Discussion Forum

In your book you appear to emphasize the need for hard work and self-reliance for Blacks (in addition to reliance upon God), yet you criticize both parties for lack of support for affirmative action and other government programs.  To the extent that affirmative action "levels the playing field" or "makes up for past wrongs", then these two stances don't appear to be in conflict.  However, I just do not see how affirmative action as it has been implemented does anything but lower standards and counteract the doctrine of hard work and self-reliance.  To me it seems that there is just no way to condense the long process of correcting for hundreds of years of oppression withour your observed transfer of reliance from God to government.  Could you offer some more insight as to what government programs you believe are beneficial and successful and that do not ultimately undermine the ethics of hard work and self-reliance?

One observation about the Republicans.  You criticize them (and rightly so in some instances you have pointed out) yet I feel between the two parties, their ideas toward this issue, though less appetizing on the surface, appear to be much more healthy for the body of the Black culture.