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Blacks just need to quit blaming their personal failures on their color.
Correct. They also need to quit putting paranoid self loathing crap in their kids ears. It's killing their kids and I loathe & detest them (black adults) for it.
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Originally Posted by GradyBaaBaa
People need to quit teaching their kids that white people are bad.
Content of character-- some white people are bad. It's the behavior that defines them, and the more self worshiping crap people swallow thinking if only I burn gradybaabaa's house down, my house will stand taller... they need to live in Afghanistan. Not America.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GradyBaaBaa
If whites have it easier, its because they manage their lives better.
Bill Cosby gets it, and the black people hate him for it.
If whites have it easier it's because common decency is upheld among them. They uphold it for minorities too, but apparently, minorities don't connect the dots that their failure to uphold it in their own lives for the benefit of their own communities is the difference between a healthy white/ interracial community and the ones they're living out as rules of the jungle are where their values are at.
So.... back to that youtube video: common decency, politeness, a commitment to reason, upholding justice in their personal conduct with one another... can't be stolen or bottled. You've got to live it out, but, heaven forbid blacks do! They can expect a shiv in their backs from their own. Those who are upright, highly principled, possessing immense talent & inner strength, are labeled oreo's & sell outs.
Whitney Houston rises to her talent, and 'black community' trash cannot help but drag her back into their cesspool the same way they tried it on Queen Latifah. RIP Whitney. I'm deeply saddened she couldn't overcome the 'black community' dragging her down into their sickness. She was like a black Elvis. Another tragic tale. What they didn't confront in themselves bit them in the ass in the end. No amount of success or money could ever buy them a free ride from that homework they didn't find the courage to do. The noise of all the wrong people took over their lives.
And yes, there is still plenty of racism. But you've got to also acknowledge that non-racist whites are tired of taking the blame for the racists, and they shouldn't have to. People are individuals, not blobs that you can assign all the same characteristics to because of what they look like. I think non-racists whites' biggest failing was not to have spoken up enough in the past, especially during Jim Crow. But it also puzzles me that blacks seem completely ignorant or silent on the efforts of the abolition movement during slavery (I even read where one guy thought that John Brown was black.) Slavery would not have ended without the efforts of whites. Civil Rights would not have occurred without the help of white people who believed the status quo was wrong.
A big reason why we had to overthrow the English government was because there were American colonies who did not want to participate in slavery and England FORCED IT on them. Later down the line England abolished slavery but it still existed in America. Follow through in history, the civil war was fought in large part because this internal issue was never resolved properly. There were too many southern states who could not comprehend making a living without slavery/ sharecropping and preferred to frame the argument as a us vs them, industrialists 'stealing' our bread. They either didn't want to believe King Cotton was dying or had convinced themselves that all other industries were to blame.
In hindsight it would have been far better to resolve it creatively by offering other forms of industry empowering southern states to earn their living & thrive without slavery. The advances in textiles/ cotton gin could have been used as an opportunity to liberate blacks, but instead, private interest greed ruled over righteousness. The losses of liberating blacks should have rightfully been born on all states in one degree or another save for those who prohibited slavery. The shipping industries profiting from the import of slaves were culpable too.
I don't disagree with that, and as a white person, I can tell you that sometimes white people just don't SEE it. I like to use this analogy as a person who grew up with a disabled father: When you walk into a building, you normally don't notice how many steps there are leading to that building or if there are any stairs at all. You're not thinking about it--you're just going forward. Stairs don't affect you. A disabled person, on the other hand, who wants to go to a restaurant or has to go to a public building must call ahead and find out if there are stairs (and bear in mind that I grew up with this pre-ADA).
Agreed. This world is very different when you're driving a car, waiting on a bus, can't afford the bus as pedestrian, and a guy without legs in a wheel chair trying to make his way in life. I'm not as oblivious as others believe I am. My religion will not allow me this indulgence.
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Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
The same thing often happens with white people and racism. It doesn't affect them. They aren't thinking about it, so they don't see it. I believe that most decent white people WILL speak up when they DO see racism. Often, however, it isn't obvious to them, especially when it takes subtle forms.
Spending a lifetime stomping on racism is a waste of time. A better investment is made innoculating individuals with positive esteem about themselves. There are crucial early years in upbringing that parents & community cannot afford to neglect. How are cycles of poverty ever going to be broken when parents refuse to improve their parenting skills?
For me it (my upbringing, despite poverty) was the difference between overcoming sexism in my life boots on the ground and not. Same was true for blacks I served with in the military. Same is true for gays. Those who did the work to know their true worth and have true self esteem (not false bravado) rose up the ranks well. Those who didn't clung hard on cowardly excuses and remained on the bottom (or booted out) as a result.
I disagree with bullying behavior, but the most effective means of dealing with bullies is educating kids and adults how to deal with bullies. That appears to be a lost art in this era as opposed to older generations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
As for work opportunities, I have been in my job for more than 30 years. I can remember when there were NO black engineers in our engineering department (and only one woman, an Asian.) Engineering construction was very much a white, male world, and the majority of those were of one ethnic group to boot. Now I know a good number of black engineers in positions of responsibility for some significant projects--and some of those are female. However, as far as the executive-level positions in this same area of my employer's engineering department, there is only one black man, and he has only been in that position for about three years. So while I can tell you that much progress has been made, I can also tell you that it's still not equal and that there is a ways to go.
I tend to agree, but at the same time, blacks who experience success need to pay it forward in earnest. Not in the form of free lunch, but in the form of Jackie Robinson sharing how he succeeded. He was a pioneer and an excellent role model. This is but one field, but all the other fields were less important? Black farmers, black automotive shop owners, black bakeries... it's the ordinary Joe worthy of praise too. That's the part of American culture I hold my nose over. If you're not living out hedonistic lifestyles of the rich and famous you're not a 'real' American? I think not.
I support and defend affirmative action only so long as it doesn't ignore the real criteria of qualifications and only so long as it is needful. Another alternative investment successful blacks could be making is offering training programs for poor blacks committed to acquiring small business skills. That's the way up. Not panhandling government. It harms their dignity as individuals and diminishes the value of their gifts.
Right,, it works the other way too. I was in line in a grocery store. It was in a mostly black neighborhood. I was in line and then another register opened. I was pointed to because I was next to be waited on.. Do you know that at least 6 black customers raced over and got in line before me. Now what was that? I didn't say a word. I just waited for the 6 people to check out and then it was my so called turn as I was at the end of the line instead of the next customer.
Yes, it happened to me, too. Went into a place in the city to get lunch to take out at one of the hot/cold salad bars. I was the only white person, three or four black people there. Behind the counter was a black guy who wouldn't look at me, just rolled his eyes and waved over the black customers to get ahead of me. Also behind the counter was some poor little Asian girl who looked completely alarmed and kept looking at me with her eyes wide. He was SHOWING ME that I was to be punished for whatever some dead white person had done to HIS ancestors. I thought about dumping my food and walking out, but then decided to just stand there and stare at him for my own amusement. I AM a six-foot-one-inch-tall white woman, so I was his height. He finally took care of all his black customers, not one of whom mentioned that I was there before them, and then he rang me up with a few grunts, still not looking at me. I smiled sweetly and said, "Thank you!" just to burn his ass, stuffed my change into my pocket and left.
And then...I walked outside and down the sidewalk, my anger at this 100% prejudiced jerk starting to grow, when a black woman walking toward me said, "Excuse me--you've got a couple of dollar bills sticking out of your pocket. Better be careful--someone might see that and take your money."
And that served to remind me that people have to be taken as individuals. Black, white, whatever--some are azzhole's, most are not.
Agreed. This world is very different when you're driving a car, waiting on a bus, can't afford the bus as pedestrian, and a guy without legs in a wheel chair trying to make his way in life. I'm not as oblivious as others believe I am. My religion will not allow me this indulgence.
Spending a lifetime stomping on racism is a waste of time. A better investment is made innoculating individuals with positive esteem about themselves. There are crucial early years in upbringing that parents & community cannot afford to neglect. How are cycles of poverty ever going to be broken when parents refuse to improve their parenting skills?
For me it (my upbringing, despite poverty) was the difference between overcoming sexism in my life boots on the ground and not. Same was true for blacks I served with in the military. Same is true for gays. Those who did the work to know their true worth and have true self esteem (not false bravado) rose up the ranks well. Those who didn't clung hard on cowardly excuses and remained on the bottom (or booted out) as a result.
I disagree with bullying behavior, but the most effective means of dealing with bullies is educating kids and adults how to deal with bullies. That appears to be a lost art in this era as opposed to older generations.
I tend to agree, but at the same time, blacks who experience success need to pay it forward in earnest. Not in the form of free lunch, but in the form of Jackie Robinson sharing how he succeeded. He was a pioneer and an excellent role model. This is but one field, but all the other fields were less important? Black farmers, black automotive shop owners, black bakeries... it's the ordinary Joe worthy of praise too. That's the part of American culture I hold my nose over. If you're not living out hedonistic lifestyles of the rich and famous you're not a 'real' American? I think not.
I support and defend affirmative action only so long as it doesn't ignore the real criteria of qualifications and only so long as it is needful. Another alternative investment successful blacks could be making is offering training programs for poor blacks committed to acquiring small business skills. That's the way up. Not panhandling government. It harms their dignity as individuals and diminishes the value of their gifts.
There are such programs in existence, of course. Established MBE firms assist the up-and-coming firms, although they do have to deal with weeding out the ones who just want to jump on a bandwagon but aren't really committed to running a business. And there are mentoring programs such as 100 Black Men. Some of my coworkers also do mentoring locally in their churches and schools in some of the not-so-great neighborhoods from whence they came.
I'm talking about black people who are not the rich and famous, but your basic middle-class, usually college-educated professional who lives a quiet life and is involved in their community. The news cameras don't tend to follow such people around.
No don't humor me, I'm asking you seriously, since it was pretty clear that that was your implication earlier.
No implications here. Point is that whites do have the majority of the wealth in this society. How did they get it? Wealth is tied to land. How did the power structure gain control of the land?
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Black farmers, black automotive shop owners, black bakeries... it's the ordinary Joe worthy of praise too. That's the part of American culture I hold my nose over. If you're not living out hedonistic lifestyles of the rich and famous you're not a 'real' American? I think not.
