South of the James

By Conaway B. Haskins III

Black Athlete Sports Network, February 28, 2005

If someone had told Scott Yancy that he would be making his debut as an exempt player on the 2005 Hooters Tour, he may have laughed them off. A 23 year-old African American cell phone salesman and part-time professional golfer, this Glen Carbon, IL native made it to the finals of The Golf Channel’s popular reality show, “The Big Break II” televised in the last part of 2004. Being a Big Break finalist earned him an exemption on to the Hooters Tour - a professional circuit below the PGA Tour but which has produced a number of top-notch professionals - for 2005. “My goal on the Hooters Tour is to make all of the cuts and finish in the Top 20 on the money list. I plan to [play on tour] for a year.” Since the Big Break ended, he has not had a lot of time to play competitively. “The Hooters Tour is my first real playing experience since the show.”

Even with his status as a pro, Yancy is a relative newcomer to the game of golf. He says that his junior year of high school was the “first time I touched a golf club.” Still, he tried out for his school’s golf team that year, a squad that he claims is among the best high school squads in America.” He said that each year, there were “125 to 150 kids trying to make the cut for 6 or 7 spots [on the team].” He earned his way onto the team that year and played well.

Despite not winning any tournament, he played well enough to earn a scholarship offer from Kentucky State University, a Division II program. He says that his raw athletic ability and high school pedigree impressed the KSU coaches. At KSU, his lack of experience caught up with him to a degree. He says that he really felt “behind the 8 ball. I was one level above where I felt that I should be.” He stayed at KSU for a year, and following the Spring playing season of his freshman year, he transferred to Anderson University, a Division III school in Indiana. He felt more comfortable playing closer to home and his family, and the lower level of competition was easier for him to handle. He played for three more years, and in that time, was a member of teams that won conference championships.

His playing days at Anderson ended before he finished his degree requirements. After being offered an opportunity to play on the Gateway Tour, a pro circuit in the Southwestern US, he left Anderson one semester shy of graduating. He also got a chance to play in Canadian Tour and in Nationwide Tour events. Playing professionally for the first time, he met with limited success. To top it off, his financial sponsors went bankrupt, and he was “stranded. I had to call my folks to come and get me.” Stung from this experience, he went back to Anderson and enrolled in classes. He graduated in May 2004 with a degree in business administration.

He saw information about The Golf Channel’s initial season of the Big Break reality show during his last semester in college. His confidence was down after his aborted attempt as a pro. He sat in his apartment and even downloaded the application but “didn’t do anything.” The day before the application deadline, he mailed it in but was not hopeful. “I knew that I didn’t have the money to go to a tryout” he says.

To his surprise, The Golf Channel called him about going to tryouts being held in Indiana for a second season of the Big Break. He drove to the audition, and says that “everything just kind of clicked” for him. “They’d call shots, and I’d hit them. I did personal interviews in front of the camera and I felt comfortable. I had a feeling that I’d be on the show before the tryout was done.” When the Golf Channel cut the top 25 contestants down to 10, his intuition paid off. He was a finalist.

Yancy says that the “[Big Break II] experience was outstanding. I had one major goal - to have as much fun as possible.” He says that he didn’t expect to win because “I knew I wasn’t playing well. I didn’t want to frustrate myself.” Though he was eliminated in the early rounds of the show, he says that the experience of being on the Big Break “will help me continue to grow. I need time to mature.”

Speaking about his fellow competitors, Yancy says that “All the guys got along well, with the exception of Don because he was so intense. But, after the show, we got to know him and he was really nice.” In particular, he says that fellow African American contestant Jay McNair “is like a brother to me.” Playing was not easy for him, though. “There is no feeling like standing over a shot with 200 people and cameras flashing. It’s crazy pressure. I had no other time in my life with that kind of pressure.” He says that “there were times when I couldn’t get my right hand on the golf club.” However, he feels that this was ultimately beneficial to his long-term career. He says that now, “every tournament seems like a joke. The nervousness is gone.”

After the show Yancy returned to Glen Carbon to work for a Nextel distributor. They have become his primary sponsor, allowing him to work 16-20 hours per week while focusing on improving his golf game. “My primary goal is to find out how good I am. I’ve shot 62 in a tournament, 64, 65. I can play. The key is to unlock what it is to keep me playing well.”

Scott’s natural athletic ability has never been in question, but his relatively limited experience with big-time competition has been a source of intrigue and criticism from others. He says that people ask him “how have I moved up without winning tournaments.” He even acknowledges that his path to professional golf is anything but typical. Still he says that he intends to “keep working hard, keep believing in myself, and…pull it [a pro career] off.”

Yancy realizes that he needs to play more if he wants a legitimate shot at a full-time pro career. “I need to get more years under my belt. I just want a chance to prove that I can or can’t do this. My ultimate goal is to play on the PGA Tour…I was asked where I saw myself in 5 years. I said ‘as a rookie with full-exempt status on the PGA’”

Yancy looks forward to the upcoming tournament schedule, but money remains an obstacle for him. He estimates that a full season schedule will cost him at least $18,000 in entry fees plus travel expenses. He plans to save money in a number of ways including “sharing a room at the Super 8 with guys.” He is trying to develop a plan so that he can play in as many events as possible. “I’m working to put together some money and possibly play in 2 events soon. I have a group that wants to send me to [the PGA’s Qualifying School]. If I can just get a little bit of help to get in tournaments, I’ll play as long as I can.” Still, he is feeling the stress of being strapped for cash. “It sucks to get a full exemption but not be able to play” he admits.

Lately, Yancy has taken time to reflect on what it means to be one of the few African American golfers in the pro ranks. Despite making inroads into the industry, he notes that “Only 5 or 6 [Blacks] are on the PGA, Nationwide or Hooters Tours. I know all of the brothers who have a tour card.” He feels that Black golf pros like him have to serve as role models for aspiring youngsters coming into the game. “It is our responsibility to continue to play to bring more brothers into the field…Some guys are coming up but don’t have cards. There are not even 10 in the whole nation playing on a tour.”

Citing Lee Elder and newly-elected World Golf Hall of Fame member Charlie Sifford as his role models, Yancy wants to see more Blacks playing the game at all level, especially professionally. “Tiger brought a lot of folks to the game to watch. It’s our responsibility to keep going because there are so few of us” he says.

Yancy feels that the key to success as this stage in his career is attracting financial backing from individual and corporate sponsors. Professional golfers rely on backers to cover their travel and playing expenses in exchange for a percentage of their tournament earnings. Although his employer is supporting him in part, he is looking for another group to step up and invest in him. He says that, “it’s strange that [Black professional golfers] can’t get African American business owners as sponsors. We really, really need help. This is for the race as a whole. It’s what keeps me motivated.” To him, African American businesses and wealthy individuals are a natural source of financial backing for Black golf pros. However, he has not quite figured out a way to tap into this kind of support.

Despite the obstacles in his way, Yancy feels destined to make it as a pro golfer. Giving credit to divine intervention, he says, “I’m a religious guy. [Pro golf] is what I’m called to do. There’s a reason that doors keep opening. It’s what I’m destined to do.” Determined to live out his dream on the links, he laughs and says “I’ll stop when they cut my water off. That’s when I’ll have to give it up.”

by The Low Country & Chesapeake Society

February 27, 2005

Today, Tavis Smiley hosted a conference on the State of Black America in Georgia. We congratulate Mr. Smiley for holding the conference, and commend the effort to open this vital discourse. But this conference was flawed and lopsided because it only represented the viewpoints of the dominant civil rights establishment and traditional Black Democratic Party leaders. The conference did not represent the diversity of views of Black independents and Black Conservatives/Republicans.

Notwithstanding, the one-sided political discourse, the stated goal of the conference is to produce a “Covenant For Black America,” that will provide a political framework for Black progress. WE THEREFORE CHALLENGE TAVIS SMILEY AND HIS CONFEREES TO PRODUCE THE COVENENT THIS YEAR AND COME FORWARD IN THE LIGHT OF DAY TO DEBATE THIS COVENENT IN A FORMAL SETTING. WE CALL ON ALL BLACK AMERICANS THAT ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA TO SUPPORT THIS DEMAND FOR A OPEN FORMAL DEBATE IN 2005.

On Saturday, February 19, 2005, the new Black independent movement led by the Low Country and Chesapeake Society convened its conference ‘Completing Black America’s Unfinished Agenda’ in Silver Spring, Maryland. The conference was held to offer Black America a path to future advancement beginning with recommendations on the Role of the Black Church, Rebuilding Black Communities, America’s Foreign Policy and Stem Cell Research. Low County is scheduled to complete its work on these issues and others in August 2005 (see website) but we are prepared to go to debate at any time. Low Country Founder Webster Brooks made the following statement after observing the State of Black America Conference:

“Low Country is ready to debate the State of Black America with the organizers of Mr. Smiley’s effort. We call for a three-way debate on the “State of Black America” between Low Country representing Black Americas’ independent voice, representatives of Mr. Smiley’s “Covenant for Black America” and a representatives of the Republican Party or Black conservative community. We call for a one day debate to be held in October 2005 in Washington D.C. We call for negotiations to determine three (3) specific topics for debate, to be followed by a grand final debate on the general state of Black America between the leading representatives of these three trends. Unless Mr. Smiley believes his effort represented the diversity of views in Black America, his initiative must be considered just another high profile folly. Irrespective of political ideology and partisan considerations, the majority of Black Americans agree that we have an unfinished agenda. Mr. Smiley can demonstrate real courage and political leadership by agreeing to participate in a debate on the State of Black America. PRODUCE THE COVENANT, AND LET’S DEBATE IT.”

by Rev. Joseph Evans

What was the Black Church’s mission during and before Emancipation? In part, it seems that is was and is to teach literate value. In other words, we need to develop ways of teaching our congregations and communities how to value literacy. Literacy seems to be a primary concern of the Gospel message. It is the gospel that creates Christianity. Christianity is a culture where the Gospel’s message is nurtured and evolves. Christianity is at the root of Western civilization.

Therefore, Christianity not only leads to eternal salvation, it also intends to transform culture into an “Idea of a Christian society.” Everyone does not have to be a Christian to live in this society because Christianity itself envelopes democracy, the seedbed for Western Civilization. The Black Church must influence and persuade its citizens to invest into the value of Western literacy.

Four ways are necessary. First, African Americans must invest in literacy because it informs the total person. Secondly, literacy affords African Americans with an obligation to influence local culture on multiple issues. Thirdly, literacy insists that persons invest in Western economic theory. That is to say, African Americans must invest in generational economic change (akin to the pulling themselves up by their bootstraps). Fourthly, the Church must influence African Americans to further understand civic duty and engage in the political process, joining both parties, accepting both ideological perspectives, engaging in healthy debate for the hearts of the community, pursuing deliberate racial politics.

Literacy informs the total person. This is not meant to be understood only as formal education that us, but literacy is also a philosophical worldview. Booker Washington’s controversial line pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps seems to mean a philosophical support for individual accomplishment that aids in overcoming victimization.

John McWhorter, the newest conservative literacy intellectual and avant-garde, argues against victimization. “The charge that blacks engage in peddling victimhood is not new…Most importantly, all too often this is not done with a view toward forging solutions, but to foster and nurture an unfocused brand of resentment and sense of alienation from the mainstream. This is Victimology.” The black church therefore, must forge solutions that reduce alienation and frustrations by authoritatively insisting that individual accomplishment is necessary to afford group survival. In addition, the black church must influence its congregants to resists victimization by refusing to submit to group-muting theories.

Literacy obligates the total person to influence a local society and culture. In other words, philosophically, limited government creates a climate for local autonomy, for personal responsibility. For me, this is a doctrine of the Church - Baptist dogma that, except for the Bible, the local church has no sovereign authority over it. In fact, the local church’s authority is first, the Holy Scriptures. Secondly, as a black Baptist preacher, I am suspicious of any overbearing government because it once enslaved my race. Speaking before the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society, Frederick Douglass reminds us that there is no infallible government, “Fellow citizens above your national tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains’, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, ‘may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth (PS. 137)!’ To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous, and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.”

Literacy also gives us permission to address and resolve challenges involving dysfunctional families. Recent figures tell us that 70% of our children are born out of wedlock and 50% of our children do not graduate from high school. Recently, USA Today addressing “dysfunctionalism,” states that a closer look reveals a larger problem, “Currently, 56% of black women graduate form high school compared to 43% of black men, according to the Urban Institute.” Twice as many black women are attending college than black men. Three problems are cited: first, social issues like broken homes and inappropriate role models are an obvious problem. Can we honestly disagree with Dr. Bill Cosby speaking at the 50th Anniversary of Brown versus the Board of Education? Cosby said, “Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person’s problem. We have got to take our neighborhood back…They are standing on the street corner and they cannot speak English.”

Secondly, bad experiences at school seem to be “a root problem.” However thirdly, experts state the failure to teach basic literacy skills is evicting. The results of those experiences move African-Americans males into special education classrooms that lead to further frustration.

What may be a solution? I am a proponent of school choice. I believe that all male pre-school, elementary and high school education is appropriate for those who are at risk. I contend that local churches should compete for their children by starting and sustaining private schools, by taking their neighborhoods back. Particularly, I am a proponent for African American congregations to find the private resources necessary because I believe I believe that overbearing government programs inherently compromises values.

Literacy insists for persons to invest in Capitalism, which is a Western value. Again, Booker Washington’s pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is rhetorical for self-help philosophy or incremental change that occurs generational. This is sacrificial living. This functions as delayed gratification. For example, we must seriously take the debate on Social Security reform. Most of us cannot, and will continue to not, understand social security reform and related complicit issues if we continue to graduate 56% of our women and 43% of our men from high school. They do not have the comprehension tools. Ironically, however, with those numbers of undereducated and underemployed persons, we are going to need a program that forces us to invest a percentage of our earned income. The average black family accrues 5,000 dollars in saving at any given time.

Should we totally depend on this or any other entitlement program? Particularly, since we now know that it will not afford social security for those of us who are under 55? If so, we are in trouble. For instance, currently, we are engaged in a global economy and competing with emerging Asian markets. Thus, our economy must be leaner to retain our edge. Let us not forget that social security is an entitlement. Can we sustain entitlement? Most say we cannot. The black church must educate its people its people about our evolving economic realities.

Literacy asks of those fortunate enough to be captured by it, to be civically savvy in the political process. That is to say, that both liberal and conservative ideologies are legitimate Western ideas and that African Americans should be actively pursuing both views in their racial politics. Professor Glenn Loury states, “Consider the stubborn social reality of race-consciousness in U.S. society… Yet consciousness of race in the society at large is a matter of subjective states of mind, involving how people understand themselves and how they perceive others. It concerns the social lives of citizens. The implicit assumption of advocates of race-blindness is that, if we would just stop putting people themselves in these terms.”

In our opinion however, the church must acknowledge that Racial – blindness is a panacea! It is a superficial moral ideal. We are not going to overcome race and therefore I believe the church should teach ideological goals and values as an agenda, not a single political party who insist that it can overcome racism. We must accept that political parties will manipulate and exploit us. Therefore, we must learn to choose our manipulation and exploitation and every now and then return the favor.

Finally, “The Idea of a Christianity Society” is one, which we can accept or reject but if we are to accept it, we must treat Christianity with a great deal more of intellectual respect than is our wont; we must treat it as being for the individual a matter of primarily of thought and not of feeling. The consequences of such an attitude are too serious to be acceptable to everybody: for when the Christian faith is not only felt, but also thought, it has practical results, which may be inconvenient. For to see Christian faith this way is not to necessarily accept it, but only to understand the real issues – is to see that the difference between the Idea of a Neutral Society…. Thus the Black Church in the twenty-first century must first think as much as it feels.

The author is the Senior Pastor at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and a contributing columnist for the Washington Times.

by Webster Brooks III

February 5, 2005

IRAQI ELECTION RESULTS

Total votes cast: 8.56 million

•  Al-Sistani group: 4.08 million

•  Kurdish group: 2.17 million

•  Allawi group: 1.17 million

The commission first announced results from the ballot on Sunday. The clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance got 48 percent of the vote for the National Assembly, the Kurdish alliance took 26 percent and interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite supported by Washington, won 14 percent. Some 58 percent of Iraq’s registered voters turned out for the elections, despite violence that killed more than 40 people.

Turnout was low, however, in many Sunni-dominated areas. In Anbar province, Iraq’s largest and home to the Sunni strongholds of Ramadi and Falluja, only 2 percent of voters cast ballots. The UIA’s win was not surprising — but that it failed to receive a majority of votes was unexpected. The United Iraqi Alliance includes major Shiite parties, as well as other Shiite organizations and some smaller Kurdish, Sunni Muslim and minority groups.

The combined Kurdish parties, meanwhile, will nominate Jalal Talabani to be president of Iraq, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh told CNN on Sunday. Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, was a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, the predecessor to the interim government that took over June 28, 2004. The Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Iraq, were brutally repressed under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Interim Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, a UIA member considered the favorite for prime minister, welcomed the announcement of Talabani’s presidential nomination.(CBS/AP) Iraq’s electoral commission certified the results of the country’s Jan. 30 elections Thursday and allocated 140 seats to the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance, giving them a majority in the new parliament.

The allocation sets the stage for the first meeting of the new National Assembly, which will be in power for 10 months and draft a new constitution. The first order of business will be to elect a president and two vice presidents to largely ceremonial positions. Shiite Muslim Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistanti, the UIA’s chief backer, supported the elections and is considered by many to be the most revered and most influential leader among Iraq’s 15 million Shiite Muslims. (Full story)

In Istanbul, Turkey’s foreign ministry issued a statement Sunday expressing concern over voting irregularities and doubts that the results represent all of Iraq’s ethnic groups. “The flaws lead to serious hesitations as to whether the goal of an interim parliament can be achieved,” the statement said. It cited allegations that thousands of ethnic Kurds relocated to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk to vote, tipping the election to benefit Kurdish politicians and take power away from ethnic Turkmens. Turkey has also expressed concern that a political victory in Iraq could embolden Kurdish separatists.

Al-Sistani is known to be in favor of declaring Islam as the official faith of the country, but has tried to put to rest speculation he wants an Iranian-style clerical regime. “The religious leadership has repeatedly stated that it has no wish to involve itself in political work and prefers for its clerics not to assume government positions,” al-Sistani has said in a fatwa, or edict. Indeed, most Iraqi Shiites view al-Sistani primarily apolitically.

To his millions of followers, who decorate their homes, stores and offices with his picture, the elderly man in a black robe and turban is the cleric who guides them from his home in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad. He rarely leaves his home, from where he provides advice to politicians, tribal leaders and other dignitaries who stop by on any and subjects. He answers religious questions posed by the general public on his multilingual Web site.

His religious prominence makes it possible for al-Sistani to marshal tens of thousands with ease, making him a force to be reckoned with even for the world’s most-powerful nation. Al-Sistani’s refusal to meet with the American administrators of post-war Iraq and his ability to force the Americans to back away from a plan to choose an interim legislature from regional caucuses only heightened his status.

Al-Sistani left his native Iran in 1952 and has since lived in Najaf. He came to national prominence when he succeeded his mentor Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei, who died in 1992. The mystery killing of a rival cleric, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, in 1999 left him as Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric. The death of another senior cleric, the Iranian-backed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, in a bombing in August 2003 in Najaf, robbed him of an ally, but also removed the potential source of a challenge to his supremacy by a man who was at ease in both politics and spiritual matters.

Iraq’s 14 million eligible voters were asked to select a 275-member National Assembly and provincial legislatures. The National Assembly in turn will elect a largely ceremonial president and two deputy presidents. Those officials will name a prime minister and Cabinet, subject to the assembly’s approval. The new government will remain in office for 11 months, during which time it will draft a permanent constitution. If the constitution is approved by voters in a referendum, new national elections will take place in December.

Election losers were the secular mixed ethnically parties.  Voters voted sectarian and along religious lines. The two largest parties in the United Iraqi Alliance were both Shia parties that were based in Iran and its leaders have many ties to Iran. This will make it more difficult for the U.S to press Iran on the nuclear issue. The Kurds came out the big winner, posting 26% of the total vote. They are now in a position to press for their goal as an autonomous region. This will be a demand in the drafting of a new constitution.

The new head of the C.I.A., Porter Goss, said terrorists are using Iraq to gain experience in order to carry out new attacks against the United States, reports CBS National Security Correspondent David Martin. Goss made his first public appearance as director of the agency before a Senate committee on Capitol Hill on Wednesday

GRAND AYATOLLAH ALI AL-SISTANI

Backer, United Iraqi Alliance

Although not on the ballot as a candidate, the influential Shiite cleric backs the United Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite-dominated coalition of political parties and individuals. He has called voting in the election “a religious duty.”

ADEL ABDUL MAHDI

Candidate, United Iraqi Alliance

Party: Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq

A Shiite and the finance minister in the Iraqi interim government, Mahdi is a trained economist who, after being stripped of his job, left Iraq in 1969 for exile in France, where he worked for several French think tanks, and edited magazines in French and Arabic.

AHMED CHALABI

Candidate, United Iraqi Alliance

Party: Iraqi National Congress

Chalabi is a secular Shiite and founder of the Iraqi National Congress, which comprises exiles, Kurds and Shiites. He was a key U.S. ally before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 but fell out of favor when his intelligence about weapons of mass destruction failed to pan out.

IBRAHIM AL-JAAFARI

Candidate, United Iraqi Alliance

Party: Dawa Party

Al-Jaafari, a Shiite Muslim, is one of two vice presidents in the Iraqi interim government. He is a member of the Dawa movement, which seeks to modernize Iraq’s religious institutions.

by Wendell Talley

Great senators leave legacies and historical figures cast long shadows across the ages. Illinois Senator Barack Obama has that chance. Senator Obama recently told the Washington Times that he wants to make a “modest difference” and “do some good.” If he chooses, the new Senator could do a lot more than that. Beyond the work he will do on the three Senate committees he serves, Barack Obama can help foster a generational change in the core of black America. His reputation is unblemished. He will have a sympathetic press corps cheering for his success and he will be around for at least six years. His best opportunity to set a different direction for finding answers to what ails the black community in America is now.

Senator Obama stands on this side of the mountaintop Martin Luther King often referred to as one of the thousands of black elected officials brought into office through the moral agitation of past generations of blacks. However, the Promised Land he inhabits is one filled with dysfunction. Black families stayed together through Jim Crow, the Great Depression, political disenfranchisement and economic segregation. Today, black families are disappearing altogether. The effects of the disintegration of the black family are seen everywhere. “Baby Mamas” are the norm, incarceration rates for young black men are at all time highs, and the drug trade overruns poor black neighborhoods.

The Senator is personally acquainted with the anguish an absent father causes. He is also familiar with what it takes to overcome a rough beginning to life. Will he take part in the effort to rebuild the black community’s moral infrastructure or just become one more ideological foot soldier in the war between the Republicans and Democrats?

Bill Cosby’s comments about the failures of low-income blacks opened a door for honest dialogue about the state of black America. His remarks were right on target but they omitted three-fourths of black society. Poor blacks are not the only ones having children out of wedlock and doing poorly in school. Many of the social failings in the black community cut across class lines and can be seen occurring among well known blacks in the clergy, the judiciary, elected offices and as Mr. Cosby has demonstrated, in the private lives of celebrities.

Obama is said to be a man of integrity. If so, the Senator’s voice needs to be heard leading a chorus calling for black leaders and celebrities to lead the way in decency instead of vice. Ethical inconsistencies and outright moral failures of prominent blacks most often pass without censure from black leaders. A man in Obama’s shoes, beholden only to the truth, could break that code of silence.

Anti-intellectualism is a “virus” running loose in black American culture as scholar John McWhorter puts it. Will Senator Obama challenge black parents to stop blaming schools for the poor performance of their children? Will he confront school administrators about lax discipline in their schools and teachers about having a higher standard of professionalism? The Senator’s resume features tremendous academic accomplishments. His could be the face that makes learning cool. A few words in the right ears about classroom behavior, the value of scholarship and high standards from a man with Obama’s reputation would be worth more than the billions spent on No Child Left Behind.

Obama is uniquely positioned to break the stale debate between left and right about the plight of blacks in America. Yes, the Senator’s father is African and his mother is white. But he got his political start in Chicago’s predominantly black south side. The people that first invested their trust in him deserve to see a dividend from the Senator’s actions. The grandparents in neighborhoods like Chicago’s south side grew up admiring Duke Ellington’s genius, Nat King Cole’s suave style and Jackie Robinson’s resilience. Their grandchildren grow up idolizing Snoop Dogg’s ignorant lewdness, wearing Randy Moss’ jersey and measuring racism by the number of black football head coaches. If all they receive is worn out, political rhetoric rather than tangible remedies for a sick culture then his career will be seen as nothing more than a wasted opportunity.

Barack Obama’s legacy could be that of the man who took sensationalism out of legitimate racial issues while he simultaneously helped the black community solve its internal troubles. He is a historical figure, the media has told us. He says he wants to be measured by the standard of great senators from the past.

Are you truly that kind of man, Senator, or should we look for another?

The author is a research consultant with the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in Washington, DC.