Although I am usually concerned about the present circumstances of blacks today, regardless if it is showing how the seriousness of educating black children bounces off the legislative priority lists as often as some of those kids bounce their basketballs in the park. I show my concern because of the failure of us to avoid institutions that purposely keep us separated, care nothing about restoring the black family, or protect our human rights.

Therefore, I sometimes use criticism to challenge anyone in doubt. Nevertheless, what do I gain from criticizing? Nothing, unless it suddenly provokes a portion of those people who may challenge my perception, to take a closer look. Therefore, to understand what I am trying to get at, you have to be okay with some degree of criticism.

Well, would it be wrong for me to expect most blacks to have the same concerns about what ails us? Some may say no, but I understand some of us have never experienced any serious social denigration. However, that may have been because of avoidance of circumstance, not because of their genetic color-coding during their inception.

Blackness is not something that can be pushed aside, at least not indefinitely. Sooner or later, you will be discovered and you will have to get back in your place. Other blacks - and I emphasize [other] for a reason - whose parents were lucky enough to avoid some of the worse things most blacks couldn't, and give them a better life, better think twice before choosing sides. But I'm not going to get involved with that again, because credentials and dollars creates an atmosphere of ethnic deceit, which has caused some to lose their sense of self.

But until we can read any history book and see Presidents, humanitarians, devout educators, scientists or corporate owners and leaders, and not be overwhelmed because they are black, we are still short of having an oar tied to our hands. Maybe not in a literal sense, but in a way it cannot be detected.

So, if we don't have what we need by now, or did the right things to get it, why would we expect whites to do it and they have nothing to gain. It's, "Would' a, could' a, should' a," that tops the rhetoric for the gathering of the troops, other than a good barbecue.

And other than the imaginary drawing board everyone talks about all the time, we have shown we have little aggressive concerns to find methods to reduce the crime and drug problems that still taunt us in our communities. We allow anybody to come into our lives and walk away with our ideas, yet we fail to get anything from them, not even a pat on the head.

We will accept anything they tell us without investigating it for ourselves. Such as, why have aids suddenly become a black female problem? My personal concern is if I am in charge, I have the power to make up any kind of data I chose. This says I can say anything I want because I now have proof to back it up. But who's checking?

Here it is 50 years later and we are still addressing matters like Brown vs. Board of Ed. It was a waste of our time back then, as it's shown to be today, considering schools are maybe as segregated or more segregated then ever before. Being a black child then, I was not needy for integration; I just needed a reason to learn and an unrestricted atmosphere to strive forward without negative resistance.

And looking at the effort it took to lay out the strands for Affirmative Action, plus the work it takes today to assure it is still effective. And not to avoid the new resistance to save it from extinction, I would also think it may not be worth concerning ourselves with anymore, especially when some of my black brothers and sisters say it made no difference in their success.

So maybe that's why we are often at odds about many things. Or maybe It's because some are developing a self-serving characteristic about themselves within the time frame of their success.

But looking back, no one cared what Uncle Moses or Lula Mae looked like, or how hard they worked. Circumstances for both were to do what they were told. I have no difficulty understanding the uncanny things whites did, but I question why blacks even that far back still had a demeanor to believe they were better then their laboring brothers and sisters, until they crossed the line and felt the sting of the whip.

Although I am convinced it may be inherent in some, but dealing with my own people sometimes the things I see that should be important never seem to flourish. For instance, we have had campaigns for years to encourage other blacks to vote. But few know why they are voting or what they are voting for.

There has never been a [unified] effort to get a black candidate near the presidency and for those who may differ, the emphasis is on "unified". Whenever someone black have stepped forward, we're often very critical, say they have no political experience, yet we will support someone white, with only an assumption they're better candidates.

Aside from that, we coin phrases, like "strong black woman" and "gangsta", just to give us some identity, but neither shows who we really are. And the truth is no one on the outside really cares anyway.

First, the meanings to both are unrelated to the true identity of people who say it. The meaning of strong is to be physically powerful, so only using its adjective could it have some truth, relative to women. As far as being a gangster or "gangsta," black youths are more apt to be considered more criminal than gangsta, although few are willing to admit it.

But neither should be revered because one tries to create fear in the minds of other blacks, to intimidate. The other because it plays down the black male whom rarely gets the opportunity to consider themselves as such.

Meantime, we can gather to "round table" our concerns intellectually, on the cable networks or in front of black forums, yet we have no staying power to get them solved. We rarely agree on anything without publicity or asking for an outside opinion. Primarily because of personal convictions, and rating its long-term importance to us according to our social and economic position.

As jobs in the country continue to be out sourced to foreign lands, we are more concerned about being liked, instead of fighting to keep what we have before we lose it. So we stay at the bottom of the pool of people who have lost jobs or will be facing it sometime in the future.

Scanning the cable channels, I stop occasionally and see blacks, dancing, smiling and talking about the "bling, bling;" they will be separated from eventually. We have lost interest in professions that would remove our dependency on others, unless there is some degree of celebrity in it.

We aspire to anything that rewards us with immediate gratification instead of making an effort to learn and develop things that would take us into new horizons, for our children and us. There is nothing wrong with loving sports, but we all cannot be in the game at the same time. Someone has to labor.

But we spend more time sobbing about failed relationships that few have contributed anything worthwhile to make any of them work. Not caring that where we came from and where we are going to end up is just as important as our emotional shortcomings. But not to make light of the real reason why my black brothers and sisters in various parts of Africa are still struggling. Maybe it is because they have not been able to shake off similar habits, convictions and weaknesses.

So I conclude; there is no way I could have covered all of my concerns here. But my apprehension about our future and the unforeseen problems, which I feel are tallying up to become more severe than we can imagine, is because I have lived, seen, experienced and dealt with most of it for years. Although the old cliché, "my mouth is no prayer book", might be the feelings of some who disagree.

But what if I am close to the truth to where you now only believe an ounce of what I said. Then it should not be difficult to believe those who most of us usually agree with, because this is really how they perceive us.

Quote: "In all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips lendeth penury." Proverbs 14:23

© 2004 By Thomas Duffy
Afromerica staff writer

Brother Thomas Duffy will be keeping the Black community updated on the most current Black expereinces effecting our lives. Visit regularly for new information that could help you overcome and make the best of your everyday experiences.

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