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LOL huck-- everyone's teaching kids these days not to be a burger flipper because burger flippers get treated horribly. So do other needful jobs that are high risk to health and paid least. I'm thinking american companies need to grow up more than kids themselves and find some respect for work ethics via tangible rewards if they'd rather not see it go extinct. They've been their own worst enemy in this way. What you're saying top paragraph honestly applies to all races. Everyone wants to be chief, nobody wants to be indian for reasons inspired entirely by ill business ethics afoot for decades. Legit biz or a sociopath with a license from gov't-- who do you want to work for (presuming there was choice)?
burger flipping is not a trade. electronics tech is.
it is easier for a young black man to win the lotto than get hired with a stinky attitude. blaming this on the business community is utter folly and will not propel our young people forward.
To begin with, blacks have the disadvantage of attending urban schools. I know where I live, suburban schools that are predominantly white are among the best in the country while predominantly black urban schools are mostly terrible.
To be born into circumstances gives an instant advantage or disadvantage, and I don't find it fair. No, I don't.
Ironic. I recall some interview w/ hip hop musician 50 cents speaking of his parents moving him to a fancy neighborhood on long island. He couldn't stand manicured lawns and flower pots. He spoke as if he were on another planet and had to get away back to the 'ghetto'.
So you feel we should have forced him to stay? I'm telling you it's in their head and you're still pointing every other direction just like they are.
burger flipping is not a trade. electronics tech is.
it is easier for a young black man to win the lotto than get hired with a stinky attitude. blaming this on the business community is utter folly and will not propel our young people forward.
true it's not a trade, but electronics tech aren't afforded professional treatment anymore than burger flippers. Just telling both sides, huck. Both parties are wrong in their own attitude toward one another.
To begin with, blacks have the disadvantage of attending urban schools. I know where I live, suburban schools that are predominantly white are among the best in the country while predominantly black urban schools are mostly terrible.
To be born into circumstances gives an instant advantage or disadvantage, and I don't find it fair. No, I don't.
I attended urban public schools in Chicago with many blacks. I am not black. Was I at a disadvantage? Hmm.
I attended urban public schools in Chicago with many blacks. I am not black. Was I at a disadvantage? Hmm.
Did I ever say that all inner city public school students were black, OR that all blacks were inner city public school students?
Nice anecdote, but I dunno if you went to the average inner city school or a charter school or what. You are also clearly an anomaly.
The fact is, anecdotes aside, I most likely received a much better public school education than you did being from a rich suburb. Perhaps your family had wealth or influence to overcome that, but most blacks do not and that's not fair. Your experience aside, most blacks in inner cities are getting the shaft and it is not fair.
Plenty of great observations had been made in the thread below that had been resurrected from '07 and apparently was closed today. I began typing a reply to the OP before realizing the thread had been closed. I just wanted to add my two cents to the topic.
One thing that I see is the abundance of excuse making among us (I am also black), with a major attribution to racism. While racism and discrimination are both certainly present in America, claims regarding both are numerous and often exaggerated. Racism and discrimination against blacks are not omni-present, and they aren't lurking around every corner. It makes me angry how often things are charged to racism in some form, much like Jesse Jackson's response to Cav's owner and his letter. And we eat this stuff up with a spoon.
The other day, one of the callers responding to a topic regarding Mel Gibson on a black talk radio station that I listen to claimed that blacks can't be racist. Almost every other caller agreed wholeheartedly. His premise (and this is a famous argument) was that blacks do not have enough power in this country to deprive whites, and therefore can't be racist. How does that even make sense? My understanding is that racism, much like classism, and sexism, is based in a sense of superiority of one group over the other. It has nothing to do with the ability to deprive, and it is certainly racist to even think like that caller did. The fact that we express moral superiority (whites are evil snakes, while blacks are constant victims of it, etc.) is inherently racist. We like living in this eternal victimhood, where we can claim to be powerless and cling to the benefits that come along with being the victim. Furthermore, in a country where racism and discrimination against blacks is apparently rampant, it almost never has a significant effect on the success of our African and West Indian counterparts. Until we can free ourselves from such thinking, we will never get the progress we desire in this country.
Lastly, we sadly do not think outside of the box. Blacks tend to disassociate with anything that would be considered "white", and kind of inherently leaves us boxed in. Several things will get you ostracised in the black community, such as being a Republican, being a devout atheist or agnostic, being a fan of any genre of music that is not considered "black" or at least acceptable to us, dating someone who is white, actively participating in activities that are considered "white", etc. If we want improvement in our community, we need to be open minded. We cannot be resistant to at least the consideration of different ideas and concepts. We should encourage, at least, freer thought, instead of molding ourselves the same. I've found myself at odds with my family and some of my black friends because I typically go left when the majority swings right. I didn't vote for Obama, or anyone for that matter. I'm not a devout Christian, rather a religious skeptic, and as you can imagine, I'm in the minority when it comes to my beliefs regarding how we can attain upward mobility in this country.
I also tend to think blacks can't really be racists, at least towards whites and Asians. Racism usually means thinking one's own race is superior to another, which is the basis for treating others worse. But I doubt any black person seriously thinks their race is superior, there are no statistics that would back that up and everybody knows it, which might cause some inferiority complex, which in turn some people might try to hide by acting especially dominant and fierce. I guess when black people are against white people it is more like automated counter-aversion based on the assumption that whites don't respect and like them anyway.
(I know what I wrote is not PC, but I am European, we are not so much into PC )
To the above post, then what do you call someone who hates another from a different race for reasons other than feeling superior?
Hating for the sake of race is racism. Period. Superiority plays into it, I'm sure, but it's not the only factor.
This thread is very interesting. It reminds me of something my (asian immigrant) mother said one time. She once wondered aloud why it is the blacks of this country, who have been here much longer and have had the opportunity to a. learn the language and b. create social networks, have not been able to advance themselves as much as asian people who basically come here alone and with nothing and nobody to help them out (and often with limited english).
We see some asian communities and support (the most obvious being Chinatowns, etc), but more spread out over the country, that is a newer creation and not the experience of my asian friends or our immediate family.
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