Crossing Learning Boundaries by Choice

Inner-city black Americans must lead efforts to save themselves. For more than 60 years after the Great Migration from the South, black inner-city communities are still choosing to live as though they prefer separate worlds. The physical, social, and psychological boundaries surrounding inner-city black America are still too often internalized as barriers rather than learning challenges to cross.



My experiences tell me that inner-city black Americans cannot survive pursuing the historical ways of life of our black forefathers. We must change. In the 21sttwenty-first century, inner-city neighborhoods are becoming multicultural and diverse in terms of expectations and lifestyles. Inner-city black Americans will have increasing opportunities to become learners and to cross boundaries where family life becomes the center stage for promoting social and economic development.

Inner cities are becoming the "place" for affordable housing, accessible transportation, public social infrastructures, and ports of entry for immigration and migration. Increasingly these "new" and socially enriched multicultural neighborhoods are becoming active "first-time" home and family development environments. Families are creating pools of social capital and viable community organizations and pushing for better educations. These environments can empower and stimulate black families to become more cohesive and viable decision makers in neighborhood and community problem solving if we accept and participate in such changes. Collaborations with other ethnic groups on issues of schooling, housing, and healthcare present new learning opportunities to expand the role of the black families in shaping their own survival. Black political and community leaders must challenge inner-city working-class black families to become active participants in such community revitalization.