Life for Us Has Never Been a Crystal Stair. But Keep Climbing.

Statistically, African Americans seem to be at the top of every bad list and at the bottom of every good list. We have been oppressed, depressed and just plain stressed for so long that we tend to think that is the way we were meant to be. Many of our people believe we are meant to go to inferior schools, receive an inferior education and later work in an inferior job.

Black psychologists call this way of thinking the “slave mentality”. They say African Americans are conditioned to accept a position of inferiority. Then as slaves we depend on the master (whites) to lift us up.

We see other races as smarter, more talented and more capable. We feel subconsciously that better things and better circumstances were meant for whites. We base the value of things on whether white people have it. Then we devalue things based on whether black people use it or like doing it. We say things like you know how black people are. If a company is black-owned, we question the competence of the owner and the quality of the product or service.

Our biggest handicap is our inability to trust ourselves to come up with our own solutions. In 1903, W.E.B. DuBois posed the question, “How does it feel to be a problem?” Still, over a century later, we are yet in the peculiar situation of being someone else’s problem.

The biggest challenge we face is in the education of our children. Drop out rates are high. Those who stay in school have no idea why they are there and have no goals or ambitions for when they get out. Yet, we leave the education of our children up to others. The teachers and administrators are mostly white. We send our children off to school everyday and expect someone else to care more about their education than we do.
Carter G. Woodson said our children were being mis-educated in 1933. I would hate for him to see that in 2007 our children are still being mis-educated. Dr. Woodson warned “The Negro will never be able to show all of his originality as long as his efforts are directed from without by those who socially proscribe him. Such friends will unconsciously keep him in the ghetto.”

My point is not that we should go back to segregated schools or that only black teachers should teach black students. No, my point is that black people must come together and see each of our children as all of our children. It is us who are in a crisis situation. It is our future that is in jeopardy. We need to take the chains off and stop depending on someone else to do for us what we can only do for ourselves.

We live in a time where we have every convenience. However, we complain more than our ancestors ever did. There is no excuse for the achievement gap that exists between black students and other races. Our ancestors achieved with far less resources at their disposal. They did this because they looked to God for help, not to their oppressor. This month in Florida, students are taking the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Since its inception, our leaders have been spending time, talent and energy fighting this test as if it and not low achievement was the enemy. Our children should be able to pass this test with flying colors. Maybe if black leaders had spent their energy organizing and participating in tutorial and mentorship programs, our children wouldn’t be lagging behind.

Yes, the stakes are very high on the test and there are many problems with it. But how many unfair and problematic circumstances did our forefathers overcome? If they could see us now, I don’t think they would encourage us to spend all our resources organizing marches and protests against a test. They would admonish us to teach our children by any means necessary. They would say, like in the Langston Hughes poem, “Honey, life for me ain't been no crystal stair”. They would tell us that we are nobody’s problem. We are problem solvers. So let’s start finding the solutions and stop making excuses. Let’s stop begging ol’ Massa for directions off the plantation and start walking toward the hills.

“When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his proper place and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.”
-Dr. Carter G. Woodson