February is Black History Month, which makes it a good time to start a discussion about race issues facing this generation.

Talking about anything having to do with racial issues is dangerous territory because it often leads to offense. Offering ideas that challenge someone’s perspective usually does, but it is at this point most people stop the discussion for fear of retribution, or a label they can’t shake.

In an academic environment, it is important to look past those fears of social stigma and push through to the actual issues at hand. We must face that we are not a colorblind society, and our generation is not exempt from the evils of the past.

In order for our generation, and those of the future, to get to a place of racial harmony, we must have honest discourse about the challenges we face.

For instance, a debate now rages about new University of California admissions policies, which, in effect, are being put in place to counter the effects of Proposition 209.

Passed by voters in 1996, the California Civil Rights Initiative was designed to prohibit public institutions from using race, sex or ethnicity for hiring or admissions purposes. The idea was to allow for a strictly merit-based system where prospective students would be judged on their academic and life achievements, not race.

The result of Proposition 209 led to a dramatic increase in Asian and Asian-American student populations in the UC system. At UCLA, Asian students comprise more than 40 percent of the student population, whereas black students make up only 2 percent. Shockingly, the Los Angeles Times reported that in 2006 there were 97 incoming black freshman; 20 were on athletic scholarship.

In the fall of 2010 there were 427 black freshman at Sacramento State, making up only 8.9 percent of total enrollment.

The disparities among represented racial groups in the university system are profound. The question must be asked: Why is the black student population so sparse?

There seems to be a cultural difference in the value of education that is prevalent throughout the black community. This is a major problem for future generations of black children. The world is only moving faster and ever more furiously toward a technologically advanced global economy.

But statistics show that blacks are going to be left behind.

An article titled, “The Rap on Culture: How Anti-Education Messages in Media, at Home & on the Street Hold Back African-American Youth,” published by think tank Policy Bridge, referred to the book, “Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America.” Author John McWhorter writes of black youth as “subscribing to cults of victimology, separatism, and anti-intellectualism, taking “an almost alarming pride in disengagement from learning.'”

Sarah Dickey, sophomore pre-graphic design, grew up in South Central Los Angeles, and agrees that academics were not socially accepted in her community.

“Competing for scholarships in academics is almost impossible, unlike in the white community,” she said. “In order to break out of the gangs and inner-city life you have to sell yourself.”

And being academically talented doesn’t seem to sell.

Dickey said many children in the black community believe the only way to create a better life is to be the next big sports or rap star. The kids she grew up with always felt that “breaking records was the only way to get into college.”

Changing the cultural attitude toward education in the black community will not be easy. But, it is imperative that it happens. It will start with black parents teaching their children that college is the way to a better future.

For Dickey, graduating from college will be a dream come true. She and her brother will be the first two in her family to earn a degree. Her mother pushed education, even though she herself had not completed 9th grade, she said.

Black communities must build support systems and politicians must make funding available to support programs that push an education agenda.

If successful, black children will see that college is a real option. And, as Dickey so eloquently put it, “once you realize it’s attainable, it moves mountains.”

Kelly Walters can be reached at [email protected].