Your Perception Our Reality

The NAACP had a fascinating conference that aired the 6th of this month discussing the The Future of the Black Man, YOur Perception, Our Reality apart of their Leadership 500 series. The panelist involved were Dr. John Jackson (Professor at Georgetown University)Minister Daryll Simms (CEO of Evangucation), George Curry ( Editor and Chief of the National Newspaper Publishing Association Washington Bureau), and Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. I am proud to say no oreos were pelted at him this time and even prouder to say that his message was articulated in the hearts and minds of the crowd and to the reality of the black community. (To me showing that getting past the emotions most of us are conservative). Here are a few highlights of the discussion I found interesting:
Steele emphasized that It starts with us in our community. No excuses and what are we going to do for our community and our lives. Waiting for government is not an option. He then went along to his business procurement record citing his increase in minority governement procurement from 8% to 21%. As a MBA student, I know how key education and entrepreneurship are in disparities. Where are we in the discussions in government? If we don't have black officials at the table discussing issues representing out interest.
Darryl Simms: There has to be a self-actualization of being black and proud to be black. Look at our history. Our public school system and (white) teachers benefit from the miseducation of our kids. "The one that teaches you is the one that decides your destiny in which applies to parents and role models young children accept."
George Curry: We don't have anything to counter the Supreme Court discussing affirmative action. Conservatives like Ward Connerly have all this money and do study groups on this topic and the left has nothing to counter this with. Having your daddy not home is no excuse look at Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson, etc.. We need more mentorship programs done by black professionals at their specialty for example if you are a journalist working with students in a journalism workshop works. The sooner our kids know what they want to do, the better off they'll be.
John Jackson: The problems going on in the black community are social policy issues more than anything else because to acknowledge the other would say that black men are socially deviant and educationally deficient. Schools such as Harvard have professors that aren't intelligent enough to educate students from 2.25 to 4.0 high school GPAs like the HBCUs and thats why their important and key to his success in Harvard and life.
Me: First it was great looking at a program without the same ol "Publicity Pimps" who are said to be the voice of black America. Steele said something very powerful to me " Hope is not a strategy, its how we put hope into action so what are WE going to do. "We are not the generation of sitting at the diner, we are the generation of owning the diner". This reminded me of the history of greatness of blacks from Booker T. Washington to CJ Walker to Reginal Lewis and all the amazing individuals in between and thereafter. When these discussions come up I am always reminded of the reasons why I am conservative in the first place. We are born with the essentials of what we need to become successful. It is up to us to attack the public school issues funding and otherwise, it is up to us to mentor our younger generation, it is up to us to become role models and empower our community in more productive ways, it is up to us to vote and produce more quality public officials, and it is our responsibility to get the family and church in order. This goes to us controlling our money and investing more on cars than our children's education. There I go discussing problems instead of solutions which is usually the premise of the panels anyway. As Alice Walker said, "this is the best time in history to be alive because theres so much work to be done". The solution is almost always personal or begin there and we have a lot of ground to cover, so as Michael Steele asked, What will you do?



Nathaniel Peete Jr.