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Volume
12
Number 2
March-April 2008
Lincoln
Review
Letter®
Editor’s Comment
The Realization Is
Growing That Black
Americans Are No Longer Victims
While some black leaders continue to argue
that black Americans are victims of continuing racism, and a survey last
year by the Pew Research Center found that only 20% of blacks said
things have gotten better for them in the past five years, the lowest
percentage since l983 – and only 44% said they think life will get
better in the future, down from 57% in a l986 survey – the facts tell a
far different, and far more optimistic story.
Writing in USA TODAY, Sheryl McCarthy, a
Distinguished Lecturer in Journalism at Queens College of the City of
New York, declares that, “The amount of progress African-Americans have
made in this country over time is phenomenal. The indicators include
the steady increase in the number of blacks with high school diplomas,
who have college degrees or are attending college; the decline in
African-Americans living in poverty; the increase in the number of black
elected officials and the number who have held Cabinet positions; the
presence of four African-Americans as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies; the
dominance of black athletes in pro-sports; and, whether or not one likes
their music, or the roles they play, the high visibility of black
performers in the music, television and movie industries.”
With regard to the education gap between
blacks and whites, Prof. McCarthy notes that, “It’s important to
acknowledge that the education gap is at least as much the result of the
reluctance of blacks to engage in positive ways with the system as it is
the result of underfunding or school officials’ disdain for black
children. And the vaunted ‘crisis’ among black men is as much a personal
development and community values issues as it is a discrimination
issue.”

INSIDE STORIES
Rev. Wright Debate.............................2
History..................................................6
Monthly at LI.......................................6
Remembrances....................................7 |
Discussing the 40th anniversary of the murder of the Rev. Martin Luther
King, Jr., Colbert King, writing in THE WASHINGTON POST, speculates that
if Dr. King were to view today’s American society, he “would be saddened
to the extent of instability in black families and by the
self-destructiveness of young black men four decades after his death.
(Continued on Page Two)
Complete March-April 2008 Lincoln Review Letter*
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