each individual’s freedom to disagree.
Ever since the founding of the Booker T. Washington Society, I’ve refrained from using the term African-American. To my mind, it does more to divide than to define. As fellow Americans, our legitimate struggles are over values, not external characteristics.
Booker T. Washington never lost sight that his role was to improve the people of his race. He did not see alienation as advantageous to anyone’s interests.
So, don’t expect to find “African-American” bandied about on this site. If necessary, you’ll see “black” instead.
Which reminds me, can you tell me which of the two in the photograph below is African-American, and which is American?
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