Blacks must drop victimhood and reclaim dignity

Martin Luther King had a dream that some day his children would "live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

He wanted his children to become strong, beautiful people. But what we see today in poor African American neighborhoods is a nightmare.

We know there are forces that make the ability to escape poverty seem bleak: overburdened single-parent homes, a high dropout rate, joblessness, gangs, drugs, crime, incarceration, deaths at an early age from guns fired by angry black men. We know that systemic racism and governmental neglect still exist.

Yet we in the black community must look at ourselves and understand our own responsibility. We sometimes inflict ourselves with a victim mentality, feel hopeless, and do self-destructive things that make our lives even worse. Many people who are trying to make it find themselves struggling against fellow African Americans so lost in self-destructive behaviors that they bring down other people as well as themselves.

These forces are decimating our communities. And they are not what Reverend King and other leaders took those whuppings for. This is not the future for which our ancestors escaped slavery or resisted it. None of our forebears sacrificed their lives so that their children's children could call each other "nigger."

Time to overcome

We cannot accept this current state of affairs. We must realize – and believe – that, for all the external hassles we face, we are not helpless. We can overcome the odds and succeed in spite of the obstacles. And we must try. Despite the fact that racial discrimination has not been eliminated, black strength lies in the resolve to keep on keeping on, never quit, never give up, never yield to the role of cooperative victim.

Since the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision to end school segregation, black people have achieved extraordinary accomplishments on all fronts that seemed unthinkable 50 years ago.

As black people face the future, we must remember our successes in American society.

One way slaves survived brutal conditions was to turn the Christianity they had learned into a liberation theology. The stories of the Hebrew slaves became their own. Even as slave owners used the Bible to justify slavery, black people used the Bible as God intended – to give people hope for a time when there would be true justice.

For black people to hold their heads high even today means getting rid of internal feelings of inferiority.

A history of obstacles

This can be difficult given that white supremacists had real clout in this nation for nearly 250 years.

Take, for example, the very definition of a "black" person in America. Historically, a person with any known black ancestry was defined as black, making African ancestry a taint on white purity.

The way race is defined in the United States makes no biological or genetic sense. It's been used primarily as a tool for political and psychological oppression – providing economic gain for many white people.

The Emancipation Proclamation, written in 1863 during the Civil War, finally freed slaves in the South from bondage. After slavery, there was a short-lived period of "Reconstruction" in the South when black people started businesses, bought property, voted, and even served in Congress.

But old habits die hard, especially racist ones. When Northerners wearied of Reconstruction, the old South reared its head and imposed "Jim Crow" segregation.

Buying into victimhood

Although few acknowledge it, the doctrine of white supremacy has sunk deeply into the minds of too many Americans, black people included. It has slithered its way into the psyches of poor black youth with low self-esteem, who equate academic success with "acting white." If success is "white," then are they saying that to "act black" is to fail?

We wonder how these embedded stereotypes affect black people today. Are we too dependent? Do we rely too much on white people or "the system" to rescue us? Do we lack faith in our own ability to run things? Has the legacy of slavery affected even our current mental state?

Too many people, including some black people, believe many poor black youth – particularly males – cannot be educated. This position harkens back to the notion of poor genes determining poor performance rather than poor environment, poor schools, or a music scene that imparts destructive, degrading values. The good must be separated from the bad while treating black people with respect and not demeaning an entire culture.

Victors through community, family

When restaurants, laundries, hotels, theaters, groceries, and clothing stores were legally segregated, black people opened and ran their own.

Such successes provided jobs and strength to black economic well-being. They also gave black people that gratifying sense of an interdependent community with people working to help each other.

During legal segregation, white racists destroyed some of these economically independent communities. To their credit, our ancestors did not accept victimhood. They fought back as individuals and as a people. Most refused to become passive victims of the system.

Black neighborhoods today must adopt that same can-do attitude and take action. They must be enterprising and work hard to improve their own economic situation – and by so doing, help improve the community.

This tenacious drive to be victorious is a quality that will help us meet the current challenges in our neighborhoods.

We can pass this sense of strength on to our children by strengthening black families, whatever their structure, and nurturing our youth with love and guidance. We must put children first and sharpen our parenting skills in both single-parent and two-parent homes. Fathers must play a bigger role. They cannot be absent. Children do better when fathers are actively involved in their lives.

With the help of supportive social policies, we can shoulder the remaining challenges and overcome the barriers to black success.

The driving force for change has been the activism of African Americans and others who take up our cause. The key word is activism, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We must be actively involved in empowering our schools and participating in the political process by exercising our right to vote. Being passive takes us nowhere. Activism is what gets us where we want to go.

It is time to think positively and act positively. A people armed with the will to want to get better, armed with the will to win, and armed with knowledge of the past and present, can move forward and take action, succeed, and reclaim their dignity.

Credits: Bill Cosby, Alvin F. Poussaint, Christian Science Monitor

Blacks Show New Trust In U.S. Government

The number of African-Americans who say they trust the U.S. government is nearly twice the number of whites who say that. The finding, from a recent poll on trust in America, is a sharp turnaround from previous years.

Blacks have never trusted government in the same way whites have, though the ups and downs have normally tracked those of white Americans. But that's no longer the case, according to a Pew Research Center study designed to gauge Americans' trust in government.

African-Americans don't have a monolithic view of government — but most blacks are Democrats, and trust in government usually increases when your party is in power. So in January 2009, confidence in government really spiked for African-Americans when Barack Obama was sworn in as president.

Seeing Hope In New Policies

One year in, the Obama administration gets credit for the new health care law. Judson Mitchell, a retired college administrator, says that's a clear indication that the president wants to help people.

"That's 30 million people that don't have insurance. That's what government can do for people," Mitchell says, "is to ensure that those people have some coverage, because the current health system did not work."

African-Americans' trust in government has tripled from a low point of 12 percent in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, to 37 percent in the Pew Research study.

"It's sort of the countertrend to what we're seeing with a lot of the anti-government demonstrations," says Pew Center Associate Director Carroll Doherty.

"It's not that African-Americans are entirely content with government," Doherty says, "but the way the trends are among whites, African-Americans stand out as having a less negative view of government currently than whites do certainly."

MacArthur's Restaurant on Chicago's West Side is a popular spot — especially for the Sunday after-church dinner crowd.

Llou Johnson is just beginning to eat his meal. Big Llou , as he's called, has an even bigger voice. He's an actor and voice-over artist who says he trusts government.

"It has been government that has taken us from slavery to our situation that we're currently in," Johnson says, "where we can live and do what we want how we want — in most cases."

But Mary Rabb, a registered nurse, has a decidedly different view.

"Black people don't trust government," she says.

Rabb says she likes President Obama but has more of a wait-and-see attitude about government in general.

"Local government will be all out in their neighborhoods and talking about what programs they have available," Rabb says, "and when it's all said and done, they don't see any changes in their neighborhoods."

Easing A Sense Of Distrust

While the Obama factor has caused an uptick in trust levels for blacks, it's been an altogether different story historically, says Shayla Nunnally, a professor of political science and African-American studies at the University of Connecticut.

"Throughout time, we've generally seen that African-Americans have been less trusting than whites and other racial groups as far as political trust," Nunnally says.

For that, you can blame slavery, Jim Crow laws, and events such as the Tuskegee experiments — the 40-year study conducted by the U.S. Public Health Department in which hundreds of black men were left untreated for syphilis.

When President Bill Clinton apologized in 1997, 94-year-old Herman Shaw, one of the last survivors, was present. At the time, he said, "The wounds that were inflicted on us cannot be undone."

A turning point came in 1965, when after a long civil rights struggle, the Voting Rights Bill was signed. And then came an almost euphoric surge of confidence, with President Obama's election. Even so, the Pew study reports that nearly half the African-Americans surveyed, 48 percent, said they are frustrated with government.

"The type of hope that was generated through the Obama campaign has been pretty much squandered," says Michael Dawson, a University of Chicago political science professor who studies race and politics.

"From the majority of African-Americans' perspective, its directly related to believing that the government hasn't done all that it could, or all that was promised, in terms of improving the situation of all Americans — particularly those who are disadvantaged," Dawson says.

That includes not doing enough to combat high levels of unemployment, and racial profiling.

A Black Agenda?

That analysis rings true for Carl West, 40, who recently attended a panel discussion on whether the Obama administration should have a "black agenda."

Such an agenda, West says, would focus on "how a disgusted minority community are going to be taken care of — not taken care of in the sense of handouts — but how we're going to see a situation that will make us have trust in our government. Because at the end of the day, he is our government."

It's really too early to say whether government has improved under President Obama, West says. But he and other African-Americans say the country's problems didn't happen overnight — they're willing to give him more time to fix them.

Credits: Cheryl Corley, NPR

Black Americans Look To Health Plan For New Hope

I don't take care of my self the way I should and I have not for a long time. But, an article posted on NPR today debates "whether the coming health-care changes will actually ease the health disparities that black Americans face."

Black Americans Look To Health Plan For New Hope

Today, I am going to be the pot and call the metaphorical kettle black. I am going to say "no" simply for these reasons. Having insurance coverage to see a doctor does not mean that you are going to heed his warning or take his advice when you leave his office. It does not mean that you are going to actually get more exercise or take your medication everyday like you should. It does not mean that you are going to bake your chicken this Sunday instead of frying it. Having health care coverage does not do any of these things. It simply provides you a tool (the doctor) to help you get yourself where you need to be health wise.

Until we, black folks as a collective whole actually start following the doctors orders, then it will not matter if he have no health-care coverage or free health-care coverage, we can not be a healthier people.

Credits: Cheryl Corley, NPR