Critical Issues Facing The Black Community

1. Lack of opportunity and safety. There has been a loss of  jobs and a failure to control crime in areas with a high density of black residents.

2. Breakdown of the family, Illegitimacy & welfare. Some still don’t see how welfare reduces the value of black men.

3. Black anti-intellectualism. Accusations of “acting white” while trying to get a decent education and advance to college undermine education as a vehicle for advancement. Instead, black leaders expend enormous resources to advance affirmative action (which has run its course in my opinion) at a small number of elite universities, unmindful of the effects it has had on talented young blacks.

4. Failure of K-12 schools in disadvantage urban and rural areas of the state. Teachers unions and the education establishment have been more interested in pay-raises and grants than student achievement, testing, and competition.

5. High incarceration rate of black men.

6. Reduced respect for human life (abortions). Beyond the tragic loss of life itself, this much death reduces the civility with which people treat each other.

7. Victimology. The speeches and ideologies of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and so called leaders in the black community undermine the initiative of many African Americans. Moreover, there is a lack of honest debate among black leaders because of the fear of being called an “Uncle Tom” for not supporting the grievance agenda.

8. Excessive race-consciousness. The Left is insincere in acknowledging the advancement in race relations since the early 1960’s, but there's still ways to go. Many black families have joined the middle class. If they lived in an independent country, they would be citizens of the 10th richest nation in the world. Race matters but not very much. Race-consciousness diminishes the importance of addressing the more important issues listed above.