Honest Examination of Race

[HDRider]

BY WALTER E. WILLIAMS
RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2013

Experiencing a violent crime rate of 2,137 per 100,000 of the population, Detroit is the nation's most dangerous city. Rounding out Forbes magazine's 2012 list of the 10 most dangerous cities are St Louis; Oakland, Calif.; Memphis, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta; Baltimore; Stockton, Calif.; Cleveland; and Buffalo, N.Y. The most common characteristic of these predominantly black cities is that for decades, all of them have been run by Democratic and presumably liberal administrations.

Some cities -- such as Detroit, Buffalo, Newark, N.J., and Philadelphia -- haven't elected a Republican mayor for more than a half-century. What's more is that in most of these cities, blacks have been mayors, chiefs of police, school superintendents and principals and have dominated city councils.

Today 72 percent of black babies are born out of wedlock. Being born and finding out that your mother is 17 years old, that your grandmother is 35 and that you don't know who or where your father is is not a good start on life. In fact, it's a near guarantee for school dropout, poverty and crime, but such a start in life has nothing to do with racial discrimination.

Black education is a disaster, but who runs the violent, disruptive big-city schools, where education is all but impossible? For the most part, it's not white people.

Black people could benefit from an honest examination of the bill of goods they've been sold. Such an examination would not come from black politicians, civil rights leaders or the black and white liberal elite. Those people have benefited politically and financially from keeping black Americans in a constant state of grievance based on alleged racial discrimination.

http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/artic...tionOfRace.htm

[where I want to]

I notice that "an honest examination" in the paragraph did not include "an honest examination" of all races- just one.

[Harry Chickpea]

From the blurb:

"Racial discrimination has little to do with major problems confronting black people."

R-ig-h-t... good wun. Go ahead, pull the other one. I don't disagree with his statement that those in power are often doing more to stay in power than move things forward, but he fails to mention things like the CIA funding wars by selling drugs in black communities, and a few hundred other factors.

[watcher]

Blacks are their own worse enemies. They have been drinking the government kool-aid for decades which has poisoned their entire culture.

Take some time and read some history. At the beginning of the civil rights 'revolution' blacks were strong and self reliant who wanted nothing more than to have the same rules applied to them as everyone else. As time went buy the pols (black and white) discovered there was power to be had by giving blacks 'goodies'. The problem is like drugs the longer the goodies were given the more goodies it takes to keep them happy.

MLKJ could come back he'd probably give up his non-violence stand and start slapping some 'black leaders' around.

[Pops2]

Originally Posted by where I want to

I notice that "an honest examination" in the paragraph did not include "an honest examination" of all races- just one.

The article is written by a black man for a black audience. I don't know what political party he favors, but in reading some of his articles in one of the DC rags, it is clear that he is liberal on some things & very conservative on others.

[Txsteader]

Surely the attitude in those predominantly black urban areas isn't what MLK and others who fought for civil rights had in mind.

Apparently today's black youth in those urban areas don't think much about the sacrifices made for their civil rights.

The little suburban bedroom community I grew up in here in TX is now predominantly black and the change has been dramatic. The biggest change, aside from the visible deterioration & economic blight, is the corruption in every city department.

Hard to blame others when you've had the reins for a decade.

[simi-steading]

I think as a whole, they are their own worst enemy, and are racially discriminatory against their selves..

A few examples..

BET TV.. .we would NEVER be allowed to have a White Entertainment Television. At one time there was a lawsuit against Rural TV for not having black people on it... I don't know too many black farmers..

There's a Black Miss America Pagent.. Could you imagine the screaming if there was a White Miss America Pagent?

Any time anything happens in a predominantly black neighborhood, where someone gets shot by the cops during a crime, One of the big two guys comes out throwing around the whole race deck...

I got a whole list of this kinda stuff.. but the one that really gets me.. how they toss around the N word as a nick name, and yet if we were to even think of thinking of the word, ... well. .you know how that would work out..

It seems no matter how much other races want to try and work with the black community, as a whole, they reject the help and want to keep the lable and segregation..

[where I want to]

Originally Posted by Pops2

The article is written by a black man for a black audience. I don't know what political party he favors, but in reading some of his articles in one of the DC rags, it is clear that he is liberal on some things & very conservative on others.

I didn't think of who wrote it but I'm not surprised. One of the serious- and I mean serious- problems with almost all conversations on race or poverty is that it starts with the idea that people are different. Different good or different bad but different. Victims or oppressors, powerful or underdog, rich or poor, white or black, etc all leads to demands from any one side that the other fix the problem.
What is needed is to recognize that differences are minimal, if they exist at all. This means the power is held by both sides equally. Your power, your choice.
When the writer said " Those people have benefited politically and financially from keeping black Americans", he made it clear that someone (not the usual suspects) but someone is doing it to someone else. Same ol' same ol''.

That means an acceptence that the power to do something is not in your own hands. And subscribing to someone else's (whether "your own" or not) belief in difference, will doom individuals to always being the asker, never the doer.

[plowjockey]

I'm not a rocket scientist, but could the reason, that black Democrats Are the only one's being elected to office - in what is mostly a welfare state, is because White Republican fled the inner-city - 50 years ago, taking their businesses/jobs with them?

Just a. Guess.

[bluemoonluck]

I read an article a good while back written by a black man who pointed out that the reason his company didn't hire black engineers was that there WERE no black engineers to hire. Of course there are some out there, but he pointed out that when an intelligent black man/woman goes to college, especially one of the Historically Black Colleges, they get encouraged by educators to major in African American History, not the hard sciences.

He said it was stupid to call an employer racist for only having white and Asian engineers when there were zero black engineer applicants to be found. And of course he said that this was something that the black community needed to address from within - that parents and educators need to encourage black students to pursue degrees in the sciences instead of liberal arts degrees.

Kind of like women still get encouraged to fit into traditional gender occupations like nurse, teacher, secretary, etc instead of the hard sciences, although that's getting better.

[simi-steading]

I wonder when the political parties changed.. During the Civil War, it was the Democrats who where against the 13th amendment..

[bjba]

Originally Posted by where I want to

I didn't think of who wrote it but I'm not surprised. One of the serious- and I mean serious- problems with almost all conversations on race or poverty is that it starts with the idea that people are different. Different good or different bad but different. Victims or oppressors, powerful or underdog, rich or poor, white or black, etc all leads to demands from any one side that the other fix the problem.
What is needed is to recognize that differences are minimal, if they exist at all. This means the power is held by both sides equally. Your power, your choice.
When the writer said " Those people have benefited politically and financially from keeping black Americans", he made it clear that someone (not the usual suspects) but someone is doing it to someone else. Same ol' same ol''.

That means an acceptence that the power to do something is not in your own hands. And subscribing to someone else's (whether "your own" or not) belief in difference, will doom individuals to always being the asker, never the doer.

Quoting incomplete thoughts serves no purpose other than bringing the credibility of the quoter into question. Mr. Williams said

Those people have benefited politically and financially from keeping black Americans in a constant state of grievance based on alleged racial discrimination. The long-term solution for the problems that many black Americans face begins with an absolute rejection of the self-serving agenda of hustlers and poverty pimps.

Puts a whole different meaning on it doesn't it.

[Txsteader]

Originally Posted by plowjockey

I'm not a rocket scientist, but could the reason, that black Democrats Are the only one's being elected to office - in what is mostly a welfare state, is because White Republican fled the inner-city - 50 years ago, taking their businesses/jobs with them?

Just a. Guess.

Why don't blacks invest in those areas and create new business/industry/jobs?

Surely you don't think that only whites are capable and have all the capital?

[plowjockey]

Originally Posted by Txsteader

Why don't blacks invest in those areas and create new business/industry/jobs?

Surely you don't think that only whites are capable and have all the capital?

Actually, I do - to some extent.

Inner city blacks, are fourth generation (or so) descendants, of freed slaves. They have been relatively poor and largely uneducated, most of that time.

Capitalism has not been one of their stronger points.

Blacks who were smart\lucky enough to make the break, don't want to invest in the inner city, any more than whites do, since it is a sure money loser.

My point was that the reason there are black Dems in power - regularly, over poor people, is because the Republicans and the jobs, are long gone.

[Txsteader]

Originally Posted by plowjockey

Actually, I do - to some extent.

Inner city blacks, are fourth generation (or so) descendants, of freed slaves. They have been relatively poor and largely uneducated, most of that time.

Capitalism has not been one of their stronger points.

Blacks who were smart\lucky enough to make the break, don't want to invest in the inner city, any more than whites do, since it is a sure money loser.

My point was that the reason there are black Dems in power - regularly, over poor people, is because the Republicans and the jobs, are long gone.

Well, then it sounds like they can't be helped. On a sidenote: I've wondered if Rahm Emanuel's attitude isn't to just let the inner-city youth have all the guns they can get so they'll just kill each other and, viola, problem solved. I can't think of another, more logical, reason for what's going on up there.

- - - - - - - - -

The problem isn't economic, it's mental attitude. Today's inner-city black youth have been taught and have accepted the victim mentality.

Yet just a couple of generations ago, people like Walter Williams.....who was raised in a fatherless home and lived in housing projects......managed to overcome his less-than-perfect circumstances. And there are countless others who have done the same.

Today's black youth are angry & bitter and want to blame everybody else for their circumstances rather than working hard to get an education so they can at least have a chance for a better life.

It's all about the attitude.

[where I want to]

Originally Posted by bjba

Quoting incomplete thoughts serves no purpose other than bringing the credibility of the quoter into question. Mr. Williams said Puts a whole different meaning on it doesn't it.

No it doesn't. The point was that anyone who states that one group, no matter who, has the power to control all the outcome of another group through rhetoric, is wrong and, if believed, it will only lead to no change being effected by those who do not realize the power is in their own hands all along. It didn't matter at all which group you wish to blame for manuvering you- you're wrong.

The only time this is not true, is when the state is arrayed to use it's power against a group that has no access to such power. Then it is a mighty struggle to overcome that.
But it cam be done even then. But then that's not just words.

[Txsteader]

I understand that Obama is coming under criticism (again) for remarks he made in his Morehouse graduation speech, remarks about racism and discrimination within the black community. The last time he made those type of remarks (criticizing the black community), Jesse Jackson and others had some very harsh words on the matter.

That, again, is the problem; there is a large & outspoken segment w/in the black community (Jackson, Sharpton, etc) that encourage and perpetuate racism, discrimination, victim mentality among poor blacks. They refuse criticism, they refuse responsibility.

We're at the point now where the problem can only be fixed by the black community because the root of the problem lies w/in the black community. The white community has done all it can to correct the mistakes of the past; civil rights legislation has removed the barriers, affirmative action has provided an advantage.

If racists such as Sharpton and Jackson are allowed continue to spread their poison, if they're allowed to drown out people like Williams and Crosby who speak the truth, then there's really no hope that anything will change.

[Darren]

Other dynamics affected Blacks and are now affecting whites. When you say jobs left the cities you have to ask where they went. Lots of Blacks and whites left the South for jobs in the North starting in the 1940s. That meant being able to get a factory job with a high school education or less. That benefited both races. Bringing home the bread to support your family was the basis for self esteem. Geing a check from he government doesn't convey the same esteem.

To the extent the invention of container shipping enabled and facilitated movement of production off shore both Blacks and whites lost jobs. Those that were able to escape the factories as skilled laborers through education had a chance to withstand the movement of jobs to other countries for a time. The internet is doing the same thing to white color jobs that containerized shipping did to blue color jobs.

Education in this country has gone downhill. We can no longer count on high school graduates being competent in the skills that were commonplace for graduates a half century ago. I'm not sure when we transitioned to believing a teacher needed a masters degree to teach in our local schools. Somewhere along the way education reinvented itself and while the result may have been viewed as positive by administrators, it failed to produce uniformly competency in graduates.

Education is also faced with lack of parental support as the "me" attitude engendered by "I've got rights" has fostered a massive loss of concern for investing in the future by getting an education. Getting a government check for generations doesn't help. There's a lot that's hollowed out the American legacy that won WWII and put a man on the moon. Those have probably affected Blacks more than whites but we're all still in the same boat and it's sinking.

[Laura Zone 10]

It was not always like this.
The black family used to be strong....deeply rooted in God and good work ethic.
Family was cherished, and intact.
They were the model of what 'family' should look like.

Jesse, Al, and the rest of those clowns sold their people out for fame and fortune.
Slavery is alive and well today; it's just been renamed and repackaged.
Section 8, SNAP, 'assistance', etc.
S-L-A-V-E-R-Y.

[unregistered168043]

If we want to see how blacks do without much interference by whites 'holding them down', we can simply look at central Africa, Haiti, or Jamaica. All black nations ruled by blacks. How are they doing?