It’s ironic the forces that have combined and are truly harmful to Black America. Thomas Sowell writes about the way that white liberals, a culture with few absolutes, and larger government intervention has combined in a perfect storm. The result? To be truly “black” and not be the “other,” one has to engage in the hip-hop culture, so adverse to educational improvement in a democratic society.
Our school systems buy into this culture by playing music at dances which denigrates women and by allowing students to use the race card as a protest against conforming to school rules. Equity departments imply to students that the reason for their lack of improvement is the extrinsic ceiling of an unfair system instead of the lack of instrinsic motivation on the student’s part coupled with an absence of personal responsibility. Personally, I admire Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for having the courage to join Bill Cosby, Juan Williams, and Kansas City sports columnist Jason Whitlock in saying that what is needed is primarily a cultural shift in values.
However, I am disturbed by comments which imply that only black Americans can call for personal responsibility while white Americans are on safe ground only in calling for systematic change such as economic reform, eradicating traces of racism, etc. Charles Ogletree, a Harvard law school professor and Obama’s mentor said, “There’s no one else who could say what he said about black people and their responsibility to the larger community.” No one else? Rep. James Clyburne (D-S.C.) said, “I suspect Obama has a special license for that kind of discussion.”
The paralyzing fear of being called a “racist” for echoing the thoughts of important voices like Cosby’s and Obama’s on the issue of race ought not stop people from advocating for stronger two-parent homes, loving churches, and healthy, well-educated childhoods. Until people speak that truth (not accusatorily) but in muscular love, we will perpetuate the same racism that we pretend to fight against.
Men Like Trees Walking 