Shame on Forbes.com: “If I Were A Poor Black Kid”

As I was checking on one of my trusted advisor websites,  Alfred Edmond Jr SVP/Editor-at-large of BLACK ENTERPRISE, I noticed his well stated rebuttal to an article posted on Forbes.com by Gene Marks.  The article headline read: “If I Were A Poor Black Kid“.  Well Mr. Edmond decided to write his article called: If I Were A Rich, Privileged White Kid, and here is my two cents to Mr. Marks.

Mr. Marks,

It appears that your intention was to educate, encourage and empower a “poor black kid” on what it takes to be successful in life.   To avoid being “outside of your expertise”, it would have been prudent to interview successful black men and women to find out what it took to bring them out of poverty into prosperity. It also would have shown wisdom to ask them how they handled the shortages of food, clothing, shelter, money, etc.  A “good education”, “good job” and “tech skills” are not necessarily passports to health, wealth, love, career fulfillment or monetary satisfaction. Are you familiar with the term “the working poor?”

In closing, I would like to suggest that you really look at  the power of words. Self-esteem is a critical component of success. Your article title “poor black kid” shows the limitation of your paradigm because it places a dis-empowering  label upon a child. Rather than arrogantly stating that you stand by your words, it would be beneficial to consider that a shift in consciousness is in order as this article in particular clearly reveals your true intention, which was to demean, belittle and criticize. Any child reading this article would be hard-pressed to walk away with self-esteem in tact after reading your post.

I believe that you would greatly benefit from volunteering your time and services. Join the people on the front lines who give generously of their time, undivided attention, intellectual capital and financial resources to solve the problem of poverty. First hand experience would clearly teach you empathy and compassion and the power of “doing” versus “talking about what you would do”.