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Nathan McCall, author of the best seller "Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America," teaches journalism at Emory University. He is a former reporter at The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. |
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Posted on 08/15/2003 7:50:16 PM PDT by optimistically_conservative
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Some years ago, when I was a young boy, I decided that the gritty streets were far more promising than a good education.
I was in junior high -- right around the time experts say young black males tend to disengage from school -- and I was fairly certain the place was a waste of time.
Of course, plenty of grown-ups told me otherwise: My parents insisted that if I applied myself, I could be a big success in life. My teachers said that if I studied hard, I could even be president of the United States someday.
But there was one problem: As a child in the 1960s, I saw little to convince me that grown-ups knew what they were talking about.
When I went to the encyclopedia and saw pictures of all the former presidents, it was clear the job was reserved for rich white men. And when I looked around, even the most educated black people in my neighborhood didn't appear to be faring well. It appeared, in fact, that my parents and others in the neighborhood were passive and beaten down. They worked twice as hard to get half as much as their white counterparts, so their lives didn't impress me at all.
On the other hand, I thought I saw something more encouraging in the streets. I saw guys my age hustling, making good money selling drugs. They stood tall, defiant, and seemed self-sufficient. My best friend used drug money to buy a luxury car while we were still in high school! I saw real fruits of the hustlers' labors, and it had nothing to do with books or school.
Based on what I saw, the streets looked much better than the classroom. It was immature, distorted logic for sure, but convincing enough to lure me away from books.
Prompted by misguided notions of manhood, I eventually went from being an honor student to a behavior problem. In high school, I took a stab at selling drugs, and probably would have stuck with that, but I seemed to lack the required business skills.
After a series of hard knocks that ended with a prison term for armed robbery, I realized that all the grown-ups had been right after all: an education is, in fact, powerful and priceless.
I now teach at Emory University and have devoted my life to learning. Yet, looking back, I understand why it's so hard nowadays to convince young black males of the value of education.
I thought about that after reading two pieces in last Sunday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the difficulty in motivating young males to strive to excel in school. The issue has mushroomed into a national debate, but in all the wrangling there is one vital point that often gets underplayed: As adults, we tend not to see what they see when they look out into the world we have made for them.
We still tell them they can be president, and they see that the top job is still reserved for rich white men. They also see that, with brilliant blacks holding multiple college degrees, a mediocre white man of average intelligence (George W. Bush!) gets to run the world. And despite all the lofty declarations of equality, few people will seriously entertain a different ethnic choice.
I suspect that black males see that, among African-Americans who boast sterling college credentials, many still appear to be beaten down.
Moreover, there is an appalling paradox concerning higher education in America and black males that is virtually impossible for young people to overlook. That paradox is this: We say we cherish educational opportunity, but as the recent Michigan affirmative action battle demonstrates, what we say and do are different things. Nowadays, blacks entering the nation's top schools often are haunted by suspicion and nasty lawsuits that essentially challenge their right to be in school.
Yet black male athletes are wooed by those same elite universities. And they receive a hero's welcome, with no fuss about test scores and grade-point averages.
As much as we adults promote the value of scholarship, the truth is, America has always sent a clear message to young black males that they are valued and rewarded anywhere except the educational arena.
Maybe that's why young black boys are so obsessed with athletics and entertainment. In the glamorized view of the young, it appears that, beyond street hustlers, Michael Vick and Snoop Dogg define success for young black men.
It's hardly a coincidence that the first black millionaire, an actor called Stepin' Fetchit, was paid handsomely to play demeaning screen roles as a stereotypically stupid, subservient black man. And today, as we insist to young people that education rules, they see rap stars making millions by saying the most ignorant thing that comes to mind.
We've made great educational strides, but still the black people awarded the most wealth and public acclaim are those who come prepared to sing a song or bounce a ball.
So why do we expect young black boys to look into the world and see something other than what's really there?
For black adults, there is a wide range of valid and complicated reasons, including the stubborn belief that nothing -- not even excessive wealth -- beats a solid education. And of course, our history of struggle also plays a role: In the past, black people always strived to achieve, even when there was no visible evidence of impending rewards.
If we are really to get to the heart of the challenge of motivating young males to excel in school, we have to seriously weigh the impact of the mixed messages that young people ingest. Yes, there is far more opportunity now, but there are still too many glaring educational contradictions that boost the appeal of the streets, the rap CD or the long shot at the NBA.
For African-Americans, getting a better handle on what is going on with our young people also may require those of us who are college-trained to take a critical look at ourselves. As I move about Atlanta, I see many well-heeled blacks who seem content to enjoy the fruits of civil rights gains, but feel no obligation to give anything back. And when I look at us, I often wonder: Do we represent inspiring examples of what it means to be educated?
Judging from the lyrics in their music, our young people see us as passive and self-absorbed.
These are neither easy nor pleasant issues to entertain. But we have to be willing to take these matters on in all the complexity that our history demands.
This does not mean we should ease the pressure on young black males to excel in school. And certainly we must continue to mentor and get involved as parents in helping improve education across the board.
Perhaps most important, we need to examine this educational challenge from the vantage point of the people we seek to help -- young black males. If we do, we might realize that there is no lack of logic guiding them. We might also discover that they are, in fact, motivated -- not by what adults tell them is true but by what they see is so.
They also see that, with brilliant blacks holding multiple college degrees,
[multiple college degrees in frivilous subjects mean nothing. Save your boasting about your journalism, education, urban studies, etc. degrees. I'm not impressed.]
a mediocre white man of average intelligence (George W. Bush!) gets to run the world.
[and doing a damn fine job of it]
And despite all the lofty declarations of equality, few people will seriously entertain a different ethnic choice.
[This is one white guy who would vote for a conservative black man or women in a heartbeat, but never for an "African American". Heck, if Condi Rice comes around on the abortion issue and runs, I'll register as a Republican!]
Every time I read that word, I know it's a communist who wrote it. I hate that word. Why struggle with such basic values as work? Or ethics? Or work ethics? And why struggle for so many years?
Why not talk up the idea of working to serve others, and, by the way, finding that, in doing so, your life becomes valuable and validated? Like Kennedy said: "not what your country can do for you; ...what you can do for your country." Interpolate. "Work NOT for how it will aggrandize YOU; work because it's the right thing to DO". Struggle my ass.
None is so blind as he who will not see.
Professor McCall does a disservice to his students...and to his own race.
For some blacks,a major source of black oppression today is their own attitude.
My brother-in-law is going through this with his black "foster/ Big Brother" (long story) son. Sent him to military school where he received great grades. Now after 2 years in a public high school in the D.C. area, he's know longer passing and saying education isn't cool, it's a white thing. Sooo his butt's back in military school this fall and we're hoping for the best.
Bullshit. If Colin Powell wanted to run for President, he would have as good a chance of anybody of being elected. If Condi Rice wanted to run for VP (to get some stronger credentials for the top job), and then President, she would have a good chance of getting elected.
Oh, but Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice don't exist, do they?
What a disappointment of an article. I thought I was going to read about something like the difference that mentors can make for young black boys. Instead I wasted my time on this crap.
Sounds like military school is by far the best place for his butt to be.
Some people cherish their victimhood. McCall is one of those people.
In a race between Condi and Hillary Clinton, this man and millions like him would vote for the white Democrat. All because Condi wouldn't genuflect to the God that Failed: the Democratic Party.
My observations about black politics and the treatment of Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, and Condi Rice by the black leadership leads me to two conclusions: the black community is possessed of a reactionary, monolithic political culture. In addition, that culture is Stalinist in nature.
The black political community is monolithic because they do not split their vote and instinctively vote for the white Democrat. It is reactionary because above all communities, the black community fears change. This is why an Al Gore can peddle the fiction that Republican devotion to original intent jurists is an updated form of counting black people as 3/5 of a man. That kind of assertion plays on black fears of white violence and state terror (that this white violence and state terror was exercised by Democratic Party regimes in the South Gore does not mention....).
But I mentioned Stalinism. Those who disagree with the General Line, such as a Rice or a Walter Williams, are exiled. They are held in contempt, considered "out of the mainstream". It's as if the Papacy was reacting to dissident clerics, or Papa Joe and Beria were sending the Zeks off to the Kolyma.
There is a price for being a black conservative. That price is exile, and sometimes, hatred. The path of the dissident is sometimes hard.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
I'll say.
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