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Will Globalization Destroy Black America?
By Phillip Jackson, Executive Director
The Black Star Project
The lack of response to globalization by Black America is
frightening and troubling. While much of the world has adapted to
the new-world economy and new-world standards of existence, most of
Black America is still operating much the same way it did in the
1950s and 1960s. But now, throughout Black communities in America,
there is a whisper campaign by Black people who don’t know each
other and Black people who live in different parts of the country,
saying to each other, “We are in trouble!” We know it and the rest
of the world knows it! Black America, as we know it, is in danger of
not surviving globalization.
In the 21st century, there are only two kinds of people. Not Black
or White, or rich or poor, or foreign or national. The two kinds of
people in the world today are those who are educated and those who
are not. Although education has become the new currency of exchange
in the 21st century, the old American educational paradigm stopped
working decades ago for Black Americans. Simply sending Black
children to American schools without a clear purpose or goal has
contributed to the demise of the Black community. Black America
watched formerly third-world countries catapult over America to
become educational super powers while America rested on its old,
stale educational laurels and fell way behind much of the world in
educational performance. And because Black America unthinkingly
depended on the American education system to educate its children,
we have fallen way behind.
The horrific educational, social, health, economic and criminal
justice indicators in much of Black America predict a meltdown of
gargantuan proportions in the near future for the Black community.
But still, the thing that is most remarkable and unbelievable is the
lack of response by Black Americans to this impending doom! Without
numerous positive changes, practical well-thought-out ideas, massive
mobilization and immediate action, the fate of many Black Americans
is sealed. We will not be able to prosper in the cities of America
or possibly in any city in the world where the new currency for
existence is access to global information, higher-order critical
thinking and advanced technological skills. There used to be a time
when it was better to be poor in America than rich in other
countries. Now it might be better to be poor in some other countries
than to be poor in America.
Black people in America must immediately disengage from the
diversions of mind-deadening entertainment, useless sports,
hyper-sexuality, excessive social celebrations, pointless
conversations and debates, meaningless media and the civil rights
issue de jour approach to managing our problems. We must focus on
the most important issue in our communities -- making education the
highest priority. We must create a culture of literacy and learning
that replaces intellectual apathy and resistance to educational
progress. Somehow, we must re-inspire our children to want to learn
and to love to learn. But having educated children is not enough. We
must have educated families and educated communities. Every Black
man, woman and child must become part of this new community of
learners.
Black America must take education out of the schools and
universities and root it in our homes, our workplaces, our
communities, our churches and even in our streets and prisons. The
purpose of education as defined by the Equipped for the Future
initiative, a federally sponsored effort to develop a framework for
accountability in adult education, is to help people actualize their
roles in society as parent/family members, citizen/community members
and workers in the economy. If the education system that serves us
is not meeting these objectives, it is a disservice to our children
and our communities.
The ability of a people to survive in changing times is not magic,
nor is it by chance. Success depends on that people being able to
change to survive in a new environment! And new environments demand
new skills for survival. Equipped for the Future tells us that
without certain basic skills, survival will be extremely difficult
for Black people, or any people, in the 21st century. These
essential skills are the ability to read with understanding; convey
ideas in writing; speak so that others can understand; observe
critically; listen actively; solve problems and make decisions
appropriately; plan and put those plans into action effectively; use
math to solve problems and to communicate; cooperate with others;
guide others; advocate and influence; resolve conflict and
negotiate; take responsibility for life-long learning; learn through
research; reflect and evaluate; and use information and
communication technology. These are the skills necessary to survive
in the 21st century.
The solution to the issue of Black America’s poor response to
globalization is to
- Deconstruct value systems that have caused Black
people to arrive at the precipice of non-existence
- Construct value systems that will rebuild the
Black family as a purveyor of positive values, cultures, mores and
education, and re-establish the Black family as the primary and most
important social unit of our culture and society
- Embrace education as the highest value in the
Black community
- Effectively manage the negative cultural
influences that hugely impact the thinking and actions of Black
boys; and
Understand that for the rest of existence, change is a required part
of the living process. The faster Black America is able to put this plan
into action, adopt these new principles and manage change, the more
likely we will survive.
Today, many Black people seem to be having “cosmic flashbacks” to our
time in slavery, which was the first crude effort at globalization that
helped to set the stage for today’s globalization. For years, Black
America was buffered from modern globalization by political boundaries
and economic barriers. Now globalization has come to our country, our
cities, our communities, onto our blocks and into our homes, schools and
workplaces. Globalization has happened, whether Black America is ready
for it or not. We still have time to make the necessary changes that
will guarantee that Black people will survive into the 21st century and
that we will thrive in this global economy. But there is not much time.
With globalization, Black America has entered into the “Educate or Die”
era. In this era, there are only two questions worth answering: “Will we
change? Can we survive?” How we emerge from this era is up to us.
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