The following is a collection of quotes by BLACK Americans: ROBERT C. MAYNARD (black, syndicated columnist) "The underclass is a lawless, illiterate minority with zero regard for the common decencies of those more fortunate than they. (It is categorized by) masses of illiterate, untrained youth on the streets with abundant access to drugs and guns. (This is) our nation's future. Unless we begin to re-channel the energies and reshape the values of the youth of that underclass, none of us is safe. The burgeoning underclass is the social dynamite that threatens the stability of the entire society." ... WILLIAM HOUGH (black, retired Army sergeant) "We have been accusing whites of the very same offense for years. No there is no other ethnic group in America that seems more prejudiced than us blacks. And it is virtually destroying us as a race. The black media, the black leaders and our parents must share in the blame for this. What started out as black pride eventually turned into black racism. How can we see racism and prejudice in other races but fail to recognize it among ourselves? We are constantly bombarded with negativism by our black press. For instance, we are fed depressing information about this wicked, one- sided society that we live in and that our chance of making it is almost nil. We hear this same kind of negativism from family, friends, and neighbors. No wonder so many young blacks are turned off. We end up with an embittered and confused individual. Black Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, when he was chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charged that black leaders 'are sitting there watching the destruction of our race while they bitch, bitch, bitch about Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan isn't the problem. Jimmy Carter was not the problem. The lack of black leadership is the problem." ... WALTER WILLIAMS (black professor at George Mason University) "Civil rights organizations, once part of a proud struggle, have now squandered their moral authority. They are little more than race hustlers championing a racial spoils system. They no longer seek fair play and a color blind society. Their agenda is one of rights, where quota is king and colorblindness is viewed with contempt. Today's civil rights organizations differ only in degree ,but not in kind, from white racist organizations past and present." ... SHELBY STEELE (a black professor) "A generation after the Watts riot and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is time for blacks to drop the crutch of racial victimization and rely on their own efforts to gain access to the American mainstream." "The opportunities are there. Blacks have only to stop hiding behind racism and take advantage of them. While racism still exists, it is not what is holding back America's black people. Instead, the specter of racism has become a crippling fixation of blacks, a way not just to excuse failure but to avoid dealing with real problems. Victimization views white people as omnipotent. It is as though white people are in charge of our fate rather than ourselves. The sense of victimization has led blacks to rely on programs like affirmative action that both stem from and perpetuate their sense of being victims." "The insistence on black victimization and white guilt sets in motion a never-ending and ultimately futile, inter-racial battle . . . that leaves us with an identity (as a victim) that is at war with our best interests, that magnifies our oppression and diminishes our sense of possibility." "It did blacks no good to ignore their real fears and blame racism for all their failings. Blacks have tremendous possibilities, but if you think you're up against a white racism and your just a total victim of it, then you can't do anything except be mad."