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- PUBLISHER'S ANALYSIS: The Need for Black Organizations
PUBLISHER'S ANALYSIS: The Need for Black Organizations
- By Roy Douglas Malonson
- Published 05/18/2009
- Editorial and Opinion
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Roy Douglas Malonson
Roy D. Malonson is publisher of the African-American News&Issues.
View all articles by Roy Douglas Malonson
I wasn’t going to enter the fray concerning the incident at the Houston firehouse whereby a Black firefighter found a noose hanging inside a captain’s locker. The captain and the firefighter were written up, because the firefighter went over the captain’s head to report it. Last year, Houston Fire Department Executive Assistant Chief Rick Flanagan stated concerning another noose incident one year ago, “I think this was an isolated case, but we responded quickly, we addressed the matter and the cadet was dismissed from the department.”
However, a reader’s response to an article about the incident on KHOU.com, which told how the Black Firefighters Association complained to city council and the mayor, gave me the impetus for this week’s analysis. CM8 wrote, “ ... developing ANY organization in which the SOLE CRITERIA is race... is racist. IF the Whites were to form a White organization that had the title, ‘White ....’ we all know that they would be privately and publicly persecuted. I’m not ranting about anything, I simply have an opinion. Even organizations with well meaning intentions that begin with ‘_____ race.’ is (sic) not okay. White people are the ONLY people that cannot form an organization. I respectfully challenge anyone to find an organization (respected, not KKK or the like) in America that begins with “White” (referring to White ppl), if you do than I will eat crow!”
The problem with CM8’s thinking is that he (or she) failed to realize why Black organizations were started in the first place—Whites’ refusal to allow us into their organizations, except as butlers, maids, waiters and waitresses, restroom attendants or shoe-shine men. “Respected” organizations like the American Bar Association, American Medical Association, and even Freemasons, didn’t have to use the word “White” in their name, but you can bet your bottom dollar that Blacks were not allowed to join for hundreds of years.
And to be clear, “White Only” signs dotted the doors of the meeting places of these and hundreds of other White organizations across the country. By the way, to get the signs removed from public places, Black organizations, most notably the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, had to sue the government. Many White organizations got around this development by becoming private, meeting in private facilities and charging a high membership fee which was set to discourage participation by Blacks.
For the most part, Blacks who wanted to be a part of an organization of like-minded professional individuals had to create their own. And to leave no doubt that these newly created organizations had the interest of Blacks in mind, they used names like Black, African-American and Colored to distinguish themselves from their counterparts who never had to interject a race defining classification in their name, because everybody knew they were “White only.”
In fact, Blacks were not allowed in the Houston Fire Department until late 1955 and because of racism in the department, the Black Firefighters Association was formed.
However, a reader’s response to an article about the incident on KHOU.com, which told how the Black Firefighters Association complained to city council and the mayor, gave me the impetus for this week’s analysis. CM8 wrote, “ ... developing ANY organization in which the SOLE CRITERIA is race... is racist. IF the Whites were to form a White organization that had the title, ‘White ....’ we all know that they would be privately and publicly persecuted. I’m not ranting about anything, I simply have an opinion. Even organizations with well meaning intentions that begin with ‘_____ race.’ is (sic) not okay. White people are the ONLY people that cannot form an organization. I respectfully challenge anyone to find an organization (respected, not KKK or the like) in America that begins with “White” (referring to White ppl), if you do than I will eat crow!”
The problem with CM8’s thinking is that he (or she) failed to realize why Black organizations were started in the first place—Whites’ refusal to allow us into their organizations, except as butlers, maids, waiters and waitresses, restroom attendants or shoe-shine men. “Respected” organizations like the American Bar Association, American Medical Association, and even Freemasons, didn’t have to use the word “White” in their name, but you can bet your bottom dollar that Blacks were not allowed to join for hundreds of years.
And to be clear, “White Only” signs dotted the doors of the meeting places of these and hundreds of other White organizations across the country. By the way, to get the signs removed from public places, Black organizations, most notably the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, had to sue the government. Many White organizations got around this development by becoming private, meeting in private facilities and charging a high membership fee which was set to discourage participation by Blacks.
For the most part, Blacks who wanted to be a part of an organization of like-minded professional individuals had to create their own. And to leave no doubt that these newly created organizations had the interest of Blacks in mind, they used names like Black, African-American and Colored to distinguish themselves from their counterparts who never had to interject a race defining classification in their name, because everybody knew they were “White only.”
In fact, Blacks were not allowed in the Houston Fire Department until late 1955 and because of racism in the department, the Black Firefighters Association was formed.
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