A people’s CULTURE, or ethnic SUBCULTURE, when authentic, establishes Values, Aspirational Vision, definition of the people, the Mission and Behavioral Expectations so that the entire group is more likely to survive, thrive, achieve freedom in the national environment, and is more likely to pass success tenets on to ensuing generations.
Martin Luther King’s 1963 Dream Speech was based on his hope that the African American Culture, so instrumental to that point, would remain viable and drive Black advancements even more significantly as the doors of opportunity were thrust open more widely. He urged us to return to our communities and work more diligently on progressive ventures.
The scrupulous and the just, the noble, humane, the devoted natures, the unselfish and the intelligent may begin a movement – but it passes away from them. They are not the leaders of a revolution. They are its victims. (Joseph Conrad)
Within four years, Martin’s disappointment was obvious.
In 1967, Martin lamented: “Where Do We Go From Here — Chaos or Community?” He stated: “This is no time for empty debates about freedom, but a time for action, a strategy for change, for a tactical program that will bring us into the mainstream of American life as quickly as possible. If not, we will end up with solutions that don’t solve, answers that don’t answer and explanations that don’t explain.”
Martin was asking Black leaders to put a Plan with the Dream. A Vision, the Dream, without the Way, the Plan, leaves the poor vulnerable to exploitation. Martin knew that a revolution in spirit was required to prevent the old order from continuing to dominate in new forms and stifle progress efforts. Martin knew that a revolution in spirit was required to prevent the old order from continuing to dominate in new forms and stifle progress efforts. Martin’s plea went unheeded – many generations have been lost because no plan was formulated.
By the 70s, the CULTURE as an action-based, mandated, prescriptive guide-post was becoming disconnected from the words “I Have a Dream.” While the CULTURE remained viable for the Black Americans who gained an education and escaped poverty and emigrated from mean environments, it no longer prevailed broadly across all the people in Black communities. The lower elements continue to be devastated. Between 2006 and 2014, the number of Black children living in areas of concentrated poverty increased by nearly 17%. Currently 32% of Black children live in concentrated, toxic poverty.
251658240 The African-Americans who made their way into mainstream America before desegregation, and were successful, had not been prepared specifically for competition with white people in “White America,” but rather for excellence in leadership and service within Black Communities. But in the 70s, in attempting to forge an African-American Culture that was distinct and exclusive from the White-American Culture, we discarded cultural components of excellence that were also African, African-American and International.
Simultaneously, there was a reduction in the use of self-reliance as the primary cultural force to overcome the vestiges of slavery in favor of blame-laying, excuse-making, and expectations for government deliverance. The transformation was subtle, insidious, powerful, self-perpetuating and quite destructive to the advancement especially of those in the lower elements.
Seeking success, redemption and vindication through self-reliance does not preclude condemnation of those guilty of crimes against the people. The difference for progress rides upon which factor dominates. When blame-laying and revenge-seeking dominate, and are accompanied by a personalized view, e.g., immediate gratification and what’s in it for me, as opposed to a group dynamic, power and control shift from real victims to race charlatans and other perpetrators of harm.
Direct perpetrators of wrong-doing, along with their laws and institutions are what create misery for the least among us. If the problems were controlled inexorably by genetics, ethnicity, or gender, then one would not be able to find similar kinds of children performing at drastically wide levels of success, depending on their families, geographic locations, communities, schools, churches, asset developmental programs, mentors and role-models, or their own personal diligence.
For the Racism/Bias Equation to work in current times, for example, potential “victims” must continue to perform certain negative acts or fail to perform certain positive acts. This is a serious matter for consideration by reformers and activists.
Racism and all other kinds of biases discriminate among people who look just alike on the surface. As we move upward in education acquisition, society’s harmful effects decrease. Case-in-point: 28% of Black Women without a high school diploma are below the poverty line as compared with only 2.1% of Black women with BS degrees or higher.
Subcultural entities and individuals must find and support programs that are fostering verifiable improvements in families’ and children’s conditions in local levels. But leaders must also assess outcomes Globally, i.e., state, national and international levels, and, in particular, look keenly among our lowliest to determine whether the bottom is moving up and driving up the average or whether just the top is improving in outcomes.
