How Did We Get Here

Over the past couple of weeks I have been in dialogue about a few different things. At the root of all this talk and discussion has been the state of the black community, and exactly how we have arrived at this place. I think that somewhere along the road, we allowed others to take a more active role than we were willing to take. On many occasions I have sat and listen to my elders reflect on pre-integration. There was a greater sense of cohesiveness that existed within our community. When young black men and women went away to be educated, they returned to their communities to educate another crop of young black minds. Despite the lack of adequate resources, there was a heighten quality of education that was delivered because the teachers had a vested interest in seeing the students succeed. There was a spirit of camaraderie that existed between parents and teachers, as they were neighbors, fellow church congregants and friends. A child’s “progress report” could be given at anytime. To that same point, the spirit of entrepreneurship thrived because there had to be a black tailor and a black grocery store and a black dentist. These people also lived in the same community, went to the same church and they knew all of the young people within their community. They were visible, and it wasn’t so far fetched to achieve. What integration did was allow for us to depend on each other less and on the "white majority" more. The black dentist and the black tailor became less visible as communities melted together and as a result young black people saw less and less black "working professionals." So now, those images have now been replaced by what's on TV or the radio or the internet, and these are the things that young black people ascribe to.