Monday, August 21, 2006

I totally agree with Juan Williams???

"Banish the Bling" at the WaPo:

"Have we taken our eyes off the prize? The civil rights movement continues, but the struggle today is not so much in the streets as in the home -- and with our children. If systemic racism remains a reality, there is also a far more sinister obstacle facing African American young people today: a culture steeped in bitterness and nihilism, a culture that is a virtual blueprint for failure."

This past weekend I was standing with a group of white college kids waiting to cross the street when a car pulled up ahead of us and parked. It's bumper sticker said "Good people come in all colors." Someone read it out loud and another voice in the back said, "And bad people only come in one color." Everyone laughed. I turned around to say something and caught my daughter's desperate look of "please don't embarrass me" and I didn't say anything. I learned a long time ago that it's useless to try to argue with smart alec kids in a group anyway. But it stayed on my mind, this generation that grew up with diversity and yet still has a stereotype of black people. Reading this article of Juan Williams helps explain why there is still this stereotype. Although I have had friends and co-workers of all colors who are smart, intelligent, and living the American dream, many black Americans don't live the American dream. We have to ask ourselves why given all the strides the black community has made in the last 30 years. I think Juan Williams answers it pretty well.