The Black Informant

For whatever reason, the recent article that I posted on this site back on Thursday regarding Prince George’s County, Md. has been on my mind for a good part of the weekend. I have long maintained that public schools in mostly Black communities tend to be nothing more than lab experiments and this article I believe may underscore my suspicion. When you put the following two excerpts together, I think that it shows a very interesting picture of “America’s Wealthiest Black County”

From Ebony Magazine (2006)

“In the mid 1800s, it was home to slave plantations and tobacco farms. But gone are the days of Black subservience along the banks of the Potomac River in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Today, African-Americans in the suburban enclave east of Washington, D.C., are planting their own seeds of power and wealth, enjoying–in numbers never before seen in this country-luxuries like championship golf courses, Olympic-size swimming pools, horseback riding stables and ice-skating training centers.

With the distinction of being the richest majority African-American county in the country, Prince George’s County is more than a place to live. For the 500,000 or so Black county residents–many of whom are in occupations that range from doctors and lawyers to hotel owners and restaurateurs–it is home to a social, economic and political movement that has turned the typical American hierarchy on its ear, and, if handled correctly, could reverberate for generations to come.

In fact, the county’s unique position is so intriguing that publishing giant Doubleday recently published P.G. County, a steamy fictional novel that takes readers into a well-heeled world where millionaire Blacks are central characters.

In the real Prince George’s County, the people are just as intriguing. The county ranks in the top 2 percent in the nation in income level, and in people who are employed in executive jobs. Two-thirds of its work force are in white-collar professions, many of whom have plunked down huge sums of money to live in the county where the average price for a new home is more than $700,000, with many fetching more than $1 million.” (source)

In the same county…

(gazette.net) “Prince George’s County’s recent economic prosperity could be jeopardized unless African-American males, who make up a sizable portion of the future workforce, make greater strides in academic achievement, business advocates and educators say.

African-American males make up 39 percent of the county’s public school population, or nearly 52,000 students, and they have among the lowest rates of academic achievement.” (source)

So far, only 3 of us have been chatting about this on the original post, but I would like to see input from others who are in the know of what’s going on in PG county. The links on that post (including the article excerpt I placed in one of my comments) should provide you with some general information about the school system.

In any event, I just feel that this is a very serious issue that is too important for us to just treat as just another news item. Please feel free to post links to related articles that could shed some more light on this issue.