Many of the national black organizations that we have today were started as a result of racism or from the belief that white America wasn't really interested in the development or the improvement of blacks. So they felt that blacks had to look out after themselves.  In 2014, do blacks still need their own organizations? Haven't we come a long way? Is there still a race problem in America?  

Many say that whites no longer have their own separate organizations: why do blacks need theirs?  Aren't things much better for blacks today?  In 2014, we no longer see protests like the 50's and 60's. Today, we have a multitude of wealthy successful blacks. Why don't these national black organizations and black colleges dis-band and join the rest of America?

I ask this question because on February 12, 2014, CNN had a similar discussion and the whites (in that discussion) felt that despite what some blacks thought about the Trayvon Martin decision, blacks, particularly degreed professional blacks, no longer have a problem in America.  Besides having a large number of black millionaires, America has a black president. These two factors alone should prove that we no longer need national black organizations.

Most whites feel that racism as it pertains to African Americans, has been eradicated and the only ones who still need Civil Rights and equality are those in the LGBT community. They further feel that the only blacks who complain today are the blacks who drop out of school, get pregnant as teenagers and/or those who sell drugs and are part of gangs. Whites are convinced that professional degreed blacks are not the ones who are complaining today, since they are all doing just fine.

In 2014, in addition to having a Congressional Black Caucus to represent the interest of blacks, we have a multitude of national black organizations who claim they are still more committed to the development and the protection of blacks, than the rest of society, and that without their organizations, there would be no interest in developing and protecting blacks. They include:

• The National Bar Association with over 20,000 Black attorneys, law professors and judges.  See their mission statement

• Blacks in Government with over 50,000 blacks who are employed by the government, see their mission statement

• The National Medical Association with over 30,000 black doctors and medical professionals - see their mission statement

• The National Society of Black Engineers with over 29,000 black engineers - see their mission statement, and

• The National Association of Black Journalist, with over 25,000 black journalist - see their mission statement.

We can go on and list other national black organizations including national associations for Black Educators, Black Accountants, Black Psychologist, Black Graduate Students, Black Law Students, Black Nurses and Black Physicist.

What is interesting about these organizations, is that they just don't exist to develop and protect blacks in their field, they are employment agencies to help blacks in their professional fields finds jobs. We all know that black unemployment in general is always nearly twice that of their white counterparts, but what many like those in the CNN discussions do not recognize is that black unemployed among black professionals with degrees is also twice that of their white counterparts according the Bureau of Labor & Statistics. This is what Dr. Boyce Walkins had to say about blacks and unemployment in his editorial entitled: Black Unemployment Rises to Rates Nearly as High as the Great Depression:

"One problem for the Obama Administration is that they seem to think that racism simply doesn’t exist, at least that is what is implied through their actions. They, like some other Americans, seem to be thoroughly convinced that black people don’t have jobs because we don’t want to work, or that we don’t care about feeding our children. But this is contradicted by stories like the one about the unemployed woman who pretended to be white and found that the number of job interviews she received suddenly skyrocketed.

I know people with PhDs and law degrees who struggle to keep employment, so the myth of the lazy negro who doesn’t want to work needs to be squashed in exchange for policy recommendations that respect our rights to equality as members of the American family."

So have we really solved the race problem?  Is the LGBT the only group that needs attention when it comes to equality and Civil Rights? Do we still need national black organizations in 2014? Many black professionals feel that without their organizations, black unemployment among degreed blacks would be much higher and their professional development after leaving college would suffer greatly because they are convinced that our society is still not committed to the equality of African Americans, whether the individual is a degreed professional or high school drop-out. 

Looking out for the needs of blacks -- this is perhaps the reason why we still have black religious denominations. 

Let know what you think.

By Rev. Wayne Perryman,

Author, lecturer, consultant, a former newspaper publisher and radio talk show host.