I'm sorry I'm a little slow this morning, exactly what do you mean when you say the Democrats give "lip service"?
By that I mean that the democrats promise everything for or to the Blacks, but these promises have failed to deliver or to produce the desired results.
I strongly believed that success is not dependent on or hindered by race, especially in this day and age. Yes, there are exceptions and there are still bigots out there. But the key to success for anyone is two things:
Hard work and education.
Until community leaders take the profit out of failure, the Democrats will continue to count on the Black vote as being theirs and not do anything to try and improve the racial disharmony that is being fostered by the likes of charlatans like Sharpton and multimillionaire Jesse.
What do I mean by "profit out of failure"?
Scholarships for the undeserving (Georgia for example), intimidation lawsuits and phony settlements (Jackson-Budweiser and Toyota), affirmative action.
BTW: God bless your son. Mine just got out after four years and Navy tours for Iraq and Afghanistan (USS Lincoln). Good to have him home!