Who was your government teacher?

The first decade of the 21st century has been one of the most interesting and oftentimes the mindboggling. This decade began with a denial of the many citizens in Florida their constitutional right to vote and have that vote counted. This was sanction by the Supreme Court of the United States, cumulating in the election of a President who describe himself as a born again Christian. Many Americans were expecting a change in our morality. By the conclusion of President Bush’s second term, our society exhibited behavior that was less Christian and moved towards a more self-indulgence society. It interesting to note that since the Johnson Presidency, we have moved from the “Great Society” through these more troublesome battle cries: “The silence majority”, “the moral majority” and of course the famous “contract with America.” The result, since 1964, is a society that is less accepting of those of who have a different views or different life styles. We have become the antitheist of those noble ideas of Christianity, Islam or Judaism. Our children have witness up close and personal the negative results of a society that has lost it focus. The last time that our values and actions were so out of alignment was during the 1920’s. In his classic novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald characterized those times as a time of dissipation and corruption.
We have rapidly moved through the September 11th attacks, wars in two theaters (Iraq and Afghanistan) to the election of a Black American as President of the United States. In between the aforementioned events, we have had a first row seat as this American drama has played out right before our eyes. There was the magical rise of reality television. Programs which actually supported our beliefs that reality television shows actually capture our view of the world, with greater accuracy than scripted television. A noteworthy reality was the NASDAQ (stock market) hitting the 5132.52 mark on March 10, 2000. Thus producing new millionaires daily and of course our love affair with this innovative apparatus called the internet. Most of us truly believed that we would become wealthy and retire one day in our dream homes. Although we witness the rise and fall of our athletic heroes, we continued to lift these individuals to the loftiest position of mentors. Now we were encouraged to create mentors because of the number of absentee black fathers. Yes, this is true and there were a host of individuals who stated; “ya’ll just need to grow up and become more responsible.” I am not in disagreement with the analysis; I only wish that our leaders in point of fact tell the American public the truth. The massive incarceration black men, especially those non-violent offenders, as a cheap labor force is nothing more than a 21st century plantation. We now have an appetite for punishment and a distain for rehabilitation. This appetite for punishment has produced devastating consequences; one in three black men in their 20’s is under some form of supervision by the justice system. Compounded by the fact most of these young men are products of a failing educational systems it is no wonder that the unemployment rate among black men at 40% and 50% in many urban areas. Yet, there is an additional truth that is rarely addressed by our leaders; the divorce rate in white America is more than 50%, which means that half of all white dads are not in the homes with their kids. It seems to me that society has once again created this wedge where blacks are given reasons for beating up on themselves. And just like the stirring collapse of the financial markets our leaders have given white people another symbolic pass. The corporate leaders who created this economic collapse, you do know that the market is trading 300 points lower, are never vilified in the media. They did not create a riot at a strip club, where a bouncer was shot and paralyzed. They were not charged with rape. They did not participate in dog fighting. They did not run into the crowd after having a beer tossed on them. They were not murdered by a jealous girlfriend. They did not take performance enhancing drugs. They did create this public era of hatred to conceal their own corruption. We have become a society that are more concerned with Tiger Woods imploding in front of us daily on television, yet there is no imploding when an honor students is killed in Chicago. It is interesting this student was doing what we asked of him, attain an education. There is no imploding when children are graduating from high school and cannot read. Yet, there is a solution. The President, The Senate, The Congress and The Cabinet Heads are in a position to exert influence, corporations in reality respond to government policy, and more importantly individuals change their decisions based on policy. The history of this country is filled with examples as how public policy has impacted the lives of all Americans. I guess the question really is do we will still teach government in school?