Whites didn't dress these men: Time to Take Responsibility - 'Racism in America'

Much has been made over the issue of race relations in America, particularly over the plight of poor, black citizens. The issue, thrown into high relief by the Zimmerman verdict, is one that needs to be addressed if the nation is to move towards solving a problem that belongs left in the past.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Racism isn"t dead in America and there remains a sharp divide between whites and blacks in terms of economics and opportunity. While many acknowledge that a problem exists, all discussion of a solution remains charged with rhetoric and emotion, and is often discouraged.

Why is talk of the solution discouraged? Because it involves hard truths that have been branded as racist. Yet, as Catholic Online has established before, facts aren't racist.

The truth is, about 73 percent of black children are born to unwed mothers. It's a problem not witnessed in other races. However, the issue isn't one of race, so much as it is an issue of economics, culture and the breakdown of the American family.

Segregated economically, blacks have congregated in communities where poverty is rampant and opportunities lacking.

Both sides, in this case, blacks versus the mainstream -typically white, blame each other for the ills which plague the black community. Education, opportunity, decent housing, and more, are all kept inaccessible by a system, carefully constructed by whites, to disenfranchise blacks.

Meanwhile, whites tend to argue that many of these barriers have been removed and that blacks must now be responsible for arising above their condition.

The truth, as it always is, is somewhere in between. Yes, there are barriers to black achievement in our country. Simply being born into poverty is one of them. Being economically segregated is another. Schools that lack funding and are later riddled with crime is still another. We could go on, but why bother? The point is made. Despite decades of legal progress, many blacks still do not have access to the same social ladder as whites.

However, this system is unlikely to change by itself.

Blacks have more power than they realize to change a system which they feel is designed to disenfranchise them.

It starts at home. For example, the choice to engage in sexual activity is a choice that is entirely within the hands of the individual. For those who choose such behavior without the protection of marriage or monogamy, they play a role in their own victimization by the system. The system cannot victimize a man or a woman who insists on abstinence before marriage.

The system can do nothing to stop a woman who insists on marriage to a man who is willing to work and be a devoted father.

The system cannot stop a child, which has learned respect in his household and whose parents value education, from learning and earning her way into college and a future career.

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The system cannot keep the next generation, if properly raised, down in the "'hood."

This is possible because the legal apparatus supporting the system has been dismantled. Segregation, while it remains a reality today, has long been outlawed. The system was designed by prejudiced whites, but today is perpetuated by blacks, who glamorize black culture as being all about "da 'hood" and money and "hoes." Need proof? Listen to pop music produced by black artists. How many of them have a positive message versus a message that glamorizes objectification of women, money, power, and greed?

Where are the marches organized by black leaders to raise awareness of these issues? We need another Million Man March, a march to emphasize pride and empowerment. Empowerment is available, but only with discipline, devotion, and above all, faith.

Yes, whites have done much to put blacks down. And for blacks to complain and wait for whites to fix a problem they created is frankly absurd. The problems that blacks face will only be solved by massive, large-scale action within the black community. A fundamental paradigm shift must occur. Culture must be changed so that it is no longer morally bankrupt.

Poverty, lack of opportunity, crime and violence, these are black problems, part of the black experience. They don't have to be. They shouldn't be. How much longer they remain, is up to blacks, and there's nothing whites, no matter how prejudiced, can do about it.

See what Bill Cosby has to say about responsibility within the black community.

No, it's not an urban legend.

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