Facebook Gives $100 Million to Our Kids, But We Don't Care As Much

By now, you may have heard that Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, is going to give $100 million to the public school system in Newark, N.J. If there's a city in greater need of this financial support, you'd be hard-pressed to find it. More than half of Newark's kids are not graduating, and only 20 percent go on to college. The town has become a haven of wasted black genius and public school inefficiency.

One condition of the deal is that the city's mayor, Cory Booker, is going to be allowed to play a major role in how the district is run. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad idea, because I've heard mixed reviews about Booker. He seems far less interested in helping the city of Newark than he is in becoming the next post-racial presidential candidate. But I digress.

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10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Black Leaders
Who are they? Who appoints them? Do people still respect what Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have to say? Does the NAACP have any power today? The future and current state of black leadership has been highly debated in recent weeks, but with the emergence of the Barack Obama presidential campaign, there is hope for a brighter day with black leadership.

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10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Breakdown of the Black Family
The low marriage rate in the black community has a detrimental effect on today's youth. Nearly 65% percent of black kids are born to single parent homes. Lacking either a mother or a father leaves a gap in a child's psyche that is usually replaced by a more negative factor. While one parent is better than none, a single working mother or father usually doesn't have enough time to parent their children as effectively as they should, which could cause trouble in the household.

10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Black Health Issues
While African American are only 13% of the U.S. population, blacks account for more HIV and AIDS cases and HIV-related deaths than any other racial/ethnic group. The rate of obesity is also a huge factor in the community, with over one-third of blacks being obese. The result is a higher risk of pancreatic cancer among blacks than among whites, particularly for women. It also leads to a high prevalence of obesity-related conditions such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes, factors reported to contribute to a high death rate from coronary heart disease.

10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Light-Skinned vs. Dark-Skinned
The color complex is an issue in the black community that has existed for centuries. It has divided families, communities and marital relationships, etc. It is a system of discrimination by black people against other African Americans based on skin tone, pitting light versus dark--even though the reality is that no matter what the shade, we are still black.

10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Use of the N-word
Much has been said and published over the use of the word "nigger." Political figures and celebrities have argued over its power and prevalence in the black community. No matter how you spin it, this word, whether you love it or hate it, will most likely be a part of the black vernacular for years to come.

10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Crack Epidemic
Starting in the early 1980s, a cheap, portable and highly addictive form of cocaine hit America's streets. Crack ravaged many inner cities populated by African Americans with a flood of addiction, a proliferation of border babies (abandoned children in hospitals born addicted to crack), astronomical murder rates, and a general blight that had never been seen before. Even in 2008, the effects crack has had on black families still remain.

10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Hurricane Katrina
Race in America came into focus in August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit the nation's Gulf coast. The fact that many news outlets referred to survivors as "refugees" in addition to the government's slow reaction time for largely black communities hardest hit left many wondering if black people "matter." Socio-economic class and segregation in the U.S. were put on television for the world to see. Although Katrina was a natural disaster, some say it exemplified this country's disregard for the condition of poor people and black folks.

10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Institutional racism
The decrease in race-based scholarships, rollbacks in affirmative action plans, and the persistent inequality in salaries between whites and blacks continue to show how the glass ceiling remains above the head of African Americans.

10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Hip-Hop's Portrayal of Women
Rap music has been criticized for its negative portrayal of women, glorification of "thug life," and violence since its inception. However, these days, the future of the genre is less clear as fewer artists top the charts and remain there. Also, opinions differ on who is to blame for women being used as stage props and negatively portrayed in music videos and lyrics. Regardless, the negative effects of hip-hop continue to linger.

10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Police Brutality
The brutality cases of Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell and Rodney King have only increased an already cold relationship between the African-American community and police throughout the country. Police brutality has always been prevalent in the black community, but these cases shed light on the often violent encounters between African-Americans and cops.

10 Ways Black People Have A Long Way To Go

Booker seems to want to change the way teachers are paid, linking their compensation to student performance. This makes sense to me, as the destruction of our students seems to result from a creative partnership between teachers and parents alike. Parents are not involved the way they should be, but when they are involved, their children's futures are stolen by teachers who set terribly low expectations for their kids.

Zuckerberg made his announcement today on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show.' The pledge was made at nearly the same time that a new movie, 'The Social Network,' is set to be released. Given that Zuckerberg is portrayed negatively in the film, some think his philanthropy is designed to manage his public image. One interesting thing about Zuckerberg is that he and other wealthy public figures are going out of their way to give back. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and others are setting a trend that Zuckerberg and others like him seem willing to follow.

I wonder whether black celebrities are ever going to follow suit? I recall watching Diddy give his son a $350,000 car on the one hand and a $10,000 check to Haiti with the other. I wondered why the entire country of Haiti deserved only 1/35th of what he'd just given to his son. Perhaps our priorities should be modified.

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"What you're seeing is for the under-40 set, education reform is what feeding kids in Africa was in 1980," said Derrell Bradford, the executive director of the group Excellent Education for Everyone. "Newark public schools are like the new Live Aid."

In addition to Zuckerberg's donation, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation gave $290 million in grants, including $100 million for the schools in Tampa, Fla. They also gave $90 million to the schools in Memphis, Tenn. Newark has 40,000 students and a $940 million annual budget, in addition to terribly low test scores and graduation rates.

I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of our kids being defined as the "new Live Aid." Black children should not be the charity cases being taken up by wealthy liberals who want to make the world a better place. Their efforts are certainly appreciated, but the sign of a weak community is one where its people cannot sustain and provide for themselves.

The $100 million being provided by Zuckerberg is a great start, but the real bailout for our kids is going to come from parents and the community. We must all become involved in the education of our children, as well as make ourselves available for children who are not our own. We should set the bar high for our kids and demand that they pursue education as diligently as they pursue entertainment and sports. We must also push as a community to hold school systems and poor teachers accountable when they allow our kids to be turned into intellectual waste after being buried under a system that cares more about protecting teachers' jobs than about helping young people have a future. We all need to be part of this community bailout.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a professor at Syracuse University and author of the book 'Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about College.' To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.