Counting Down to Brown
Taking a look at my friend La Shawn Barber's post today www.barbersview.com

I could not help but ponder the question. How far have African American's come as a race since Brown. V. Board of Education.

For a great majority of us the answer is very far. We have African American political leaders i.e. Colin Powell, Dr. Condaleeza Rice, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and others.

In business, we are CEO's of Fortune 500 companies i.e Merrill Lynch, Time Warner, and others.

In entertainment, we are Oscar winners, top the chart recording artists, and so much more.

For many of us the door swung open and we stepped into the middle class, and upper class of the United States.

Yet, the for as many of us that have moved into the middle and upper class, there is an equal amount of us still at the poverty level.

We have a large amount of African American men, that are unemployed, incarcerated, mentally dead, and unattached from society.

We have too many unwed mothers, raising children on their own. Fathers that are out of touch with their children and view them as pawns in a game.

Too many news stories of crime, rape, drugs and murder.

A culture where Snoop Dog, Tupac, P. Diddy, .50 cent, are role models and surrogate fathers for our young men.

A culture that goes around the work, that teaches the world that black women are ho's, video chicks, and dying to sleep with men for money.

A culture that teaches other black children that to get good grades is acting "white" or elitist.


How far have we come?