All of you that regularly read my posts know that I am rarely one to discuss race in my writings, and the reason is that in many instances it just has no bearing on what I have to say. But this is different and what I have to say may offend some, and may turn others off; I hope that you will read what I am about to say and try to get an understanding of where I am coming from.

As I sat reading Harry Jackson's latest piece at Townhall, and reader reactions to it, my blood began to boil. I was reading things that insinuated that Rev. Jackson was somehow in bed with the "civil rights" cabal, that his appearance at the State of the Black Union event somehow proved it, that his plans were off the mark, and that it should be held against him that he refers to himself as a "Son of Africa". All of which got me to thinking this: Too often conservatives act just like liberals, especially when it comes to Black people.

Take something as simple as what Blacks should be called. Some prefer to be called Black, some prefer Afro-American, and some African-American, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. Now, I understand about the hyphenated American argument as I have made it myself at times, but if the person that calls himself African-American is true to his country before his race, what does it matter?

But too many conservatives cannot abide that! They demand that you not use the name African-American, you should simply call yourself an American, and so on, and so forth. But why? Why should I not call myself what I want, why should I not identify with my family's origins? To make you feel more comfortable? Why is it that I must change to suit you?

Let me give you some personal background on my family that I recently uncovered. It seems that mine is the first generation of my family to be removed from sharecropping, and I am 35 years old. My mother had to work sharecrop fields, as did her father, and his father before him, and before him were slaves. My father's father was born in Greer, South Carolina in 1910, less than 40 years after the fall of the slave system in the Civil War; his father was most likely a slave at some point in his life and was most likely steeped in African religious and cultural traditions.  So for me to deny my African ancestry is an affront to all those that came before me, that laid the foundation of my family, and carved a path for me out of the wilderness. So please do not tell me that I am wrong if I choose to call myself an African-American or a "Son of Africa"! In so doing, I honor both my African and American family heritage, and calling myself that does not in any way mean that my race comes before my country.

Another problem that conservatives fall into when talking about race is the tendency to tell us what to do. That is particulary galling to me, because you do not know what we should do! It seems that some conservatives have decided who our 'leaders' should be, what problems we need to address first, and how to address them. How, pray tell, can you know all this? And do you realize how much you sound like liberals when you talk down to us, or make uninformed comments about us? And frankly, that is one of the reasons that Blacks aren't flocking to the conservative cause; what's the point in moving across the ideological aisle if there is still going to be someone trying to tell you what to do?

Take an example from Rev. Jackson's article. The reverend places the need to protect marriage as his number one priority for improving the Black community. Seeing all of  the societal and familial breakdown in the Black community since the Great Society began, that seems like a more than reasonable position for the Reverend to take. But no, cry the conservatives! What Blacks need is school vouchers! Really?! School vouchers are the key to solving the myriad problems the Black community faces?! What a load of crap!

Now, don't get me wrong, school vouchers are a great idea. There does need to be a valid educational choice for students that are trapped in failing schools; however, the major problems facing the Black community does not concern school choice. Our first priority must be to fix our families!

When the family unit is broken or nonexistent, that leads to many of the ills plaguing the Black community today. The destruction of the Black family directly correlates to the rise in illegitimate births, exploding teen birth rates, burgeoning street crime rates, and the staggering incarceration rates among young Black men. These problems were not caused by, but were heavily influenced by the breakdown of the Black family that took place during the 1960s, when it became more financially beneficial to be unmarried and have a child than it was to be married and have a child. As soon as LBJ started handing out welfare checks, food stamps, and section-8 housing the number of single parent homes exploded...and the effects of that explosion are still being felt in the Black community today.

See, we have to get that straight, we have to rebuild the family unit in the community in order to deal with our other problems. If you stepped back and looked at the whole picture, you would see that it was government programs that jump-started these problems, and it is going to take more than another government program to fix it.

And these are just some of the attitudes that sometimes try my patience with my fellow conservatives, and I could go on. Like the conservative penchant to tell us who our heroes should be (King...good! Malcolm...bad!), whose ideas to follow, and what path to take to solve our problems.

The Black community needs support and help, not for someone to ride in claiming to have all the answers. Help us, give us suggestions, throw some ideas out there in the arena, but please do not try to tell us what to do! We have had that from the left for longer than I can remember, and I don't think we need that same attitude coming at us from the right as well!

And don't get defensive or angry when we choose to do things differently than you would like. Because sometimes it is a Black thing... and you wouldn't understand.