I am an African-American and I have noticed something sad and strange. There is an apparently deep-seated and perhaps unconscious unwillingness or inability of African-Americans to help one another. I see other races and ethnicities forming study groups and sharing their views regarding class courses at school, but not so with my fellow African-Americans. In fact, I’ve seen African-American students seek out students of other ethnicities to form study groups with. Why is that? I have a couple of ideas why that I’d like to share with you.

For whatever reason, African-Americans still feel a need for validation, to prove themselves and feel like they have value in the eyes of others. Doing well in a mixed study group carries more weight than success with a group of “just us”. Part of that is the validation issue, and part is a perception that African-Americans do not have access to the resources that other races and ethnicities do. There’s also the competition angle, which has deep, deep roots, dating back to the selling of slaves by other Africans. It seems the most familiar and popular way to get ahead is to climb over the backs of our brothers and sisters, instead of working together to help us all move forward.

Here’s another example: Look at our music. We have supported other groups interpretation and adopting of music we created, whether it be Blues (more of us know Eric Clapton than Sonny Boy Williamson), Motown (Race Music sanitized and presented as The Sound of Young America) on up to rap and hip hop (we validate and embrace them all from Vanilla Ice to Eminem).

African-Americans not only conduct themselves in this manner regarding education and the arts, but also with any attempt of a fellow African-American trying to improve his or her situation. We are so competitive with each other, as we work to help other groups in need. We are still so divided because we cannot even help our fellow brothers and sisters. The only time that we do come together is when some one dies or some other tragic event happen. Maybe we stand united for a couple of weeks under those circumstances.

We as a people need to work together as one. I wish I could say there are lots of African-Americans that I can give credit to, that helped me along the way, but there haven’t been. I wish there were more because when we help each other it’s a beautiful thing. We all can make each others dreams come true, if we will take the first step and commit to each other. I am a young author and this is just my view, but it’s one I hold strongly. We as African-Americans need to stand united in every ambitious endeavor that we as a people plan to engage in.