"You are your own worst enemy" comes to mind. Inner city living breeds a certain mentality and peer group and a black child must be born with fierce independence in order to overcome the mental drowsiness that is encouraged by the peer group AND by the political power structure involved who are usually black democrats. The 'inner city' is the perfect democrat model of the slave plantation of old. Keep the workers ignorant and stupid and at each other's throats.
The soft bigotry of low expectations.
As long as the street life looks good, and the bling message of 50 Cent and his like hits home: "Get Rich or Die Tryin'", there's no incentive to achieve. Academics? Why bother, when the prototypical stereotype for young Black males is the athlete, and for the females, the sensual concubine with an in-your-face attitude and brains or talent--or, the pure, crass object of serial one-nighters?
That Condi Rice was blasted even by many in the Black community speaks volumes. That conservative Black speakers and thinkers says more. That Black students engage in fights with Asians and Somalis and Hispanics and Whites says that the efforts at diversity and multiculturalism are not only trashy edicts imposed as though by foolish administrators, AKA, 'The Man,' but also that the efforts to instill a love of learning stops as students enter the school door.
Say what you like. The engendered comprehension of the thing that is race as a determining factor is, oddly enough, on the ascendent among American Blacks in large part at the same time it has waned among many Whites. To use race as an excuse, as in phrases such as "my nigga," as unacceptable by either Hispanics or especially Whites, but not by Blacks, mocks all fields dedicated to ______________ Studies as they have existed since the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Most painfully, for those of us who have treasured a tolerant view of the world, the rank intolerance many have experienced in our own country while working among Blacks is enough to force an angry silence that is waiting to be heard.
Enough of the billions spent to counteract poverty. Except for the safety nets that are needed, studying the poor does nothing to help. The force of poverty is such that infusions of cash historically flush as though they were cases of Wild Turkey, even though they be Crystal. Frankly, the race of the poor person matters little. As long as that person thinks he is poor, so shall he be.