Books call for action from black Americans

The statistics are sobering.

African-Americans have the lowest rate of homeownership in the nation. One in three black males can expect to go to jail in his lifetime. And 32 percent of African-Americans do not have a regular doctor.

The authors of a trio of recent books hope to incite the black community to address these and other issues with invocations that recall the social movements of the '60s. Robert R. Johnson calls his self-published tome "Wake Up Black America: We're Sleepwalking Back to Slavery ." NPR senior correspondent Juan Williams 's book is "Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America -- And What We Can Do About It ." Tavis Smiley promises something spiritual with the book he edited, "The Covenant With Black America ," which features essays by experts about 12 issues challenging black Americans, including the public education system .

The books are unique in that they dissect issues that were once, and are still considered by an older generation, dirty laundry -- subjects that should not be discussed in mixed-race company.

"A lot of African-Americans today think that dealing with reality is black bashing," Johnson says. "Dealing with reality isn't black bashing. You have to realize what your problems are."

Like " The Covenant With Black America ," "Wake Up Black America" is almost workbook-like, offering readers practical advice on what they can do individually to address the subjects laid out in the book. But "Enough" -- inspired by a controversial speech Bill Cosby delivered in 2004 in which he criticized social problems in the poor black community -- focuses on blaming black leaders such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who follow a form of leadership developed during the civil rights era, for present problems and dismisses the effects of racism as the cause of high dropout and poverty rates. Just as Cosby became a target because of his comments, Williams found himself and his book being championed by conservatives while some in the black community practically branded him an Uncle Tom.

The three men find common ground in their opinion that blacks shouldn't solely rely, as they have for centuries, on black or political leaders to address these matters. In fact, with "The Covenant in Action," Smiley's follow - up to "The Covenant With Black America , " released this month , Smiley shows how blacks, through grass - roots organizations, are beginning to look to themselves to eradicate these problems.

" For the first time," Williams says, "people feel free to say, 'You know what? The civil rights generation did great things, unbelievable breakthroughs, but that model is no longer effective in terms of now taking us where we need to go next.' "

This type of soul-searching is nothing new. The current conversations, says Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree Jr. , are an extension of the debates between W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington that took place a century ago as the black community emerged after the Civil War . Both pushed for a level of self-reliance within the black community, says Ogletree, but at the same time noted that the government had a responsibility to address the problems of the black community.

Johnson, Smiley, and Williams bring that debate into the 21st century.

"Each of these books reflect a growing skepticism in the black community about doing things the old way," says Ogletree, who has participated in Smiley's State of the Black Union, an annual conference in which experts discuss challenges in the black community, since it began eight years ago. It was at a State of the Black Union that the idea was hatched to publish "The Covenant With Black America ," as a readable form of the ideas broached at the event.

Smiley, whose "Covenant With Black America " was at the top of the New York Times paperback nonfiction bestseller list for weeks after its release just over a year ago, believes the new attitude is a natural progression. After seeing so few solutions to enduring problems, the black community should be fed up and looking for alternatives, Smiley says. "We keep doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result . . . I've said for a few years now [that] I have given up on trying to change 'them' and 'they,' whoever 'they' are. What I'm interested in changing is 'us' and 'we.' "

If book sales are any indication, black Americans may be beginning to feel that way as well. "Wake Up America," which Johnson self-published in December 2005 and printed 6,000 copies of, climbed to the top of the Black Issues Book Review bestseller list in the magazine's November/December issue. " The Covenant With Black America " and "Enough" remain in the No. 3 position in BIBR's paperback and hardcover lists , respectively .

Lloyd Hart , owner of the Black Library Booksellers , who sells books at kiosks in Downtown Crossing and Dudley Station as well as online, is relieved that people are finally making these revelations. "Black people have known for years what ["The Covenant With Black America"] was talking about," says Hart, 53, "but hardly anyone would move in a massive group to solve those problems. 'The Covenant [With Black America] ' has brought some of that around, [but] not all of it."

Hart believes the recent election of Deval Patrick as governor is emblematic of the new mindset inspired by " The Covenant With Black America ," one of the more popular non fiction books he sells. He also senses a new Afrocentric mindset among his customers.

"That's really unusual ," says Hart. "The Boston area is transient, selfish, and a bunch of other things I can't name, as far as the climate of African-Americans. It seems to have changed a little to being a little less selfish."

A growing number of grass - roots organizations are emerging to help turn the situation around. In Chicago, Johnson volunteers at an organization called Black on Black Love, where he works as a mentor and tutor to young African-American boys in an effort to show them alternatives to crime. "The Covenant in Action" spotlights a range of responses, from Toni Blackman , who founded Freestyle Union Cipher Workshop , which uses hip-hop to encourage activism and self-esteem, to the National Center for Black Philanthropy, which plans to focus its annual conference in June on figuring out ways to change struggling communities in the face of insufficient funding.

Although Hart created the Black Library long before Smiley's "Covenant" books appeared, he believes it operates in the spirit of the books and considers it a form of community service. Each summer he hires two teenage African-American boys to work with him.

"I don't know whether that saved their lives," Hart says. " But I believe . . . it has contributed to them being out of harm's way."