The other day, I gave readers the opportunity to provide some solid and substantiated reasons why they feel Minister Louis Farrakhan has not only earned the title of “Person of the Year” by viewers of BET and beyond, but widely considered a “leader” in the black community. There are quite of few people who visit this site on a daily basis who I thought would have had a lot to share simply because from time to time use Farrakhan as a point of reference, but unfortunately all was relatively quiet. I did get a few responses, but NONE provided any of the solid and substantiated reasons that I requested.

As I began to really think about this over the weekend, it reminded me of a post I did some time ago (The Dumbing-Down of our Race) regarding the lack of critical reasoning that I see in my own community (there are some of you who will be very quick to bring up the point that whites are no better in this department. For once, let’s forget what whites are/are not doing and talk about us for a minute).

What really gave me fuel for this particular post was an article I recently came across. Here is an excerpt:

The current education system is a failure designed to hold back blacks and the poor and should be thrown out, Minister Louis Farrakhan told hundreds on Friday, the second day of the National Black Peoples Unity Convention.

“This is not an accident,” said Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam. “Black people all over America and all over the world, there’s something wrong with the way we have been trained in a white supremacist educational, religious, political, sociological environment. You have never been trained to succeed.”

The message appeared to resonate strongly with the audience, who gave Farrakhan a standing ovation and crowded around him following his speech at Gary West Side High School.

Farrakhan urged people to have the courage not to perpetuate the lie that the system works for everyone, citing statistics that 30 percent of children who graduate are functional illiterates and more black children, particularly boys, are dropping out of high school.

“Stop telling your people that if you work hard, you will achieve,” he said. “If you work hard, you will achieve if they open the doors for you to achieve. The door doesn’t open for everyone.”

Instead of trying to transform the system, Farrakhan called on people to develop a new education system to free themselves as well as Hispanics, Native Americans and the white poor. (more…)

While I agree with Farrakhan ’s assesment that the public school system has a poor job in the black community, I am wondering if he addressed some of OUR OWN contributing factors to this disturbing trend in public schools. I wonder if he mentioned the study that shows that the black communty leads all other ethnic groups in this country on TV viewership? How about our poor reading habits? What about PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT? Making just about ANY issue that pertains to the social ills of black America into some sort of secret government conspiracy will in most cases have much traction in the black community–NO QUESTIONS ASKED!!

Unfortunately, we see later that when it came down to the specifics, the response was very different:

“He did not go into specifics of how the new system might work.

Most of the audience did not stick around for a discussion of how to address problems in education held after Farrakhan spoke.”

If you think that this only applies to followers of Farrakhan, think again. This same thing can be seen in most churches where a preacher can preach his heart out about how to have a good marriage, how to raise Godly kids, the importance of giving money, etc. What seems to be a rarity in these circles is a demand to hold a pastor/preacher/minister/bishop, whatevah to what he/she preaches. As long as they have mastered the art of “telln’ it like it is”, many just give this person a complete pass. If there is a low expectancy to hold “leaders” accountable in our own community, why then should they be given the okay to formulate our political outlook if they are not being held accountable to their spiritual responsibilities?

Many of who we consider as “spokesmen” for the black community have either strong ties or have shown support for Socialist and even Communist governments and organizations. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but a little research will show that these two ideologies have NEVER been favorable towards blacks in the long run, but are always favorable to those with wealth and influence. Just throw in a few scriptures, some references to old hymns, and quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. and many in the black community will overlook the dark history of these associations.

If you read the book Color, Communism and Common Sense written by former Communist party member Manning Johnson (a free online version can be found here), you will see for yourself how these political ideologies have blended their message with the social (and even spiritual) message of the black segment of the church here in America.

What has greatly disappointed me as a black man is the lack of true and public introspection in the black political spectrum. Like I eluded to earlier, in many cases as long as a black politican can either: Make the “US verses THEM” case, prove that he/she has ties to the Civil Rights movement of the 1950/60’s, posess the ability to preach (even if it just a little bit), knows how and when to use scripture, they will in most cases not have a problem gaining the black vote. As black people, we need to KNOW EXACTLY the people that claim to represent our interests. This is why I have started my info-series on the Congressional Black Caucus–not to shame or humiliate, just to show you the full picture. How many black oriented web sites will provide us with this type of information in a way that allows you to formulate your own opinion? There should be websites like Project Vote Smart, Opensecrets.org, Follow the Money and others that target those we consider “our” leaders.  If we can delve into the backgounds and associations of white politicians and leaders, why not do the same with our own with the same tenacity? But of course ANY public questioning on the backgrounds of those that claim to represent us will be quickly dismissed as an attack against the black community.