MANSFIELD: The “Niggranazation” of White Americans

By Mansfield Frazier

While it’s admittedly a bit presumptuous on my part, I, nonetheless, am proposing to add a new word to the lexicon: Niggranazation. It’s a verb that describes the purposeful lowering of living standards of white Americans (in order to increase wealth and shareholder value for corporations and coupon clippers) based on the model of second-class economic citizenship historically imposed only on blacks in the U.S. It describes the plutocracy’s decade-long successes in turning white folks into economic ni**ers in order to increase profit margins for the super-wealthy.

The current Millennial Generation is the first in American history whose economic prospects are lower than that of their parents. With virtually no exception (not even the stock market crash of 1929, or both world wars) each succeeding generation of Americans — blacks and whites alike — have done better than the preceding one on virtually every economic indicator. That’s been a central core component of the American social compact since the founding of our nation. But, alas, that’s not the experience of the current generation.

Fewer and fewer young white people can afford to move out of their parents’ home to begin a life of their own — to marry, begin raising families, purchase homes and autos, and thereby drive the economy upwards. One result of this new reality will be fewer and fewer white babies being born.

According to Forbes magazine, “The replacement rate—the reproduction rate that keeps a population stable—for developed countries is 2.1 … [but] the U.S. has a total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.0—not quite the replacement rate.” Subtract Hispanic immigrants’ birth rates from that figure and the number of white babies being born in America is already precipitously low — and falling.

Also, the number of young people who possess a driver’s license has fallen over the years from 8 in 10 to currently 6 in 10, in part because many of them feel they will never be able to afford a car. This is a fact that should send chills down the spines of automakers worldwide.

And, as the Obama administration prepares to join with Congress to get rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two quasi-governmental agencies that made homeowners of millions of Americans over the last half-century (arguing that private mortgage backers can do a better job), the prospects of homeownership for lower and even middle-income Americans — no matter their pigmentation — will remain a dream forever deferred.

Sadly, this is not some kind of quirky, statistical economic anomaly that will eventually right itself with time or be solved by nonsensical conservative trickle down theories; rather, it’s the result of a concerted effort by organizations and institutions — via an army of lobbyists and friends in Congress — to maximize profits … no matter the consequences, or who is kept poor. And unless something drastic — nay, radical — happens on the looming economic landscape, this sea of change is here to stay for a growing percentage of the dwindling white population.

A core belief of plutocrats is that the masses (especially the younger members) will eventually get used to anything, no matter how onerous … if the bitter medicine is served to them in small enough doses — and as long as they have some new electronic gadgetry or app to occupy their time and divert their attention from their impending penury.

And it’s not just poor and uneducated whites that are bearing the brunt of this concerted effort at a national parsimoniousness: Colleges and universities are finding new ways of bringing in low-wage instructors to replace professors, as tenure becomes a dream of PhDs that will largely go unfulfilled on the dystopian university campus of the future.

Also, this is the first time in history the value of a college education has been called into question. Indeed, many college graduates (often with advanced degrees) are now complaining they’ve been cheated — some are even are threatening to sue — since many of them, after graduation, still find themselves delivering pizza or working some other dead-end job instead of practicing law or one of the other professions they were trained (and paid substantial sums of money) for. Many now fear they’ll be paying off student loans with their Social Security checks; indeed, if any funds are left in that government program by the time they are eligible to apply.

The economic model that’s being followed over the last decade or so — the one that’s creating more and more destitute white folks — is the same one that was developed over the centuries in this country to economically exploit black Americans with impunity. As a nation we turned a blind eye to economic mistreatment of blacks … and now that behavior is morphing over to affect whites.

Many of the methods used to keep blacks in an economically depraved condition were incorporated, codified into Jim Crow laws that allowed for debt peonage. And this acceptance of a two-tiered economic structure is the principal driving force behind the decades-long disintegration of economically disadvantaged black families. And white families are next.

Between 2000 and 2009 the number of white women entering prison in America has increased by 48 percent (the largest of any group) — mainly for drug-related crimes. And, as any psychologist will tell you, increased drug usage is a clear indicator the individual feels pain in the present and lacks faith in the future. Hardcore drug abuse has historically been the province of the underclass, but the numbers prove that white females are now more frequently entering this wretched demographic… and that should be a cause for great alarm.

A recent study done by Tom Shapiro, director of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University, found that equal achievement between whites and blacks has had unequal results in the 25 years that he’s been following his study subjects.

“For a typical white family, a $1 increase in average income over the 25 years returns about $5 of wealth,” Shapiro says. “For [the] typical African-American family, that same $1 average increase in income returns only 69 cents in wealth.” When Shapiro first started the study in 1984, the total wealth gap between blacks and whites was $85,000. In 2009, that gap had tripled to $236,500.

Statistics like the above have lead plutocrats to the logical conclusion that since such mistreatment of one segment of the population — blacks — has worked so well in terms of increasing the wealth of another — wealthy whites — why not expand the model and treat as many other working-class citizens as possible in the same manner … no matter their race? In other words, why limit ill economic treatment only to persons of color? It’s no longer about race … it’s more about class.

By throwing as many whites as possible under the same economic bus along with blacks, plutocrats get the added benefit of being able to posit that their actions are not racially inspired (and, actually, they’re not): They’ll gleefully fuck over anyone they can for a fast buck.

Here’s one glaring example: the payday lending rip-off, whereby poor folks are sometimes charged in excess of 300 percent APR for short-term loans and are often put on debt treadmills that ensure they will remain loyal repeat customers. While these outlets were once found almost exclusively in economically depressed communities of color, some bright MBA said, “Hey, if this is working so well with black folks, why not expand into poorer white communities and rob them too?” Now such businesses are allopatric: there are more payday loan shops in the State of Ohio than there are McDonalds franchises and they are doing land-office business as more and more families struggle to make ends meet. And legislators in many states take a hands-off approach when it comes to reigning in the abuses.

Want more proof of the coming class catastrophe? Roger Schmith, founder of the West Suburban Community Pantry, recently said he never thought so many people in once economically stable DuPage County (Illinois) would need food assistance. The food pantry in Woodridge served 1,325 families in one recent month, compared to about 464 families per month five years ago. And the Internet is littered with study after study reporting that suburban poverty in America is increasing at an alarming and unprecedented rate. And these are not simply poor blacks fleeing to the suburbs: the biggest increase in food insecurity in America is among whites. In Ohio, out of the 1.9 million people who receive food stamps, 1.25 million of them are white.

The American plutocratic mindset (which thinks globally, and therefore no longer has any allegiance to U.S. workers of any color) currently goes something like this: “If no benefits to speak of and low wages — which in more and more cases are so miserly new full-time workers at some companies are being informed by their employer how they can qualify for federal food and other handouts — are good enough for black folks, why should they treat whites any better?” That folks, is Niggranazation. Welcome to the world of pain one-third of blacks in America has been experiencing for centuries.

The saying “White people have more in common with black people than they do with rich people” has never been truer.

 

From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.

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