"He said at some point in time you can't continue to blame white people for every problem that black people may have, and I agree with that."Mfume then stressed that point in time is far, far in the future, and a galaxy far, far away.
I have a good friend who is a third grade school teacher in the local public school system, in a low-income district. When he started the position, he was an unabashed liberal, a card-carrying leftist. His years of experience in this district are causing him to slowly come around, away from the "it takes a village" point of view.
The stories he tells me would break your heart. Daily he deals with really bright children, disadvantaged simply because they are handicapped with reprehensible parents; eight-year-olds who don't get picked up after school because their guardian is sleeping off a good drunk at five in the afternoon. No fathers to provide support or be role models. The vast, overwhelming majority of the social and behavioral problems in these kids can be traced directly to the absence of parental guidance and support. Kids whose parents won't spring $2.50 for the cost of a field trip, yet will show up to pick up their kid dressed as if they're attending a Hollywood Ball. (He and I have a standing agreement that I will pick up the costs.) Eight-year-olds so filled with anger and hate its difficult to imagine.
Those who think this is a "black" issue are sorely mistaken. Parents who abandon their children to be raised by the government nanny cut across every line in the sand you could care to draw. The one common denominator my friend and I have seen in all the kids saddled with social and behavioral problems is the lack of personal responsibility in the parents. Almost without fail, their home lives are utterly messed up.
Many parents play the "my child has a learning disability" game. It it a way for them to obtain additional government assistance. Some of the parents are actually quite clever at manipulating the system this way.
Bill Cosby is right on the mark with his comments. The only mistake he made here is allowing the interpretation to be made that this is a problem divided along racial lines. It is not.
