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308
When we lock people up in a ghetto, our violence against them
eventually turns on us. By comparing it with another ghetto—the “gray” ghetto
of old people—I understood why those we confine find it impossible to escape.
There are no visible walls around the gray ghetto either, but the dependence
of the elderly on crumbs from the rich imprisons them in a psychology of
powerlessness that resembles slavery’s. As with the
underclass, many elderly are so handicapped they
can’t hold good jobs and have no possibility of improving their economic
situations. The feeling of having no power over your own life, of being
utterly reliant on handouts from the wealthy, is part of the psychopathology
of the ghetto, creating in many elderly minds authority figures resembling black
psychology’s “The Man.”
The gray ghetto is linked to our black and
immigrant ghettos since poverty forces these populations into the same
neighborhoods where the old are often as discriminated against and forgotten
by society as blacks in general. The elderly sometimes die
of hunger in their homes because they’re terrified of venturing out to buy
food. I found this old woman, with the “smile” sign in the window, to be the
closest neighbor to Congress, which condemned her to a pension 40% below the
official poverty line. In the South, I met old people who weren’t
able to get social security at all. Thousands receive less than the
official minimum of $1400 per month. Used to European welfare states, with
social and health personnel who visit homes to cook, clean, and shop for the
elderly or infirm, I found the neglect of the elderly in the US even more
appalling.
311
This old Jewish woman, who became one of my best
New York friends, had emigrated from Russia before the revolution. Her hope
was that Congress would permit her to return to communist Russia so she could
live her last years in “freedom from hunger and freedom from fear,” as she
put it in 1972. She was starving, never had meat when she had food, and was
often mugged. Yet she had a deep love for the blacks in her neighborhood.
With her own Eastern European ghettoization and persecution in vivid memory,
she, like many American Jews, had a deep commitment to the black struggle and
felt tormented because blacks had to suffer like her. A
majority of whites killed during the Civil Rights Movement were in
fact Jews. Similarly, most of my lectures in America are organized by this
minority, with its painfully acquired insight into oppression. Their deep
solidarity with other oppressed people stems from their historical need to
observe the accumulation of pain among other oppressed groups. That pain has
traditionally been manipulated by rulers and used against the Jews. In both
black American and brown Danish ghettos, this pain manifests itself in sporadic
anti-Semitism among people who don’t feel they are loved and respected by
society.
314
Americans are in favor of some social security in old age, but they
refuse to create a safety net like the one we take for granted in Europe’s
welfare states. Where the welfare state respects the dignity of the
individual, the American “disposable society” deliberately tries to destroy
it with a network of spies who infiltrate the privacy of people who are on
what Americans ironically call “welfare.” The system has historically tried
to destroy the black family. The slavery practice of “selling away” husbands
and wives and children from each other continues, with the welfare department
as both paternal caring master and infernal cruel overseer. Many black
fathers have been forced to leave home so their wives can get assistance
thanks to a congressional order to cut off welfare for mothers if a man is
present. Millions of women thus live in loneliness and utter poverty since
only one out of 20 families on assistance include men. Yet more than 50% of
men in this underclass are unemployed.
This created the black “welfare mother,” who fared far from well in a
vicious circle of poverty, dependence, fear, and especially humiliation.
Although most people on welfare are white, blacks are blamed for getting
assistance by having been “promiscuous.” An incredible charge since it was my
clear observation as well as the conclusion of several studies that whites,
among their other privileges, are far more “promiscuous” than blacks.
Cruelty to these stigmatized mothers originates in politicians’
hysterical speeches about “welfare loafers,” speeches designed to distract
voters from the way these same politicians hand out billions in welfare to
billionaires for oil depletion, agribusiness subsidies, etc.
315
They create a climate in which the poor have to
run the gauntlet of lengthy elaborate demeaning investigations and follow-up
harassment to get their few crumbs. Every sadistic trick is used to
dehumanize them. In many places they must stand in line from four o’clock in
the morning in frost or rain then wait inside in a concentration camp
atmosphere all day only to find out that “no more cases are being taken
today.”
If they get money from secret lovers, they rarely dare to spend it on
kitchen utensils for the spies of the system are constantly checking for
evidence of a man. A new toaster or iron can cause their meager support to be
taken instantly away. Every time I lived with such welfare mothers, I had to
hide under the bed or in the closet whenever the spies arrived without
notice. Many women have never known any other existence and are slowly being
destroyed by an eternal home life, enslaved by stupefying TV programs.
I don’t think Americans are really
aware of how cruel they are to these people, but it can be equated
with the racist treatment we in Denmark offer our refugees and immigrants.
The “introductory benefit” the system offers them is below the subsistence
minimum in today’s Denmark. Unlike the generous welfare state of the past, we
have become a mirror image of America’s disposable society, trying to get
people out of the way as waste. In the United States, it’s policy to cast
people out of society by refusing help to those whose rents are too high. At least immigrants on introductory assistance in Denmark have their
rent paid to help them “better to integrate” (into a society which in the
same way does not want to integrate with them).
316
American welfare mothers are usually put in special poorhouses, often near
garbage dumps or noisy freeways where land is cheap. Such “housing for the
poor” is the official banishment of untouchables. Every city has such
dehumanizing “projects,” ostracizing people in a pariah culture so
destructive that in the end they become useless to society. By sequestering
the welfare mother, the population can continue blaming the victims without
ever having to see what kind of suffering it is inflicting on them.
In such isolation and with a sense of being
society’s garbage dump, children in the projects are easily nudged into
crime. When I stayed with Nell Hall [page 318], I found that she often didn’t
go to the welfare office or shopping for fear of having to walk through the
project she lived in. The children and America are the losers, for while only
5% of children in Europe’s welfare states grow up poor, 21% of American
children are now so malignantly affected by poverty that they risk being
useless in the high-tech world of the future. No society trying to compete in
the cut-throat globalization race can afford to lose so much of its human
potential.
320
Those caught in the vicious circle of dependence
and underclass pathology turn to crime to survive. This was the case with my
friend Alphonso in Baltimore. We met when he and his street gang tried to rob
me. Alphonso’s wife had a job in a coffee shop, which gave the family about
1/3 of the Danish minimum wage. In America there’s an underworld of millions
of service workers who are mercilessly exploited because Congress won’t
support a decent minimum wage. Thus the US has more
menial service jobs than any other developed country.
Alphonso and his wife loved each other and their six children dearly,
and it hurt him immensely that he was unable to find a job to support his
family. It was my first year in America, and I remember how shocked I was to
learn that there was no aid available to them.
I came from a country where recent graduates were helped until they
found work so they wouldn’t be forced into crime. I was therefore very moved
that in order to survive Alphonso had to rob in the
street.
I went with him to steal shoes for the children, and he introduced me
to Baltimore’s criminal underworld. Stealing allowed him to maintain a nice
home and even rent a car a couple of times a year to take his children on a
picnic. When I returned a year later, his children were dejected but wouldn’t
tell me why. I found out Alphonso had been sentenced to more than six years
in prison. Visiting him at the penitentiary, I discovered that his oldest son
was in prison with him. When the family suddenly lost his income, the son had
attempted a bank robbery.
321
Here is Alphonso’s wife on a visit to the prison.
For the next six years she wasn’t able to touch her
husband and could only hear him through noisy monitored telephones.
Thousands of black marriages have been dissolved this way. Thus,
modern society has institutionalized the legacy from chattel slavery of
destroying the black family. In the 1980s Alphonso made a living as a street
vendor selling this book with his son Nathaniel, pictured here (Nathaniel was
murdered before he got settled with me). Alphonso was also involved in
American Pictures presentations in schools, entertaining my upper-class
students with stories about life in a ghetto they’d never known.
322-323
Liberal whites constantly tried to explain away these economic attacks
on the black family. The black family, according to their theory, is unstable
and dysfunctional because black men were robbed of their manhood “back in
slavery,” while the black woman became tough and domineering in order to survive. Black mothers bring up their children
to repeat this pattern, resulting in a population unfit for success.
When the effects of our continued oppression seem
to “confirm” this pattern, the oppressed begin to believe the myths we
invented to justify our power structure. Our veiled attempts to justify
ourselves by making the ghetto male look stupid, inadequate, and weak are
internalized by our outcasts. Internalized racism results in lack of
self-appreciation, making the underclass male invalidate almost everything he
does, give up job-training programs and education, and, finally, in
frustration and defense, reject his identity as breadwinner—thus further
fueling our racist stereotype.
The deepening chasm we’ve created between men and
women in the ghetto distracts us from a new master-slave system in which we
don’t need the slave anymore. We no longer need blacks in America or
immigrants in Europe as unskilled labor since such jobs in the New World
Order now belong to developing countries.
Yet in our xenophobia and stubborn
resistance to affirmative action, we do everything we can to prevent the
underclass from getting the higher education needed to rise above that level.
Highly prepared and motivated, we oppressors around
the world rob the oppressed of self-worth, motivation, and fair play – and then scream if we can’t also
rob them of a fair share.
Thus, we manage to push them out of the labor force and even have the
audacity to accuse them of seeking a last desperate livelihood as “welfare
loafers.” In moments when we don’t feel good about ourselves, I think we’ve
all entangled ourselves in these webs of insincerity and negative racist
thinking, endlessly exploited by politicians claiming to be Christian. When
we see one black spouse murdered after another and increasing marital
violence among our immigrants in Denmark, we only see the tragedy for the
oppressed themselves, and not the extensive damage our morbid fixation on the
victim does to our own psyche. This 26-year-old woman was shot by her
unemployed husband, but are we not ourselves also complicit in the murder?
324
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308
Når vi spærrer folk inde i en ghetto, vender vores vold mod dem sig i sidste
ende mod os selv. Ved
at sammenligne det med en anden ghetto - den "grå" ghetto for gamle
mennesker - forstod jeg, hvorfor dem, vi spærrer inde, finder det umuligt at
flygte. Der er heller
ingen synlige mure omkring den grå ghetto, men de ældres afhængighed af
krummer fra de rige indespærrer dem i en afmagtspsykologi, der ligner
slaveriets. Ligesom med underklassen er mange ældre så handicappede, at de
ikke kan få et velbetalt meningsfyldt job, og ikke har nogen mulighed for at forbedre deres
økonomiske situation. Følelsen
af ikke at have nogen magt over sit eget liv, af at være fuldstændig afhængig
af almisser fra de rige, er en del af ghettoens psykopatologi, som i mange
ældre menneskers sind skaber autoritetsfigurer, der ligner den sorte
psykologis "The Man".
Den grå ghetto hænger sammen
med vores sorte ghettoer og indvandrerghettoer, da fattigdommen tvinger disse
befolkningsgrupper ind i de samme kvarterer, hvor de gamle ofte er lige så
diskriminerede og glemte af smid-væk-samfundet som sorte i almindelighed. De
ældre dør nogle gange af sult i deres hjem, fordi de er bange for at vove sig
ud for at købe mad. Jeg
fandt denne gamle kvinde med "smil"-skiltet
i vinduet som den nærmeste nabo til kongressen, hvilket dømte hende til en
pension 40 % under den officielle fattigdomsgrænse I Syden mødte jeg gamle
mennesker, som slet ikke kunne få folkepension. Tusinder modtager mindre end
det officielle minimum på 1.400 dollars om måneden. Når man er vant til
europæiske velfærdsstater med social- og sundhedspersonale (såsom min søn),
der besøger hjemmene for at lave mad, gøre rent og købe ind til de ældre
eller svage, finder man forsømmelsen af de ældre i USA endnu mere utilgivelig.
311
Denne gamle jødiske kvinde, som blev en af mine bedste venner i New York, var
emigreret fra Rusland før revolutionen. Hendes håb var, at kongressen ville
tillade hende at vende tilbage, så hun kunne leve sine sidste år i
"frihed fra sult og frihed fra frygt", som hun udtrykte det i 1972.
Nu sultede hun, fik aldrig kød og var ofte blevet slået
ned. Alligevel nærede hun en dyb kærlighed til de sorte i kvarteret. Med sin
egen russiske ghettoisering og forfølgelse i levende erindring, havde hun,
som mange amerikanske jøder, et dybt engagement i de sortes kamp og pintes
over, at de måtte lide som hende. Et flertal af de hvide, der blev dræbt under borgerretskampen, var faktisk jøder. På samme måde
arrangeres de fleste af mine foredrag i USA i dag af dette mindretal med dets smerteligt
erhvervede indsigt i undertrykkelse. Deres dybe solidaritet med andre
undertrykte mennesker stammer fra deres historiske behov for at observere
ophobningen af smerte i det ydre samfund, der traditionelt er blevet
manipuleret af magthaverne og brugt mod jøderne. I både sorte amerikanske og
brune danske ghettoer manifesterer denne smerte sig desværre i sporadisk
antisemitisme blandt mennesker, der heller ikke føler sig elsket og
respekteret af samfundet.
314
Amerikanerne går ind for en vis social tryghed i
alderdommen, men de nægter at skabe et sikkerhedsnet som det, vi tager for
givet i Europas velfærdsstater. Hvor velfærdsstaten respekterer den enkeltes
værdighed, forsøger det amerikanske ”smid-væk-samfund” bevidst at ødelægge
den med et netværk af spioner, der infiltrerer privatlivets fred hos folk,
der er på det, som amerikanerne ironisk nok kalder “velfærd”. Systemet har
historisk set forsøgt at ødelægge den sorte familie. Slaveriets praksis med
at “sælge” ægtemænd og koner og børn fra hinanden fortsætter med
socialforvaltningen som både paternalistisk omsorgsfuld slaveherre og
infernalsk grusom slavefoged. Mange sorte fædre er blevet tvunget til at
forlade hjemmet, så deres koner kan få kontanthjælp takket være en ordre fra
kongressen om at afskære mødre fra bistandshjælp, hvis der er en mand til
stede. Millioner af kvinder lever således i ensomhed og yderste fattigdom, da
kun én ud af 20 familier med bistandshjælp omfatter mænd, skønt mere end 50 %
af mændene i underklassen er arbejdsløse.
Sådan skabtes begrebet ”the black welfare mother” som levede i en ond cirkel
af fattigdom, afhængighed, frygt og især ydmygelse. Skønt de fleste
bistandsklienter er hvide, beskyldes de sorte for at få bistandshjælp ved at
have været “promiskuøse”. En utrolig anklage, da det er min klare observation
og konklusionen af flere undersøgelser, at hvide blandt deres andre
privilegier er langt mere ”letlevende” end sorte. Grusomheden mod disse
stigmatiserede mødre stammer fra politikernes hysteriske taler om “welfare
queens” (Reagan), der skal distrahere vælgerne fra den måde, hvorpå de samme
politikere uddeler milliarder i velfærd til milliardærer for olieudvinding,
landbrugssubsidier osv.
315
De skaber et klima, i hvilket de fattige må løbe spidsrod gennem
omstændelige, langtrukne, nedværdigende undersøgelser og opfølgende chikane for at få deres magre krummer. Alle sadistiske kneb bruges for at dehumanisere dem. Mange steder må de stå i kø fra klokken fire om morgenen i frost eller
regn for derefter at vente indenfor i en koncentrationslejratmosfære hele
dagen for derefter at finde ud af, at "der ikke bliver taget flere sager
i dag". Hvis de får penge fra
hemmelige kærester, tør de ofte ikke bruge dem på køkkenudstyr, for systemets
spioner tjekker konstant for spor efter en mand. En ny brødrister eller et nyt strygejern
kan medføre, at deres sparsomme støtte straks bliver taget fra dem. Hver
gang jeg boede hos sådanne velfærdsmødre, måtte jeg gemme mig under sengen
eller i skabet, når spionerne kom uanmeldt. Mange kvinder har aldrig kendt nogen anden
tilværelse og bliver langsomt ødelagt af et evigt hjemmeliv, slavebundet af
fordummende tv-programmer.
Jeg tror ikke, at amerikanerne er helt klar over, hvor grusomme de er
over for disse mennesker, men det kan sidestilles med den racistiske
behandling, som vi i Danmark tilbyder vores flygtninge og indvandrere. Den
"introduktionsydelse" systemet tilbyder dem er under
eksistensminimum i dagens Danmark. I modsætning til fortidens generøse
velfærdsstat er vi blevet et spejlbillede af USA's smid-væk-samfund, hvor man prøver at skaffe mennesker
af vejen som affald. I USA er det overlagt politik at skubbe folk ud af
samfundet ved at nægte hjælp til dem, hvis husleje er for høj. I det mindste får indvandrere på bistand i Danmark
deres husleje betalt for bedre at integrere dem (i et samfund der heller ikke
vil integreres med dem).
.
316
Amerikanske bistandsmødre bliver som regel
anbragt i særlige ”housing for the poor”, ofte i nærheden af lossepladser eller larmende motorveje, hvor jorden er billig. Sådanne
moderne ”fattiggårde” dækker over den officielle bandlysning af urørlige
kasteløse. Alle byer har
sådanne umenneskeliggørende ”projects”, som udstøder folk i en paria-kultur, som er så
destruktiv, at de i sidste ende
bliver ubrugelige for samfundet. Ved at afsondre velfærdsmoderen kan
befolkningen fortsætte med at give ofrene skylden uden nogensinde at skulle
se, hvilke lidelser den påfører dem.
I en sådan isolation og med en følelse af
at være samfundets skraldespand bliver børnene i projekterne let tilskyndet
til at begå kriminalitet. Da jeg boede hos Nell Hall [side 314], fandt jeg ud
af, at hun ofte ikke gik på socialkontoret eller på indkøb af frygt for at
skulle gå gennem sin egen fattiggård Børnene og Amerika er taberne, for mens
kun 5 % af børnene i Europas velfærdsstater vokser op i fattigdom, er 21 % af
de amerikanske børn nu så voldsomt formet af fattigdom, at de risikerer at
blive ubrugelige i fremtidens højteknologiske verden. Intet samfund, der
forsøger at konkurrere i det benhårde globaliseringskapløb, har råd til at
miste så stor en del af sit menneskelige potentiale.
320
De, der er fanget i den onde
cirkel af afhængighed og underklassens patologi, havner ofte i kriminalitet
for at overleve. Dette var tilfældet med min ven Alphonso i Baltimore Vi
mødte hinanden, da han og hans gadebande forsøgte at røve mig. Alphonsosos
kone havde et job i en kaffebar, som gav familien omkring 1/3 af den danske
mindsteløn. I USA er der en underverden med millioner af servicearbejdere,
som bliver nådesløst udnyttet, fordi Kongressen ikke vil støtte en anstændig
mindsteløn. Derfor har USA flere små servicejobs end noget andet udviklet
land.
Alphonso og hans kone elskede hinanden og
deres seks børn højt, og det gjorde ham enormt ondt, at han ikke kunne finde
et arbejde, der kunne forsørge hans familie. Det var mit første år i USA, og
jeg husker, hvor chokeret jeg var over at høre, at der ikke var nogen hjælp
at hente for dem.
Jeg kom fra et land, hvor selv nyuddannede
blev hjulpet, indtil de fandt arbejde, så de ikke blev tvunget ud i
kriminalitet. Jeg var derfor meget rørt over, at Alphonso for at overleve var
nødt til at røve på gaden for at overleve.
Jeg fulgte med ham for at stjæle sko til
børnene, og han introducerede mig til Baltimores kriminelle underverden.
Tyveriet gjorde det muligt for ham at opretholde et pænt hjem og endda leje en
bil et par gange om året for at tage børnene med på picnic.
Da jeg vendte tilbage et år senere, var hans børn nedslåede, men ville ikke
fortælle mig hvorfor. Jeg fandt ud af, at Alphonso var blevet idømt mere end
seks års fængsel. Da jeg besøgte ham i fængslet, opdagede jeg, at hans ældste
søn var i fængsel sammen med ham. Da familien pludselig mistede sin indkomst,
havde sønnen forsøgt at begå et bankrøveri.
321
Her ses Alphonsosos kone på
besøg i fængslet. I de næste seks år kunne hun ikke røre sin mand og kunne
kun høre ham gennem larmende overvågede telefoner.
Tusindvis af sorte ægteskaber er blevet
opløst på denne måde. Det moderne samfund har således institutionaliseret
arven fra slaveriet med at ødelægge den sorte familie. I 1980'erne ernærede
Alphonso sig som gadesælger ved at sælge mine bøger sammen med sin søn
Nathaniel, som er afbilledet her (Nathaniel blev dog myrdet, før han fik afregnet
med mig). Alphonso var også med Amerikanske Billeder rundt i
skolerne for at underholde de beskyttede overklasseelever om sit liv i en
ghetto, disse aldrig har kendt.
322-323
Liberale hvide forsøgte konstant at bortforklare disse økonomiske angreb på
den sorte familie. Den sorte familie er ifølge deres teori ustabil og
dysfunktionel, fordi sorte mænd blev berøvet deres mandighed "tilbage i
slaveriet", mens den sorte kvinde blev hård og dominerende for at
overleve. Sorte mødre opdrager deres børn til at gentage dette mønster,
hvilket resulterer i en befolkning, der er uegnet til succes.
Når virkningerne af vores fortsatte
undertrykkelse synes at "bekræfte" dette mønster, begynder de
undertrykte at tro på de myter, som vi har opfundet for at retfærdiggøre
vores magtstruktur. Vores tilslørede forsøg på at retfærdiggøre os selv ved
at få ghettomanden til at se dum, utilstrækkelig og svag ud, bliver
internaliseret af vores udstødte. Internaliseret racisme resulterer i
manglende selvværdsættelse, hvilket får underklassens mand til at invalidere
næsten alt, hvad han gør, opgive jobtræningsprogrammer og uddannelse og til
sidst i frustration og forsvar afvise sin identitet som forsørger - og dermed
yderligere underbygge vores racistiske stereotype.
Den stigende kløft, vi skaber i disse år mellem ghettoens mand og kvinde,
dækker over et nyt herre-slavesystem, hvor vi ikke længere har brug for slaven Vi har ikke længere brug for
sorte i USA eller indvandrere i Europa som ufaglærte arbejdere, da sådanne
job i den nye verdensorden nu tilhører udviklingslandene. Alligevel
gør vi i vores fremmedhad og stædige modstand mod positiv særbehandling alt,
hvad vi kan, for at forhindre underklassen i at få den højere uddannelse, der
er nødvendig for at hæve sig over dette niveau. Stærkt motiverede og selvbevidste berøver vi undertrykkere overalt i
verden først de
undertrykte deres selvværd, motivation og fair play
(lige muligheder) – og himler
derefter op, hvis vi ikke også kan frarøve dem en fair share
(lige fordeling). Således
formår vi at skubbe dem ud af arbejdsstyrken og har endda den frækhed at
beskylde dem for at søge et sidste desperat levebrød som ”bistandssnyltere”. I øjeblikke, hvor vi ikke har det godt med os selv, tror jeg, at vi
alle har viklet os ind i disse uoprigtighedens
racistiske selvmodsigelser, som
endeløst udnyttes af politikere, der hævder at være kristne. Når vi
ser den ene sorte ægtefælle myrdet efter den anden og stigende ægteskabelig
vold blandt vores indvandrere i Danmark, ser vi kun tragedien for de
undertrykte selv, og ikke den omfattende skade vores morbide fiksering på
offeret gør på vores egen psyke. Denne 26-årige kvinde blev skudt af sin
arbejdsløse mand, men er vi ikke også selv medskyldige i mordet?
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