Coley: Ogbu’s work informs us in that he’s a breakthrough anthropologist. Some of the problems are structural and some cultural. Now Wilson and others are talking about cultural problems. His thinking has evolved. Cultural and structural factors play at each other.
Diverse: What about public policy?
Coley: The economy is having a devastating effect on the Black community. The appetite to fund programs to address the problem is just not there. It’s not a very opportunistic period that we’re entering into. We’re going to see more and more economic conservatism.
Diverse: Marian Wright Edelman and the Children’s Defense Fund have used statistics effectively over the years to advance their agenda. You say the problems will have to be solved within the Black community but are you optimistic about that given the many efforts already underway?
Coley: We need to work with Marian. We need to combine our efforts. Hungry kids aren’t going to learn anything. We need to recognize the link between school and out of school. I’m optimistic that the gap can be closed. It has to be a national commitment.
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