The clear and considerable progress since mid-century is the springboard on which today's achievements are built. In 1996, blacks are finding jobs and opportunities that their forbearers in 1900 would have never dreamed possible. Over the years, a small but highly talented and influential black middle class has emerged. This nascent group is composed of religious leaders, elected officials, university professors and administrators, entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, school administrators, principals and teachers, nurses, firefighters, police and skilled factory workers. There are neighborhood jewels on the East Side.
Residents there demonstrate daily how to build strong, solid neighborhoods.
There are well-kept homes, neat lawns on landscaped streets and optimism on many. But the fact remains that many streets in predominantly African-American neighborhoods are troubled. The decay and neglect of these streets form a backdrop on the achievements blacks have made since mid-century. These images are harsh and harmful stereotypes to assimilate and perpetuate, for people of all colors. But I still cannot forget these images.