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ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS HERALD |
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ARE WE THERE YET? By way of reflecting on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. – who would have been 77 on January 15, had he not been struck down thirty-eight years ago – I saw two news items in recent days. One of them concerned the state of Maryland, where a political uproar has erupted over its black Lieutenant Governor, and soon-to-be candidate for United States Senator, Michael S. Steele. Mr. Steele grew up in Washington, DC, graduated from Archbishop Carroll High School, and studied for the priesthood for three years before finally pursuing a law degree and entering public service. Washington Times reporter John McCaslin notes that Mr. Steele has been a living embodiment of Dr. King’s “legacy of service”. In 2000 he became the first black chairman of a state Republican Party. As Lt. Governor he has chaired the Governor’s Committee on Minority Business Enterprise Reform and has “…led the drive for better education [by] strengthening and preserving historically black colleges and universities…” None of this exemplary record of public service has cut much ice with some Marylanders, however, as Mr. Steele has attracted some of the most viciously racist name-calling seen (or heard) in the Free State in many a year. Political opponents call him “handkerchief-head”, “Uncle Tom”, a “disgrace” and a “traitor” to his people. They pelted him with oreo cookies (black outside, white inside) at a campaign appearance at Morgan State University, a black college in Baltimore. A web site depicted him as a minstrel in black-face, with the caption, “Simple Sambo”. The racist denunciations became so ugly that even Mr. Steele’s political opponent for the Senate was embarrassed by it and called for it to stop. As Lt. Governor, Mr. Steele is the highest-ranking black state official in the country. One would think folks at the NAACP would have been high-fiving and dancing in the aisles when he and Governor Robert Ehrlich won the governor’s chair in 2002. But one would have been wrong. Response to Mr. Steele’s political successes has been very muted. What is Mr. Steele’s unpardonable crime? He is a Republican. Black Democrats doing all the name-calling are outraged that Mr. Steele opposes abortion, endorses the death penalty, refuses to play racial-victimization politics, and basically agrees with Ronald Reagan’s policies. For these “unblack” – or is it un-Democratic? – political and social positions, Mr. Steele must be vilified and cast into outer darkness. Using language that would end the careers of most white politicians, President of the Maryland Senate Mike Miller called Mr. Steele “the personification of an Uncle Tom”. He gets a pass because Big Media have accepted the canard that Authentic Black means Democrat only. A black Republican is “acting white” and cannot be taken seriously. When Mr. Bush was elected to his first term, I spoke with a black woman colleague about Condoleeza Rice. Mentioning that I had once heard her speak at one of our company’s management convocations, I asked her opinion of Miss Rice. “I don’t like her,” she said. “She’s too… um, I don’t know…snooty. She acts like she’s better than other people…” In an earlier time my colleague might have said Miss Rice was being “uppity” – that she was trying to rise above her station – “acting white”. After I heard Miss Rice speak at our San Diego offices, in 1992, I called my wife. “I have just heard the most intelligent, articulate woman of my entire life,” I told her. “I believe she will be President of the United States one day.” Formerly Mr. Bush’s National Security Advisor, Miss Rice is now Secretary of State – generally considered the most senior post in the cabinet. She says she isn’t running for the presidency, but that’s an entirely correct answer for a sitting cabinet official. She could not possibly answer otherwise. She is on her way. I stand by my prediction. But I digress. My point is that two black individuals of exemplary character, who have achieved remarkable political success, are being treated as if they are invisible by black organizations because they have the “wrong” politics. And at least some black voters seem to think they are just being “uppity”. But thoughtful people – no matter what their politics – cannot regard this as a good sign. I have heard Dr. King’s “I have a Dream” speech many times, and I don’t think slapping down (or ignoring) conservative blacks was the subtext of the dream. Another recent news item reported that peer-pressure is pulling minorities down to academic failure. Harvard economist Roland G. Fryer is the latest researcher to find that the stigma of “acting white” is a serious factor in the persistent achievement gap between white and minority students. His analysis shows that minority students pay a high social price for academic success. Dr. Fryer found that the “acting white” stigma is most prevalent in racially integrated schools and impacts male students’ achievement most severely. He presented his findings in Education Next, a magazine published by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Said Dr. Fryer: “If minority students today deliberately underachieve in order to avoid social sanctions, that by itself could explain why the academic performance of 17-year-old African-Americans has deteriorated since the late 1980s, even while that of 9-year-olds has been improving.” Comedian Bill Cosby – who holds a doctorate in Education – has angered certain black “leaders” by telling black young people to pull up their pants, learn proper English, and stop squandering the opportunities people like Rosa Parks created for them. He said young people are “fighting hard to be ignorant”, and blamed parents for letting low achievement slide. Michael Dyson, among others, criticized Dr. Cosby for “disrespecting” Black Culture, but offered no ideas for improving the lot of black students who give up, fail to graduate, and drift aimlessly into society. Educators have been tearing their hair for decades over minority students – especially boys – who seem to self-destruct after the fourth grade. One experienced teacher says black youngsters are equal to their white peers until about age ten, but withdraw into “a cultural cocoon” after that. “By age 14 or 15 they’re miles behind,” she said, adding that “it breaks your heart” to watch it. Barak Obama, the popular Illinois Democrat elected to the U. S. Senate last fall, told last year’s Democratic National Convention that “…children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is ‘acting white’”. I don’t agree with all of the senator’s politics, but I’m with him on this. I willingly stake whatever small reputation I have on the absolute conviction that this stupid, destructive lie must be stamped out. Parents must refute it with every resource they have. It cannot be allowed to ruin the future of another generation. This is not about “dissing” someone’s people. We all came from somewhere. Some of our ancestors hunted with spears in the jungle; others came from the solons of Europe. Most of our people – including mine – were dirt-poor and nobody in particular. But this is NOW, not then. My forebears probably wore kilts, spoke Gaelic, rarely bathed, and used stone tools. Who cares? It had nothing to do with what I needed to do to have a future in 20th century America. When I was a boy, the racist buzz was that blacks were stupid. They could never be doctors, technicians, mechanics or quarterbacks. They couldn’t manage a ball team. Of course, it was all ignorant lies. Yet today, blacks seem intent on validating those very lies that white racists were selling. According to the race-hustlers, to be “authentic black” is to be ignorant, foolish and lazy. Walking around with your butt-crack exposed, babbling incomprehensible gibberish, carrying a boom-box, selling drugs, and scoffing at opportunities bought by others at dear cost is not a culture. Learning, achieving, and building a real future in harmony with your country and times is not a betrayal of your people. Instead, it amounts to fulfilling a trust from those forebears to achieve, survive, and finally succeed – securing that trust for future generations. We’ve come a long way toward achieving Dr. King’s dream, but we’re not there yet. As he envisioned, we’ll all have to work together to make it happen. We can do it. We’re Americans.
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