Akindele Akinyemi on Building Independent Minds

The conservative Republican blogger and Detroit resident argues that while black Americans must reflect on America's birth, he declares another type of Independence Day: an independence of black American minds: "In urban communities all across America we have not reached independence. We are still trapped and enslaved in our own minds and hearts. Single families are on the rise and our churches are in decline. There is a liquor store on every corner next to the church. Blacks generate over $910 billion as consumers yet we are not producers. We drop seeds in one woman and move on to the next woman. We still think social power is the key to our problems. Nothing can be further from the truth."

He continues his commentary: "The biggest factor of independence will not come from a tea party, criticizing Sarah Palin for resigning as Governor of Alaska, critiquing Michael Steele's performance as RNC Chair or President Obama on supporting cap and trade. The biggest factor of independence will come from freeing our minds and hearts from the fear, ignorance, racism, and sexism that plagues our community. Black leaders in Detroit are still caught up on civil right/black power leadership that died out a long time ago. We are still playing these race games when the race that we are losing in our urban communities is the race to save our men from destruction, save our women from their dignity and saving our children from violence that they are bombarded with on television and in the streets. We never talk about that race. We only discuss the race that has something to do with the color of our skin. We are now in a silver rights era where we are striving for global education, global dignity and respect by rebuilding our family structure to generate wealth creation that will create a legacy for our children. We have to teach the language of money and financial wealth to our children if they want to compete. If they do not have a bank account then we are creating a new generation of economic slavery."