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Location: The Land Mass Between NOLA and Mobile, AL
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bioendoic
Conservative columnist Thomas Sowell wrote an essay (summarized here: Black rednecks and white liberals - Thomas Sowell - Page full claiming that American black culture is largely redneck.
I see many similarities, one striking point is how many southerners still blame northerners for the dismal economy in the south while claiming black americans blame white americans for the same thing.
There are many, many problems, intellectually and historically, with the linked essay, but I'll only point out a few:
The analysis completely ignores the "Great Migration" of African Americans to the urban North in the early 20th Century, mostly after WWI but also after WWII and in the inter-war period, and it thereby fails to account for important developments in African-American culture that were independent from although rooted in southern culture;
Given that perhaps willful ignorance, the analysis does not take into account any of the well-documented federal racist policies that led to northern, urban ghetto formation, including but not limited to redlining, covenant agreements, and FHA lending policies that also had a hand in creating black urban culture;
The analysis does not take into account the pro-business and anti-labor policies of the "New South" that arose in the post-Civil Rights Movement era that actually made the Sun Belt prosperous (see Lassiter and McGirr for more on that). A lot of people actually got rich on the backs of "rednecks,' and reasonable people are still arguing about what that might mean for the region in particular and the country in general.
The analysis fails to account for the campaign of racially-based terrorism waged against black people in the U.S. from Reconstruction on through the Civil Rights Movement, up through, say, Medgar Evers' assassination and the killings of three activists in MS in 1964.
These are just a few easy flaws I found in what Sowell is trying to argue, but there are many more. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, and merely maintain that his claims are incredibly simplistic.
White folks don't lay down for ANY COMPARISONS to blacks...even positive ones, without harsh research and examination.
"White" folks are fully capable of throwing under the bus lessor white folks when it is convenient, and I suspect that this screed is quite convenient for the circles of "white folks" that Sowell frequents.
No it is not redneck culture. The black people I know are not drunks or alcoholics, do not spend thier money on "bling" (an outdated hip hop term by the way), and do not fight or spend money foolishly.
Yes, there are many black people with the last names, Jefferson and Washington.
No it is not redneck culture. The black people I know are not drunks or alcoholics, do not spend thier money on "bling" (an outdated hip hop term by the way), and do not fight or spend money foolishly.
Neither do the rednecks that I know.
Why do people generalize about groups of people?
There are many, many problems, intellectually and historically, with the linked essay, but I'll only point out a few:
The analysis completely ignores the "Great Migration" of African Americans to the urban North in the early 20th Century, mostly after WWI but also after WWII and in the inter-war period, and it thereby fails to account for important developments in African-American culture that were independent from although rooted in southern culture;
Given that perhaps willful ignorance, the analysis does not take into account any of the well-documented federal racist policies that led to northern, urban ghetto formation, including but not limited to redlining, covenant agreements, and FHA lending policies that also had a hand in creating black urban culture;
The analysis does not take into account the pro-business and anti-labor policies of the "New South" that arose in the post-Civil Rights Movement era that actually made the Sun Belt prosperous (see Lassiter and McGirr for more on that). A lot of people actually got rich on the backs of "rednecks,' and reasonable people are still arguing about what that might mean for the region in particular and the country in general.
The analysis fails to account for the campaign of racially-based terrorism waged against black people in the U.S. from Reconstruction on through the Civil Rights Movement, up through, say, Medgar Evers' assassination and the killings of three activists in MS in 1964.
These are just a few easy flaws I found in what Sowell is trying to argue, but there are many more. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, and merely maintain that his claims are incredibly simplistic.
Great post, but people are just looking for a rationale to justify what they already believe.
See most Americans know and believe that there is something wrong within the black race that is really the cause of racial inequality, they are just waiting for any credible sounding idea to espouse.
Reality and history be damned. They don't want to know.
Anyone postulating something as controversial as tracing the worst aspects of black culture to its white American origins can't POSSIBLY hope that those claims won't be closely examined. Not even a Zen-like figure such as Sowell whose words have more gravitas than anyone else's on the right.
White folks don't lay down for ANY COMPARISONS to blacks...even positive ones, without harsh research and examination.
I can't even offer a white man a piece of watermelon without him getting uncomfortable. Get real.
If I know this, Sowell knows it too.
I can't say I'm all that big on watermellon, but if ya'all want to invite me over for some fried chicken, I'm in.
See most Americans know and believe that there is something wrong within the black race that is really the cause of racial inequality, they are just waiting for any credible sounding idea to espouse.
Do not confuse race and culture. There is nothing wrong with the black race. See Sowell's rebuttal of the conclusions of The Bell Curve for a deeper understanding of this. Sowell does not claim there are not other influences. Nor does he deny many blacks have escaped the grips of redneck culture.
The Economics and Politics of Race: An International Perspective. by Thomas Sowell
In this book Sowell goes into many of the other aspects of black America and racial politics in general. This book is the book that should be read first.
"White" folks are fully capable of throwing under the bus lessor white folks when it is convenient, and I suspect that this screed is quite convenient for the circles of "white folks" that Sowell frequents.
Perhaps...I don't doubt it.
Still though, what Sowell is postulating here is not only accurate, but makes perfect sense given America's history.
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