Commentary (Knight Ridder Newspapers)
Mr. Pitts argues that blacks and whites have a way of talking past each other about race issues, each preferring to publicity stick to the script that makes it easiest on us, demands the least from us. His comments:
"Much as some white folk pretend otherwise, racism didn't vanish one fine day long ago. It lives, here, now, still. And it isn't something black people can cure through self-improvement. Racism doesn't care how educated, wealthy or decent you are. It will still call you ignorant, deny you a loan and throw you in jail. It will still give white people unearned advantages on the basis of their whiteness.
And yet this also is true: For all the woe it brings, racism is not the proximate source of all the ills that beset the black underclass. We do not need white people's approval or even their involvement to correct much of what ails us — to require that our children spend less time with BET and more with BOOK, to reconnect our fathers with their families, to abandon the misbegotten mind-set that equates ignorance and thuggery with authentic blackness."
Tell it, Mr. Pitts! Preach!
0 comments:
Post a Comment