What Happens In This House, Stays In This House

When I was growing up, my mother always gave me the speech about "keeping her business out the streets". Basically, she was telling me to refrain from sharing her household skeletons with the outside world. Lately I've been wondering if the application of this theory to the black community is doing us some damage. Recently, a friend and I were watching footage from Tavis Smiley's State of The Black Family conference. Dr. Cornel West questioned Barack Obama's loyalty and interest in the state of black people in America due to his lack of presence at the conference. A quote from his diatribe ended up in a white publication and my friend hit the roof. He was angry with Dr. West for making what he considered to be disparaging remarks about Barack in front of white folks. I wondered aloud, "if you can't talk about this kind of thing at the State of the Black Family conference, then where in the world can you talk about it"? What good would it really do for black people in leadership positions to get together in an undisclosed broom closet somewhere to discuss the problems that plague us and upon completion hope that mental telepathy will get the message out to other black people? Why would a plan to advance us need to be carried across the underground railroad? I believe that part of the reason we haven't made more progress as a race is because we concern ourselves far too much with what white folks think. Worryin' about "massa" doesn't do anything but stunt our growth. We need to worry about what our children think about us and what kind of example we are setting for them as black adults. We need to be worried about what God thinks of what we do. We need to be worried about how to make smart investments with our money and how to keep the black dollar amongst ourselves. Worryin' about white folk ought to be at the very bottom of the list. While I don't think talking about each other and our shortcomings in front of white people is the best idea, I can't help but think that our silence is part of what has kept us stagnate for so long.