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In a list of property owners with the most city housing code violations, Guilford County Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston places third, with 15.

The community shrugs. So what else is new?

Odds are Alston, who also is a member of the NAACP's national board of directors and a past state NAACP president, will keep getting re-elected in his predominantly black district — until he decides he doesn't want to.

Flash back three weeks. Alston addresses a fired-up crowd at a protest to end "Intolerable Racism" in Guilford County. The demonstration harks back to the 1960s, with chants, songs and speeches, and a heady parade into downtown Greensboro.

The organizers even call for a boycott, encouraging black people to patronize only black businesses. On Labor Day.

Flash back two years. In a spectacularly wrongheaded move, a community group calls for black parents to protest the underachievement of black students — by keeping them out of school. At the beginning of the school year, no less, just in time for the students to fall behind on new lessons in new classes with new teachers.

Such movements seem based on good intentions and sincere concerns, but they are more about symbolism than substance and, arguably, they have not made one iota of difference. Neither the "Intolerable Racism" rally nor the school boycott was well thought-out. And, so far as anyone can tell, neither worked.

The problem is twofold: 1) a stubborn attempt to address new challenges with outmoded approaches, and 2) the exploitative behavior of some leaders, whom too many in the black community are willing to forgive, over and over, simply because they are black.

NPR's Juan Williams raises a similar point in his new book "Enough." "Where are the black leaders who will make it plain and say it loud?" Williams writes.

"Who will tell you that if you want to get a job you have to stay in school and spend more money on education than on disposable consumer goods? Where are the black leaders who are willing to stand tall and say that any black man who wants to be a success has to speak proper English?"

As for marches, they'd make more sense and hold more credibility if there was more substance behind them. That's probably why another recent book, the national best seller "A Covenant with Black America," has resonated so strongly across the country.

Edited by PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley, the collection of essays by a variety of experts addresses such issues as health care, education and employment. It is thoughtful and prescriptive, proactive rather than reactive. It acknowledges the existence of racism but does not embrace the mantle of victimhood.

It is practical and practicable. And it is long overdue.
Come to think of it, we could use our own "Covenant with Black Guilford County." Among some of the chapters it could explore:

1. "Community involvement in the public schools": The importance of an ongoing relationship between parents and their children's teachers.
2. "County commissioner for life? Think again": Why voters in the black community should hold their elected leaders to greater scrutiny and accountability. How can Alston keep getting returned to office by black people when he treats some of the poorest among them so callously?

3. "Reviving the spirit of black entrepreneurs": How to start and nurture new businesses.

4."Managing finances and building wealth": How to achieve financial independence through careful planning and discipline.

5. "Rededicating ourselves to the stronger black families": How to make black families, and extended families, the community linchpins they used to be.

As for old-school protest modeled lovingly on the Age of Aquarius, the 1960s clearly were an era of profound social upheaval and self-reflection that spawned many positive changes amid all their turmoil. And they have been over for more than 40 years.

Let them go.