Black America Is A Colony (Part 2)

Many people may say, “there are many Black people who are well off”, as a way to claim that Black people are not oppressed. When the British colonized India, they propped up a class of Indians that would act as a buffer. They used this buffer to prevent resistance to colonialism.

Thomas Babington Macaulay a member of the British Empire touched upon the methods used to continue the colonization of India. He stated,

“We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect.”

As people have put it before, it is the “Illusion of Inclusion.” Due to the small amount of Black people that assimilated into white society, it makes it look like Black people are not oppressed in America. The author of The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander, made a good point when she stated how even during slavery there were free Black people. Although there was a Black population that was free, the masses of black people in America were enslaved.

Despite the achievements of a portion of Black people in 2021, the masses of Black people are living in poverty.

For example, Washington, D.C. , the nation’s capital, has always been known for it’s Black professional population. Despite this, the average income of a Black household in D.C. is around $42,000 , which is poor. D.C. has one of the highest rates of Black unemployment, and has been experiencing gentrification at a rate higher than most of America.

Outside of Native Americans, Black people have the highest rates of poverty in America. Many civil rights leaders admitted that the civil rights movement only benefited a portion of Black America.

Dr. King,

“The civil rights movement had too often been middle-class oriented and had not moved to the grassroots levels of our communities. So I thought the great challenge facing the civil rights movement was to move into these areas to organize and gain identity with ghetto dwellers and young people in the ghetto”

Civil rights activist, Bayard Rustin stated this as well,