How to make sure the patient does not get well

Certainly, nobody had a clearer insight into what these people were up to than did Booker T. Washington who, in 1911, accused self-interested blacks of purposely emphasizing race, in order to get an easy ride for themselves. 'There is a class of colored people,' declared Washington, "who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. . . . Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. . . . There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well . . . ' And, indeed, 82 years later, the patient has not gotten well, but the booming race business is healthier than ever--now buttressed by a flowering of other 'victims' and oppressed groups."