Comments In Response To Post On The Tom Joyner Message Board (www.tomjoyner.com)
"The "Black Dispatch" - TJMS - has done it again. I was not aware of Project 2019 until I read your comment, and you are absolutely correct. The real problem is convincing young black folks that they must learn and master skills to achieve any success in America. This is a daunting task because many young folks believe they must master just enough to "get over" while in school, and, to be black, they must emulate the least productive or the least successful black folk available. Unfortunately, many intentionally seek to distinguish and segregate themselves from the paths that may provide the rewards they truly want to achieve, but they fail to accept the correlation between the lack of preparation (education and appearance) and the relegation to under class status. Very few accept the basic principal that hard work pays off in the short and long term, and few accept that the more difficult the subject, the greater the rewards once the subject or skills are mastered.
If Project 2019 is to succeed, our young folks must learn that to "get over" is not enough, and being able to read and understand any text is the closest thing to osmosis existing today. This message must be taught at home - not school - to succeed. Being able to read and understand opens more doors than braids, rap and a "jaili'n outfit, and this simple truth and standard should be taught at home. Since this principal is as old as the Emancipation Proclamation, the ability to re-convey this message and convince those parents who have not adopted the principal for themselves will require extraordinary innovative efforts. Clearly, the "Black Dispatch" is an effective means to convey and maintain the message before the public, and its ability to regularly present folk who have achieved as examples of the exploitation of the principal will aid the change."
"I'm overwhelmingly in support of this! Whatever I can do, I'm open to suggestions and willing to implement advances toward the ultimate goal! Cheers!"
"I hope that EVERYONE reads this. This is probably the MOST intelligent post I have ever read on this message board. He is so right...knowledge IS power, not black, not white, not male, not female...knowledge. Get educated and you can determine your own destiny. My only thought of why the black leaders keep this information to themselves is because they are forever tooting how the white man has put the black people in the position they are in, not because the black family didn't do what they had to do to make sure that their children received a good education. As was stated, even in the Jim Crow years, blacks who studied to be doctors and lawyers enjoyed a high standard of living, even better than most whites, so that argument in and of itself demonstrated Mr Sanford's point in a nutshell....Go back to school, I am!!"
"This is an interesting topic; however I feel that black people tend to allow themselves to be stereotyped and choose not to worry about tomorrow. The generation of today has gone haywire. There are some things that can be taught at home and respect is one of those things. Generation X's perception of respect is to see how long one can sell drugs and not get caught (i.e., make fast money). I watch the X-generation, and there are some of them that do or will work, but have no interest in furthering their education. Why? Because they have become comfortable with the way things are going for them now.
In conversations I've had with some of them, I've asked why don't you get a real job, the answer to them (is simple) but in layman's terms they don't want to live structured lives, and would rather do things if and when they want to. What makes it so bad is that they are not stupid, just (for lack of a better word) LAZY.
Then we have the generation-X that do work, and are attending school, they will be the one's to be the leaders of tomorrow providing they don't end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
No blacks (some) will never be equal to (some) whites, and racism will be here forever, but the best way to deal with this is to do what you can do and keep trying to help someone else, all with POSITIVE FORCE."
"Project 2019 is a brilliant idea and I will do what I can to make it succeed. But, to be honest, I don't think that black America is ready for it. You are talking about getting blacks to turn off their TV's, put down their video games, and pick up a book. Intellectual pursuits is a mind set. Therefore, we have to change the way black Americans think. After more than 300 years of being told that "we don't need no book learning," good luck to you, me, and the rest of black America."
"I am in complete agreement with all the comments about Project 2019. It is hard to argue against something that makes so much sense. However, I do not think that Project 2019 will start to roll until we get the "heavy hitters" to step up and endorse AND support it. Why isn't every black radio station in America talking about Project 2019? Why aren't the Michael Jordans and the Colin Powells of the world talking about it AND supporting it? Why aren't all the successful blacks - who are successful because they have MBA's, law degrees, or medical degrees - talking about it AND supporting it? Yeah, they have theirs. But, until "all of black America" is as educated and as knowledgeable as white America, blacks will continue to be an underclass in America."