Schuyler's Capitalistic Approach
George Schuyler was quite different from most black leaders and scholars of his age. Although he experienced racism just like other blacks at the time, he took a different stance on improving the status of black in America's community.
Many leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr, WEB DuBois, etc., seemed to be proponents of more of a socialistic approach. They foresaw government intervention as the path towards equality. However, Schuyler, interpolating from his novel, seems to suggest that that would be the absolute wrong path to take, especially due to the corruptness of the government, which he ridicules through the actions of the Black No More, Inc. paying off govt officials.
Schuyler instead proposes a capitalistic approach, one where blacks would obtain the respect and equality they deserve from others by becomes economically independent and successful. This idea is largely played out in the novel through the actions of Max (or Matthew) becoming rich with his schemes, etc.
These ideas are also important in that they may partly explain why Schuyler was not read so much back then--that is, because he proposed the self reliant, capitalistic approach towards equality, and this seemed to be a much harder route to traverse compared to the approach offered by govt intervention.
Anyone have any ideas on this?
Many leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr, WEB DuBois, etc., seemed to be proponents of more of a socialistic approach. They foresaw government intervention as the path towards equality. However, Schuyler, interpolating from his novel, seems to suggest that that would be the absolute wrong path to take, especially due to the corruptness of the government, which he ridicules through the actions of the Black No More, Inc. paying off govt officials.
Schuyler instead proposes a capitalistic approach, one where blacks would obtain the respect and equality they deserve from others by becomes economically independent and successful. This idea is largely played out in the novel through the actions of Max (or Matthew) becoming rich with his schemes, etc.
These ideas are also important in that they may partly explain why Schuyler was not read so much back then--that is, because he proposed the self reliant, capitalistic approach towards equality, and this seemed to be a much harder route to traverse compared to the approach offered by govt intervention.
Anyone have any ideas on this?
posted by Amit at 5:10 PM
3 Comments:
I didn't actually realize Scuyler's subtle backing of captialism and self-reliance when going through Black No More, but your reading of the concept in the text seems right on. It makes sense; Schuyler was a staunch Republican at a time when many other African-American leaders alligned themselves with the Democratic Party (though I still can't explain his reasoning for segreation other than Schuyler's infamy for pig-headedness). Does anyone remember if Schuyler locked horns with Booker T. Washington as well? Washington and Du Bois weren't on friendly terms, due to Washington being more not radical enough (ease into desegreation and equal rights, let our people be trained vocationally to prove our willingness to work) for Du Bois plan for African-Americans. I just want to point out that although Du Bois called for immediate equal rights and was one of the first to realize the economic and cultural positon African-Americans occupied stemmed not only from slavery but Western colonialism, he had a theory on that the Talented Tenth (top 10% of population) of African-American men would save the race, enacting a class system necessary to reduce crime. Somehow this theory is inherently reminiscent of that racial evolutionary biology Du Bois fought so hard against, in that it relegates the "superior' or worthy amount of people to only one tenth. I wonder if Schuyler was more along Washington's lines or Du Bois'. Washington did want men to fight for their equal rights over time with vocational work, similar to Schuyler's self-reliance and the more evolutinary apects of capitalism. Sorry the repsonse is so long; we learned alot about Du Bois and Washington in my Cult. Anthropology class earlier this semester and I enjoy it when courses cross paths :)
The idea of black people gaining equality by becoming successful is a good idea in theory. Yes, they most likely would earn respect amongst the white community if they had a very respectable well paying job, but during the 30’s that was nearly impossible. Most employers wouldn’t hire black people, and if no one would hire them how could they make decent money. Government intervention was needed to allow them to achieve their goals.
The argument that blacks should obtain socioeconomic equality with whites through purely capitalistic endeavors is one that today is used to justify programs such as affirmative action and other social programs. In Schuyler's time when segregation was enforced by law this approach seems fairly ludicrous. However, even today it would be foolish to think that we live in a totally meritocratic society. Centuries of formal government sanctioned discrimination have constructed various mechanisms for white control which are perpetuated merely by upholding the status quo.
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