Solemn challenge amid celebration
Sunday, February 24, 2008
This month black Americans have much reason for pride and celebration.
RECENT COLUMNS BY THE TEXAS WILDMAN
- 11-16-08 Ted Nugent: Obama's victory is sad vote for state of dependency
- 11-09-08 Ted Nugent: The few, the proud
- 11-02-08 Ted Nugent: America needs real change, not Obama's fantasy drivel
- 10-26-08 Ted Nugent: Grateful celebrity celebrates going silver-haired
- 10-19-08 Ted Nugent: Let's emulate my tap-dancing grandma
Black History Month showcases an American historical portrait that is fascinating and rich — a canvas graced with revered scholars, inventors, civic leaders, athletes, statesmen, entertainers and soldiers.
Rosa Parks has always been my hero. I dedicated one of my platinum albums to her. Her brave, intelligent defiance embodies the American spirit that fuels my life. Her simple act of refusing to sit at the back of a bus blazed a new trail that changed America for the better.
As a musician, all of my musical influences are black, from Chuck Berry and James Brown to numerous Motown legends. My rhythm-and-blues guitar howls in the night thanks to these musical pioneers who blazed musical trails for others to follow. Trailblazers rock.
That being said, my pragmatic modus operandi has always been to focus on a flat tire rather than to admire three tires full of air. After all, the vehicle will not meet its mobile potential with one tire flat.
So while February is designated as a month to celebrate, we should also identify things bad and the ugly in order to continue to upgrade.
Though institutional racism is largely a dead and rotting carcass, race hucksters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton continue to pour gas on fading embers. These irresponsible race baiters should be scorned and ignored. They serve no good but to themselves.
Though the condition is hardly exclusive to them, statistically way too many black men are shirking their duty to be fathers, causing their children to be raised by mothers or grandmothers alone. This is a recipe for cultural genocide. Children of single parents have a much higher likelihood of getting involved in crime and drugs, and of dropping out of school.
When attending my son's basketball games, I am appalled at the sight of teenage girls toting babies in their arms. An inordinate number of these teen moms are black. These young women are obviously not emotionally or financially equipped to provide for their young children. The problem is so significant that some high schools provide day care at taxpayers' expense. When babies are having babies, something has gone terribly wrong.
Horror stories
Black-on-black crime is an epidemic in cities such as my former hometown of Detroit, though the brutal horror stories of black-on-black crime do not vary much from city to city. Much of the crime is fueled by drugs and gang bangers. Though blacks are just 12 percent of the population, black men fill roughly half of the cells of our prisons and jails.
It did not used to be this way. Just 50 years ago the black family was strong. The runaway crime wave that has swallowed our inner cities was absent. Teenage pregnancy was the exception. Drug abuse was minimal.
So what happened? One explanation is black America's surrender to the white liberal political establishment and its grand, wasteful social welfare programs.
Those initiatives have not helped black Americans. Instead, they have destroyed so many of all colors with the curse of dependency.
Instead of continuing to embrace liberal politicians and out-of-control government programs, black America should rise up in political revolt.
Recognize who the real enemies have been. A quick study of the two political parties will identify which one has worked to destroy families and communities with covert lies and wasteful government programs. Those programs have achieved nothing but despair and destruction.
My advice: Quit supporting the party that is symbolized by an ass.
It is often said that those who forget history are bound to repeat it.
Black America can and must do better. History will judge accordingly. May God be with us.
Ted Nugent is a Waco-based musician and television show host. Contact Ted directly at tednugent.com.
