Mychal Massie and His ‘Ilk’
According to William Reed, president of Black Press International and writing for “ethnic media,” our country will never achieve “an idyllic post-racial” state until we close any and all wealth, income, education, and health care gaps that exist between blacks and everyone else. (Source)
Reed contends that the “culture of victimization,” which I and others believe is strongly correlated to these gaps, is a faulty premise. He criticizes conservative commentator Mychal Massie and his “ilk” for “insisting” that blacks themselves bear the burden of reducing these gaps. The victim mentality perpetuates the cycle of underachievement.
Well, that’s how I see it.
What Reed and other black liberal types fail to grasp is this: to change the way people think and behave, to give them an incentive to improve themselves, you must empower them. Part of that empowerment is to “own” your part in failures and underachievement. It does little good, in my view, to point fingers elsewhere and discourage people from taking responsibility for their actions, actions which not only perpetuate and widen the gaps, but that are passed on to future generations. Self-defeating behavior begets self-defeating behavior.
I am part of Massie’s “ilk” and share his belief that blacks themselves mainly are responsible for their lot in life, and the culture of victimization indeed keeps them from success.
