The pinnacle of African American progress in the USA seemed to have been achieved with the election of a Black President.  If so, why are African Americans so far behind in education, employment, home ownership, entrepreneurship, and our wealth is 1/20th of the average white household?

At nearly every station of American progress, you can find the presence of African Americans: successful entrepreneurs and millionaires; Corporate managers and "C" level execs -- CEOs, CFOs, CIOs; Academic achievements -- Ph.Ds in many disciplines; Nobel laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners; military leaders; political leaders; leaders in entertainment and sports (including ownership); even Black billionaires. Why then, does this not translate to widespread advance?

What is the conundrum? Why don't significant achievements of individual African Americans translate into significant progress broadly for all African Americans? Why have our collective efforts yielded such poor results?

Is it professional organization? We have formed the NAACP, National Urban League, UNIA (United Negro Improvement Association), Southern Christian Leadership Council, National Society of Black Engineers, National Medical Association, National Black MBA Association, National Bar Association, and many others. Yet, our professional and organizational efforts lag in affecting broad advance -- in society at large, or in creating a stronger professional pipeline.

Is it grassroots organization? The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led the protest movement of the 60's. Dr. Leon Sullivan's OICs (Opportunity Industrialization Centers) led the movement to increase skills of Black workers in the 70's and 80's. Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH , and Al Sharpton's National Action Network, are examples of recent grassroots movements focused on the plight of disadvantaged African Americans. Why are the numbers of African Americans in poverty and the unemployed at Great Depression levels?

Finally, is it lack of political clout? The Congressional Black Caucus has 42 members in congress; there are more than 650 Black mayors across the country; and there are over 650 Blacks in state legislatures -- with representation in all but 9 states. Why hasn't our presence at every political level translated into significant benefits for African Americans?

There is a huge disconnect between perception and reality. There is a perception of widespread progress, but a disproportionate reality of increasing gaps. This is a riddle that has not been solved by political pundits, social activists, academic analysts, or business leaders. Where is the disconnect?

In 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois said, "The problem of the 20th century is the color line." A full century later, the color line is still definitive in every measure of social progress toward the American dream. There is a real and measurable difference in the conditions in Black America and White America. Instead of iconic racists like the Ku Klux Klan, we now speak of "institutional barriers" to our progress. So, perhaps a different strategy is needed to break through these barriers.

A new strategy will produce new results. Most of what I read about the progress of high achieving Blacks fits into the category of self-motivated achievement. There is a lot to be said for self-starters. In fact, that is the starting place for all high achievers. The recent death of Steve Jobs is a good example. He was lauded as a genius, visionary, and driven to success. However, he created an institution that will survive him, a culture of innovation, and an inspiration for generations to come.

What is needed to translate the conundrum of Black individual success into broader success is a strategy that recognizes three factors.

1. Institutional racism in the form of slavery has left an indelible impact on African Americans. We started our emancipation journey 400 years behind. Those who inherited the 400 year advantage -- whether they are racist or not -- are not willing to give away their advantage. Some may call it the racism of privilege, but to overcome any disadvantage requires a greater effort catch up and then compete on equal footing. So, while it is an old cliche that "Blacks have to be twice as good to be considered equal", that is the reality of starting 400 years behind. Those are the cards we are dealt and we have to play them if we want to catch up. It is not enough to celebrate the Jackie Robinsons and Thurgood Marshalls and the Oprah Winfreys among us. All of us need to recognize that we must compete harder to catch up.
   


2. Individual success without institutional legacy is failure. During Black History Month, we are inundated with profiles of individual Black achievers. The extraordinary effort to discover them and share them with others is an indicator of the problem. African American achievers need to recognize that we weren't enslaved one by one. Slavery was an institution that created an underclass of people in this country -- even following emancipation and enduring to this day. To overcome this institutional legacy, there needs to be more "African American Success Institutions."
   
   A. Philip Randolph and the Pullman Porters helped pave the Way for the Civil Rights Movement with the organization of the Pullman Porters Union. This was an institutional answer to an institutional challenge. We should have learned from this and continued to organize Black labor -- to increase our skills and inclusion in the national labor movement. We lost this legacy, and our clout in the labor movement also.
   
   Many have asked President Obama for specific targeted programs to address Black poverty and unemployment. African American organizations need to move beyond begging to building institutions that deliver measurable results.
   


3. We need to quit apologizing for being Black. According to the Pew Hispanic Center 2007 National Survey of Latinos, Latino non-citizens account for 44% of the total adult Hispanic population. Of these non-citizen Latino adults, an estimated 55% are undocumented immigrants and the other 45% are legal aliens. Yet, most government and business customer support phone numbers offer a Spanish language alternative. Well, 100% of the descendents of African slaves in this country are citizens. Why do we apologize for playing the "race card" when we advocate for solutions that are unique to our situation? Latinos don't. Asians don't. Jewish people don't. Why do we?
   
   Whenever a prominent African American achieves great success, the first statement we hear is that I am a successful -- business person, actor, entertainer, athlete, artist, politician, lawyer -- who happens to be Black. We weren't enslaved because we "happened to be Black"; we weren't disenfranchised by institutional barriers after slavery because "we happened to be Black"; we aren't disproportionately more negatively impacted today because "we happened to be Black." There are many responses to our challenges, and more of them need to be "because we are Black."

There is much that needs to be done to improve the number of successful African Americans in every aspect of American life. Most of what needs to be done needs to be done by us. But first we need to recognize that individual accolades and success stories without a collaborative effort to sustain the gains we have made will leave our children the legacy of being less well off than we are -- lost without a compass. We need to quit running from our African heritage when we become successful.

We can solve the riddle of Black progress if all of us recognize that none of us "has arrived" with a singular individual success. We are still in a game of catch up, and that requires greater effort to make progress. We must build "Black success institutions" that preserve our gains and leverage our progress for future gains. And finally, we need to quit apologizing for being Black. It is okay to say, "I'm Black and I'm Proud!"

Where to from here? I believe that we have much more collaborative capacity than we realize. The future is in our hands.