The Miseducation Of The Negro: A Reflection On 5 Thoughts Still Relevant Today
Political Education Neglected
While many African-Americans know of President Obama, too few know of local and state legislators. Many people grew up in an atmosphere where political knowledge wasn’t deemed relevant or only a few issues were relevant to the community. However this is not the case, people need to concern themselves with all elements of political matters because they have an impact on the daily lives of everyone. “Educated people don’t know politics either as dumb people follow suit”, as Woodson describes. While the 2008 presidential election saw an unprecedented turnout of African-Americans, many of the following state and local city proposal election votes were largely unattended by African Americans. African-Americans need to first build up a knowledge of the current political landscape and what are politicians’ stance on key issues.
Woodson also goes a step further by stating African-Americans need to have more peaceful negotiation when it comes to aligning with political parties. As he argued too many African-Americans get caught up in the alliance with a political party simply based on the history of the political party. This can be seen throughout history with African-Americans allegiance towards the Republican party in abolition times and the Democratic party today. We should no longer align with a party simply because of their historical merits but we should demand the politicians looking for our vote to hear our issues and be dynamic towards solving those problems. This is how we will continue to turn around the United States government, which at times have remained oblivious to the concerns of the African American community. It seems that Tavis Smiley and Cornel West would support this stance very proudly right now.
