#talented 10th

Here's what pisses me off about East Cleveland's "Talented 10th." I'd have a list of names a mile long if I identified the black or white "white collar" professionals who are residents of East Cleveland, and who have the intellect and integrity to properly lead the city, and who have never stepped the fuck up to help. Make no mistake about it. Every East Cleveland resident is no dummy. The city has a solid professional class of black citizens who comprise W.E.B. DuBois' "Talented 10th." They just don't get involved. They don't seek elected office. They don't serve on boards and commissions. I can name a dozen East Cleveland residents who are attorneys, and who could have investigated that bullshit agreement Gary signed with Cosgrove to close Huron Hospital. They had the knowledge to file a citizens action to stop it. They didn't do jack shit but complain. They know the least skilled people have been mismanaging city hall and the schools. But because their wealth affords them the opportunity to live a certain distance from the rest of the city, to the extent that they can drive completely around it, or send their children to private schools, the general population does not benefit from their education and training. I don't know whether its because they're lazy, apathetic or don't want to risk being "exposed," but East Cleveland's brightest and most skilled citizens in this 96 percent Negro city have not stepped forward to help their "brothers and sisters." They could have ended the insanity a long time ago. I imagine that DuBois' theory about the Talented 10th uplifting the other 90 percent of Negro America was just a theory. All we have today is a bunch of selfish, greedy Negro thieves stealing from each other, and not just in East Cleveland. Black folk are leading cities, school districts and courts across the nation and screwing their own people worse than any racist. I see no benefit to Negroes having all these hard fought for civil rights that they don't use to protect themselves, not just from racists, but from those among our own kind who've demonstrated the same disregard for our rights and quality of life. With all mankind's access to knowledge, and with the ability to easily rally around shared objectives, I don't see why the so-called "Talented 10th" aren't giving freely of themselves to identify and organize to correct problems they know exist in their own communities.