The great migration of the American Negro in the 1920s and 1930s to the North was supposed to bring economic freedom and opportunity. For the most part, it did. Blacks escaped poverty through education and good-paying factory jobs. What they still could not escape is what Charles M. Blow eloquently calls, “The Devil You Know.” The devil, as described in his new book is, racism.
2020 was extremely hard on African Americans. We suffered all kinds of stress brought on by the pandemic, the loss of income, but the overwhelming stress impacting most Blacks is racism. It seemed like we could not get away from murder after murder of Black person after Black person.
Blow explains in his new book, “The Devil You Know,” that Blacks need to migrate back to the eight states in the South and become the majority, elect the right people for office, police themselves, and gain control of their environments. Blow suggests that power is the only true eliminator of racism.
He might be right! The results of the 2020 Georgia election is a recent example of Blacks, being in the majority, and controlling the outcome of an election. Ten years ago, Blacks made up 1.6 million of the electorate in Georgia. In the 2020 election, Blacks made up an incredible 3.6 million of the electorate. The migration of Blacks back to the South sealed the win for their interests and changed politics in Georgia forever.
The book, “The Devil You Know,” could be considered controversial. Encouraging Blacks to reshape the electoral map, by migrating back south will certainly raise eyebrows. And the book touches on some extremely hard realities about America. After the death of George Floyd, whites protested in record numbers. But with Blacks continuing to be killed by the dozens, something drastic must be done. The book could serve as the blueprint to end what we call systemic racism.
