African Americans Moving into the 21st Century: Accepting the Responsibility for Our Own Destiny

Abstract

In this motivational address, the 1994 Charles H. Thompson Lecture-Colloquium keynote speaker notes t rift between members of the African American middle and upper classes and those in the so-called underclass, and suggests means for bridging this gap. She maintains that if conditions within the Black community are to improve, African Americans must first take individual and collective responsibility for their destinies by examining their strengths and weaknesses, attacking negative stereotypes and societally imposed feelings of inferiority, learning about African and African American history and culture, and reinvesting in themselves spiritually and intellectually as well as professionally and economically. Today am probably going to say some things that will upset some of you, affirm some of you, and make many of you feel uncomfortable, but ask that as speak to you, that you not only hear my words but hear your words in response to my words; and that you tune in to your feelings about your words and feelings as you listen to me. It is your thoughts and feelings that can make this moment count. When we are working on any weakness, we always try to find the easy way out. When we go on a diet and don't lose weight, do we blame? Why, the diet, of course] We usually say, I knew that whatever diet was no good] Next week am going on the whatever else diet. Then, when that one fails, we go to another. Now, don't think am the only person in this category, but have my share of diet books, and have my Nordic Track, my Thigh-Master, my rowing machine, and my weight-loss meditation tapes--all because refuse to accept the indisputable fact that there is a strong correlation between caloric intake and getting fat. know that none of these diet aids are going to work. also know that until do the right thing--that is, cut down on my food intake--and then do it until the problem is conquered, there will be no change. In the same vein, if we African Americans are to take responsibility for our own destiny, we have to stop shucking and jiving and half-stepping and accept the indisputable fact: that until we take responsibility for our own destiny, there will be no positive change in our condition. We must never forget that we are from a long line of survivors and that we have a responsibility to keep our families and communities intact, to work hard, to acquire knowledge, and, above all, to believe in ourselves. We must listen to the voices of the past and attempt to truly understand what those great Black minds of old were trying to tell us. In the preface to Visions of a Better Way, published by the Joint Center for Political Studies (1989), John Hope Franklin notes Frederick Douglass's words of more than 100 years ago. According to Douglass: If we are ever elevated, our elevation will have been accomplished through our own instrumentality. No people that has solely depended upon outside aid ever stood forth in the attitude of Freedom (p. vi). In that same book, Franklin points out that, more than 50 years ago, W. E. B. DuBois declared that the progress and ultimate positive resolution of the struggle for racial in the United States would depend on the contributions of Blacks themselves who would use their knowledge and skills in economics, in social policy, in public administration, and in political theory and practice, as weapons in the ongoing struggle for social justice (p. vi). Many of us in this room are members of DuBois's talented tenth, that 10% of Black America will achieve an education that will enable them to succeed in America. DuBois envisioned that, with education, we African Americans would move throughout the larger society, eventually utilizing our tools, talents, and resources to uplift and provide hope for the entire Black community. Today's Black middle class has in fact exceeded DuBois's prophecy in terms of educational and economic gains. …