Braveheart, writer of River East Idealist just posted Part 1 in a series on "Prosperity in River East."  If you get a chance check it out - it is very good.  Including an excerpt and link below:

Hello friends,

This post is the first installment of a four part serious on black American prosperity. As a conservative black American residing in River East, I feel compelled to articulate my ideas on how the people of River East and black Americans as a whole can begin to prosper. These solutions are not popular. In fact, I believe they may be offesive to many readers. But we must agree that we need a drastic change. In each post, I will present my analysis of a particular obstacle, provide supporting opinion, and outline practical steps we can take to mitigate the obstacle.

The greatest hinderance to prosperity in River East and other black communities is the ATTITUDE of the residents. Our attitude affects our values, our thoughts, our actions, and utiltimately our quality of life. There are three attitudes that need adjusting: victimization, entitlement, and debauchery.



How many times do you hear your brotha talk about "the man" holding him down? The brotha can't find a job because the "the man" won't hire him? Or the single teen parent who blames her child's dismal grades on the books, the facility, the teacher - everything other than herself. And we can't forget the slavery and segregation excuse. Yes, we all know slavery and segregation were the darkest hours in history but how long can we play that card? Example: last Fall, I joined the Anacostia Coordinating Council on a fundraiser boat ride. Your usual suspects were in entow - Eleanor Holmes Norton, Marion Barry, William Lockridge etc. And what do they do? They talk about how evil white people were 40 years ago. They talk about the struggle. The don't talk about personal responsibility. They blame the "white man" for the problems we face today when the truth is - the white man isn't thinking about us. He's moved on to bigger and better things. The white man doesn't even know we exist over here in River East, yet we're still holding on to a grudge that should have been forgiven long ago. We need to shake this attitude of victimization.

Go HERE to continue reading.