(ThyBlackMan.com) African-Americans have made extraordinary gains in our society in spite of a history of unfair treatment. But at this time, African- Americans are facing major problems and issues. African-Americans are at a loss as to what direction to take to build upon their achievements and move toward full emergence.
The powerful strategies and effort that created African-Americans advancement in our society seem to have little to offer in the face of challenging circumstances in our society. African-Americans are at a 
crisis. Unless a direction is found, progress toward freedom and emergence is at risk, if not already lost.
African-Americans must become aware of and accept that there’s a choice or direction for advancement. To find this direction African-Americans must acknowledge the true, underlying enemy against which they have fought historically and that they continue to fight to this day. This enemy is not just racism and other forms of discrimination and bigotry.
Clearly, these forces have been and must continue to be directly confronted and resolved. However, research strongly indicates that the sinister, insidious foe that African-Americans have fought and continue to fight is the human ineffectiveness that creates an immense void. Within this gap—racism, bigotry, hatred, and ignorance flourish and grow.
African-Americans must see that human effectiveness is the foundation or direction for their emergence. This means that to be successful African-Americans must analyze assumptions about, define and implement human effectiveness as their fundamental approach to resolving the obstacles, problems, or issues that obstruct their emergence. With this approach African-Americans can take their own initiative to address areas important for emergence such as education, community, workplace and economic prosperity.
As well, African-Americans must examine their own relationship with human effectiveness. From the experience of unfair treatment in this country, African-Americans have created entities that have served as pillars of strength and growth in their experience. Some of these elements are educational institutions, communities, business enterprises, voter participation and political leadership. Truly, they are part of the outstanding, ongoing legacy of the African-American experience. African-Americans must seek to further strengthen these areas through the analysis of assumptions about, the definition of, and the application of human effectiveness.
Movement towards freedom and emergence will be accounted for by the actions taken or not taken. With the underpinning of human effectiveness, African-Americans must understand that at this turning point they should choose to be free. Undeniably, African-Americans have to take full responsibility for that choice. This choice does not relieve other segments of the nation of their responsibility to African-Americans and to all Americans. However, it does mean that African-Americans have the capacity to and must take principal responsibility for their choice for freedom and emergence.
The responsibility of African-Americans to make the choice for freedom is pivotal for the experience and opportunity of succeeding generations. Society and the world overall are in the midst of significant and rapid change. African-Americans cannot prepare the next generation for these changes by simply dispensing guidance such as “make good choices and you will be successful in this world.”
For one thing, more than those words will be necessary for success in this complex, changing world. Adults cannot tell the next generation to make “good choices” when the adults fail to make the “good choice” for freedom based on a relationship with human effectiveness. Without the adult choice for freedom, succeeding generations may be designated as the new “bearers of the torch” but they will lack the availability of “good choices” with which to grow, be free and carry that torch.
Tragically, the future for these young people may well be a sentence to an “enslavement” created more by a failure of the African-Americans adult generation of this time to make a choice for freedom than by factors such as continuing unfair treatment, bigotry, or ignorance in our society.
Moreover, so many people in our history have made the commitment, sacrifice and contribution for African-Americans advancement. African-Americans continue to recognize and honor these people and their accomplishments and they are determined that all Americans show this appreciation. However, if African-Americans fail to make the choice for effectiveness and freedom they will squander and dishonor this fine legacy for which so many have paid. African-Americans will have to stand in shame in the eyes of the countless number of people who gave their lives for freedom and who look down from “on high” with hope and pride to see the state of their legacy.
All African-Americans have a choice to be free and they have to make that choice. We are free because we have chosen to be free.
Written By Dr. George Banks
Official Book; The Issue of Race
http://www.seaburn.com/The_Issue_of_Race.htm
