This book is an effort to view the African American experience from a third person perspective: How the wider world views their challenges.
When we know what is wrong, we can help make it right. The anger African Americans feel is legitimate. The sense of loss of many is valid. The consequences for the deprivations they have suffered cannot be disputed. Then, how can we make it right?
African Americans have come very far. They give themselves less credit than they deserve. Given the odds against them, and the limited resources at their disposal, they are indeed doing comparatively better than others through their personal efforts. But there are some who still need more prodding to catch up with the rest.
There are different reasons some African Americans give for their inability or unwillingness to furnish themselves to the discipline of success. A lot of them may be legitimate. They range from blaming themselves, to assailing the white man. They aggress the 'system, ' and assault their own. Mental slavery is accused, and the foreigners are suspected. If all fails, religion is marched against, or Africans take the dreg.
Indeed the African American has been broken. However, it is not enough to constrain ourselves to hopelessness because of the traumatic exposure our ancestors suffered. When we understand that the trauma has not decimated in any way the fundamental human characteristics of the African American, it flourishes hope. The experience may have deprived the people of some fundamental building blocks; the cultural predispositions needed for competitiveness in a boisterous and demanding social market place. Nevertheless, it did not, and has not affected their ability to rebuild and accomplish. It may take longer, or a different route, but African Americans can become more competitive in a relatively shorter time than is now believed.
The intention of this book has also been to point out soft spots and weak links that may have been over looked. These are necessary essentials in the efforts at enabling African Americans to take their rightful place in the new American order. It intends to empower individuals to take full responsibility for their destiny moving forward. It challenges them to tell their own story in their own language, the way it fits their purpose, in a way that works for them. After all, it is their story.
