The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Content of Character

The memorial to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in Washington, D.C. is the center of historical attention this week.  While I am a bit upset that the statue was both designed and built in China I think the conception is good.  I would like to hold up Dr. King as proof that there are no excuses for not living a good life.  Here is a man who attended segregated schools in the heart of the Confederate South.  I have no doubt that his schools were sparsely built, poorly equipped and inadequately staffed.  What is more, they existed in the midst of a hard-boiled, legally sanctioned segregation that, frankly, endangered every man, woman and child in those schools.  Yet, he learned.   Dr. King went on to become the pivot point around which this country had its greatest reiteration since the Civil War.  

The same story could be told about a long parade of minority groups who started their education in the rough and ended it in graduate school.  Quite frankly, growing up in poor, blue-collar and working class communities I could say the same thing about my schools.  With few exceptions, my schools were old, the books tattered, the teachers marionettes.  The point being, you don’t have to have a great school to get a great education.  You just have to work at it. 
 

While I certainly believe that beautiful schools, good materials, creative teachers and happy children are the best way to educate a generation, I also know that the best schools in the world won’t fix a spoiled or poorly raised child, disinterested parents or a culture that doesn’t value education.  

Going to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I found the number of unemployed youth was 3.8 million.  Percentages were as follows:  whites: 13.9%, Asians: 15%, Hispanics 18.1%, and Blacks 28.2%.   These numbers do not include people who choose not to work, either because they are comfortable at home, or are slaves to welfare or drugs.  Many people look at the high rate of unemployed Black youth and see a societal problem.  I see bad personal choices.
 

This is a serious problem because the earlier a person starts earning an income, pleasing an employer, building a work ethic and taking responsibility for money, the stronger their life income potential becomes. 
 

What are Black families doing differently than Hispanic and Asian families that produce so high an unemployment rate?  If you say they are doing nothing different than you are saying they can not possibly be change agents in their own lives.  And then how do you explain the numbers of black youth that are employed?  An award winning school administrator and marathon runner once said that the will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.  You have to show the same day-in/day-out dedication to education that you do to athletic preparation.  Does the 72% rate of unwed births in the Black community, compared to 52% in the Hispanic community, 11% in the Asian and 29% in the white community make a difference?  I know it does.

Even within the same ethnic and socioeconomic group, families with a father present on a daily basis have will have an easier time raising successful children.  No father in the home means a child is twice as likely to have emotional and behavior problems, to be suspended from school, to be arrested for juvenile crime and a third more likely to drop out of high school.  

 Martin Luther King talked about having his children judged by the content of their character.  This is what I want.  But you don't build character by looking for ways not to work, trying to avoid responsibility, breaking laws, ignoring education and preaching hatred for life on the straight and narrow.  Thank God, this country and men of stature like Dr. King, most Americans, no matter what race, ethnicity or culture they come from work hard at building character worthy of respect.  But I have lost patience with the one's who have not.  

To the Al Sharpton's, Michael Moore's, and Seth Rogen's of this world, please, be quiet.  The fact that your microphone is bigger than mine does not make you right, it just compounds your error.

Build character this week, and keep the faith.