Booker T. Washington, who rose from slavery to become the nation’s first widely recognized black leader, once warned against what he called "problem profiteers" among our nation’s black community. "There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public," observed Washington. "Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not...
