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Summit leaders urge blacks to initiate change from within
Cheryl Wetzstein THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 1/16/01
Black Americans should abandon the idea that racism keeps them down and
start acting like their talented forebears who created colleges,
businesses and churches despite racist laws, say the leaders of a new
nonpartisan leadership group for blacks. "We're standing on the
shoulders of doers and winners," said John Sibley Butler, a professor
of management and sociology at the University of Texas in Austin and
one of the organizers of the Independent Black Majority.
Black history in America goes far beyond "slave ships to plantations to
ghettoes to welfare," said Robert L. Woodson Sr., president of the
National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise and another organizer.
"We need to imbue our people with an attitude of victory about what we
can accomplish, he said.
But instead of seeing themselves as the fortunate descendants of a hard-
working, sacrificial people, many black Americans remain fixated on
fighting for their civil rights, 1960s-style.
Black Americans "are like amnesiacs fitted with the memories of
others," said Bishop Harold Calvin Ray of the Redemptive Life
Fellowship of West Palm Beach, Fla.
It's time to "consummate" the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, said
Bishop Ray, who also leads National Center for Faith-Based Initiative.
Racism is a reality, and everyone has sung "We Shall Overcome," said
Bishop Michael E. Dantley of the Christ Emmanuel Christian Fellowship
in Cincinnati. Still, he said, "the 'we shall' stuff is over. It's time
to do."
The group held the summit on the King holiday to outline their plans to
use spiritual revival, entrepreneurship and networking in black
communities, rather than political agitation, to solve problems.
"Our issues are much broader than who is in power," said Mr. Woodson,
as the largely black audience responded with "Amens."
"I find it's fascinating that black folks get out there and beat each
other's brains about which white man is going to go to the White
House," said Mr. Woodson. Yet, "if white folks were to go to Canada
tomorrow, we still couldn't walk in our communities safely. Our
families would not suddenly come back together. AIDS would not stop
spreading in our community."
"Victimology, separatism and anti-intellectualism . . . has infected
our people. We are suffering from mass schizophrenia," said New Jersey
Secretary of State DeForest B. Soaries Jr. "We know that even if we fix
every voting machine in Florida, that will not make black boys raise
their own children."
The Independent Black Majority plans to operate a Web site and poll
black Americans to keep abreast of their concerns.
A poll of 850 black Americans taken last year by the Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies found that education, health care and
crime were top concerns. Fighting racism and tax reform were at the
bottom of the list.
Speakers at yesterday's summit at the Ronald Reagan Building in
Washington said the destruction of the black family, a culture steeped
in "violence, profanity and promiscuity," ignorance about the proven
power of capitalism and lack of spirituality were the primary obstacles
to black success.
"The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of the people," said Pat
Funderburk Ware, quoting a proverb from Ghana.
Mr. Soaries also challenged black Americans' attitudes about their
poverty, based on data on black spending in 1999.
"How can you be oppressed with three color TVs . . . two-car garages
and $35 fingernails?" he said. "When a people spends $4.3 billion on
alcohol and tobacco and $1.5 billion on computers and books, they are
not oppressed. They are confused."
Among suggestions offered by speakers yesterday were to:
• Develop "real estate trusts" to buy up the poor sections of Chicago,
New York, Dallas and other "inner cities." This is "the best land in
the Western world," said Mr. Butler, the Texas professor. Black
Americans can become urban entrepreneurs, bringing business and safe
streets.
• Become mentors to blacks around the world, bringing them the
best of American business skills and technology. "We are world leaders
and we need to start acting like it," said Harry Alford, president of
the National Black Chamber of Commerce.
• Add entrepreneurship courses in schools, both to teach business
skills and undo any lingering notions that jobs are handed to people
because they are poor.
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