This summer, law professors Amy Wax and Larry Alexander caused a stir with an op-ed lamenting the decline of what they called "bourgeois norms." "All cultures are not equal," they rightly observed. Those that encourage self-restraint, delayed gratification, marriage and a strong work ethic tend to thrive. Those that tolerate or excuse substance abuse, out-of-wedlock pregnancy and dropping out tend to break down.I would add obeying the law and not violating the rights of others (which are often the same thing). See my Sept. 20 post.
Ms. Wax and Mr. Alexander were instantly accused of racism by the growing army of angry academics who police the prevailing narrative of black victimhood.* * *
A better life has always been available to those who reject undisciplined and irresponsible behavior, and embrace self-determination and personal responsibility. So-called bourgeois values have always empowered blacks to persevere and overcome bitter oppression. They provided the moral "glue" that held the black community together during the hardest of times.
The life-affirming values that enabled Douglass and others to survive retain their potency in the 21st century. Hundreds of examples of achievement against the odds prove this point. In cities around the country, activists like Bertha Gilkey have ousted drug dealers from public housing projects, transformed their communities, and sent hundreds of young people to college. Neighborhood moral mentors and character coaches from Washington, D.C., to Milwaukee have changed the behavior, attitudes and life trajectories of once-violent gang members.
Today, the race grievance industry declares that what constitutes "normal" for blacks is different than what constitutes "normal" for whites. In the same way, 19th-century slaveholders assumed that idle drunkenness was the hallmark of authentic black culture.
Frederick Douglass is largely ignored today.
I have long posted his unifying teachings for young people.
{Highlights:}
Work ethic:
Douglass succeeds in escaping to New York in a disguise as a sailor, finding work
as a day laborer in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Though he buys his freedom in 1847, the governor of Virginia yet seeks his arrest
by warrant, in 1859.
“People may not get everything they work for in this world, but they must
certainly work for all they get.”;
[Do not be] men who want crops without plowing up the ground".
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Morality: “The life of the nation is secure only while the
nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.”; “One and God makes a majority.”
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Constitutionalism: In 1852: Douglass asserts, "the Constitution is a glorious liberty document... [without] a single pro-slavery clause in it."; In 1855: Douglass advances "the doctrine of the the Declaration of Independance,".
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Statesmanship/Patiotism: In 1857: Douglass states that American Founders were not "imposters", "Race…is narrow; humanity is broad."; had Washington lived in the mid-19th century, he would have been "a terror to the slaveholders".
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Public Service/Patiotism: Works with President Lincoln to establish Army Regiments, the 54th & 55th Negro Regs. of Massachusetts, in 1861;
Becomes Consul General/Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti, in 1889.