How Far Have African Americans Come?

All we asked for 40 years ago was a seat at the table and the race was on…. for some African Americans. Obtaining goals is America is characterized by the energy one gives by the sweat of their brow and their willingness to reach for and grab hold of opportunities that are there if you are willing to pay the price. The class gap can be contributed to generational standards that take hold and never let go of families

This generational standard creates a bottleneck at the route of ascension that keeps families engulfed in poverty, addictions, and hopelessness, with no intention of individual within the family to seek a better way. Racism cannot be the culprit for this Gap, perhaps apathy can. The larger community simply does not care to educate those left behind. The larger community would rather turn a blind eye toward education and the teaching of socialization skills, crises management skills, and conflict resolution skills.

Some African Americans are somewhat their own worst enemy, spewing hate and attacking one anther with black on black crime. Robbing and killing one another for the looming prize of an I-Pod, when a college degree is there for the talking and learning how to invest in stock can give one the satisfaction of playing within the rules.

We are our own worst enemy and have no one else to blame when despite the presence of racism, we allow it to dictate the course of our lives. We can be better than that, we can overcome these things, it we only strive to be a thriving, caring part of a progressive society. No one is holding us back. Until we all buy into this fact, there will always be two classes of African Americans, the dream is near for us now. It is just a matter of “how much do we want it and how willing are we to get it? How willing are we to help our kids with homework? Turn off the video games? To teach our children to respect themselves and to respect others. To honor our women and not take advantage of them? To provide for our families?

Some of us have got it; we know the formula. Until we toss aside the narrow ways of thinking and the obsession that we have with things that do not matter, we will remain two classes of people the haves and the have nots? It’s a choice, just like everything in life.