A Domestic Marshall Plan to Transform America's "Dark Ghettos": Toward a Martin LutherKing - Malcom X Community Revitalization InitiativeAuthor(s): Ron DanielsReviewed work(s):Source: The Black Scholar, Vol. 37, No. 3, BLACK SOCIAL AGENDA (FALL 2007), pp. 10-13Published by: Paradigm PublishersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41069886 .Accessed: 30/07/2012 20:07

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A Domestic Marshall Plan to Transform America's "Dark Ghettos": Toward a

Martin Luther King - Malcom X Community Revitalization Initiative

by Ron Daniels

Introduction

[This article is based on a presentation made at the Black Family Summit Policy Institute con- vened February 1, 2007, by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century at Howard University. It is a discussion piece which is intended to pro- voke discussion about, and commitment to a bold initiative to compel the American public and the government to confront issues of radsm, poverty, and inequality in this country as dramatically exposed by Katrina. The use of term "dark ghettos" is a reference to noted Sociologist Kenneth B. Clark's classic book, Dark Ghetto, which discuss- es racial inequality in America's urban centers, espedally as reflected in Harlem in the fifties and sixties.]

is my conviction that Black America must revive the concept of a Domestic

Marshall Plan to reverse the deterioration of the nation's "dark ghettos" - most immedi- ately, to restore New Orleans' exiled popula- tion. For reasons that will be expressed later in this essay, I suggest the campaign be called the Martin Luther King-Malcolm X Community Revitalization Initiative, a mobi- lization which hopefully can inject this issue into the presidential campaign and onto the public policy agenda leading up to and beyond the forthcoming presidential elec- tion if necessary.

In January 2007 at the Institute of the Black World 21st Century's (IBW) "State of the Black World Forum" in Washington DC, during discussion on creating a "New Force in Black America" to revitalize the black free- dom struggle, New York City Councilman Charles Barron remarked that neither the

Democratic Party nor the Congressional Black Caucus has clearly signaled what explicitly "black issues" they are prepared to advance since Democrats took control of Congress. In this regard it is important to remember that the Six-point Democratic Program for recapturing control of Congress did not include Katrina/New Orleans. More- over, Katrina/New Orleans was completely absent from President Bush's 2007 State of the Union Address.

While there was no noticeable outcry from black leaders protesting this disgraceful omis- sion, Capital Hill insiders indicate that the Congressional Black Caucus is quietly focusing on aid and assistance for New Orleans and the Gulf as a major priority. While blacks once again demonstrated unflinching loyalty to the Democratic Party in the critical mid-term elec- tions, there is still the overarching and com- pelling question as to what "race specific" ini- tiatives will be embraced and advanced by the Democratic leadership in Congress to address crucial black issues and concerns. Black Amer- ica needs an answer to that question, and I believe that one of the responses ought to be to revive the concept of a Domestic Marshall Plan targeted at rebuilding New Orleans and America's "dark ghettos."

Six-point Democratic Program for Recap turing Control of Congress Did Not Include

Katrina/Nêw Orleans

presented this idea at a recent Policy Institute convened by the Black Family

Summit of IBW at Howard University. In so doing, I reminded the assembled organiza- tion heads, scholars and activists that it is

Page 10 THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 37, NO, 3

important to realize that Katrina is a metaphor for the disaster wrought on black America's urban and rural communities by decades of benign and blatant neglect. This is manifested by the almost total abandon- ment of proactive and corrective policies for problems of both inner-city and rural com- munities by Democratic and Republic administrations. The toll on black America, especially on black working-class and poor people, has been devastating.

Many inner-city areas are like decimated zones of desolation and despair, wracked by chronic unemployment, underemployment, poverty, inadequate health facilities, environ- mental degradation, poor performing schools, the infestation of drugs, crime, gangs, the illicit economy, fear, police occu- pation and terror - all of which feeds a prison-jail industrial complex where black and brown people are the primary fodder. As depicted on the television series "The Wire," life in America's dark ghettos can be deadly and destructive of the aspirations of a people; the tragic consequence of broken individuals, families and communities.

importantly, contrary to the exhor- tations of "America's Dad," Bill Cosby,

this is a fate which is not of our own choos- ing. Nor are these the same "ghettos" that past generations grew up in around the country. As sociologist William Julius Wilson observes, in the face of globalization, massive de-industrial- ization and the calculated shrinking of amelio- rative public programs and services under the guise of creating a more efficient government, the most disadvantaged of our people are liv- ing in communities where "work has virtually disappeared." Moreover, there is an almost total collapse of supportive community based institutions like settlement houses, health care centers, hospitals and viable schools. And, African Americans in past generations did not grow up in communities where guns and drugs were so readily available and violence and deadly force was endemic to daily life.

Ethnic Cleansing is Afoot in New Orleans

/Currently there is no acceptable response V^Ji to our plight by policymakers in Wash- ington. Total neglect or the conservative

mantra of "blame the victim," is the order of the day. To the degree that there has been a response, it has been by real estate develop- ers moving in, aided and abetted by local governments, to displace black working-class and poor people from their neighborhoods, scattering them hither and thither as white suburbanites now deem it cost effective to recapture the "Chocolate Cities" of this nation. Gentrification has become the "Negro removal" program of the twenty-first century. It is precisely this kind of ethnic cleansing that is afoot in New Orleans as local developers and major contractors, such as subsidiaries of Halliburton, attempt to remake this African city to create a Disney World, theme park environment.

While we must continue to urge our people who are imprisoned by these conditions to do all they can to assume responsibility for rising above and overcoming the pathology which now afflicts them/us, we must be clear that the racist and exploitive policies of government are primarily responsible for our plight. Ulti- mately we must compel the government to res- cue and transform this nation's dark ghettos. And this will require a massive allocation of resources, not only to improve the physical environment but to heal and restore broken lives and communities. The transformation of America's dark ghettos demands nothing less than a program equivalent to a Domestic Mar- shall Plan.

Originally conceived by the late Whitney Young, President and CEO of the National Urban League and long advocated as a major priority by League President John E. Jacob, the concept of a Domestic Marshall Plan was derived from the massive and unprecedented expenditure of US resources to rebuild Europe and Japan after World War II. Mr. Young and Mr. Jacobs consistent- ly questioned why the United States could not rebuild urban areas here in America in the same way it had rebuilt entire foreign nations. The same question is relevant today: How is it that America can instantly find bil- lions of dollars to wage an ill-conceived, ill- advised and illegal war in Iraq, including bil- lions to rebuild this strife-riven nation, and not muster sufficient resources to expedi- tiously rebuild New Orleans, the Gulf and

THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 37, NO. 3 Page 11

transform the dark ghettos of this prosper- ous land? Black America must muster the resolve to compel the government to respond appropriately to this question.

organization that gathered for the Black Family Summit Policy Institute, for

example, National Association of Black Social Workers, National Medical Association, National Association of Black Psychologists, Black Administrators in Child Welfare, All Healers Mental Health Alliance, National Association of Black Veterans, International Association of Black Professional Firefighters, is engaged in treating some aspect of the mal- ady which afflicts our most destitute and des- perate communities. Each organization has specific initiatives and programs designed to address some dimension of the crisis. The value of these efforts notwithstanding, strate- gically, I believe it is imperative that a broad ranging collective of organizations and agen- cies come together to adopt a comprehen- sive/holistic, consensus strategy/ approach to address the desperate and deteriorating con- ditions in America's dark ghettos - an approach that must prescribe solutions to the physical, cultural, educational, spiritual and social justice aspects of the crises.

At a minimum, the approach must include affordable housing, public service employment, job training, environmentally sustainable community economic develop- ment, quality education based on culturally inclusive curricula, black adoptions, drug and alcohol abuse counseling and treatment, AIDS counseling and treatment, community based health centers with facilities for men- tal health, community organizers, gang pre- vention programs, re-entry programs for for- merly incarcerated persons and civic engagement and empowerment programs. The same approach should apply to rural communities with an additional focus on black land retention and programs to assist and enhance the viability of black farmers and agriculturalists.

At the end of his life Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Con- ference (SCLC) were planning a Poor Peo- ple's Campaign as a way of articulating the concept of an Economic Bill of Rights to

guarantee a basic quality of life for black people and all Americans. Similarly, Malcolm X was urging us to control the politics and social life of our communities, and to see our struggle not just as a fight for civil rights but human rights as well. The idea that oppressed people should exercise the power to control their communities and the convic- tion that every person in this country is enti- tled to enjoy certain basic human rights, as articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, should constitute guiding principles for our approach to resolving the crises in our communities.

It is Time to Draw a line in the Sand to Rescue and Transform Our Communities

the Domestic Marshall Plan concept captures the spirit of what I

am advocating and has a familiar ring for policymakers and the public, given their complementary perspectives on eradicating racial and economic oppression, the concept of a Martin Luther King-Malcolm X Commu- nity Revitalization Initiative more fully cap- tures the character and scope of the approach I envision. In addition, it is impor- tant to have a title which resonates in the black community as the base constituency for this initiative. It is also important to indi- cate that this initiative should not be viewed as a substitute for affirmative action or, ulti- mately, reparations, as policy prescriptions to repair past and present damage to Africans in America as a consequence of the long and tragic travail of enslavement and racial apartheid in this country.

It is time to draw a line in the sand to res- cue and transform our communities. It is time to mobilize the political muscle to demand that the Congress of the United States and the President implement a com- prehensive, holistic program to rebuild depressed and oppressed communities in this nation.

Accordingly, as a vital exercise in opera- tional unity, I am suggesting a multi-faceted black- and people-of-color-led mobilization to create public awareness of the plight of America's dark ghettos and to demand the enactment of the Martin Luther King-Mal-

Pagel2 THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 37, NO. 3

colm X Community Revitalization Initiative. IBW formally launched the Campaign in April with the release of a Declaration of Intent to Organize for Change at a series of activities timed to coincide with the memori- al commemorations of the assassination of Dr. King and the fortieth anniversary of his speech declaring his opposition to the war in Vietnam at the Riverside Church in 1967.

forward, IBW intends to partner with SCLC, under the leadership of

President Charles Steele, to hold a series of community based hearings in selected cities and towns across the country. The first hear- ing was convened by Councilwoman JoAnn Watson in Detroit, May 19, 2007, the birth- day of Malcolm X. Congressman John Cony- ers, Jr., Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus was part of the hearing panel, along with former Congressman Rev. Dr. Walter Fauntroy of Washington, DC and Charles Steele of SCLC.

The Initiative has also been discussed on a number of black radio talk shows around the country as part of an effort to create public awareness about the plight of impoverished urban and rural communities, encourage interested people to download and utilize the MLK-MX Initiative Declaration as an organizing tool (www.ibw21.org) and to build pressure to persuade the Congression- al Black Caucus to adopt and advocate the concept. Indeed there appears to be a grow- ing convergence of opinion that some form of massive program is urgently needed to rebuild New Orleans and urban America. At the Day of Presence convened by Susan Tay- lor of Essence on the occasion of the second anniversary of Katrina and the National Poli- cy Dialogue sponsored by the African Ameri- can Leadership Project headed by veteran social and political activist Mtangulizi Sanyi- ka, the idea of a Domestic Marshall Plan or New Deal type Works Progress Administra- tion (WPA) program was mentioned several times. From various quarters, the concept is beginning to take hold.

Accordingly, we must mobilize black peo- ple to take the lead in issuing a clarion call to end the war in Iraq, rebuild New Orleans

and the Gulf and invest in transforming America's dark ghettos, reservations and neighborhoods.

Transforming America's Dark Ghettos

may take time, but we must be committed to building a movement to achieve this

goal. We must use every opportunity to ask the presidential candidates to respond to the concept. And 2008 will offer excellent opportunities to build momentum. For example, the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King on April 4 should not just be filled with memorial commemo- rations, there should also be teach-ins that examine what Dr. King and SCLC were plan- ning when he was gunned down in Mem- phis. There should also be direct actions focusing on New Orleans, the Gulf and America's dark ghettos with a demand that the nation and government adopt and launch the MLK-MX Community Revitaliza- tion Initiative. In addition, IBW's State of the Black World Conference II, scheduled for November 19-23, 2008, in New Orleans, will be another major focal point for galvanizing support for the MLK-MX Initiative.

Ultimately, Africans in America and our allies must generate sufficient momentum to force the Democratic Party, which has taken blacks for granted for too long, and a nation which has been in denial about the debilitat- ing effects of racism, poverty and inequality on blacks and people of color, to take an affirma- tive stand in favor of this vital Initiative.

has the opportunity to erase the ugly images of Katrina from the con-

sciousness of the world by transforming America's dark ghettos. There is no better way to achieve this mission than by doing for the dispossessed in this country what this nation so magnanimously did for Europe and Japan after World War II. Americans must demand that the US government end the war in Iraq, seal the "demonic suction tube" that is draining vast resources away from urgent domestic needs and massively invest in rescuing and transforming Ameri- ca's dark ghettos. Africans in America and the oppressed must settle for nothing less.

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