Hey SeriousSigma!
Let's see if I can touch on a couple of your issues:
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Originally posted by SeriousSigma22
I believe that most African Americans or blacks (post 1960s) don't know anything about the struggles we faced and still face as members of the African American race. And it seems that a lot of black folks don't really care.
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Who's to blame for that? Surely integration isn't only at fault. Why can't we take it upon ourselves to learn more about the way things used to be, and making sure others know what life was like prior to desegregation?
And another thing -- while I understand the call to always remember our history and where we came from, at some point we need to do something
other than remembering. I didn't say forget -- but a person who only looks back is bound to trip and fall eventually. At some point, we need to take our knowledge and do something constructive with it.
Quote:
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There are still so many pockets of African Americans that are consumed by the cycle of poverty and they really don't see a way out. They really haven't benefited from integration and they are bitter. I think that they are justified in their attitude - don't you?
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No, I can't honestly say that they are justified. Is their feeling of disenfranchisement justified? Yes. Feelings of helplessness? Sure. But anger?...Okay, fine. But then what? What will your (their) anger do in the long run except consume them? Once they're consumed by anger, do you think that the majority will take a moment to help them see their way out of it? When will they take that anger and do something constructive with it?
I grew up in public housing in Atlanta. My parents had nine children, and were married for nearly 50 years. Every last one of us graduated high school, four of us went on to four year colleges, and I'm in the process of obtaining a Master's degree. Again, it's a matter of choice -- whether you'll let your surroundings define who you are or whether you'll try to bring yourself -- and other folks -- out of it. I don't mean some lily-white fantasy of pulling ourselves up by our (collective) bootstraps, but at some point, we really have to stop using the happenstance of our birth as a justification for our failure to make good choices.
I'm NOT saying that societal forces aren't real. They're
very real, and are great forces to be reckoned with, but heck, let's at least RECKON with them, instead of being passive participants in our future.
The way I see integration/desegregation is that it was a means of opening up many different avenues of choice for African Americans. But it's still up to us to decide whether to actively make that choice, whatever it might be.