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Black people are weighed down TODAY by the ever present gravity of white supremacy its most profound corollary of black inferiority. I mean, black people can never really have a fair chance when so many white people think we are inferior culturally, behaviorally, emotionally and intellectually.
Hey, if I was not black and I felt that blacks are generally irresponsible, lazy, criminal and less intelligent, why would I want to hire them? Yeah, you are supposed to judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. However, that ignores the fact you cannot know the content of someone’s character without actually KNOWING them for a long time. You are going to make a judgment based upon probability and statistics analysis done at the subconscious level where racism exists on the down-low, suppressed by the conscious to avoid the stigma of being seen and exposed as "racist".
It takes money to make money (and or armies to take money) and through years of imperialism, colonialism, racism and the like, whites accumulated most of the world’s wealth by conquering the land, labor and capital of others and converting it into increase wealth for whites through trickledown economics among whites. It was trickledown economics for whites as the small elites who did most of the exploitation allowed that to trickle down to other whites, while seesaw economics was the relationship between whites and non-whites. In other words, white society was lifted up by the physics of lowering non-whites.
In light of that, since white have most of the money they have most of the real power. Hence, their negative views of black people means that in this day and age where there are not laws to legally oppress blacks, blacks are oppressed by white perceptions of black inferiority which prevents blacks from having the same opportunities as whites because whites generally see blacks as a “risk” and or “liability” unless its sports and entertainment related. These beliefs then create self fulfilling prophecies because when you treat people like they are inferior eventually it becomes internalized. Try it. Try raising a child with constant denigration and constantly implying that they are inferior and see don’t you create a self fulfilling prophecy of inferior outcome related to siblings who were not treated that way. What is the ramification of treating a people like this for over 400 years? How does it impact upon their culture and behavior?
Poverty is oppression also and black people inherited a povert rate 3 times higher than that of whites as a result of racial oppression.
The bottom line, though, is that YOUR ancestors who migrated here to escape oppression did not pull themselves up by their bootstraps while living among their oppressors. Oppressors fear the rise of those that it has oppressed lest they turn the oppression around and the first will be last and the last shall be first. So like Pharaoh did you try to sabotage the male, by decreeing the death of all Hebrew males who were born..... which is why so many black males are in the criminal justice system today. The Pharoahs fear that one day.....if allowed to rise, they may do unto others as they did upon others.
Unfortunately, a lot of the issues are self-perpetuating. Blacks were brought here as slaves and dehumanized, and then taught that they were inferior.
Today, even if many Whites do not necessarily see Blacks as racially inferior, many Blacks do see themselves as that because of the socio-economic reality around them. Also, many Black people are always on the lookout for people not accepting them. Which is understandable considering the history.
Of course, if most Black people simply cared less about what others thought of them and simply focused on getting an education, excelling in academics, building businesses, saving money and investing, the socio-economic differences would probably disappear within a generation or two. But it is difficult to change mentalities which have been ingrained over generations. I understand that, and I think that's what is really keeping the Black underclass down.
How can you expect success when you've already accepted defeat?
A lot of the problems in the Black (and other) communities are not RACIAL but cultural. Martin Luther King looked forward to the day when a person would be judged by his character and not the color of his skin. One is culture one is race. You cannot change your race but you can modify your culture.
Reparations are necessary to correct the effects of past atrocities, to the extent that they create inequities today. The reality is that the current lot of whites is the direct result of these past atrocities. Native Americans and Blacks in particular must be compensated because they were snatched from their home lands, their race nearly eliminated, and they were kept from participating in this society as equal citizens with all its rights, privileges, and benefits.
Simply because of the color of their skin, whites enjoy an "unearned privilege" and this privilege must be removed. Well-placed, appropriately-defined reparations would contribute mightily to accomplishing this noble goal. Reparations would represent an act that is supremely justified and morally superior to any feeble counter-argument.
Having removed this pompous indifference that many whites feel towards the detrimental impact that slavery has had on successive generations of slaves, real progress can be made in this society with the proud, dynamic, talented, and brilliant native american and black people able to take their rightful place as equal participants.
If we're going to provide reparations for people that have been exploited certainly we wouldn't want to discriminate. Who's going to pay the whites that were exploited?
This is an interesting explanation of the mentality of blacks, at least as you percieve it and explains a few things. But I have a question. How does your perception of someone else mean that it's true? The people I know and myself do not think that blacks are racially inferior or feel insecure about them or feel guilty. I strive to keep company with those who see fellow humans.
None of my friends think that black people are inferior or limited nor guilty. No, racism still exists but its just as strongly grounded on the black side. This does not make me react negatively to *some* blacks. It's when people claim they are owed because of some imagined debt that I have to react negatively. Not becuse they are whatever but because I don't buy the idea. I would feel the same whoever it was. It is not a reaction to "blacks" but people who are being unreasonable.
If you blame your own situation on someone else, say its because they see you as inferior, or any other explanation your robbing yourself of your own power. If someone (black or otherwise) expect to see a negative reaction they'll get it. I'm sorry if black individuals have been convinced of this, but if they want out they need to stop making assumptions. And stop worrying if it is assumed. Your personal power is in you, not the approval/disapproval of others. It starts with a positive attitude. That will get you much further than looking like a victum and expecting to be seen as one.
Thing is, if this is the thing holding a "group" back (in reality it holds individuals of a group back, and not all of them) then nobody can help but themselves. People see what you show them. If you want them to see confidence then mirror it. Easy? No, but it never has been.
It's about choices. Don't expect cheerleaders if you sound like you figure you've already lost. Don't expect confidence if you sound like you will probably fail. Do expect postitive for positive. Very old message, but also very true one.
I don't know how to help those who are sure that white people think they are inferior and see what they expect (true or not), but that is something which has to come from within and nobody but individuals can find a way not to.
The very best think anyone can do for their kids, regardless of what they look like, is teach them that trying is *always* worth it and their self worth does not come from someone else's perception but their own. If they are jerks, then its *their* problem, not yours.
Just curious, is nightbird male or female?
Its amazing to me that people refuse to aknowlege the ability of the human to deceive others.....as well as themselves. Let me ask you a question. What is it about the nature of humans that people who are obviously achoholics often times do not see themselves as such? What is it about the nature of humans that allows some people, who look like walking skeletons, to see themselves as "fat". Furthermore, how many people deceived freinds into believing that they were "strait" in the 50's and 60's, when they actually led a gay life on the down low? How many adults do you know that are pedophiles and who go around and openly discuss their attraction and feelings with other people?
Some of you act as if people would never deceive or attempt to hide something from others, when we know that humans do it all the time if they feel they will be stigmatized or penalized for their beliefs. Furthermore, people will not even admit things to themselves, as examples I provided above demonstrate. They exist in denial when truth is painful to accept. It happens all the time, yet, people like you act as if it does not and that everyone is honest about what they feel and will share even the ugly aspects of their personality and beliefs with others. That is simply not how humans behave in American culture or any culture that I know of. People are not going to share things with others that could bring them down socially or economically.
So please....you can hardly vouch that other people do not see black people as inferior......because you might even feel that way but is hiding that truth from yourself......because you do not want to feel morally UGLY.
Unfortunately, a lot of the issues are self-perpetuating. Blacks were brought here as slaves and dehumanized, and then taught that they were inferior.
Today, even if many Whites do not necessarily see Blacks as racially inferior, many Blacks do see themselves as that because of the socio-economic reality around them. Also, many Black people are always on the lookout for people not accepting them. Which is understandable considering the history.
Of course, if most Black people simply cared less about what others thought of them and simply focused on getting an education, excelling in academics, building businesses, saving money and investing, the socio-economic differences would probably disappear within a generation or two. But it is difficult to change mentalities which have been ingrained over generations. I understand that, and I think that's what is really keeping the Black underclass down.
How can you expect success when you've already accepted defeat?
I don't know why you keep exempting whites. I am not using history to make the argument that whites see blacks as inferior. Rather, I am using the present day arguments being made by whites daily on forums like these that......when added up......equal black inferiority. I mean.....if saying a dozen or 12 was historically an indicator that one is racist, people will not say a dozen or 12. Instead, they will say 3 then they will say 5 and then they will say 4. Hence, when you add it all up it comes to 12.....a dozen. Then we are supposed to be so stupid that we cannot sum up what you are saying. Maybe whites are trying to fool themselves and not us.....by breaking apart things to fool yourselves. It still adds up to the same thing.....which apparently most of you do not realize.
It may go back as far as the Freedmen's Bureau when the Federal government dispensed public monies and provided for the former slaves.
Ever relying on government charity does imbue inferiority.
Perhaps it would have been wiser to let the freedmen be free - to succeed or fail on their own merits
I am grateful that you posted because you represent the other extreme compared to giving a group reparations. You believe that government shouldn't do anything to help anyone out. I see what I will call your "dog-eat-dog" Libertarian view represented frequently on this forum.
Sometimes its very hard to occupy the center of any issue. I have over the years supported civil rights, much of the aid we give to the poor, scholarships for poor students, and the concept of affirmative action. I continue to support most of these programs although I think some changes are needed. Affirmative action needs to be directed more at poor and disadvantaged people generally and less at a specific race or gender. Welfare benefits need to be more closely scrutinized because some of them have been turned into nothing short of a subsidy to poor pregnant women to have more children.
I think the OP does his race and poor people in America a disservice by provoking a divisive and hopeless debate. He admits himself that the likelihood of reparations being granted is virtually zero.
What we need to focus on in this era of budget-cutting is how to save programs that do the most good for the poor and disadvantaged in our society. That would be a worthwhile debate. I personally would like to focus much more on educational incentives and perhaps, loans for start-up businesses in poor areas.
Over time, these kinds of programs will make a difference for all disadvantaged people.
Black people are weighed down TODAY by the ever present gravity of white supremacy its most profound corollary of black inferiority. I mean, black people can never really have a fair chance when so many white people think we are inferior culturally, behaviorally, emotionally and intellectually.
How about blacks stop comparing themselves to whites? Blacks are the ones letting whites set the standard. Blacks are the ones empowering whites by the way you keep talking about white supremacy. Instead, blacks as a community should pull together and be the best they can be.
I feel that in the sixties, blacks as a group were more on the right track with their black power movement and their slogans of "black is beautiful". Now the desire is for diversity and interracial coupling... and the hope for future generations of evenly brown people. I think that the black community did better with having more pride in being black, instead of trying to be more white.
Stop trying so hard to mix with other races and waving the race card. Just be the best you can be as a black person. The mixing will come naturally as time goes on. It's just like what all the members in the Relationships forum keep says, that until you are accepting and happy with who you are, others will not enjoy your company. Work on fixing yourself and your inferiority complex. Stop knocking other cultures and races who happen to be happy the way they are. Just because I am happy with myself, don't brand me as having a superiority complex. And it's not my fault that you are not happy with who you are. And it's not my job to make you happy or boost your ego. That's your job and journey to take.
And start being forward looking. Knowing your history is great for not repeating past mistakes, but don't let the anger towards what happened to your ancestors cripple you. Every day is a fresh start. And living a bling rich lifestyle is NOT the definition of a successful life. If you truly think so, then I highly suggest you take a tour of a few third world countries. Go visit Africa. We really do have it better here than in most of the rest of the world.
I could dwell on what the Japanese did to the Chinese in WWII or how the Chinese were treated when they first came to America and were working the CA gold rush camps or building the Trans Continental Railroad. Maybe I could be so mad that I would refuse to buy a Japanese car or eat at a sushi restaurant. Maybe I could boycott riding on trains. Or as a woman, I could be a man hater because of how some men oppress women. But what would be the point of all of that? What is important, is that those tragedies never ever happen to me or anyone I care about.
And I do see that even now, all of the world, groups of people are oppressing and taking advantage of the weak. There is still slavery going on in Africa. I don't like it, but even though I am generally an optimist, I do see that human beings are like other animals. They look out for themselves first and take advantage of the weak. The problem is made worse because there are just too many people on this planet and fighting over limited resources of clean drinking water, food and jobs. As long as our world population is so high, a 100% of the human population will never be completely happy and well fed. I digress, but my point is, if you are unhappy with yourself, then it's your job to work on fixing the situation. It's no one elses job. Throwing government money at the mess is not the answer. In this case, the black community has to pull together to solve the problem. And it's more of a inner spirit sickness and one that money can't make better. Just look at what happens to the majority of lottery winners, especially the ones that were from poor neighborhoods.
How about blacks stop comparing themselves to whites? Blacks are the ones letting whites set the standard. Blacks are the ones empowering whites by the way you keep talking about white supremacy. Instead, blacks as a community should pull together and be the best they can be.
I feel that in the sixties, blacks as a group were more on the right track with their black power movement and their slogans of "black is beautiful". Now the desire is for diversity and interracial coupling... and the hope for future generations of evenly brown people. I think that the black community did better with having more pride in being black, instead of trying to be more white.
Stop trying so hard to mix with other races and waving the race card. Just be the best you can be as a black person. The mixing will come naturally as time goes on. It's just like what all the members in the Relationships forum keep says, that until you are accepting and happy with who you are, others will not enjoy your company. Work on fixing yourself and your inferiority complex. Stop knocking other cultures and races who happen to be happy the way they are. Just because I am happy with myself, don't brand me as having a superiority complex. And it's not my fault that you are not happy with who you are. And it's not my job to make you happy or boost your ego. That's your job and journey to take.
And start being forward looking. Knowing your history is great for not repeating past mistakes, but don't let the anger towards what happened to your ancestors cripple you. Every day is a fresh start. And living a bling rich lifestyle is NOT the definition of a successful life. If you truly think so, then I highly suggest you take a tour of a few third world countries. Go visit Africa. We really do have it better here than in most of the rest of the world.
I could dwell on what the Japanese did to the Chinese in WWII or how the Chinese were treated when they first came to America and were working the CA gold rush camps or building the Trans Continental Railroad. Maybe I could be so mad that I would refuse to buy a Japanese car or eat at a sushi restaurant. Maybe I could boycott riding on trains. Or as a woman, I could be a man hater because of how some men oppress women. But what would be the point of all of that? What is important, is that those tragedies never ever happen to me or anyone I care about.
And I do see that even now, all of the world, groups of people are oppressing and taking advantage of the weak. There is still slavery going on in Africa. I don't like it, but even though I am generally an optimist, I do see that human beings are like other animals. They look out for themselves first and take advantage of the weak. The problem is made worse because there are just too many people on this planet and fighting over limited resources of clean drinking water, food and jobs. As long as our world population is so high, a 100% of the human population will never be completely happy and well fed. I digress, but my point is, if you are unhappy with yourself, then it's your job to work on fixing the situation. It's no one elses job. Throwing government money at the mess is not the answer. In this case, the black community has to pull together to solve the problem. And it's more of a inner spirit sickness and one that money can't make better. Just look at what happens to the majority of lottery winners, especially the ones that were from poor neighborhoods.
What you do not seem to grasp is that when we go for a job, a loan, to court, to schools, the people who are making authoritative decision concerning our lives are mostly profoundly white. If I go to apply for a loan or loan or venture capital with a business plan and idea, or if I go to apply for a job or if I am in court or the class room negative perceptions and stereotypes by people in authority and power can does impact us. It takes money to make money and whites have most of the money and power so what they think has a profound impact upon our opportunities.
You have to realize our history in that the black power movement was systematically attacked and destroyed by then FBI head J. Edgar Hoover, who in the 60’s proclaimed black militancy the number one threat to the internal security of the United States. Did you know this? The COINTELPRO program effectively dismantled black unity and black liberation movements. This is the period when drugs flooded the black community. Not long ago, about ten years, a report for a San Jose, California newspaper reported that the CIA had intentionally targeted the black community with drugs.
What people don’t respect is that you are not suggesting something new to us. We have tried everything and it was met with a counter attack. You are not introducing anything that has not been tried.l
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Reparations are right and just
