Booker T. Washington and the Race Grievance Industry

Booker T. Washington was born as a slave in Virginia, but after the Civil War would grow to become one of the most influential African-American leaders in the United States.  During the course of his lifetime, he favored a focus improving the education and economic development of the African-American community.  Though he feared directly challenging the infamous "Jim Crow Laws" of the South, he nevertheless did support numerous court cases that challenged segregation and voting restrictions.  However, during the course of his career, Book T. Washington also noticed another trend within the African American Equal Rights Movement, and that trend was the practice of trying to make money out of the movement for Equal Rights.

In a speech, Booker T. Washington stated that "There is another class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro Race before the public.  They don’t want the Negro to lose his grievances because they do not want to lose their jobs.”   This phenomenon has been dubbed by critics as the "Race Grievance Industry."  The RGI will declare that race is a social construct, but then use race to socially construct a paycheck.  Even in places where African Americans are the majority of the population and occupy most key positions in the area (Ex. Baltimore), the RGI still tries to say that racism is the source of their troubles.  

A key example of this is the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Initially formed in 1971 to fight against poverty, the death penalty and White Supremacist Groups in the South, the SPLC gradually evolved into a Far Left Smear organization, designating any individual or group that goes against their platform as a "hate activist" or "hate group."  However, their motives are not only fueled by politics, but money.  The SPLC today has a net worth of over $300 million dollars, with millions of it being held in off-shore bank accounts.  Its top employees earn over $300,000 a year.  

Black Lives Matter is another such organization.  Founded with the intent of ending police violence against the African American communities in the country, Black Lives Matter has grown into a multi-million dollar organization, taking in $90 million in donations in 2020 alone.  However, the organization recently came under fire when it was revealed that BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors spent several million dollars buying homes for herself and her family.  Though Cullors denies using any of the donated funds to purchase these homes, stating her funds came through her work at colleges, the media, and book deals, many critics don't believe her.  Even leaders of other chapters of the BLM organization are calling for an investigation, some of whom expressed frustration that they're not receiving any of the $90 million for their chapter and are having to resort to setting up GoFundMe pages for their fundraising efforts.  

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Organizations like the SPLC and BLM use their power and influence to pressure organizations, schools, and businesses to fall in line with their agenda and often blacklist those who don't fall in line with their agenda.  For instance, Dr. Ben Carson was blacklisted by the SPLC as a hate activist for a time because he didn't fall in line with all of their views, and it was only after intense pressure that the SPLC removed his name from their "hate list" and issued a formal apology.  When Tristan Breaux, the President of the Norfolk, VA chapter of the NAACP urged people to "think logically" as to "racially," the RGI tried to force him out.  Rather than "righting against injustice" these RGI organizations are instead using "racism" as a crutch.  In a more recent example, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott who is himself an African American also publicly voiced his opposition to the RGI, and in the wake of this the RGI actually responded with a number of racial insults, calling Senator Scott "Uncle Tim" and an "Oreo."  Even families of African Americans who had loved ones fall victim of police shootings have started calling out BLM.   One such individual was Breona Taylor's mother, who lost her daughter when a shootout erupted between her boyfriend and police officers arrived at her apartment to serve a "no-knock warrant."  In a recent interview, Breona's mother called the BLM movement a "fraud" and accused them of using her daughters death to enrich themselves.  

BLM has also come under fire for always blaming "racist police" for the problems in African American communities while ignoring the violent criminal element that pervades many of these communities.  For example, BLM only raised up an outcry when Freddie Gray died in police custody in Baltimore in 2015.  However, BLM didn't voice any outcry over the 334 individuals who where murdered in Baltimore that year, the overwhelming majority of which were African Americans.  Many believe that BLM needs to expand their efforts from simply combating "police violence" combating "violence in general."  Others are also calling for a return to Booker T. Washington's approach of focusing on preserving the African American family, urging the youth to pursue education and refrain from violence, and urging economic development within African American communities rather than depending on the welfare programs.  

Sources:

Gabriel, Brigitte.  Rise: In Defense of Judeo-Christian Values and Freedom.  Lake Mary, FL" FrontLine, 2018.

Gordon, James.  ""Breonna Taylor's Mother Slams Black Lives Matter in Louisville and Calls the Organization a 'Fraud' Saying 'They've Never Done a Damn Thing For Us."  Daily Mail.  April 17, 2021.  Accessed from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9481187/Breonna-Taylors-mother-slams-BLM-calls-organization-fraud-never-us.html.

Grandstaff, Jacob.  "The Ivory Spires of the SPLC Poverty Palace."  Capital Research Center.  September 11, 2017.  Accessed from https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-ivory-spires-of-the-splc-poverty-palace/.

Riley, Jason L.  Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make it Harder for Blacks to Succeed.  New York: Encounter Books, 2014.

Starkes, Taleeb.  Black Lies Matter: Why Lies Matter to the Race Grievance Industry.  2016.

"Stossel: The Southern Poverty Law Center Scam."  Reason TV.  Published January 16, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=327&v=k41PI54ExFc.

"The Anti-Hate Group that is a Hate Group."  PragerU.  October 12, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNFNH0lmYdM

Thiessen, Marc.  "The Southern Poverty Law Center has Lost all Credibility."  The Washington Post.  June 22, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-southern-poverty-law-center-has-lost-all-credibility/2018/06/21/22ab7d60-756d-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3ba454b8618d.

Vincent, Isabel.  "Inside BLM co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors Million Dollar Real Estate Buying Binge."  The New York Post.  April 10, 2021.  Accessed from https://nypost.com/2021/04/10/inside-blm-co-founder-patrisse-khan-cullors-real-estate-buying-binge/.