Robert L. Woodson, Sr., and the interests of the poor and minorities

Editorial note: this essay originally appeared at The Giving Review.

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In 1981, civil-rights activist and community-development leader Robert L. Woodson, Sr.—who passed away last month—co-founded the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, later renamed the Woodson Center. He is the only recipient of both the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius” Fellowship award and the Bradley Prize awarded by Milwaukee’s Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

In 2005, Woodson participated in the Hudson Institute’s Bradley Center for Philanthropy & Civic Renewal’s first Bradley Symposium in Washington, D.C., “Vision and Philanthropy.” To honor and remember him, we republished edited excerpts of his comments here. “Let’s suppose that the nation totally embraced the conservative vision,” he said. “How would it affect, in practical ways, the plight of the least of God’s children?”

Below are Woodson’s reflections on the discussion and its same topics that we published in 2020.

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I have written repeatedly exposing the damage and danger of the Left’s decades-old strategy of portraying Black Americans as helpless victims of racism and the legacy of America’s indelible original sin of slavery, and the 1619 Project, supported and propagated by The New York Times, is the latest iteration of this assault. But when I couple my comments with a criticism of the Right’s failure to respond with an effective agenda to address poverty, I am often met with complaints that I just keep saying the same things. That response reminds me of the members of one congregation who complained that their pastor had preached 10 sermons in a row on adultery. When the elders asked him when he was going to stop and move to other topics, he replied, “When you all stop doing it, I will stop talking about it.”

The Right fails to recognize and build on the fact that the strategic interests of conservatives and the poor and dispossessed are essentially aligned, while the interests of the Left are in fundamental opposition to the interests of the poor. The Left has made a commodity of the poor in a poverty industry that includes government bureaucrats whose careers depend on having large cadres of dependents to serve, as well as academicians and “experts” for whom the conditions of the poor are the grievances on which their celebrity status and book sales thrive.

In contrast, conservatives are job-creators whose enterprises thrive as men and women rise from poverty to serve as responsible and trustable employees, and even become entrepreneurs who contribute to the vitality of the economy. Yet, conservatives have easily been cast as greedy curmudgeons because the bulk of their proposals dealing with poverty are concerned only with budget cuts in government programs or more-stringent requirements for their recipients.

The pronouncements and demands from the Left rely on the findings of their “failure studies,” in which analysts tally the ranks of the homeless, the addicted, and high-school dropouts in low-income communities. But if their studies show that 70% of the residents suffer these afflictions, the flip side is that 30% of households, confronted with the same odds, are somehow able to rise above those conditions. Conservatives should go into those neighborhoods to do capacity studies and identify oases of excellence and community leaders who serve as agents of healing and rejuvenation. Analysts, scholars, and funders on the Right should document models of the resilience, perseverance, and ingenuity that have enabled achievement against the odds. In the process, they will learn that the community and individual uplift that has been accomplished in the face of daunting conditions has been built on a foundation of America’s founding principles and values.

The most-powerful antidote to the poison being perpetrated by the 1619 Project and its ilk is not a counterargument presented in white papers or televised panels, but testimonies from the men and women who serve as living evidence of the foundational values and virtues that have made possible the rise of generations of all races and ethnicities.

Conservatives are losing the cultural war because they lack a ground game. They should recognize and build on the strategic interests they share with the poor and minorities. The war will not be won from ivory towers of academia and policy analysis. Issuing white papers at conservative conferences and defending them on the Fox network is not a winning strategy. Conservatives should go into those neighborhoods to identify and support their assets and the victories that have been achieved through the founding principles and values. To date, the Right has received this call with indifference.

In 2005, I was able to present these challenges in person through panel discussions and presentations. In 2020, I am limited to presenting these issues in written form since the invitations have been withdrawn. My message remains the same.