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The STUDENT must turn in THEIR report card is gramatically corrrect.
Bill Cosby reminds me of the kind of crochety old person who has nothing but criticism for anyone who isn't them. It's easy to condemn. It's harder to provide solutions.
Most black people who live the kind of life this thread is about don't want solutions. They like the way they live. It's free and easy....
Most black people who live the kind of life this thread is about don't want solutions. They like the way they live. It's free and easy....
What are you talking about? Here we go again, someone who assumes that only black people are benefiting from Affirmative Action.
What do you mean by saying "thet like the way they live. It's free and easy"? What does that mean exactly?
English teacher that was a good argument in opposition to Affirmative Action. But, I am still waiting on someone to answer my question from earlier post on this thread: Has Affirmative Action stopped you from being everything you could be? Were you still able to attain your goals (career/education wise)?
What are you talking about? Here we go again, someone who assumes that only black people are benefiting from Affirmative Action.
What do you mean by saying "thet like the way they live. It's free and easy"? What does that mean exactly?
English teacher that was a good argument in opposition to Affirmative Action. But, I am still waiting on someone to answer my question from earlier post on this thread: Has Affirmative Action stopped you from being everything you could be? Were you still able to attain your goals (career/education wise)?
The answer is yes.
I've worked with two blacks who were not nearly as qualified as their peers. Both were in low level supervisory positions. I had to compete with these people who on paper accomplished almost nothing, and didn't offer much else either. I still beat them out, but not before having to be twice as good as they were.
Regardless of personal experience, the very fact that AA exists destroys the morale of non-minority workers. I once saw an ad in the Long Island Newsday from the New York City Police department that said "We are actively recruiting hispanic Americans". WHAT is THAT? There was no mention of a spanish speaking requirement, or anything else like that. The only thing they said was they were looking for hispanics. How the hell would you feel if you were a non-hispanic looking to join NYPD? Wouldn't you feel like you were already working against the tide? Seriously, that stuff needs to be outlawed. I saved the clipping, but it was about 11 years ago and I've lost it. Boy was I steamed when I saw that.
Affirmative Action is racism with a positive intent. My argument is giving whites special treatment is the same thing. It's just positively affecting another group. Neither one is right.
I have a little experiment for people that actually care enough to do it.
Take your resume, and post it on Monster.
Now take the same resume, change the college to a historically black college, and change the name to a black name. i.e. Donnell Jackson or something. Mind you, both resumes have to exhibit the same skills and salary requirements. You also want to have a different address, but the same distance from the city the job is in.
Wait and see which one gets more interest. I did this already. You will notice that the larger corps, the ones trying to dance for the govt, will respond to Donnell, and not to your name. It's sad, but true.
Now, the essay has been criticized for its message - not the intent, but the message.
Here are three criticisms of the poem:
* Some people say that this "blames the victim" - Ronald Waters, the African-American director of the African-American leadership institute in the University of Maryland, takes this position
* The citing failures of low income African-Americans could make White people say "See! They are the reason we are in the ghetto, not me!" Which may be an overly simplistic response.
* Racists could use it to say "Oh, see: black people are inferior!"
I feel like that the problems in many urban African-American communities today are caused by a rotten few residents AND the lack of the business community's willingness to invest in the said communities.
I feel like that the problems in many urban African-American communities today are caused by a rotten few residents AND the lack of the business community's willingness to invest in the said communities.
How about the black community investing in themselves? Why must the answer always be someone else coming to their rescue to help them???
How about the black community investing in themselves? Why must the answer always be someone else coming to their rescue to help them???
Think of it this way - if community members press area businesses to open new stores and press cities into opening new schools, libraries, etc. - that's the community helping themselves, right?
Part of the reason why business owners (i.e. grocery store chains, pharmacy chains, etc.) may be unwilling to open in mostly Black areas is because they feel like the community will not support the store. If the community makes a heartfelt effort to try to attract businesses, that satisfies Cosby's demand.
Anyway, I heard from my European History teacher that part of the reason why many African-American communities have suffered is due to a "brain drain" to White communities. After integration, many of the most outspoken, powerful, and "can-do" African-Americans left for White communities. The powerles, poor, and non-"can do" types remained in their communities.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou050624_cd_upclose_deathofcommunity.3f4d8ba4.ht ml (broken link) explains the fate of Clinton Park, a now decayed neighborhood on the east side of Houston.
[url]...I feel like that the problems in many urban African-American communities today are caused by a rotten few residents AND the lack of the business community's willingness to invest in the said communities.
Well for 1 thing, it is not the business community's obligation to invest in these areas, and if there was money to be made they would be there. I've seen stories about this idea and most of the businesses that try are often driven off by violence and robbery, which is the sad truth. I'm not trying to lay a blanket statement, but there is something inherently wrong with the culture of poor black America. When we're seeing the same crime and homicide patterns across the country, particularly in places with small black populations, you begin to wonder what is going on. This is why the messages from Bill Cosby, and people like him, need to be heard loud and clear
State ranks 8th in rate of black homicide victims Although Minnesota has a small black population, a study released Monday by a nonprofit gun-control group ranks the state eighth in the nation in the rate of black homicide victims.
The 57 blacks killed in Minnesota in 2004 represent a rate of just more than 24 victims per 100,000 black residents, according to the Violence Policy Center in Washington. In comparison, top-ranking Pennsylvania had 398 black homicide victims for a rate of nearly 30 per 100,000 black residents.
....
Homicide victimization has three variables that interact—age, race and gender, said Christopher Uggen, chairman of the University of Minnesota Sociology Department. It’s been a “stubborn social fact” that the rates of black men becoming homicide victims have long been high, he said.
In 2004, the national black homicide rate was nearly 19 per 100,000 black residents, according to the study, which analyzed the FBI’s 2004 Supplementary Homicide Report. For whites, it was nearly 3 per 100,000 white residents.
Uggen said the study’s rankings have to be examined carefully because the small size of Minnesota’s black population (4.3 percent in 2005, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates) could lead to fluctuations from year to year. In 2003, there were twice as many white homicide victims as black victims in Minnesota.
....
http://www.startribune.com/467/story/968247.html
I think there are two root causes for this, neither of which have much inherently to do with race.
The first is poverty. Poverty breeds crime. Look back to the slums in places like Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York in the early 20th century, in neighborhoods populated mostly by Italian, Jewish, Irish, and Polish immigrants. You'll see abject poverty, decaying neighborhoods, and high crime. Race was not an issue. You had a people who lived in abject poverty, who felt persecuted by society, and felt they had no recourse to the good life save through crime.
The second is the breakdown of the family. I don't recall the exact statistics of the number of African American children growing up in single-parent homes or the number of teen pregnancies, but the numbers are staggering. Tragic.
Although it may be more of a symptom than a cause, I wouldn't underestimate the influence of popular culture. Who do young African Americans have to look up to? A bunch of spoiled rotten athletes and hip-hop artists who glorify gangster culture. Among the young African American kids in my neighborhood, most of them couldn't tell you much about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, or Jesse Jackson except that they, too, are black. But most of those kids can recite every Tupac or 50 Cent rap. This, too, I think is a result of the breakdown of the family. Very few of them have steady father figures in their lives, so they try to find them where they can. And the media feeds them a bunch of thugs.
But again, none of this is inherent to race. You put those same conditions among any people and you'll get the same results.
I think there are two root causes for this, neither of which have much inherently to do with race.
The first is poverty. Poverty breeds crime. Look back to the slums in places like Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York in the early 20th century, in neighborhoods populated mostly by Italian, Jewish, Irish, and Polish immigrants. You'll see abject poverty, decaying neighborhoods, and high crime. Race was not an issue. You had a people who lived in abject poverty, who felt persecuted by society, and felt they had no recourse to the good life save through crime.
The second is the breakdown of the family. I don't recall the exact statistics of the number of African American children growing up in single-parent homes or the number of teen pregnancies, but the numbers are staggering. Tragic.
Although it may be more of a symptom than a cause, I wouldn't underestimate the influence of popular culture. Who do young African Americans have to look up to? A bunch of spoiled rotten athletes and hip-hop artists who glorify gangster culture. Among the young African American kids in my neighborhood, most of them couldn't tell you much about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, or Jesse Jackson except that they, too, are black. But most of those kids can recite every Tupac or 50 Cent rap. This, too, I think is a result of the breakdown of the family. Very few of them have steady father figures in their lives, so they try to find them where they can. And the media feeds them a bunch of thugs.
But again, none of this is inherent to race. You put those same conditions among any people and you'll get the same results.
If what you say is true, why aren't more black people commiting crime? I don't think poverty has that much to do with it. I think it has more to do with how you are raised in at home.
I grew up poor and I never robbed a local store. I would have had my a** whipped by my father had I done anything like that..I would have begged for him to turn me over to the police.
I have always wondered why more black people don't open more black owned businesses in their own neighborhoods. They will sit back and let someone else from another country come in and do it but they wont do it themselfs. I've never understood that.
Until they prove otherwise I will always think it has to do with their home life, the way they are raised in the home.
There are over 100,000 blacks still here in the Houston area from New Orleans, and FEMA is still paying most their rent and most are getting food stamps from the State of Texas. I asked a black friend a few months back why they did not go back to New Orleans and take some of the jobs cleaning up the flood areas. He told me it was because they have lived on welfare all of their lifes and so had their children and they know no different way of life.
And that most did now want to work even if it was an easy job.
I've also read that up 75% of all black babies are born out of wedlock. And that they get no support from the fathers.
I think it is time to cut off all welfare to anyone, no matter the race if they don't try to help themself.
Guys, you've both supported my exact point: it's about poor black culture. Issues with culture that you pointed out:
1)...the breakdown of the family. I don't recall the exact statistics of the number of African American children growing up in single-parent homes or the number of teen pregnancies, but the numbers are staggering. Tragic.
...I've also read that up 75% of all black babies are born out of wedlock. And that they get no support from the fathers.
2)....I wouldn't underestimate the influence of popular culture. Who do young African Americans have to look up to? A bunch of spoiled rotten athletes and hip-hop artists who glorify gangster culture. Among the young African American kids in my neighborhood, most of them couldn't tell you much about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, or Jesse Jackson except that they, too, are black. But most of those kids can recite every Tupac or 50 Cent rap.
3) I'll add this important factor as well: education or lack thereof. Getting a good education is frowned upon as being 'too white' and we see how dramatic the dropout rates are amongst young blacks, particularly in these poor neighborhoods. This obviously has a snowball effect on their lives when they want to get jobs, etc.
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