Empowerment: The Final Frontier of African-American Development in the United States

By: Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League

Years ago, the grandfather of Time Warner Chairman Dick Parsons worked as head
groundskeeper for New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. Two generations later, his
grandson served as the New York governor's lawyer and counsel.
"Why wasn't I working in the gardens? What changed?" Parsons said during a speech
he gave at the National Urban League's 2006 annual conference in Atlanta last month.

"Well, the answer is — the world changed. I have no doubt that I have no more ability or
get-up-and-go or ingenuity than my grandfather or, in fact, my father, I just had greater
opportunities to put that ingenuity and get-up-and-go to work on a leveled playing field."

When Parsons says he stands on shoulders, he means it. We all do. The foundation
laid by our predecessors has enabled us to attain a certain level of success. However,
we must resist resting on those laurels because we still have so much further to go.

While we've achieved three of the four stages of development

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