PHILLIP JACKSON OP-ED: Will Globalization Destroy Black America?

Asks the executive director of The Black Star Project, an education group based in Chicago: "In the 21st century, there are only two kinds of people. Not Black or White, or rich or poor, or foreign or national. The two kinds of people in the world today are those who are educated and those who are not. Although education has become the new currency of exchange in the 21st century, the old American educational paradigm stopped working decades ago for Black Americans. Simply sending Black children to American schools without a clear purpose or goal has contributed to the demise of the Black community. Black America watched formerly third-world countries catapult over America to become educational super powers while America rested on its old, stale educational laurels and fell way behind much of the world in educational performance. And because Black America unthinkingly depended on the American education system to educate its children, we have fallen way behind."

Mr. Jackson continues his commentary: "We will not be able to prosper in the cities of America or possibly in any city in the world where the new currency for existence is access to global information, higher-order critical thinking and advanced technological skills. There used to be a time when it was better to be poor in America than rich in other countries. Now it might be better to be poor in some other countries than to be poor in America. Black people in America must immediately disengage from the diversions of mind-deadening entertainment, useless sports, hyper-sexuality, excessive social celebrations, pointless conversations and debates, meaningless media and the civil rights issue de jour approach to managing our problems. We must focus on the most important issue in our communities -- making education the highest priority."

And more: "The solution to the issue of Black America’s poor response to globalization is to 1) Deconstruct value systems that have caused Black people to arrive at the precipice of non-existence; 2) Construct value systems that will rebuild the Black family as a purveyor of positive values, cultures, mores and education, and re-establish the Black family as the primary and most important social unit of our culture and society; 3) Embrace education as the highest value in the Black community; 4) Effectively manage the negative cultural influences that hugely impact the thinking and actions of Black boys; and 5) Understand that for the rest of existence, change is a required part of the living process. The faster Black America is able to put this plan into action, adopt these new principles and manage change, the more likely we will survive....With globalization, Black America has entered into the 'Educate or Die' era. In this era, there are only two questions worth answering: 'Will we change? Can we survive?' How we emerge from this era is up to us."

My response: While we certainly can do better, the picture is not nearly as gloomy as Mr. Jackson paints it. If black Americans survived slavery, then we can survive this current globalization wave. The vast majority of black Americans are not poor, but Mr. Jackson focuses on the 26% who are poor as the face of Black America's future. 92% of us are employed, most black folks now have access to the Internet, about 20% are college graduates, and our per capita GDP ($22,062.67) is akin to that of the Czech Republic, Kuwait, Slovenia, and Greece. By 2009, we should have a combined trillion dollar GDP. I'd bet on black Americans surviving globalization before the vast majority of humanity. However, I agree that education is a top priority for black Americans (second only to combatting fatherlessness). School vouchers would enable us to craft schools that fit the various needs of black children, instead of the one-size-fits-all model that government schools follow.