In Celebration Of Black History Month, Part 1

Inherited Nightmares -- One By One From The Inside Out

As we celebrate February -- Black History Month 2007 -- there are those who say that African-Americans should look to ourselves for solutions to our most pressing problems. What's wrong with that notion is that we don't always hold the means to solve problems that have been created. These same people say it begins with the classic interplay between the aggrieved blacks and tolerant whites. As consummate victims we lay ourselves at the feet of our fellow citizens, exhibiting our lack of achievement as evidence of their failure, hoping to wring from their sense of conscience what we must assume, by the very logic of our claim, lies beyond our individual capacities to attain and achieve.

Here's a question many have thought about, but few have asked. How effective are suburban, middle-class "Generation Blingers" going to be in denying "status rewards" to rebellious ghetto teenagers who father illegitimate children? Welfare programs, it might be said, are what support "dysfunctional behaviors" in the ghetto. Change welfare, and this behavior has to change as well. And then we have to also include the overly simplistic notion that socioeconomic determinism is somehow to blame for the incentive provisions of certain government transfer programs and individual misbehavior.

Let's face it -- we live in a new age. The United States of 2007 is not the same America of the 1960s, '70s, '80s or even the '90s. In those years and decades, which we're going to examine during this next four weeks, the air was filled with cries of civil rights, affirmative action, equal opportunity, "war on poverty," "The Great Society" and "Black is Beautiful."

While some progress is being made, for the most part, little is happening other than lip service from the government and the corporations involved, who seem to believe that somehow the covenants we've asked for will be implemented eventually and that we should continue to be patient. But America has been known to make promises along that line -- first to the Native Americans and then to black slaves -- and history bears out how those promises have been kept and broken.

For some African-American leaders whose power depends on appealing to white guilt of the large inner-city ghetto with its population of poor blacks, this can be very useful as a symbol of continuing injustice. The suffering of the poorest African Americans creates a fund of political capital upon which all members of the group can draw when pressing racially based claims, such as those following Hurricane Katrina and including affirmative action preferences that some say go mainly to a growing segment of middle-class blacks.

On the other hand, do we really want to tell a striving middle-class businessman who has barely managed to escape the ghetto that he has a special moral obligation to go back and tutor poor black children solely because his skin color is the same as theirs? The answer is "yes."

The New Ghettos

The new ghettos, with their gigantic shelters, busy social-service facilities and deteriorating housing, employ thousands of social workers, guards, correctional officers, nurses and physicians at a huge cost. They may become even costlier in their contribution to dependency, illness, delinquency and waste. As much as they are defined by what they do, they are also defined by what they lack.

The so-called "war on poverty," whose goal was to uplift the poor, has been redesigned to contain the poor and simply keep them alive.

America today, just ahead of next year's national elections, is still for the most part a conservative land and its people are preoccupied with Iraq, jobs, education, social security and other economic issues -- perhaps more selfishly than at any time since the 1950s.

It is important that at this time in American history the African-American community put aside any philosophical differences and network together economically, if we are to have any hope of continuing to progress in this new America.

As we celebrate February -- Black History Month -- we must keep in mind that while Black America may have the power within itself to save itself, the real way to resolve America's race problem is to find a solution for its underclass. And we have got to be willing to make an enemy and an example of anyone who stands in the way of that solution.

We must discontinue practicing the exhibitionism of non-achievement. We have got to look forward to tomorrow, next February and beyond. We will have only ourselves to blame for not dealing with "the inherited nightmare." And if we remove the nightmare and replace it with more pleasant dreams, we then

make America a better place for ourselves and we automatically make it a better place for our children.

For those of us in radio, February is a month when we must recognize our obligation. We have a purpose beyond the ratings and between the hits to encourage the young people who are attracted to our formats to step up. It's true that African-American students with the least money often have the most ambition and potential. We must continue to encourage these young people and keep them motivated so that one day they will contribute to a society that will understand them better, accept their differences and welcome their ideas.

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