A Change in the Black Culture in the USA

They had a meeting yesterday regarding black culture in the USA today.  I think its purpose was to provide black elders to encourage their youth to hang in there!  There's some 56% of black youths ages, 16-19, unemployed, I understand; a bit less for older youths.

I think the problem in the black culture today stems from black history in America.  It's that blacks came to this country as slaves.  That means by definition that the women might lead separate lives from the men.  That heritage lives on even today in the black kids' attitudes about themselves, especially, regarding their future jobs in American society. They don't think their career interests, if any, have any relevance to what they will do in life.   

There's two steps that might be taken that I believe could help rectify the situation, granting that integration in housing is a long way off.  Be it noted, that neither blacks nor, I'm sorry to say, whites want the other race in their neighborhoods.  I know--I, a white retired male, tried to live in Washington, DC on at least 4 separate occasions, which for me meant living among blacks; and I got the cold shoulder from them implied by looks and aggressive youths' actions--"Get out!

John Dewey an American philosopher argued in the middle of the previous century that everyone should be future oriented in their thinking.  His dictum: forget about the past (a stance the Republicans are woeful to take) and forge ahead!  Applying this notion to the black culture of today, I think the blacks should be forward looking.  Importantly with respect to establishing a plan for a child's development, a black child should begin to think from the get-go, say age 3, about his future adult role in society.  His parent(s) and educators should ask him, "What do you want to do when you grow up?  Would you like to become an electronics repairman?"  And they should remind him of what society's expectations are to be that kind of adult.  At every stage in his development, he should modify his answer to this question in light of his own personal changes in interests, capabilies and talents.

Years ago, white parents were inculcated by their parents to ask this question of their own children in the spirit of pledging support:  "What do you want to be?  If you want to become a lawyer, we'll back you every step of the way, so you can fulfill your dream--as much as we can.  Just tell us what job you want in your future. "  It was the way families and schools helped their kids realize their wants and needs in society.  And, ministers promised from the pulpit that "God has a plan for your life.  All you have to do is commit yourself to the Lord and let him lead you."

Stern discipline falls on deaf ears of black youths.

The second step I advocate, though I'm not certain how it would work, is to "guarantee" the racial mingling of kids and young adults on projects involving team cooperation. That way, kids of different races can learn to trust each other. This has been demonstrated in the military by co-mingling, but unfortunately because of an all-volunteer military, the races don't develop that team spirit which should permeate American society.  Going back to a compulsory military service would, I believe, alleviate the situation to a remarkable degree--even as the Israelis insist that their youth serve in the military.

Of the two ideas, I think a cadre of future-looking blacks would change the cultural mode of thinking and acting from that of allowing kids to wallow in the present to, instead, encouraging them to plan and pursue their own employment futures in American society (which, by the way, is a source of their own self-identity).  It's a little thing, but sometimes the little things have the greatest impact.  After all, the USA is forward-looking in business: both in its enterprises undertaken and its investments made.