@ Kay Dub

Integration, assimilation, enculturation?
Has it helped Blacks in America?
Sure, some - but it has harmed others.
Before Integration the literacy levels among Blacks in America was higher than those today.
http://4brevard.com/choice/Public_Education.htm
(The book and longer paper goes into more detail.)
What happened?


When I was in elementary school our district was trying to find the best way to educate Blacks within the city.
Some educators thought that the gifted children should be separated into their own class with accelerated studies.
This worked out well for the gifted children but the rest of the Blacks suffered.
Later, the methodology was to place two or three token Blacks in every classroom to help the other Black children learn and acculturate.
This worked out well in raising the average of all children but the gifted children suffered.

Which is better?
The average of the whole or the excellence of the few?
The city became more and more integrated but many stayed within their old communities spending their earnings on making their neighborhoods better.
But the city now has a Black population which is better educated and just as 'paid' as the city as a whole.
With a concerted and deliberate effort, Integration can benefit those which it was intended to help.


I now live in a town which was not formally fully integrated until 1983.
The "Three P's" (Petroleum, Ports and Prisons) are the major industries for those with a marginal education.
Many from an earlier generation (with only a high school diploma) make $100k+ annually.
The Black community has plenty of money but little wealth.
Maybe it is that the scars of Segregation are too fresh.
Maybe too many are first generation middle class who never learned the concept of "inheritance".
Maybe too many did well financially without advanced schooling so education was never stressed.

But there is now a problem with this mentality.
Most of the Three P jobs now require at least an Associates Degree to get hired.
The literacy levels and test scores of young Blacks here are far below those of Asians and whites who attend the same schools and whose parents have similar jobs.
The next generation is only prepared for poverty and disappointment.
Most of those who did better left their old communities.
With the detachment from ones community two classes were developed - one which has no money and no power, and another which has (a little) money but no power.


Wash Your Own Plate.
I run into people who think they are good parents because they teach their children to was their own plate after they've dirtied it.
But this thinking is wrong.
This thinking teachers everyone to only think of themselves.
This thinking develops into the "Get Yours" posturing heard in today's Southern influenced hip-hop.
This thinking may help one get through the struggles of getting out of the hood but this thinking does not translate well at the next levels of the social strata.


Good teams win championships (Lakers, Celtics, even the boring Spurs) - not good players (Has Iverson ever won a championship or Gold medal?).
This is why I teach the youngin's that if they see something that needs to be done that it is their responsibility to do it.
I have many parents argue with me that this is the "White Way" of doing things.
But they are wrong - this is the successful way of doing things.
Much of the hood is the hood because many of those who understood the value of the group, of teamwork, moved out.
Much of what is left are the selfish and the greedy who propagate another generation of the selfish and greedy.


Major Malfunction.
As I said, much of what was created were two classes - those with no assets and no power,
and those with some assets but no power.
Sure, we have the anomalous Tiger Woods, Oprah, Bob Johnson or Tyler Perry - but on the whole there are very few who have the volition to create their own empires (even if they are on a micro-scale) which limit their reliance on a group, institution or world view which may not have their best interests at heart.
Many from the new middle class wish to distance themselves from the lower classes.

I don't know... maybe many feel that they are better than those from which many are only one generation removed.
Maybe they don't wish to have their newly minted (but tenuous status) soiled by association with "those other Blacks".
But these same Blacks are missing the point.
They overlook the fact that their families' wealth was probably created by association and innovation from these same Blacks.
The overlook the fact that they probably created wealth through their interaction and membership within the larger group.
Many have just forgotten from whence they came.


This is a problem because it leaves a major void in the culture as a whole.
This is like expecting a man to live when he only has his head and his feet (Even these parts will die off).


(Okay... It's oversimplified but I hope you get the gist of what I'm attempting to say.)