Gregory Freeman: Not Trying Is Not The Answer. 7/25/1993

Headline: NOT TRYING IS NOT THE ANSWER
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Sun., Jul. 25, 1993
Section: NEWS, Page: 4C, Edition: FIVE STAR

CAN WE GET beyond the bitterness?
I ask that question as I think about some of the people I know - African-Americans who are so bitter about the hand that life has dealt them that they can hardly function.
Racism is an ugly, painful obstacle to achieving success for many blacks in this country. It often stands in the way, daring anyone of color to jump over it. Some make it over, drawing on their inner courage. Others manage to go around it, finding alternative methods of succeeding. Still others give up, figuring it's useless.

It's to those who give up that I address this column today.
   In this country, perhaps no one knows better than the African-American what it feels like to be denied access based on the color of one's skin.
   For centuries, it has been the black person who has not been welcomed to this country when the Statue of Liberty implored the rest of the world to "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free . . ."
   When those of other, non-native backgrounds think of their ancestors who first came to this country, they can recall that America opened her arms to accept them. It may have been difficult for them once they arrived here, they may have lived in poverty for decades, but they were welcomed to America, almost always to find a better life here.
   African-Americans, most of whose ancestors came here in slavery, found less of a welcome. They were looked upon by many much in the same category as farm animals. In some cases, the farm animals were treated better.

Even today, with all of the civil rights laws that are on the books, African-Americans often find it much more difficult to succeed in this society than do some whose skin color is lighter.
   Despite all of the noise made about affirmative action laws on the books, blacks still have the highest unemployment rate in the country. If that many blacks were getting what some critics have dubbed "preferential treatment, " the black unemployment rate would be much lower than 13.3 percent, nearly double the overall rate of 7 percent.
   And 130 years after slavery was outlawed, some politicians still win elections by playing the race card.
   No one can look at the plight of black Americans today and seriously suggest that racism has not played a significantly negative role.

African-Americans, then, have every right to be bitter.
But such bitterness is perhaps the most destructive emotion.
That bitterness often has led to an unhealthy amount of apathy. Countless black Americans have simply given up, rather than giving their all to succeed.

And although that number is hardly the majority of African-Americans, it is a number significant enough to cause concern.
   Why?
   They are the ones who often try to discourage other blacks from succeeding by telling them that their efforts are a waste of time, that they are selling out or "trying to be white" by giving their all.
   They are the ones who use peer and other pressure to discourage black youngsters from studying hard. Young black students often must choose to either endure the taunts of those who have given up or to submit, becoming part of the negative crowd.
   But the negativeness, the apathy, the sense of hopelessness all play into the hands of those who would prefer not to see African-Americans succeed anyway.

It's unfortunate that some people are so shallow, but there's no question that a significant number of whites - though by no means a majority - believe that blacks now have equal treatment, equal laws and equal rights as whites in this country and are now somehow trying to "take over."
Those are the individuals who smile when blacks themselves give up after concluding that the system is so stacked against them that there's no use in trying.
One fewer person to worry about in the job market, those individuals conclude.

Times continue to be tough. Jobs are often hard to come by. Many black Americans have been dealt a bad hand.
   But that doesn't mean that giving up's the answer. That will not improve anything.
   Others have been dealt bad hands, too. Those with mental or physical disabilities have been dealt a bad hand. Many Hispanics have been dealt a bad hand. Even women in this country have been dealt a bad hand.
   But in life, as in cards, one shouldn't automatically throw in the cards.

It's important to get beyond the bitterness. Life goes on regardless of whether we choose to participate.
But by choosing to involve ourselves, by deciding not to give up, by striving for success, we at least afford ourselves the opportunity to leave an imprint that will show that we were here and that we tried.
And no one was ever faulted for trying.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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