People: Craig Polite

CRAIG POLITE: CHILDREN OF THE DREAM

Ever wonder what happened to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 'dream'? Craig Polite, M.A. '71, Ph.D. '72, an industrial psychologist in New York City and a partner in Mitchell/Titus & Co., the nation's largest black-owned accounting firm, searched for an answer. After three years, he and Essence magazine editor Audrey Edwards have produced a fascinating new book, Children of the Dream: The Psychology of Black Success (Doubleday, 1992), that profiles successful blacks in virtually every profession. The question is, what made these people succeed where others failed?

'A number of things are unique to successful blacks,' says Polite. 'Success rooted in American society starts with taking responsibility for your own actions. It's fundamental, like breathing.'

Another common trait of black achievers, he says, is transcendence of a racial-victim perspective: 'They neither expect society to save them, nor blame it for all problems and injustices.'

Other traits, like goals, self- reliance, balance, and positive self-acceptance, seem common to achievers of all races. But Craig notes blacks carry an extra burden, in that many incidents can carry a racial undertone. The best strategy, he says, might simply be to ignore it--'or at least give race the last priority.'

A native of New York, where he also hosts a weekly radio program dealing with psychological questions, Craig has wonderful memories of MSU. 'What I remember most is how accessible the professors were,' he says. 'If I had an idea, I could talk to someone, maybe for a whole afternoon. I did as much incidental learning as I did in the classroom.'

The son of a railroad porter and a telephone operator, Craig, who hails from Harlem, is himself clearly an achiever. He believes the most important factor in success is mental. 'Success is a mind game,' he concludes. 'If you believe you can, you can, and if you believe you can't, you can't.'