Each generation feels the urge to improve the nation. America is on the brink of Fascism, so the task of the current generation of 18 – 30 year-olds is more daunting than that of their predecessors’ because it consists of preventing America from committing suicide.
The preclusion of this fate hinges on the extent to which individual citizens’ human capacity is capitalized. Education is the sine qua non for the development of both human beings and Democracy.
“It is an object of vast magnitude that systems of education should be adopted and pursued which may not only diffuse a knowledge of the sciences but may implant in the minds of the American youth the principles of virtue and of liberty and inspire them with just and liberal ideas of government and with an inviolable attachment to their own country.” (Noah Webster)
Because Slavery was such a dishonorable and durable aspect of our history, the proper education of the descendants of slaves, in particular, must include factual information that fosters an inculcation the spirit of the first two generations, post- slavery.
The 1st African America Generation, Post-Slavery, 1865-75, was essentially penniless, powerless, viciously persecuted, illiterate, and ignorant in the use of freedom.
Nevertheless, by the third generation, 1955-65: the median-years-of-schooling was 10.5; and nearly 50% of us were NOT POOR, nearly 40% were high school graduates, about 5.5% were college graduates, and 5% of us were professionals — managers, physicians, attorneys, engineers, elected officials, military officers, members of congress, state legislators, mayors, city council members, superintendents, principals, school board members, college presidents, and federal judges.
The third generation is considerably more tightly linked to our predecessors and America than are our descendants. The fifth, sixth, and seventh generations, and beyond – do not connect well with the Cultural Tenets of the first two post-slavery generations because we members of the third generation, the most direct beneficiaries of their heroic achievements, did not look far enough ahead to plan effectively for the success of our children, grand-, great-grand-, and great-great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Tragically, these are the children who constitute the major source for school failures, destitution, prisons, hospitals, and morgues.
Because of our educational failures, the members of the 18-30 year-old grouping are disillusioned and angry, which I fully understand. They resent racism, unfair inequities and hypocrisy. We should comprehend that children are more likely to follow adult examples than our advice. REMEMBER: America chose as its supreme role-model, the president, a man who openly advocates for Fascism.
Notwithstanding, if they want a better nation, they must get involved in making it so; and the first act is to increase their factual historical knowledge and vote consistently in every election and, inturn, to
open the understanding of their peers about the false and dangerous notion that their votes don’t matter.
The voting potency of the 18-30 year-old national grouping cannot be overstated. They make up an immense percentage of the adult population. Overall, they constitute the largest segment of the voter eligible groupings, 67.3 million. Black youth constitute a disproportionate percentage of the national group.
Tragically, young people have not been exercising their CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY – their voting record has long been appalling. In 2022, only 23% of them voted, 52 million did not vote; only 28% voted in 2018 and only 23% voted in 2014. In both North Carolina and Virginia in 2022, 77% did not vote. (SOURCE: April 2023 CIRCLE, data aggregated by Catalist)
The greatest achievements for families and the nation begin with the development of the individual. Young Black Americans’ genetic makeup is not different from that of their first three post-slavery ancestors. With proper leadership and factual information about their heroic progenitors, they ARE capable of changing their spirits, minds and behavior, and, therefore, changing their lives individually, influencing their peers to improve their lives, and thereby saving “their” people and America from Despotism.
The members of the third generation have not imbued our successive generations with the education connects with our indomitable spirit of our ancestors. That is our fault. Unfortunately for them and us, it will be the young people’s fault if they fail to recognize their own capacity to grow the spirit in themselves and encourage it in their peers. Ultimately, they will have to demand excellence of themselves and each other no matter the personal sacrifice of time and other pleasures.
Even today, descendants of slaves who have acquired post-secondary education are doing well economically. There are 227 times more AA degree holders, 319 times more BA degree holders; 127 times more MA degree holders; 15 times more professional degree holders; and 17 times more doctoral degree holders than Professional Black athletes, for example.
Personal Self-Development, Consistent Voting, and Role-Modeling, combined, is the only way young Americans will be able to save themselves, each other and America. IT IS NOT TOO LATE!
