Williams book "Enough...." on Black's Social Ills

For several years now I have been applauding Bill Cosby for his stance on the alleged racism in America today and the so-called “victim-hood” of Blacks. I never heard the word “victim” as a young civil rights worker. I heard “we will over-come”, I heard “there is power in the vote”, I heard “all children deserve a good education”. But, I never heard the word “victim”. There simply was no place for victims in the movement.

The attitude was we are going to get our place as full fledged citizens all over this country. We are going to educate ourselves to take our place as doctors, and lawyers, and teachers and Senators. When an innocent five year old black child said, “I want to be President of the United States” no older black children and black adults laughed at them. There was an understanding of reality and the chances of that child becoming president were slim to non-existent, but he was encouraged to work hard towards that goal, or any other goal he set for himself.

For any of you willing to study a bit of history you will find that pre-depression era Blacks even in the South were doing well economically. Yes, there were the dirt poor, but there was also a thriving middle class and a small but growing Black upper class. But, the Depression of the 1930’s had a devastating effect on middle class and lower class Americans economically. This was especially true for Black middle and lower class citizens. Because yes, racism did exist and was fully operational in 1930’s America. It was a fact that if a job was available it went to a white man ahead of a black man.

World War II pulled the country out of the economic doldrums of depression and after the war the GI Bill educated returning veterans of the war into the middle class. This was true of both Blacks and Whites. And actually it was these returning Black veterans who were the real start of the civil rights movement. These veterans who had fought for their country instilled in their children the pride that had been lost during the almost two decades of the depression/war era. These children then were the ones who joined, and sometimes led, their parents to demand equality. You will recall it was four young Black college students and children of Black veterans who quietly sat themselves down at the Whites only lunch counter here in Greensboro.

While Blacks were banding together and peacefully demanding recognition their White counterparts were acting in other ways to help the Black populations and the poor to raise themselves out of poverty . President Johnson’s Great Society of the mid-1960’s was promoted by Whites as a means to help all Americans, but for some of us especially Black Americans, become equal and viable citizens. And I now believe that was the moment the civil rights movement began to degenerate into the “victim-hood” mentality that many Blacks and especially Black leaders support to this day, and to the great detriment of all minorities, but especially the Blacks.

I have watched the slide downwards in Black prosperity, Black morality and Black pride. And at the same time I have watch the Black leaders since Mr. King contribute to this decline by convincing the Blacks that their state was not of their making. By convincing them that they could not and should not be expected to do for themselves. By telling them that their bad and immoral behaviors were the best they could do and even encouraging more and more decadent behaviors. Black illegitimate birth rates went from rates went from 28% in 1965 to over 70% today. (This is an average but in some areas the figures are higher.) That is 70 children out of every 100 born with no father on the scene. 70 Black children out of every 100 raised by single mothers with no strong father figure to instill pride and work ethic and discipline and therefore almost guarantee these children would develop their views from the dregs on the streets. All the while the Black leaders were berating the White community to do more and convincing some that it was the fault of Whites for every Black child who was suspended from school or who went to jail and eventually prison. A few Whites like me, who feels no White Guilt, were trying to speak up and being shouted down. What did that White Opinionated Bitch know about being Black and the recipient of Racism. (Strange, a N-lover in my youth and a Racist in my old age. go figure!) At any rate every time I speak out the response is much the same. I did a blog on “Entitlement Programs Insure More People in Poverty” where I point out just how devastating welfare programs were to Black culture when these are the very people these programs were supposed to help. That blog got some really nasty e-mails not to mention comments on the post.

Then a few years ago Bill Cosby began speaking out against the attitudes of the Black leadership and the self-inflicted degeneration in the Black population. He has not been a very popular man among Blacks, but he persisted and now this persistence is beginning to encourage other Black successful men and women to speak out and finally place the blame and the cure right where it belongs: on the Blacks themselves.

Mr. Juan Williams is one of these newly emerging Black Leaders. Who is Juan Williams for those of you who have not had the privilege of hearing him speak or reading his work Wikipedia say. “Juan Williams is an Emmy Award-winning writer, radio, and television correspondent. Williams is currently serving as a senior national correspondent for National Public Radio. Prior to joining NPR, Williams spent 23 years working at the Washington Post as a columnist and White House correspondent.

Williams has been a Fox News political contributor since 1997. He is a regular panelist on Special Report with Brit Hume and Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. On Fox News Sunday, he is known for his frequent shoot-outs with Brit Hume.

The recipient of an Emmy Award for television documentary writing, Williams has won widespread critical acclaim for a series of documentaries including, Politics—The New Black Power, and A. Philip Randolph: For Jobs and Freedom. He is the author of the non-fiction bestseller, Eyes on The Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 and Thurgood Marshall—American Revolutionary. Williams also has a book due out in August 2006 titled Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America-- and What we can do about it

Williams has also written articles for national magazines including Fortune, Ebony, and GQ.”

As stated above Juan Williams has written a new book entitled “Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America--and What We Can Do About It.” I received my copy yesterday and am working my way thru while shouting Amen. A book I would like to recommend to Greensboro’s Black leadership, but especially one in particular because this is the only one I personally highly respect even though I feel that he is a racist at least feels himself and his fellow Blacks are "victims": Mr. Allen Johnson of the News & Record staff.

As stated I am working my way thru the book and finding that my views coincide with those espoused by Mr. Williams.

Mr. Williams takes time to remind the Black community of their heritage of strong Black leaders of the past who advocated self-reliance, education, owner-ship of land and businesses and especially accountability. He then goes on to refer to the Black Leaders of today as being “self-serving shills”. Williams also exposes some of the less savory activities of leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who are paid to stage phony civil rights demonstrations and photo ops in order to embarrass companies or organizations. This reminded me vividly of Greensboro/Guilford county’s recent rally to introduce “A Declaration Against Intolerable Racism”. It was designed by the Black leaders who are all elected officials to embarrass the White elected officials and to promote further the southern White Guilt that is so rampant among Greensboro’s “old” families.

Cultural decline is a subject that gets much attention. He covers everything from getting decent grades in school being considered “acting white”, to delinquency, to illegitimate births, to hip hop music. All he claims are self-destructive attitudes and activities that are celebrated in the Black community as being authentically “Black”and therefore to be emulated. He derides the fact that all of these activities are not only tolerated by Blacks in the community but actually encouraged by the Black leaders so they can keep their place at the top of the heap and reap the benefits of this placement.

He praises president Bush’s “No child Left Behind” for exposing the Blacks failures to obtain decent educations in the very same schools with the very same teachers as Whites. This like no other brought home the problems in the Guilford County School system. I have no doubt that if it were revealed what the Whites only scores were in Guilford County we would not be failing. Not because Whites are intellectually superior to Blacks, but because Whites are sadly morally and culturally less self destructive than Blacks in today’s climate of Black victim-hood. ( Yep! I can see the hackles coming up now! But people these are not my ideas. Mr. Williams, Black man, is saying this. I am merely applying the statement of fact to our situation in Guilford County. And might I point out that Dudley and Smith high schools, both Black, are the two baddest of the bad!) And yes I am well aware that “baddest” is not a word.

All in all Mr. Williams book is an excellent chronicle of what is wrong in the Black community today and then he gives some very sound ideas of what can be done about these problems. I hope it encourages other Black leaders to emerge just as Bill Cosby’s speaking out encouraged Juan Williams.

Now I have to go back and read it again to 'absorb' the information. I am always so eager to read a new book that I miss the fine details on the first reading. I did however feel the need to bring it to your attention as I am sure much more will be heard in the days and weeks to come. I especially hope that it becomes required reading for the elected officials of Greensboro/ Guilford County both Black and White. I don't have much hope for the presently entrenched Black officials because they are I believe the very ones Mr. Williams claims are only using their fellow Blacks for their own causes. But, I hope that some so far quiet Black leaders will emerge in our community with the encouragement of this book, and that they take to heart and act upon the ideas to remedy the situations of the Blacks in our community.
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I am an Opinionated Older Lady Who Speaks Out. You may not always agree with or like my messages, but they are sincerely given. Coming from looking back over a lifetime of social activism.

I heard about this book on NPR this morning and the author makes a compelling case. It's something I agree with, and know my black professional friends do as well. Unfortunately it seems the pervasive culture that has risen up seems to make people think otherwise and often keeps the more progressive of thoughts from being voiced.

Its high time people stop whining about things they cannot change from the past (Don't ever recall Dr. King whining), and start working within their communities and within the government to bring about positive and change in the culture and society to truly continue the civil rights movement that seemed to stop too soon.

I would love to see Greensboro take that step into the new frontier of civil rights and empowerment, but there needs to be a leader that unites and can take it to the next level. The black community needs a million more people like Bill Cosby (whom my respect for went up tenfold when I heard that) who are brave enough to stand up and speak what so many think in the face of the big business and other voices that would just as well have black youth be more concerned with easy money and the latest tennis shoe.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do" -Mark Twain

Mr. Sanjura, Thank you for your comments. I agree that the civil rights movement as begun by Rosa Parks and then Mr. King ended much too soon. I am not sure where or how it got off course though. I was an early Blacks Civil Rights activist then got off on my own problems as a single woman in the 1970’s when women needed to fight for their equality. Then I advocated for children. But I always watched the Black movement if not as an active member. And I encouraged and voted for measures I felt would help Blacks. What happen to change from the “we can do” spirit to the “I deserve this” attitude which in turn contributed to the abysmal state of lower class Blacks today is terrible. I’m not sure what happened or when and I am not sure what can be done about it. One thing I do know however and that is that the Blacks themselves will have to be the ones to initiate and work towards change and changing themselves. White people can not do it for them. We have done just about all we can do in the way of passing laws that demand a change in social behaviors concerning Blacks. It was the same with the beginning of the civil rights struggle: there were many Whites very much aware of the inequality in society but we had to wait until the signal from Blacks that they wanted a change before we could act to help. Will you be one of the new Black leaders Mr. Sanjura? I do sincerely hope so because leaders who see clearly the problems are what is needed. Sincerely, Brenda Bowers

Please don't consider me daft when I say this, but being a white male, I am afraid I am not qualified. I speak only from my relationship with friends of different colors and cultures from all over the world.

That's one of the reasons I can so easily see what is being done to the black culture here. If you go to London or Germany etc, you simply don't see as much of this kind of mentality. It's certainly something that seems directed at America's youth and the black youth especially.

I never looked at civil rights as a black/white thing. I've always seen it as a human thing. I know that sounds cliche so I apologize. Smile

I am sorry to have misunderstood you Mr. Sanjura. I got the impression you were Black when you referred to your Black professional friends I guess. Dumb of me! At any rate we are both standing ready to help when the Blacks themselves decided something has to be done.
I have lived all over the south my entire adult life (military wife) and have never seen anywhere that is more racially tense than Greensboro. I believe this is due to the “victim hood” preaching of the Black leaders. My husband and I fell in love with Greensboro on our first trip thru here in 1990 so we decided to retire here. We still love the city but the politics are , well, to be kind…outrageous!
I guess I have viewed civil rights in light of groups as that has been how I have chosen my battles. Beginning in 1959 with Black voting rights and 1967 Black teachers equal pay, then 1970’s women’s rights (I became a single woman and saw that single women were badly discriminated against) and the 1980”s + involved with children’s rights. But you are right it is basically and ever just “people’s rights”.

Jovick, I have been sharing my experiences with racism around Greensboro since I started blogging. Just take a look at the politics in this town and racism is rampant. Watch the Guilford County Commissioners meetings and listen to Melvin "Skip" Alston rave and call everyone in sight a racist. Take a look at the Greensboro City Council from whom a report was leaked to the Pulpit Forum (which is Black) who then took it to the N&R. This a group of ministers involving themselves in politics rather than seeing to their flock. And do a bit of reading about the David Wray case which should be easy enough starting Thursday when The Rhino runs a series by Jerry Bledsoe. Just read the Executive Summary of the The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Committee sham. Read the "The Declaration Against Intolerable Racism" signed by all of the City and County Black ellected officials with it's nine instances of "intolerable racism" that were just this side of asinine. They called a rally and thank Goodness the Black people of Greensboro had enough sense not to pander to these fools. Now if they will just vote them out of office. This town has a real problem with recism and it isn't eminating from the Whites, but from the Black leaders. That is why this book should be a must read because he is talking about Greensboro. These Black leaders are doing the Black people, especially the Black poor, so much harm and no good at all. As a life long civil rights activist the damage they are doing makes me so angry and so sad. As I said in my answer to Mr. Sanjuro, the civil rights movement got off track and needs to get back on because there is so much more to do. You might read Mr. Williams book also because unfrotunately he has nailed the problems. BB

Mr. Sanjura, I grew up in the northern panhandle of West Virginia about 35 miles west of Pittsburg, Pa.) West Virginia was a segregated state but Ohio and Pennsylvania weren't so perhaps that is why the climate was so, I guess, neutral in that narrow strip of land between the two states. I don’t ever remember anyone making a crude remark about, or to, a Black person. We played together in the summer. One year I begged to go to my friend Wilma’s school because my school was just across the street from my home and Wilma got to go on a bus. That was a big deal! As for racism here in G’boro I simply haven’t seen or hear any negative remarks made to or about Blacks because they were Black. Because he is a crook I myself have hit at Skip Alston. And of course because of my daring to say openly that welfare and many of the programs instituted in the 1960’s have been the down fall of the Black lower class I have been called a racist. The illegitimate birth rate has gone from 28% in 1965 to over 70% now. Welfare made it easy for the Black men to walk away from their responsibility. It also made it possible for the Black woman to tell the Black man where to go! Of course this also applies to Whites where the illegitimate birth rate has risen from 4% to 23% in the same time period. I have lived to see many government programs we were all so sure were going to eliminate poverty fail and even increase poverty. Anyhow, the only white person I have heard called a racist is me! I think most bloggers are at least trying to understand and remedy the situation. There again I got hit hard for calling the GTRC a biased racist report written to generate more White Guilt and perpetuate Black victimhood. And the assinine "Declaration Against Intolerable Racism" was immature nonsence and the people who signed it should have been ashamed of themselves. Even I could have found a few more better examples of possible racism than they did with their 9 points. Dear Lord! My site is
http://triadblogs.com/BrendaFayBowers Just from time to time I like to post here too.