African American Role Models

In Sam Fulwood III’s article on black intellectuals (“Intellectuals in the Promised Land,” April 9), he says the U.S. Census Bureau tallies more than 22,000 black physicians, but that it’s from the ranks of the more than 8,000 professional black athletes that “a fraction are held out as role models for black people across the land.” That excuse for the behavior of young inner-city black males restates a fallacy that has damaged the credibility of black commentators and intellectuals for years.

When I turn on a TV or pick up a newspaper or magazine, I encounter black newscasters, black lawyers, black opera singers, black politicians, black housewives and mothers and hard-working black fathers. I’ve been made aware of black business people, black commentators, black historians and historical figures, black fictional characters and, yes, black entertainers and athletes.

How about Martin Luther King Jr., who was honored with a national holiday, and Thurgood Marshall, a celebrated Supreme Court justice for decades, and more? There’s Bill Cosby, who became one of this country’s all-time popular entertainers. And more recently, a U.S. surgeon general and a nominee for that office, both African American, are among the nation’s most famous physicians.

The question is not where one can find black role models in the media. Instead, what is being done with the wide range of role models to encourage the young to embrace life’s enormous possibilities and to overcome life’s inevitable difficulties?

Michael Lally

Santa Monica