Avoiding Questions

Recently, on a college championship round of Jeopardy, it seemed three white college students avoided the "African American History" category until they had absolutely no other options.

During the second round, rather than being asked about black history, the contestants gladly chose from categories like "International Cinema Showcase," "Weather Verbs," and "Kiwi Fauna."

The students in question only answered three out of the five questions in the category correctly. Although they knew the answers for clues on Martin Luther King Jr., Apollo Theater and Phyllis Wheatley, they missed questions on the Scottsboro Boys and the 1st Rhode Island Regiment.

So, how could this happen with all the emphasis we have placed on racial equality, Black History Month, MLK Jr. Holiday, and understanding Black heritage?

Fewer than one in three black Americans and not even half of whites say the United States has made “a lot” of progress toward achieving racial equality in the half-century since the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared he had “a dream” that one day freedom, justice and brotherhood would prevail and that his children would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Blacks and whites generally agree that the two races get along well, but about 7 in 10 blacks and more than 1 in 4 whites also concur that blacks are treated unequally by the criminal justice system. 

A majority of blacks also say they are treated less fairly than whites in public schools and in the workplace. Fully 1 in 3 blacks, 1 in 5 Hispanic Americans and 1 in 10 whites said they were treated unfairly within the last year because of perceptions of their race.

In 1960, black men were five times as likely as white men to be in local, state or federal prison. Fifty years later, black men are six times as likely as white men to be incarcerated and Hispanic men three times as likely.

Unfortunately, this is our current status 50 years after King’s march on Washington DC.

And, it is no wonder that college students avoid questions about black history…  as pretty much, nothing has really changed other than superficial posturing and political correct statements being made.