By James Guess – Dallas South News Contributor

Congratulations! Making it to Cedar Hill, Frisco, or Desoto,having the six-figure home and Cadillac Escalade with a couple kids and a steady 9 to 5 is great. Now what?

Many area residents drive through Southern Dallas daily for work or church, or to eat at BBQ or Soul food spots.  And they just might believe that others struggling in the south can make it out of the “hood,” if they just apply themselves…right? Wrong!  Can you imagine if Harriet Tubman, the abolitionist and well-known leader of the Underground Railroad, who used to help black slaves reach free states had the same philosophy?

The alarming statistics for the Black community, young Black male, how HIV has impacted young Black females, are beyond depressing, so I’ll spare you. And since real life starts after the church ends, we can’t run and hide inside the mega churches just praying until something happens.  At some point we have to face reality of the circumstances at hand.

President Obama can’t save everyone, he has enough on his plate and his own “black circumstances” to worry about. So in the words of our fallen angelic songtress Whitney Houston, “who on Earth do (we) look to?”

The answer is and always will be, GOD and us! It takes a young black male to know another young black male.  The young guys that are cool, corporate and intelligent must show the other “thug living” young  brothers that they can make money and build wealth using brains instead of illegitimate means and brawn.  And we can show young ladies who make poor choices due to male peer pressure and economic frustration, how to be lady ladies and develop integrity.

It’s not easy, but I’m working to help where I can myself.   I started a business that is training young black males to be leaders, corporate professionals, and entrepreneurs.  They understand they it’s possible to be cool and accepted like Jay-Z and able to talk and think intelligently like President Obama. In fact, the model of attracting and developing young black males should be to show them they can still have swagger, wear button ups (not sagging) and still be intelligent.

No more complaining about us.   No more pointing fingers at us.  It’s time to take some of our precious time to teach us and reach us. Show a young man or woman a few pointers on how to get jobs, develop discipline, and how to interview correctly.

Teach them how to save and start a business with $500 or $1,000 like many of our immigrant neighbors who come to this country with little or nothing. Help them stay focused and to achieve goals like getting out of the ‘hood and also redeveloping the ‘hood. And anyone who says that times have changed since the Underground Railroad and it’s really not their responsibility to reach back and lead the community is dead wrong.