> THE LONDON GUARDIAN 8 JANUARY 2000 > > > Paying up > > > The black diaspora in Britain and America need both education and cash to > propel them forward > > > Gary Younge > > Saturday January 8, 2000 > > > As a promise it was well-intentioned; as recompense it was feeble; but as a= > rally-cry for economic compensation it still resonates. Well over a centur= > y after the offer was first made, some African-Americans are still demandin= > g that their country honours its vow and grants them their birthright: 40 a= > cres and a mule. = > > As an emotional demand for compensation for the indignities and inequalitie= > s of slavery it remains a potent symbol. It has installed itself in the bla= > ck American lexicon. In the mid-80s, film-maker Spike Lee named his product= > ion company 40 Acres And A Mule; in 1992 Janice Giles wrote a novel titled = > 40 Acres And No Mule. As a single-transferable jingle to mark a commonly he= > ld grievance for the black diaspora in America and beyond, it is catchy. Bu= > t as a wishlist it is hopelessly antiquated. = > > > At the time, the black diaspora was predominantly rural and depended primar= > ily on agriculture for its livelihood. Today it is mostly urban, and those = > who have a livelihood are concentrated among the low-paid service and publi= > c sectors. A patch of land and a mule would be of little use to black minor= > ity communities nowadays. It is time for an update. = > > > But before we project into the future we must first take stock of the past.= > The story takes us back to the dying days of slavery. With the American ci= > vil war drawing to a close, General Sherman met with black leaders in Savan= > nah, Georgia, to find out how they would define the freedom coming their wa= > y. = > > > Their response was practical. They wanted land they could call their own so= > that their new political independence could be backed up by economic self-= > sufficiency. Sherman duly issued an order which set aside 7,600 square mile= > s, protected by the US military, with 40 acres of tillable land per black f= > amily, alongside other provisions like a mule or horse to work the land. By= > autumn of the same year, President Andrew Johnson reversed Sherman's Field= > Order, returning the land to the Confederate rebels from whom it had been = > confiscated. And so a grudge was born. Given the centrality of consumerism,= > and particularly labels, to today's black youth culture, teenagers might b= > e tempted to go for what looks good rather than what lasts. With music and = > fashion high on the agenda, 40 pairs of Nikes and a DVD player would go dow= > n well, although it would leave very little to pass on for the next generat= > ion. = > > > With the criminal justice system still weighted against the black community= > , 40 good alibis and a decent lawyer would be far more useful. After all, i= > t's difficult to move up in society when there are such overwhelming odds t= > hat you will get sent down. = > > > But it would be a great injustice to those who first negotiated with Sherma= > n to pin the hopes of the next century on injustices that keep us back rath= > er than concentrating on those things that could propel us forward. We will= > leave the important work of redeeming the value of stolen land and labour = > that was slavery and colonialism to the reparations movement. This is one s= > logan that should not descend into 40 polemics and a million-man march. = > > > But casting around for a truly practical plan in the middle of a technologi= > cal revolution is not easy. Our world of work is changing so rapidly that a= > lmost as soon as it is touted it will look out of date. Forty megabytes and= > a laptop would seem like a good plan, given modern trends. Technological i= > nnovations have generally prompted the kind of economic and social leaps th= > at have left the bulk of the black community struggling. = > > > "Blacks have participated as equals in the technological world only as cons= > umers," wrote Anthony Walton in the American magazine Atlantic Monthly earl= > ier this month. "Otherwise [they exist] on the margins of the ethos that de= > fines the nation, underrepresented as designers, innovators, and implemente= > rs of our systems and machines. As a group, they have suffered from somethi= > ng that can loosely be called technological illiteracy. Though this has not= > been the point of technological innovation, it has undeniably been its fal= > lout." = > > > Research shows that black people use the internet less than white people. S= > ome of this could be accounted for by economic factors. Black people are ov= > errepresented among the poor; the poor, in turn, are underrepresented on th= > e web. But, according to a study by Vanderbildt university in the US, even = > when income differences were taken into account, white students are far mor= > e regular participants in the information revolution than their black count= > erparts. = > > > The trouble with building castles in cyberspace is that no sooner have you = > mentioned something connected with it than it seems obsolete. Lest we forge= > t, not so long ago 40 floppy disks and a Sinclair ZX81 would have sounded c= > utting edge. = > > > So for something that will stand both the test of time and mark a positive = > step forward, we really need to go back to basics. Forty acres and a mule w= > as a call that emerged at a time when land was at a premium and the black e= > xperience was primarily rural and agricultural. For today's black people, i= > t is not land but labour and capital that are the key issues. Labour becaus= > e, thanks to low levels of educational attainment and high levels of exclus= > ion, they find themselves in the most vulnerable situation in the world of = > work; capital because even those who do succeed academically find they do n= > ot have the financial wherewithal to enter the labour market on their own t= > erms. So let the cry go out and the T-shirts be printed: we need =A340,000 = > and a scholarship. = > > > Not that even this would be without its drawbacks, both ideological and pra= > ctical. The problems facing black communities in the diaspora are collectiv= > e not personal; black people are discriminated against as a race, not as in= > dividuals. While money and education can help, they will not, in themselves= > , get rid of discrimination. According to a recent report by the Joseph Row= > ntree Foundation, a high and rising proportion of young African men are obt= > aining good educational qualifications. Yet their unemployment rates are hi= > gher than for any other ethnic group. African graduates in their 20s are se= > ven times as likely to be unemployed as their white counterparts. = > > > Moreover, once the goods have been doled out there will be no guarantee of = > success. Some might blow the cash; others might make a mint. Some may drop = > out of college; others might excel. The days of 40 panaceas and a utopia ar= > e long gone. But none could say that they had never had a chance. = > > > Guardian Unlimited =A9 Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000 = ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------