"Authentic black conservatism has always had the fundamental
and explicit goal of opposing white supremacy." — Kareim Oliphant
The Atlantic slave trade “the LARGEST” long-distance coerced migration in human history is the paradigm, the backdrop for what would become the dissimilar philosophical differences between what is referred to as mainstream-conservatism and that of African or black-conservatism.
((Black-Conservative360)) - The Atlantic slave trade “the LARGEST long-distance coerced migration in humanhistory" is the backdrop for what would become the dissimilar
philosophical differences between what is referred to today as
mainstream-conservatism and that of African or black-conservatism.
Just as Burkean conservatism is a response to the explosive chaos following the French Revolution, so, too, black conservatism emerges out of and in response to the far-reaching impact of scientific racism, and the almost unimaginable barbarity of colonialism and slavery. #White supremacy was an essential component of the slave trade, of Jim Crow, and, more than anything, it is black conservatism's long and tempestuous relationship with white-supremacy and bigotry that distinguishes it from other strains of color-blind or mainstream conservatism. As the African conservative writer Chidike Okeem emphasized in an interview with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, "When demonstrably immoral structures exist, the black conservative cannot ethically justify attempting to look for the positive aspects of such structures."
Just as Burkean conservatism is a response to the explosive chaos following the French Revolution, so, too, black conservatism emerges out of and in response to the far-reaching impact of scientific racism, and the almost unimaginable barbarity of colonialism and slavery. #White supremacy was an essential component of the slave trade, of Jim Crow, and, more than anything, it is black conservatism's long and tempestuous relationship with white-supremacy and bigotry that distinguishes it from other strains of color-blind or mainstream conservatism. As the African conservative writer Chidike Okeem emphasized in an interview with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, "When demonstrably immoral structures exist, the black conservative cannot ethically justify attempting to look for the positive aspects of such structures."
One glaring difference between “mainstream” conservatism and black-conservatism
is how it’s dissimilar history with racism informs how black-conservatism
engages the nuances of state power and its relationship with the larger culture.
As Forbes writer, and Republican historian Chris Ladd explains, “The black
experience is a living reminder that government is not alone as a potential
threat to personal liberty. It is possible, as in the Jim Crow South, to build
a government so weak that no one’s personal liberties can be protected.
He continues: “African Americans’ repression rose not so much from government
as from the culture, ignorance and bigotry of their white neighbors.”
Michael Brendan Dougherty, another conservative writer explores this a little
further in an interview he gave some years ago with “University Bookman” a
conservative book-review journal. In it he explains some of the problems with
aspects of “colorblind” conservative arguments. He writes, “Most conservatives
like to think that they have principles that are color-blind: the eternal
verities and such. I think this is a kind of self-flattery that excuses
historical ignorance on our part. Enslavement stripped Africans of their
ethnicities, their languages, and their religion. That means more than any one
other group in this country African-Americans are a people created by the
history of our nation and its politics: commerce, slavery, the Civil War, emancipation,
the civil rights movement. It is a naïveté bordering on psychosis to suggest
that black politics should conform to some imagined color-blind set of
principles.”
In short, black-conservatism is more than just a disposition. It’s also the network of black- institutions (like the black church) that help to capture this dissimilar history; that tell the story of how black-institutions became a powerful, strategic weapon against racism, and while unmistakably black, it is grounded in principles so profound and applicable that any society facing racism or injustice could draw universal parallels from it.
It is both a disposition and
a philosophical argument birthed in chains! It is a universal cry, and answers
for any society where some people are believed to be animals, and where one's
skin complexion is considered an unredeemable curse. As one theological writer; Brad Mason (@AlsoACarpenter), put it, "Black Conservatism
has it all. It can argue conservative values and economics without the distinctly
American and colonial trappings and power structures. It is truly a model for
freedom and self-actualization.”
When one encounters a demonic and racist, dystopian nightmare and lives to tell
about it; where does one go to tell this story? Where does one go for
intellectual and spiritual respite? Where does one develop a positive identity
of self after centuries of being told your skin color is a curse from God,
after being called "nigger" and "boy" by the very society
you live in? Black-conservatism
answers this question by arguing that while institutions even
“race-and-culturally” based ones are never perfect; they can nevertheless
empower people during their darkest of hours.
NOTE: This article primarily focuses on American black conservatism.
