Why Don Lemon's Quick-Fix-List was an Epic Failure and Culturally Irresponsible

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Recently, Don Lemon, in my opinion, crossed the cultural responsibility line when he used video footage from Bill O'reilly's sarcastic soliloquy of problems with Black males to support his own presumptuous, uninformed quick-fix-list toward solving Black America's problems. And although many of Bill's observations, on paper, were sound, like Don's, they lacked the substance required to reveal the complexity of Black America's "whole movie," rather than just a few clips of "the bad parts".

Don's and Bill's lists inexcusably omitted undeniable historical and ongoing unethical practices imposed upon Black and Brown men at the hands of self-proclaimed blue-bloods, in an effort to feed the fire of hate they inherited from their grandfathers; this resulting in a tricky collective superiority complex now exposing itself like an army of streaking pedophiles on a playground.

Most unfortunate in this sad, but true reality is that Don's perspective rendered the real problem unrecognizable to way too many, educated, high-achieving Black people. And if “we” are unwilling to acknowledge the truth, why should anyone else?

Obviously, many Blacks suffered very deeply through America's inhumane practices toward her Black and brown children, adopting poor self images and practices, which they subsequently passed down through their offspring in a cancerous cycle (often referred to as generational curses). Many of our strongest ancestors were beaten and frightened into submission, such that they dare not utter “Black Power!” for fear of family members being killed. And many of our would-have-been elders were killed long before they had time to deposit the lessons that may have changed our trajectory toward "collective" Black achievement.

Don, in under five minutes, did what no other single man could do in 600 years; presented five quick-fixes, descending from least to most important, that black people should "think about" doing to "fix" the Black "problem":

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Fifth on Don's quick-fix-list was, "Pull up your pants...nobody wants to see your butt crack!"  And he said as if he'd found an Easter egg hidden in a place so outrageously obvious, all of the other children simply walked pass it.

Lemon explained that this “sagging” trend came from prison culture, ultimately representing roles in homosexual sex.

However, Don doesn't present "sagging" as a stupid trend, but rather as an ignorant ploy responsible for 20% of the destruction of the Black race. To me, this kind of thinking is far more damaging than the stupid trend itself. For, you see, it deflects attention from the deep-rooted issues of profiling, racism, and classism practiced in this country against young, black males by Black and white people alike.  

Moreover, I wonder…What is the relationship between Black "problems" and this stupid trend? In fact, I know some pretty accomplished saggers—doctors, lawyers, artists, teachers, police officers, and yup, I even know some journalist who have sagged during their youth. Hell, some of them still do! But, I don't know many racist saggers. Elitist saggers. I've never seen a mass murderer sagging. Crazier than that, I've seen serial killers, molesters, drug king pens, and even Trayvon Martin's murderer in beautiful, high-quality, open-casket-sharp suits, silk ties and Gucci shoes.

Oh yeah, and Don, as much as I hate the trend, I've never, ever seen any saggers' butt cracks. Not once. Where the heck were you, brother???

Fourth on Don's list is use of the word "nigger".  The real fact, like it or not, is that black people are split down the middle on use of this word. Hell, in my own house, we are split down the middle! It ails me that those so tired of this word feel so comfortable ignoring those who feel differently than they.

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Personally, I choose not to shield my son and other young males in my family from the word, mostly because I never want it to carry as much weight in their lives as it did in mine, my parents', and my grandparents' lives.

See, I grew up in Baltimore, MD, which, in my youth, was very racist. Being called "nigger" by a white person absolutely broke my heart and shredded my confidence; brought me to tears and left me searching for a sound explanation for why white people had so much power over Black folks. Needless to say, I would never find that explanation, because it will just never make sense. EVER. It so happens that I am father of an amazing 12-year-old son who understands quite deeply that his family is absolutely against sagging. But, he also knows it's because we see it as a stupid trend that in a sorted kind of way, represents rebellion.

Today, "nigger" means nothing to me and it won't to my son, especially not when one of his football heroes Riley Cooper, is caught on camera making references to "niggers"; or his grandma's favorite television chef Paula Deen admits using "nigger," and wants to reenact slavery for a "Good Ole" southern party.

Perhaps because Don is not a father to a black boy, he can't understand why so many black men extract the power from "nigger".  Whatever the case, his suggestion, while meritorious in general, is short-sighted in that it identifies only a condition that grew out of the mother problem—RACISM. But he never mentions that big problem.

Don's third "fixer" was to "Respect where you live," and I couldn't agree more with him that we should respect our neighborhoods more.  But this dude Don lost me when he said, "I've lived in several predominantly white neighborhoods...I rarely, if ever, witnessed people littering.”

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He went on to explain with the conviction of Job that now that he lives in Harlem, NY, everyday he sees adults and children "...dropping their trash on the ground when a garbage can is just feet away."

Clearly, the white neighborhoods Don lived in were not poor, socially challenged ones, for had they been, he would have seen white folks doing dropping trash too. I’m offended that Don presents trashy neighborhoods as a Black problem when it is so much deeper than that.  

Don's second fixer was, "Finish school. You wanna break the cycle of poverty?" He asks. "Stop telling kids they're 'acting white' because they got to school, or they speak proper English."

I studied journalism at Morgan State University, and one thing I ABHOR is when people misuse the term “proper English” for “standard English"; there is a difference.

Proper English, in my world, is the most effective English to successful communicate a message.

The bigger issue is that Don ignores is the failure of the schools districts across America to maintain the interest of our Black children by teaching from curricula that rarely considers their experience as Black children in America; he ignores the thousands of Black and brown students forced to drop out of school to earn money to help the family; he ignores the kids who are afraid to go to school for fear of being bullied; Don ignores the thousands of undiagnosed learning disabilities leaving many black and brown (and white) kids feeling plain old stupid; he ignores the thousands of children whose home lives leave them so stressed out enough to take it out on other kids or to drop out; finally, Don ignores the annual new initiatives schools adopt, resulting in a dwindling number of Black teachers hired to teach black children—teachers who share and celebrate their experiences.

And, believe it or not, Don's number one "fixer" is to stop having babies without being married first. And while for people who believe in marriage this may be a very valid point, is it the number one problem in the Black community? Is it fair, then, to conclude that based on Don's list of "fixers," most of the problems in the Black community would disappear if people stopped having babies without be married?

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So, my mother had both my sister and I without being married. And although I must admit that things were really tough at times, my sister and I turned out pretty great, often experiencing less emotional struggles than our friends with married parents. When I was nine, my mother started dating an amazing man named Horace, and they were together for 15 years before they finally got married. But, in Don’s assessment, these 15 years of consistent love weren’t good enough. They should have been married.

There were scores of other kids in the same situation throughout my community; live-in dads, but parents remained single (On the books). There were also scores of kids with married parents whose homes were abusive or parents were addicted to drugs.  While my responses are not intended to minimize the value of being raised with married parents, they are indeed intended to point out the naïveté with which Don cockily presented the his quick-fix list for Black America's "problems".

Developing effective action items toward solving Black America's problems depend largely upon the lens through which one views America, and one's willingness to acknowledge both the obvious and intangible impact America's institution of racism has had on Black people; despite the level of profundity with which they've experienced it personally.

Don's proposed quick-fix-list of action items fail to acknowledge the disenfranchisement imposed upon blacks in every aspect of life.

At what point do Black individuals who seemingly transcend the hurdles of destruction see that their disconnectivity is as big a part of the problem as the judgment of non-Black people. And while I am 100% sure that Don's intentions were good, I would encourage consider the following:

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Engage the people living the experience before discussing the solutions to problems specific to the experience. Perhaps, then, Don may learn that his solutions would merely serve as generic Bandaids on wounds requiring surgery and stitches; nurturing and therapy toward healing and reconciliation.

Perhaps then, Don's solutions would have included diverse curricula that consider each individual's strengths. Maybe it would have included affordable housing and affordable healthy foods. Perhaps it would have included mental health programs. Perhaps he could have including affordable education for average students. Maybe it would be helpful if all organizations, families and universities that had or benefited from slaves, or that operated under racist and classist practices to give back money to the people who were taken advantage of and stolen from.

In closing, I have two questions for Don:

What did it feel like those times you stood on The Avenues of The Americas dressed in your Armani suit and Prada shoes, hailing a cab only to be ignored because your were black?

And, as my dear friend Olive (who happens to be white) recently asked, "But what should white people do?"