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The Culture of Ignorance
Frank A. Jones, PhD
Published in the Gibbs Magazine
March 2003

     In Oakland, the local church establishment encourages vigilance about the high crime of the city. That is the solution they offer for the madness that is going on in some parts of the city. There is another component to this problem that can be addressed immediately in the church pews, yet most churches are not looking at that component. That is the culture of ignorance many churches and parts of our community are cultivating as a method of holding sway over their congregations, as a method of extracting finances out of the congregants, and as a way of feeling some self-esteem.
     Some time ago, a friend called about a matter that was personal to him, and as we talked, I my heart was made sad. That sadness was for that 27-30% of the Black community and some 40% in the general and white population that are still afflicted with an old affliction that many will not allow to die: The Culture of Ignorance. 
     Within some portions of the community there is the appeal, indeed, the preaching and propagation of this culture of ignorance. For Black America it was started during slavery, and it has been preached as godliness by some of our churches, and propagated as a norm by an antithetical media and some social institutions. The end result is that possibly as high a number as 25% of the Black community still clings to it and passes it on to their children. In the general and white communities, there is a 40% functional illiterate population that Republicans, primarily, have cultivated based upon their religious, cultural, and general ignorance into a voting block to elect Republicans. Such a culture retards and even kills a people—the 25% of the African American community that practices it affects the whole of society in direct and indirect ways.
     The belief that one does not have to highly educate himself or his children and that God will provide for His own, with or without an education, is also merged with the idea that the highly educated are somehow immoral or amoral, conceited, detached, ungodly, self-absorbed, and irreverent. Therefore, education should be downplayed, demeaned, and people should only involve themselves with it in a minimal way. This mindset I call, The Culture of Ignorance. It is practiced and passed down to many Black children, possibly up to 20%, and it is used by white Republican politicians to harness the 40% of white Religious Right’s vote. [I will look at this white ignorance and how it is used in another essay.]
     American slavery literature vividly depicts the conditions of slaves and slave owners. The conditions that are appropriate to this discussion are these: slavery caused a destruction of families and family values, there were strict prohibitions against slaves learning to read, and there was the use of religion and religious leaders to teach the slaves aspects of the Christian faith that related to slaves’ oppression—“Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh….” Those leaders were expressly prohibited from reading beyond that Pauline Epistle, and were even prohibited from reading on in that same chapter. (1)
     Slaves were prohibited from learning letters, as education was called, and those who did learn did so secretly and had to avoid any appearance of having the ability to read, lest harsh reprisals were taken against them. This was the peculiarity of the American institution of slavery. (2)
     After slavery was abolished, there was a debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois about the education of the newly freed slaves. The issue was not whether to educate—that was a given. The issue was how best to educate newly freed slaves. DuBois argued that Blacks should be educated in the liberal arts and that social change could be accomplished by developing a small group of college-educated Blacks he called, “The Talented Tenth.” Washington argued that the newly freed slaves should be educated in the skills area; he was a much more patient man, saying that Blacks should receive education in the crafts, industrial and farming skills, and that they should cultivate the virtues of patience, enterprise, and thrift. 
     The media, along with some institutions in this society, have aligned themselves with and popularized the culture of ignorance for the Black community, and much of the underclass. They have taken buffoonery and offered it as a Black typecast so much that many newcomers to America actually think that Jamie Foxx and Martin Lawrence character types constitute an accurate depiction of Black American life and mindsets. But even more damaging than the flawed perceptions of newcomers, is the problem that many in our underclass and a few members of our middle and upper classes also think this caricature of the underclass, from where American media takes its popularized image of Black life, represents who the majority of Black Americans are.
     This diet of Jamie Foxx, Steve Harvey, and Martin Lawrence types is only relieved by the substitution of images of Michael Jordan and other embodiments of Black athletic or sexual prowess. And when these new images displace the old ones, they only highlight one other aspect of our community; this displacement distorts Black people and Black life.
      Further, when a president looks out over a nation of some 35 million Black Americans and fails to select from among our Black brilliance, instead, he selects a lawyer whom most Americans know is of modest legal and intellectual means, because he has conservative political views and those views are draped in a black face, and places him on the US Supreme Court (a position where the best minds should exhibit the brilliance of the society they represent) the tentacles of the culture of ignorance are broadened by such an affront. Such a selection, with all its unsavory adjuncts, makes a very definite statement to young Black people and the world; our young see themselves intellectually reduced and compromised.  And so does the world. 
     This was what the push for Black History studies was about—to allow young Black people to see themselves correctly, not through the eyes of a distorted history or through a distorted media and other American institutions. The push was to let the truth be told because no people can ever be a great people without seeing truth. Indeed, only the truth can make us great. 
     The culture of ignorance is a relic of past American dishonors, and we are dishonored by it now. While all America is affected by this culture, the African American community is most dishonored and harmed by it. That is why we must rid ourselves of it. 
     The ridding of this culture from our community must take root in our churches, since a vast part of the Black community is church-led. Many of our greatest leaders have come from the church, and most Black Americans go to church on a regular basis  and give most of their philanthropic gifts to the church. Second, we must rid the young of our underclass from this culture, since they are the ones most acutely affected and harmed by it. 
     In many of our churches, the religious slave minister mentality still exists. There is a demeaning of Black intellectual exploits and a near vaunting of ignorance as godliness. This anomaly is an anomaly because of two factors: the Christian Scripture is totally against ignorance or foolishness; it expressly exhorts intelligence. Indeed, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the teaching is that God will reject and even kill the fool and the ignorant; He despises the fool. The greatest scholar of New Testament writings, the Apostle Paul, repeatedly says in his writings, “I would not that you be ignorant, brethren.” And in spite of these stern admonitions to obtain knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and not to be ignorant, too many Black ministers still preach a type of ignorance as godliness gospel, they will demean the need to get a strong education, or demean and fail to value properly those who are educated and only temporarily present their value in the congregations. 
     The second reason this anomaly is an anomaly is because the same education that threatens so many of the ministers fascinates them at the same time. The Old Testament has an expression that says, Iron sharpens iron, which means only a better idea can perfect another idea. This very truth of Scripture, however, frightens many who still hold the slave minister’s perception of a culture of ignorance.  In short, an enlightened congregation threatens these ministers as it also threatened the position of the slave masters. This is because an enlightened congregation is iron that will sharpen iron or will break that which is less strong. Strangely, while some ministers hold their congregations hostage to their fears, they have so strong a fascination with and personal desire for education (while at the same time maintaining an unwillingness to burden themselves with the real work of its acquisition), that many are awarding themselves degrees that have no merit in standard academic settings. And, although they affix these meaningless degrees behind or in front of their names, when they speak all will perceive their merit or the absence of merit. 
     Our young people see these self-degreed ministers, hear their words, and then measure the degrees’ worth by the value of their messages. And these ministers, like Clarence Thomas, do not acquit themselves among the council of men whom they are supposedly peered. This behavior also propagates the culture of ignorance.
     Most of our 27-30% underclass are regular church members; they have to fight societal characterizations that promote this culture of ignorance for them, and when they go to a church—a body that historically led Black America out of slavery and second-class citizenship—many are ensnared by this culture. (3)
    I interviewed with Gregory Hodge, a young Black attorney who campaigned successfully for the Oakland Unified School District Board.  He responded to the question of why he wanted to be on the school board by saying, “I want to be a member because many poor people have only the public school system in which to educate their children. They cannot do it themselves. They are depending on us. Your children and my children, of course, are going to excel; we have the education and drive to make sure of that. But many don’t have that, so we need to help them.”  (I have written about the obligation of those of light–those who are enhanced with greater education, finances, positions, sight, etc., have an obligation to those who are not so enhanced. —(4))
     The educated class will ensure their children’s education because they know that education is the best hope of Black people or any people in elevating their status and living conditions in a society—any society.  Dr. Edward J. Valeau argues that no other single act can function to elevate a people, as does education. Yet, because the culture of ignorance has been handed down from one generation to the next and propagated over a number of our pulpits, many of our most at-risk communities are prey to those who would do them harm. 
     In our school system, young Black children crippled by this ignorance try to make other Black youths who are excelling toe the line of ignorance by mocking their achievements with the expression, “You just tryin’ to be White.” This statement unwittingly proclaims that the culture of ignorance has been transmitted to these mockers, and they have accepted it as taught.  
     “You just tryin’ to be White.” is a statement that is so self-hating that it is the equivalent of profanity and obscenity. It is so devoid of knowledge of Black history that it brings both tears and anger to the informed observer, and it elevates Whites to a position yet unearned. It is a derisive catchphrase that some children of our underclass spout without a thought of what they are saying and the total lack of footing for their reproachful words.
     This is what family, society, and some churches have done to those poor children. And as it is seen in our young, its equivalence is reflected in their parents in other ways. This attitude is antithetical to the informed and enlightened.
     Years ago, I was told, “Whites think better than Blacks; their minds are different from ours.” This absurdity did not come from a David Duke, but from no less a person than a bishop of a fundamentalist church. Such ignorance does not dignify the shroud of godliness his title placed on him. Jesus responded to Nicodemus with a sense of disbelief, as he realized Nicodemus’s failure of understanding, he said, “Are you a ruler of the Jews and know not these things?” Nicodemus’s position, coupled with his ignorance, astonished Jesus just as this bishop’s ignorance and self-hatred, coupled with his position of leadership, astonished me. 
     These behaviors are comparable to the young Black youth who reproachfully tells another Black youth that he/she is trying to be White because he/she achieves academic success. This tragic misconception arises from an old and still distorted notion that “White is somehow right.” Such an idea should not breathe the air of a clear day because it comes from self-hatred and a pathology that lingers beyond its slavery origin and its right to live. 
     Ridding our communities of this pathology will not be accomplished quickly, but it must be done. The best way to start is to first acknowledge its existence, then to individually rid ourselves and our families of it and to expose this culture of ignorance in our churches, in our schools, in families, among our young, and in the media messages that are channeled to our children; to talk and write about it at community gatherings, to debate the issue intellectually, to study it openly and frankly; and to infuse our young, and our old, with the knowledge that no mind is superior to another, except the mind that has valued learning, that has spent the time and endured the pain of study to attain it. 
     This must be done by precept, concept, and example. For when the young see their old discipline themselves in study and value learning and those who have it, the young will crave learning and pay the price to acquire it that they too may be valued.

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