After a thoughtful conversation this past weekend with a campus leader, I was finally able to grasp a philosophy that has baffled me for some time.
All of my life I have listened intently to the preaching of popular African-American leaders in a vain attempt to understand their rationale. If their aim is to empower black Americans, the approach is wrong — it is impossible to be empowered when all you hear is self-abasing rhetoric.
It seems these leaders’ main idea is that by looking to the past and constantly reliving the tragedies of our forbears, we will reach our goals.
Of course, it is important to understand the struggles of the past, but it is certainly not necessary to dwell on the injustice of yesterday. We must always move forward; progress will never be made through the stagnant process of re-victimization. Change will take place when each of us realizes that no person has a rightful claim to the life of another. If you understand that the realization of your goals and success are rooted in the pursuit of happiness, who can stand against you?
The campus leader I spoke to said quite seriously that the only way for minorities to gain a foothold on this campus is through large sums of money endowed by the university. This idea of entitlement was arguably appropriate in times past, but it does not have a place today. If you truly believe that you cannot succeed without handouts, you have defeated yourself at the start.
We must disabuse ourselves of this notion. We owe it to ourselves to succeed — no one can hand it to us. There is no room for personal ability in these leaders’ belief system and no hope for individual achievement. That is why I reject the belief of entitlement as baseless and cruel.
Whether or not cash is placed into the hands of minorities through whatever means, the view of money as the great equalizer is preposterous. Changing hearts and minds does not come through funding; it comes through the hard work and dedication of bettering your life.
We are supposed to believe there is an evil machine out there working against all minorities, keeping us from prevailing. But the truth is leaders who espouse the philosophy of re-victimization are a part of that evil machine.
Personally, I will not stand for anyone telling me that I am incapable of accomplishment.
Each and every person of color has the ability to change his or her own reality — to say otherwise is willful trampling of the human spirit. Those who preach victimization are the jailers of the “underprivileged.” By infusing the self-defeating doctrine of entitlement, they shackle the people to the burden of being victims instead of letting them hear of their own ability. We must not allow people of color to fall prey to this infectious thought.
The people who are supposed to be the leaders of the minority community keep telling us we are not able to reach equality because of hundreds of years of injustice, and because of the injustice of the white majority. I suppose it is easier to state this and move no further, but if true equality is ever to be had, there must be action. Each and every person of color has to work toward his or her goals regardless of what happened in the past and irrespective of the white majority.
To proclaim the ideas of re-victimization is a far worse crime than anyone outside the minority community can perpetrate. We should concern ourselves with success at all costs rather than worry about who is trying to stop us. We do not need the sanction of anyone to have progress. I do not need another to give meaning to my life. I do not need a handout to succeed. My life is not defined, nor is it dependent upon the works of others. My credo: I refuse to be a victim.
James P. Kent is a majoring in senior majoring in economics and business management.
