Integration - Good or Bad

I was born the day after Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated, April 5, 1968, in Louisville, KY, and I lived in an era where most black folk said "we have arrived" and chose to denounce their own for the sake of "blending in".

I am proud to have been brought up in the suburbs everywhere we've lived from KY to TX as my father made his way up the corporate ladder. The problem is some have forgotten to reach back and give back to the community where they once lived.

It's not that integration was a bad idea. It's the "bad ideas" that came along with integration: changing the way one acts, denial of family and friends who still live in "da hood", letting education be some sort of socio-economic measuring stick, and, most importantly, not maintaining a semblence of independence.

Frederick Douglas had it right when he used his "ignorance" to puff up "the man", learn his game and then take it back "home" to teach others, causing them to thrive on their own, yet interdependent on one another TO thrive.

The bible says "And be not conformed...". Integration had no intention to conform who we are to fit in. It was to expand our education, learn social equality and live a happy life. Am I right?