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Victors, Not Victims
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20107 |
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Section : |
BOOK WORLD
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| Issue
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2 / 1992 |
2,439 Words |
| Author
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Errol Smith
Errol Smith is a professional speaker, successful
entrepreneur, and author of 37 Things Every Black Man Needs to
Know (St. Clair Rene Publishing). Smith has been named among
Success Guide's "top ten to watch" in 1992. |
These are unprecedented times for African Americans. At no other time in the history of this country have so many black men and women achieved so much. Those great freedom fighters and civil rights leaders who have long since departed would undoubtedly be amazed at the fruits of their efforts. Yes, to those who first saw that glass of water as half full, evidence of black progress abounds. Armed Forces Chief Colin Powell, magadeal-maker Reginald Lewis, award-winning talk show host Oprah Winfred, and entertainer extraordinaire Bill Cosby are leaders of a class of African Americans who have confounded conventional wisdom and upset the odds to ascend to the pinnacle of their respective fields.
These are the children of Dr.Martin Luther King's dream, which he shared with Americans twenty-eight years ago on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. They are the black men and women he hoped would one day live in an America that would judge them by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. America, he prayed, would soon wake up from its own dream and recognize the implausibility of attempting to make some men more equal then others.
But lurking in the shadows of these towering black superheroes, we see a sharply contrasting picture--a picture of disillusionment, despair, and a dream unfulfilled.
As we examine the African-American experience up close, a startling reality is revealed. In the twenty-five-plus years of the civil rights struggle, a segment of the black community has made extraordinary progress while another segment has not only stood still but has, in fact, lost ground. How is it that neither King's dream nor the American dream has come true for these Americans? How is it that some black men and women have managed to rise above it all, while others have realized no progress in the wake of the vast array of entitlements, set--asides, and affirmative action programs, made available by the gods over the past two and a half decades?
This paradox has arrested the attention of many, both within and outside of the African-American community. This review focuses on a pivotal question: What is it that makes the difference? Do those blacks who succeed simply beat the odds of a racist society, or is the ability to succeed despite the odds the product of something internal, external, or both? This is the backdrop on which Audry Edwards and Craig Polite present their research in Children of the Dream, an ambitious effort to uncover the psychology of black
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