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Actually, it is not true that blacks commit more crime.
Giving credence to the HuffPost's claim that AA crime stats may be skewed by over-representation in arrests and convictions (attributed to that elusive Pixie of "Structural Racism" of police and the courts), how then do you reconcile their over-representation via identification by witnesses or victims? Are rape victims, for instance, lying as to the race of their assailants, supposedly because they are racist?
Also, if disproportionate arrests skew the data, why then are neighborhoods inhabited primarily by AA's the locations of a disproportionate amount of the crimes themselves? Are Asians driving into primarily AA neighborhoods to commit their crimes?
I have a nagging suspicion that the liquid being tinkled into my ears from your post is not in fact, rain.
Good morning, my esteemed colleagues (and yes, Chicago South Sider, I see you, my friend. Good to see your post!):
I am too outgoing of a people-person to allow this change in our society get me down and stop socializing ( I will not allow a person nor a system get me down nor change who I AM!).
But it is a reality whether some of us like it or not. So we have to deal with it at times.
There was an episode a couple of years ago when I worked in the Milwaukee Jail where I was sending an all staff email, and a co-worker replied all that I had forgotten a letter in her name; I had left out the letter "l" in "Shantell."
I replied and said that I had also left out the letters in my own name, "k-i-n, and g" and signed it "Jay King."
She complained to management and said she was offended. My 2 managers (for what it's worth, were 2 white men), and explained how what I wrote could be perceived as racist.
I offered them examples of when staff in the building had called me (obviously by accident) by a more "latino-sounding name such as Jose or Ricardo (THAT one, I 'm not even sure how they made THAT mistake!). But nonetheless, I didn't blow things out of shape. In fact, I didn't even care.
But this is the world we live in. We can choose to I HATE PEOPLE (and I have friends and relatives who have taken that attitude). But you know what? There IS still a lot of good and beauty in the world. So I just focus on that!
We are all entitled to our opinions and beliefs. I am just of the caliber that we can still get along and have discussions calmly when we disagree. Seems like a lot of people want to blow up as soon as they can about something.
But you know what my philosophy is?: Just because someone has a problem, doesn't mean I have to let it be MY problem!
Master Jay, yours is a good philosophy. Per your posts, you come off very amicable and level-headed. And I'm sure whatever place in mind Nana is coming from, she means well and all that. But, when it comes to racism accusations, her viewpoint I actually deem quite racist. Essentially, blacks are not responsible or accountable like the rest of society is. Somehow, they're so damaged by their past, and so vulnerable to prejudice, that they're eternally condemned to ride the short bus unless every grievance is addressed, and every condition is brought to optimal level. This viewpoint holds that for whatever reason, black americans just don't have it in them to make it in the US like all other ethnic groups have. And middle and upper class black americans tend to parrot this same narrative, even though they themselves somehow miraculously overcame all these obstacles.
This is the worst kind of racism, the racism of low expectations. This literally stunting the upward mobility of poor black communities. So messed up!
People come in on the southern border because we have more opportunities for jobs and money. That has nothing to do with the racism here. I have a masters degree in mathematics.
Is your Masters in White Supremacy Math? You know, the one where right answers are sought.
Master Jay, yours is a good philosophy. Per your posts, you come off very amicable and level-headed. And I'm sure whatever place in mind Nana is coming from, she means well and all that. But, when it comes to racism accusations, her viewpoint I actually deem quite racist. Essentially, blacks are not responsible or accountable like the rest of society is. Somehow, they're so damaged by their past, and so vulnerable to prejudice, that they're eternally condemned to ride the short bus unless every grievance is addressed, and every condition is brought to optimal level. This viewpoint holds that for whatever reason, black Americans just don't have it in them to make it in the US like all other ethnic groups have. And middle and upper class black Americans tend to parrot this same narrative, even though they themselves somehow miraculously overcame all these obstacles.
This is the worst kind of racism, the racism of low expectations. This literally stunting the upward mobility of poor black communities. So messed up!
Agreed. Again, there has been a constant stream of those who have turned the "Blacks are always going to be at a disadvantage due to slavery" argument into an "industry". Jesse, Al, and the Democrat leadership who has been taking the 90% of their vote for granted so long, and throwing them the occasional bone in return, have made excuse after excuse for behavior that is extremely self-defeating to the majority of African Americans in America. It was LBJ's "Great Society", which exchanged welfare payments for forcing husbands and fathers out of the home, which put the stake in the heart of any hope blacks have had of "Equity". Thomas Sowell is quoted as saying "The Black Family survived two hundred fifty years of Slavery, and it survived almost a century of Jim Crow. But it did could not, and did not, survive the Welfare State.
In a time when so many black people are doing so well (the idea that the black community is "monolithic" is simply invalid), the idea that they cannot compete and succeed has been turned on its head. Obviously, more success is needed, just as it is in white and Hispanic areas with high rates of poverty. Nana's assertion that "Crime is not disproportionately higher among blacks" would be laughable if it did not have such tragic underpinnings. What is arguable, is WHY crime is disproportionately higher, and there are more arguments on that than can be listed in a single post. We have a broken culture in the U.S. today regardless of race; it's only that black culture is broken "more". And IMHO, that problem needs to be solved largely from within, largely through the acceptance of values in the inner city that don't involve ho's, gats, jacks and get-overs. Although I firmly believe (and have repeated it here often), that poverty in Chicago is largely due to the loss of manufacturing jobs (work that doesn't require a degree which allowed people to make a living wage), Chicago's problems are indeed partly due to your assertion of "Low Expectations". People will rise to the level they themselves deem themselves worthy of. And the idea that Self Esteem is something that can be taught in a classroom, or through a myriad of commercials during Black History Month, is insanity. Self Esteem comes from your (and society) setting high expectations for your behavior, and then positive reinforcement when those expectations are met or exceeded (as Jay has repeated ad infinitum). Just my $0.02. I do hope that nana means well.
I started to type several statements, since this very topic occurred in the office. and then decided to erase. I felt myself starting to feel down... What Curly Q. Bobalink and others have shared is sufficient.
Master Jay, no worries man, me and Curly here got this!
Curly, great post. You mentioned Thomas Sowell, he's got a great explanation for black culture feeding a self-destructive (or at least, not constructive) narrative. As I remember, it was under the topic "black thug culture" or something along those lines, I found it on youtube a while back. Essentially, the argument is that black popular culture is kicked upward from the underclass, featuring glorification of criminality, pimps/hoes and stickups, etc...general anti-social behavior. As opposed to the black middle class that could/should be showering down positive cultural messages, same ones which got them to be middle class in the first place. Not as though there's no such thing. For instance, Bill Cosby's name is mud now and rightfully so, but back when he was doing the Cosby Show (which I would watch), he was very specific in his goal to portray the Huxtables as an educated, successful and happy black family, primarily for the benefit of black viewers. There needs to be more of that. I'm personally not against seeing more images on tv of blacks doing normal middle class stuff.
You're right on about AA's not being a monolithic block. Back there where I responded to Nana with crime figures such 50-some % of killings and robberies being committed by blacks who make up 14% of US population, that should be taken in context. Not all that 14% is committing those crimes. I think I read like 60% of black people here in america fall into the lower to upper middle class category, and I don't think they're doing most of those crimes. It's black underclass mostly doing that. Black middle-class just seems to have abdicated their role towards addressing that...like you said, problem needs to be solved largely from within.
I am not a Black man. Can I understand the Black experience in America?
If this is at all a fair comparison, but in my field I have spoken with countless drug addicts (of all skin shades, mind you!). And I always tell them: I have never suffered from an addiction but I have eyes, ears, a mind and a heart to understand what this MUST feel like from speaking to the clients directly, as well as witnessing what is going on in ALL different communities.
CAN I, therefore, understand what it would be like, to live the Black experience? I say YES.
Regarding race/cultures, there are similar issues in the Hispanic community. IS there prejudice against Hispanic men, with "mis"conceptions that they are gang members and will attack someone based on the color of their clothes, making their communities unsafe??… MIS-conceptions? They are TRUE!!!... Now, the error is when someone attributes this attitude to ALL Hispanic males, because that is NOT the truth.
Did Master Jay do anything in his youth to combat this perception so as to prove the Majority-White society wrong?? NO, I absolutely PROVED a Majority-White societal (including prejudice against Hispanic males) perception! I ran the streets, stole car parts, vandalized, fought against other groups, etc... Therefore I did NOTHING to help my Hispanic community! And I can NOT blame 'Whitey" for it! Whitey wasn't out stealing and destroying property, I WAS!!!!
But I changed. I had the power to change. I had the power to choose what I do/not do. EVERYONE does! No one is a slave. No one is without choice.
I agree with the writers, therefore, when they say there is a culture that glorifies behaviors and negative attitudes. Sure, some artists even get paid big bucks off of it, while the majority in the culture do not. But is, Whitey wrong then???
I tend to think that the whole idea of "spectrums" in human behavior stemmed from the term being applied to Autistic behavior. And it isn't incorrect, there is a wide spectrum of symptoms and levels of affection suffered by those with mental disabilities. It's so varied because the psychology of human beings is so complex, and there are so many of us; we are all alike and at the same time, are all different, at least to some degree.
So, now "gender" is also considered not only to be on a spectrum, but fluid as well. It is generally accepted that there are two sexes, one male and one female, one with XX and one with XY chromosomes. Now, are there exceptions to this? Absolutely, but they are extremely rare. When teaching human anatomy, for instance, professors teach that human beings have two eyes, two ears, and one mouth. But occasionally, nature screws the pooch and someone is born with three ears. But that is not the "norm" which defines human anatomy, and while it is acknowledged, it is considered an aberration, and human ear physiology is not defined to be on a "spectrum". But gender, because it is heavily psychological in nature, is a bit more complicated. On the other hand, for those who embrace the idea that you can be Cis on Monday, Trans on Tuesday, and Both on Wednesday, that condition was best described by terms used in the last century, and corrupted by the Stooges.
Once more, the forces that hate our current society are looking at the fringes in an attempt to find reasons to throw the baby out with the bathwater, they want to disqualify the 99% in order to elevate the 1%. Don't fall for this nonsense. People who are afflicted in some manner need to be free from persecution, that's for sure. But the 99% of us who are NOT afflicted by a particular condition also need to be free from the persecution that is the "Rheeee" of the SJW crowd continuously ringing in our ears. Let 'em teach THAT in our schools.
Sadly, it's the women and children who are being affected the most by this insanity. Can you imagine being told by an adult at the age of 5 that you can be a boy or a girl? Parents better really be on top of their game these days. And good luck to female athletes trying to compete with biological males.
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