The Covenant In Action

What the Covenant in Action has accomplished is listed in a brief introduction and in a summary section that lists examples of them which to date include:

(1) Lobbying successfully to get the Voting Rights Act renewed,
(2) Conducting "parties with a purpose" to discuss various aspects of the Covenant,
(3) Creating book and discussion clubs,
(4) Conducting the Black State of the Union presentation on C-Span,
(5) Lobbying on behalf of getting more Black officials elected,
(6) Engaging in church discussions on Economic development and social equity,
(7) Putting on a conference on juvenile justice, and
(8) Conducting A Day of Dialogue, etc.

On its face, this list seems to be an impressive set of accomplishments and is admirable on its own merits. However, when it is compared with what black culture needs to get itself out of the ditch it finds itself in, and with what the Covenant called for in order to address the issues that are causing cultural stress within the black community, namely:

(1) Racism (the Covenant did not list it, but left it implied);
(2) Black Male-female relationships and decreases in Black marriage formation (again the Covenant did not list this item, but shame on the Covenant for omitting it);
(3) Out of wedlock pregnancies and unwanted, uncared for and improperly parented children (again the Covenant did not mention this item);
(4) Black-crime--especially Black-on-Black crime and the large and increasing black prison population;
(5) the poor state of black education and Black health, including HIV/Aids and SIDS;
(6) lack of jobs for Black males; and
(7) Black voter registration.

When the actions the Covenant has produced (in the first list) are compared with the objectives it established in the Covenant, and with the needs of Black culture given (in the second list), the discrepancies are so vast as to render the actions virtually meaningless to anyone who takes a non-emotional and dispassionate comparison between the two lists. There is virtually no overlap?

One must ask the question? What is going on in the Black community? Why are they having discussion groups and creating book clubs when the ghetto is gasping for its last breathe, in one of the worse social melt-downs in American history?

As the Black ship of state rapidly sinks, its main leaders and activists are busy rearranging the deck chairs. They are pretending that deep persistent cultural problems can be solved through feel-good methods. The most one can say is that the "feel-good" approach instead of a more hard-nosed tough-love approach, betrays the poverty of thought among black leaders in dealing with their own problems. What a pity.

Any Covenant worth its salt must seek to outline and solve the deep, real and intractable problems of black culture. And this cannot be done on the cheap without cost or pain -- that is, via such tactics as those in the first list. That list would do fine in a world where all else was equal and there was no emergency, but the Black community is in a full-scale melt-down, teetering on complete self-destruction, addressing these problems is no longer a discretionary option for black culture. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that Black culture as we know it is on the brink of self-destruction.

The author of the Black Covenant and the collective Black leadership needs to take a deep breathe, collect its thoughts and discuss a paradigm shift towards a more sensible and effective approach to black problem-solving. As much as I wish it were not so, Mr. Smiley's Covenant is not going to cut it.

Two stars

An excellent book telling the story, concerns and issues of Black Americans by Black Americans.

Book was a gift to my 84 year old aunt who was interested in readings of Tavis Smiley during Black History month.

I brought this as a gift for a friend. He was suprised by the gift and really enjoyed the books.

This book should be required reading in every high school in Amercia.