Dear Sir,There has been a debate on CNN’S Don Lemon talk show about the dilemma of the black male in America. The debate is an outflow from Don Lemon’s comments some weeks ago when he essentially challenged the black community to take more responsibility and accountability for the continuation of the problems that exist within their community. In this latest episode he challenged Russell Simmons to get the artists’ and recording industry to examine their role in influencing negatives behaviours. Russell’s concluding position was that he had to support the artists’ right, if not role to give expression to the world that they see.I fully appreciate the efforts and heart-felt position of Don Lemon and agree with them, however regarding Russell’s position, while seemingly callous, is right about the nature and role of art being that of giving a true reflection of how life appears. Although seemingly negative, it actually indirectly points to the real solution, which in a nutshell is to change the world that they see.The problem which the black male faces is structural and requires a structural solution. We need a new vision and not just expressed dreams, but a real economic agenda with a programme that shows better options and recreates a status for the black males that demonstrates real utility within the global economy. Rather than rely on morality, we have to change the world structurally so that the young men see a new vision and employees them in that process, then the artist will sing a new song, a song that reflects the new hope they seeI am not talking about affirmative action or the oft repeated “we need our own bank and our own supermarkets” (although I am not bashing those thoughts) I’m not talking “buy black” programmes either. We have to catch the world where it is today, find what is needed in the world and fulfil the niche. Sometimes you can miss the mark by aiming too low. It’s not about finding the things that satisfy our needs it’s about finding the thing that satisfies the needs of the world and fulfil it.I agree with Don Lemon’s comment when he said “The only way we fulfil Martin Luther’s Dream, is by being better than him”. Upon that rock my friends I will build my philosophy, we have to continue to do better and better each day and with each generation.There is a need in the world that we can fulfil that will make the world a better place. A role, through which, we can dignify our existence and redeem the blood and sufferings of our people. The need is not a black need but a global need whose symptoms are everywhere and like natural medicine the cure is also there. I know it sounds like a riddle but it is not, just that the subject matter is huge. In the simplest language or in a capsule, it involves the role that blacks can play in facilitating diversity and economic expansion globally. It involves the ideology and substructure that needs to be built to facilitate and get the job done and the vision started.So we can call to our minds the leaps that persons like Fredrick Douglas made during his time and the leap that Marcus Garvey and the likes of him made during their time, the little known legacy of King JaJa, one of the first pan Africanist who was imprison under house arrest in St Vincent. We must do better than they were able, because we have the opportunity and the world needs it.Khali Wasi