n a classic fiery sermon, The Honorable James David Manning asked the following question: What would make a black man go into his mother’s pocketbook and steal her very last quarter and shoot dope with it?  His answer: a lack of honor.  Of course, insofar as Manning’s point holds, it holds across all races.  Yet, there is something about his point that has quite a sting to it. Manning’s deep concern is that there is precious little honor among black men, and that rap music has contributed to the demise of honor among black men.  Here is the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7diAnTSn9o&feature=related

Manning’s fascinating example is that of Puff Daddy using a plethora of profanity in front of his mother.  While it is marvelous that Puff Daddy bought his mother a house, the Honorable James David Manning’s point is that using plethora of profanity in her very presence is utterly dishonorable. 

To be sure, it would be dishonorable if any male so behaved in front of his mother.  But Manning’s point is that how has it come to pass that a black man so behaves in front of his mother.  And we cannot have it both ways.  We cannot have it that (i) blackness has its own moral orbit which nurtures mutual respect among blacks and, at the same time, have it be true that (ii) blacks continually engage in behavior that shows a serious lack of respect for one another, above all, their parents, especially the mother. 

Manning is drawing upon a very simple point, namely that from the outset a mother points her life on the line for her children in a way that has no equal on the part of the father.  Indeed, a mother can say to a child “I gave you life”, whereas it is sort of silly for a father to say such a thing. 

The idea, then, is that genuine honor for a mother should be second-nature.  And what concerns Manning is that among black men it is not respect but a lack of respect that is prevalent. 

Is it possible to respect one’s mother and utter a slew of profanity in her very presence?  It is difficult for me to see how that it is possible. 

Now, there was a time when mothers in the black community were much respected.  So what happened?  My sense is that white guilt is part of the problem. 

It goes with saying that owing to racism whites have had rather excoriating things to say about the character of blacks.  And it is an important measure of progress that whites have seen that such assessments were utterly misguided.  But from the truth that (a) some critical assessments regarding the black character were utterly misguided, what simply does not follow that (b) any and all negative assessments of a black person’s character are misguided because such assessments are necessarily tainted by racism. 

With white guilt, (b) is wholeheartedly embraced.  And that has been bad for both blacks and whites alike.  There are standards of excellence that have nothing whatsoever to do with skin color.  Besides, while expressions of excellence can very across cultures, the excellences themselves may not do so at all.  Deep friendship amounts to pretty much the same across all cultures.  Nonetheless, the expression of deep friendship can vary across culture.  In the United States close male friends do not faire la bise (the kiss on each cheeck) whereas in France, doing so is not an option among many close male friends. 

Honesty and respect are not different forms of excellences in the black community.  However, it is none other than white guilt that would have whites accepting the idea that a Puff Daddy uttering a slew of profanity in front of his mother is not a form of disrespect because, after all, doing so is a “black thing”. 

Nothing has been more damaging to the black community than the claim that blacks subscribe to different values.  Accordingly, white guilt has done nothing other than contribute to the demise of the black community. 

What happened, of course, is that the idea of black pride became a twisted notion.  There are two senses of the word pride.  The good sense of the word pride pertains to having a proper appreciation for one’s strengths.  The bad sense of the word pride is when pride amounts to none other than a form of arrogance.  Pride as a form of arrogance is always a vice and never a virtue.  Pride as a proper appreciation for one’s strengths is always a virtue and never a vice. 

Black pride may very well have started out as having a proper appreciation for the strengths of black people.  However, the idea of black pride became twisted to mean arrogance.  Whites compounded the problem by supposing that the racism of the past made it unacceptable for them to be critical of blacks.  They were wrong: the racism of the past simply made it unacceptable for whites to be racist.  Nothing more; nothing less. 

This brings me back to the sermon of the Honorable James David Manning.  Few things make the difference in our lives like the fact that others expect us to be excellent.  In the oddest of ways, things are worse than they were before.  Before, there were standards of excellence and white refused to believe that blacks could live up to those standards.  Blacks, however, endeavored to live up to those standards as best they could under the circumstances. 

Today, in the name of being open-minded and free of racism, standards of excellence have been jettisoned across the board.  And this, unfortunately, has been called progress.  Well, there is a perverted sense in which it is; for trust has receded from social interaction across the board.  Blacks cannot trust blacks; whites cannot trust whites; and blacks and whites cannot trust one another.  With this we have none other than vapid equality.

Pastor Manning preached that honor is independent of social standing and that it occasions self-discipline in the face of temptation.  He is not a philosopher, and the words “self-respect” and “respect” more naturally come to mind.  But there is nothing to be said for being pedantic here.  For the spirit of his point is manifestly clear.  There are things that persons will not do to themselves if they have basic self-respect; and there are things that persons will not do to others if they have basic respect for them. 

Nothing other than moral corrosiveness would have anyone believe otherwise.  And the fact that some blacks now think so and whites cheer them on (lest they, the whites, be called racist) should stand as a vivid reminder of the human capacity for self-deception. 

For the harm that we are doing to ourselves and to one another is manifestly obvious (as when people are afraid to walk down the street in their own neighborhood); yet, we insist upon maintaining that there is no right and wrong.  At the rate we are going, there will be no one left to make that utterly asinine assertion.