Half Truths in Solutions to Racial Equality

Half Truths and Half Measures

The View from the Middle

In the wake of the tragic deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and the assassination of five white police officers in Dallas, I have heard our politicians spout the usual politically correct and self-serving rhetoric.  Jesse Jackson, Hillary Clinton and our President have suggested that the blame goes to white people and white police.  This is despite the fact that Micah Johnson was very clear that his motive was to kill white people and particularly white cops.  Hillary Clinton said she would “talk to white people” and tell them that they must listen to the legitimate cries of our African American citizens. 

I actually don’t disagree with Hillary’s suggestion.  I have been saying for a long time that whites must be empathic to the challenges that young African American men and women still face in this country. The reality is, however, that any black leader or person who believes that they have no role in the solution is delusional.  While whites have the dual responsibility of empathy and action, African Americans have the more difficult challenge to forgive and to take personal responsibility for their future.

In my opinion, there have been two strategies used in this country to subjugate the black community.  From the slave owners of the 17^th and 18^th centuries to our welfare system today, there have been intentional and or misguided efforts to destroy black families.  Slave owners ripped fathers away from mothers and children and even today our welfare system encourages black fathers to leave their families.  These actions have led to some very predictable negative results even today.

Seventy-two percent of black children are born out of wedlock compared to 29% for white children. These out of wedlock births lead to high levels of single parent households in America (66% for African Americans and 25% for whites), which is a key driver of poverty.  Our leaders should be telling our kids not to have children out of wedlock.  This is tough message, however, because it implies that people are responsible for their own actions and are not victims.

The other strategy used by slave owners to repress blacks was to deny them an education.  They knew that education was the key to freedom and independence, and that is exactly what they didn’t want for the people that they considered no more than chattel.  Unfortunately, this scheme is alive and well today in our dilapidated and dysfunctional public school system. 

Thirty-one percent of black children drop out of high school compared to 14% in the white community.  While this number is an improvement from five years ago, it is still way too high as it is another key driver of poverty.  The message that black leaders should be blasting out is that young people should take their education seriously.  No white person can make you cut school or drop out. 

This breakdown of the family and denial of education has led to yet another problem for the African American community, and that is crime.  Black men represent 40% of the prison population while they only represent 13% of the general citizenry.  Some would suggest this is because of prejudice, but that’s the easy response.  I’m going to suggest that some of this imbalance in criminal activity is driven by the statistics mentioned above.  Poverty and lack of opportunity place more black youth at risk and susceptible to the temptations of crime.  Traffic citations and non-violent drug charges can be skewed by prejudice, but African American men also commit 38% of murders.  Murder is a crime that is unlikely to be manufactured by an unscrupulous law enforcement officer.  After all, they do need a dead body to make the accusation!

The black community has a daunting task to overcome these transgressions, but they must address these issues if they expect to balance the scales of opportunity in this country.

 Forgiveness will be difficult, but little headway can be made if we focus on the evil in the world and deny the progress that has been made. We do have a black President, for goodness sakes.  Bitterness and anger are enemies of advancement in this area, but once forgiveness extinguishes those feelings (again, no small task) real healing can take place.  Then we can focus on the other half of the solution that the black community must embrace – personal responsibility.

There are some things that society can do to create a path to equal opportunity.  First, offer all families real choice when it comes to education.  A school voucher system will put power in the hands of every family, black and white; to choose what school their children should attend.  Will this work for every family?  No, but it will work for some and will make our current failing system compete or perish.

Next, we could reform our welfare system so that it encourages fathers to stay home with their families.  This should be accompanied by a message from black leaders that emphasizes the benefits of intact families and the hardships that accompany out of wedlock births.  I’m also in favor of enterprise zones to entice businesses to build in black neighborhoods, but there must be qualified workers there to greet these enterprises once they take that risk.

Yes, there are some things that white America can do to advance the causes of black America, but black America will still have to take the initiative to take advantage of these opportunities.  This is the dual responsibility message that I believe needs to be communicated by all of our leaders if the journey to racial harmony in America is to continue.

Finally, I must add my personal opinion that what we all need is the Master of empathy, the King of forgiveness, the Good Shepherd, the King of Kings, the ultimate Good Samaritan and the Prince of Peace – Jesus Christ.