State of Black America

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by rah
We're all Americans. That should be enough. I'm not Italian, German or Irish (even though that is my heritage), I"M AMERICAN. We're all Americans. But it's like being black supercedes being an American.

American's have ethnicities. If you grow up in Bridgeport, it is exceedingly likely that you will think of yourself as Irish (or Chinese) in relations with other Americans. Vis a vis the rest of the world, however, you would think of yourself as an American.

[rah]

To a degree yes, but not to the degree I see the blacks do it.

Yes, I consider myself Italian, but I don't take it very seriously. I don't try to make myself part of any exclusive Italian groups. It more like just a small part of my indentity, but where I work, and my hobbies define me more. I'm an IT geek that likes to play golf, war/computer games and read (talk about terrible stereotypes ). Italian never seems to come up.

[Az]

The NOI has some really out there ideas in its religion, including that white people were invented by a big headed scientist named Yakub

O_o

[Elok]

I'm aware that people think of themselves as "black americans" or whatever, but I'm not convinced that such things are entirely good. Knowing your heritage is one thing, but knowing it too much is living in the past. I'm part Huguenot, but I don't demand checks from the Pope; I'm part Welsh, but I ask no deferential treatment from Anglo-Americans. Where's the statute of limitations on keeping score for old grudges?

The dead are dead and buried, and should not be used as a justification for how we treat the living. The problem with Che's "relay race" example is that this race will never end. A few generations from now, every poor white man might look back and whine that his kind were unfairly held back, and he'd be healthy and prosperous if it weren't for society giving the blacks unfair advantage. Already some Klan nuts do that, but that's sort of the point, you can't correct one wrong with another, an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, the sins of the fathers, or any of that rot. We didn't choose to be white, they didn't choose to be black, I've never whipped a man of any color in my entire life, and it's up to all of us to ditch any stupid ideas we might have to the contrary, on our own without any handholding or government penalties or whatever is being proposed in the way of reparations right now.

Racial pride might have its uses, but taken too far it just divides the country into two camps, "us" and "them." But of course, we're supposed to live in perfect unity with Them, people like Farrakhan are just constantly emphasizing the distinction for the sake of strict factual accuracy, right? Just don't forget, there's Us and there's Them, and for innocuous, non-hostile reasons nobody is at liberty to divulge at the moment, it is very important that we not forget it. I think. Help me out here.

[GePap]

Originally posted by rah
Society's racism will only be solved one person at a time. I can teach my children (through example like my father did) and combat it as best as I can when I see it. But I was never able to convice my father-in-law no matter how hard I tried. But he's dead now, so it's time to prepare the next generation.

There is a difference between future racism, and the effects of past racism. No longer being racists does nothing to make up for the effects of past racism, which have not been made up.

Lets take prison rates. Because of past racism, and to some extent current racism, black men are convicted and sent to prison at gretaer rates than whites. That means many of them in many states can no longer vote. This means sinificant segtions of black men are disfranchised. How does you no longer being racist fix the fact that many many more black men aren't allowed to vote than white men?

It doesn't. That is the point- making sure people are not racist tommorrow does nothing to fix the fact we were racist before, and many, not all, but many problems in the black community are the effect of the previous. When people then satrt saying racism is no longer an issue, they are wrong, because its effects are alive with us today, every day.

[Kontiki]

The other problem with Che's analogy is that other non-white groups were hobbled as well, but they seem to have caught up.

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by GePap

Lets take prison rates. Because of past racism, and to some extent current racism, black men are convicted and sent to prison at gretaer rates than whites. That means many of them in many states can no longer vote. This means sinificant segtions of black men are disfranchised. How does you no longer being racist fix the fact that many many more black men aren't allowed to vote than white men?

Shouldn't that be an incentive for the black community as a whole to commit fewer crimes?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Kontiki
The other problem with Che's analogy is that other non-white groups were hobbled as well, but they seem to have caught up.

Yeah, American Indians sure have caught up. :roleyes: And Latinos too.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Wycoff
Shouldn't that be an incentive for the black community as a whole to commit fewer crimes?

The Black community, as a whole, doesn't committ any crimes.

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara The Black community, as a whole, doesn't committ any crimes.

Nope, but apparently the white community does...

[rah]

The longer prison terms are because of racism on jurys and some judges. The LAW doesn't call for more sentencing for blacks. Racism in prosecuting and racism in police arrests fuel this cycle. Removing racism in the future will fix that.

Past racism, I doubt I can fix and I truely doubt anybody can. We must look to the future. And I do not want to create future injustices under the guise of fixing the past.

I do support reviewing old cases with new techniques (dna testing) where possible injustices have occured, but only so much can be done. Some of them are actually guilty. While it's not fair that their white counterparts aren't in jail, prosecuting fairly in the future will resolve some of those inequities.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Yeah, American Indians sure have caught up. :roleyes: And Latinos too.

How about Chinese, Japanese or East Indians? I never said they all have, but why have some groups managed to overcome the handicap while others haven't?

[Dis]

Originally posted by Kontiki


How about Chinese, Japanese or East Indians? I never said they all have, but why have some groups managed to overcome the handicap while others haven't?

because some cultures value education and learning, while others do not.

I'll come out right now and say the black culture values music and sports over education and learning. They will never get anywhere as a whole doing this.

and yes you can say whites value the same things now days. And that's why they are falling in performance against asians.

[Ramo]

The longer prison terms are because of racism on jurys and some judges. The LAW doesn't call for more sentencing for blacks.

See the disparity in crack vs. powdered cocaine sentencing.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Ramo

The longer prison terms are because of racism on jurys and some judges. The LAW doesn't call for more sentencing for blacks.

See the disparity in crack vs. powdered cocaine sentencing.

So you are saying only black people use crack?