I think this would be a wonderful opportunity to pause for a moment and give thanks for the great contributions of the Black community to our society. Their peaceful and generous nature make them ideal neighbors, lending testimony to their exceptional family values and parenting skills unrivaled by any other culture. Their commitment to academic excellence enriches our schools and serves as an example to all who hope to achieve prominence as a people. Real estate values are fueled by the mix of African Americans into an area due to their caring and respectful nature of these communities, an example of all they have achieved through their enthusiasm for self improvement by hard work and a self-reliant can-do nature. Without their industrious and creative drive, we would be poorer as a nation.
Let's face it, these people are hopeless. The only possible way to get things going in the right direction is to stop both legal immigration and illegal immigration until every honest hard working black person who wants a job can get a job. ISIS couldn't do this much damage to the USA.
Let's face it, these people are hopeless. The only possible way to get things going in the right direction is to stop both legal immigration and illegal immigration until every honest hard working black person who wants a job can get a job. ISIS couldn't do this much damage to the USA.
First off, these riots are "soft riots". It's just an opportunity for punk youths to wreak havoc. I mean, I'd feel comfortable walking through these mobs, it's like a gathering more than an actual riot. The destruction of property shouldn't be tolerated by anyone there. There are actually far more people on the streets that aren't damaging shit than are... and they should step in with the authorities to stop it.
These are nothing compared to the shit that went on in the LA riots or the Civil Rights days.
You're never going to stop punk youths who have nothing to lose from doing stupid shit when they see an opportunity.
I think Scott L showed a great picture of people standing in front of the cops building a wall... that stuff that goes a long way.
I think things are far better off today than they were in the past. People just have a freak out sess every time there is a picture of someone throwing a rock. Long story short, there is no easy solution... education, culture change, aggression, harsher prison sentences, I mean... there's stuff that you could do, but it's very difficult to get people who have nothing to care about their actions. I side with the cops most times. Michael Brown deserved every bullet he got, Freddy Gray is a difficult case, but the media and the sensationalism here is definitely not helping.
But at the end of the day, the #1 rule of thumb that will always lead you to success... do the complete opposite of what psycho Joe says.
These are nothing compared to the shit that went on in the LA riots or the Civil Rights days.
You're never going to stop punk youths who have nothing to lose from doing stupid shit when they see an opportunity.
I think Scott L showed a great picture of people standing in front of the cops building a wall... that stuff that goes a long way.
I think things are far better off today than they were in the past. People just have a freak out sess every time there is a picture of someone throwing a rock. Long story short, there is no easy solution... education, culture change, aggression, harsher prison sentences, I mean... there's stuff that you could do, but it's very difficult to get people who have nothing to care about their actions. I side with the cops most times. Michael Brown deserved every bullet he got, Freddy Gray is a difficult case, but the media and the sensationalism here is definitely not helping.
But at the end of the day, the #1 rule of thumb that will always lead you to success... do the complete opposite of what psycho Joe says.
That's pretty accurate but these government programs have become part of inner city black culture - I'm not for anyone getting some form of assistance - so long as it's temporary - if it is permanent - well then their position of the totem pole is permanent too - Ive got better things to do than make up fiction - I am directly involved in these programs daily - they are riddled with nothing but abuse from top to bottom
How to Fix the Black Community In 5 Simple Steps
By Justin “Master Chim” Garcia
The Black Community (Charlize Theron isn’t to be included, so…) here in the States is in as dire a situation as it’s been since slavery. Yes, shit was effed up then, but a return to the bottom is well on its way. Only this time, the Black Community (not African traders) is to blame. Broken homes, violent crime, and one hell of a victimized “groupfeel” (Thanks, Jack) epidemic has lead the Black Man into a rut. One that finds them playing muse to a race war, socialism, and police state all at once.
“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.” ~DH Lawrence
Something needs to give. I’m not a racist (I know. Famous last words…) but I refuse to let anyone off the hook for the empirically sound clusterfuck that they alone continue to support. I say “support” for a huge reason: I don’t care how it started because its beginning will have very little to do with its conclusion. Slavery, segregation, welfare, drug laws, incarceration, racism…I do not apologize when reminding the adults in the room that nobody cares. Not the landlord, the electric company, the bank, nope….not even other blacks. At the end of the day, we do what needs to be done for ourselves and our families. Support means to keep alive. To empower. To extend. Yep. The Black Community is keeping victimhood on a ventilator. It’s the “woe” in “woe is me” more than it chooses to be the “me”. Slavery is gone in this country, but they’re managing to keep its spirit alive. One need only look to Ferguson, Baltimore, or Brooklyn to see the most intensely committed revolts with not a slave owner in sight.
So, my Black brethren, take what I say and use it. Support me, curse me, threaten me…I don’t care. So long as my family and I choose to live amongst you, I can’t have you robbing, shooting, and throwing neighborhoods to the shitter.
Here are my 5 Simple Steps to Square Your Shit Away, Brothers.
1. Accountability
“There is a much stronger case to be made that efforts to help blacks have had more pernicious and lasting effects on black attitudes and habits than either slavery or segregation.” ~Jason L. Riley (Black Guy)
Facts matter and words mean things. The unquenchable need to blame people you don’t know for things you’ve never experienced done by folks who aren’t even alive is, well, irrational. There isn’t a need for blame when it comes to fueling one’s engine for success. Self-sabotage, though? Yeah, we have to beat someone with the blame stick when that happens. Black folks, prepare.
See, what’s always been baffling to me was the complete inconsistent logic used by race baiters and embraced by the black community when it came to “success”. The BC is no stranger when it comes to athletic success and in that realm we see champions of a “no excuses” mindset that all but disappear once the balls get put away. I mean, who remembers my man Mugsy Bogues? That idiot had no idea midgets weren’t supposed to play in the NBA! Or what about the ’66 Miners from Texas Western? Ever hear of them? Yeah, they kind of put all the obstacles and meanies out of sight and focused on what mattered…results.
Today what do you have? Eric Garner is a martyr for your “fight” against brutality? Al Sharpton is your fearless leader? We see criminals defended and looters supported. We see corrupt politician leeches put on pedestals. You want to argue with teachers that hit your kids back, or administrators that don’t have the patience (who can blame them?) to deal with uncivilized children who are being educated FOR FREE by taxpayer dollars. It’s EVERYONE’S fault but yours when your kids don’t know how to operate in society because slavery, right? Others are to blame because your brothers can’t find a job but have IPhones and jewelry because racism, right? Someone has to pay for your lack of maternal preparation because of Jim Crow, right?
STOP IT and GROW UP! Losers lose because they don’t DO what winning requires. In sports, we don’t complain how big the other team is, or how much they keep scoring, or why the refs seem to be against us…IF WE’RE TRYING TO WIN. No, we score, then score some more. That’s it. No mystery, conspiracy, or travesty. Either you do what it takes to win or you lose. If what it takes YOU is more than what it takes THEM, then tough shit. Nobody cares. I did say these steps were simple, didn’t I?
2. Fatherhood.
“One of the greatest gifts my father gave me – unintentionally – was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity. We had a bit of a rollercoaster life with some really challenging financial periods. He was always unshaken, completely tranquil, the same ebullient, laughing, jovial man” ~Ben Okri (Black Guy)
Fathers are the most important piece of the childhood puzzle missing in the Black Community. They’re the model for masculinity. They’re the earner who provides the slack a mother needs to mother. They’ve always been the champion of a family’s struggle, and the hero of its sons. They show what a man’s supposed to do to daughters. They show what a man’s supposed to be to sons.
Well, in the black community, they show everyone how to disappear, if anything at all. In the BC, if you’re a kid, you’re currently 72% likely to be born to a single mother. Over half of you will be raised by her, with a boyfriend (or girlfriend) here and there in the mix. I’m reminded of a recent visit to the dr.’s office where the receptionist asked who the lady was to my right. I answered “My wife.” She then proceeded to follow up with “Are you legally married?” I laughed and replied affirmatively. She then STILL followed up with “Do you reside at the same address?” I was like “Holy crap? Are you serious?” She said to me, and she was a BLACK nurse, “Well, if I only ask the black families I’ll get in trouble.” WTF?
But back to you, Black Dads…
There was a time when you were in the household MORE than your white counterparts. Yep, and that’s AFTER slavery, btw. What happened? I know, I know. Welfare forced you out, feminism kept you out. Look, you’ll find no adversary on those fronts here, but again, I have to say…Nobody cares.
When there’s a 5 year old black boy with no dad at a little league game, no one cares about how hard it is to be a dad. When the 10 year old boy is struggling to not be victimized in school, no one cares what’s keeping you away from empowering him. When a young lady is having sex at 12 because she has no strong image of what a man is and how he treats a woman, no one cares about your child support struggles.
Magicians make a career out of making something disappear. Why? Because being here and not being here is so different that it should take magic to make it so.
Your child didn’t ask to be here. You brought him. Man up and father him now.
Simple, right?
3. Education.
“The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.” ~Thomas Sowell (Black Guy)
Anyone who knows me knows that I hold the education of our children in the highest regard. A super talented drug addict singer once sung “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.” This is where education comes in.
Now unbeknownst to so many parents out there, education begins as soon as that baby is out of the womb and into this cold, cruel, beautiful world. Education begins with stories of pride, exposure to character, and the warmth of one’s loved ones. Education begins with the reassuring embrace of a loving mother. The delightfully fulfilled gaze of a father. Even the laughter shared amongst friends. But it continues…
The world is a map only navigated by a vision tempered in reality. We do not get through, by, nor over obstacles in this life by finding the feelgood. We don’t put food in the fridge or gas in the car by making the goosebumps rise or the butterflies flutter. We can only navigate the map. The map has paths that have been used by others that are safe and fruitful, just as it has those that have led to others’ demise. The beauty is that these maps are available. The challenge is that kids can’t read them. That’s where it truly takes a village, but you get to get them started.
Eventually, many of you will forge some sort of relationship with some government sponsored “school”, but whatever they try to sell you, don’t you dare think that building of strangers is responsible for your child’s “education”. On the contrary, you’ll find them undermining your authority and “discovering” new reasons why your child can’t succeed at every pass. Nobody cares. Don’t trust them. Certainly don’t believe them. Your child’s education is YOUR privilege. Nobody can rob you of that gift and don’t you ever think otherwise.
Keeping it simple.
4. Ritual.
“When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.” ~Chinua Achebe (Black Guy)
Links on a chain. We’re all just links on a chain. There was a time when we all knew that. Whether it was the dance “of your people” or the phrase the old folks use to say, we all have, at the very least, clues and remnants of where we came.
Before technology and the distraction of an overzealous government, we practiced being “us” together. We’d sing, dance, pray, eat, and share together in the fashion and manner which we were shown. We were shown by a compassionate grandparent or elder. We would, in turn, pass down these customs and traditions to the next genera…link in the same manner. This connected us to more, fueled a pride for accomplishments done by other links, but it made sure of one incredibly important thing. It showed, no, proved we weren’t alone in this. There were others like us who faced the very things in front of us…and they crushed it. They conquered all would be saboteurs. The land, money, weather, disease, war… Nope. None of those things could prevent the chain from reaching you.
Make sure none of you forget it.
5. Tribe.
“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.” ~Alex Haley (Black Guy)
You can NOT do this alone. The government is NOT designed to help you. Those who don’t look like you and aren’t from the places you are simply do NOT know how to help, despite some of their best elitist intentions.
You need your people. People need people. YOUR people represent the best of you. From your history, to your identity, to your customs and traditions, we’re stronger when surrounded by our loved ones in any situation. The most dire of them tend to benefit the most from the safety net of our tribe.
Like strands on a spider’s web, the more connections it has, the stronger a tribe will be. From the celebration of new life, to the reverence shown to its elders, your tribe can provide a powerful synergy the black community has missed for some time now. Abandoned? Had stolen? Again, nobody cares.
Get results. The kind of simple results only to be found in tribe.
“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” ~George Washington Carver (yeah, you guessed it…black guy.)
By Justin “Master Chim” Garcia
The Black Community (Charlize Theron isn’t to be included, so…) here in the States is in as dire a situation as it’s been since slavery. Yes, shit was effed up then, but a return to the bottom is well on its way. Only this time, the Black Community (not African traders) is to blame. Broken homes, violent crime, and one hell of a victimized “groupfeel” (Thanks, Jack) epidemic has lead the Black Man into a rut. One that finds them playing muse to a race war, socialism, and police state all at once.
“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.” ~DH Lawrence
Something needs to give. I’m not a racist (I know. Famous last words…) but I refuse to let anyone off the hook for the empirically sound clusterfuck that they alone continue to support. I say “support” for a huge reason: I don’t care how it started because its beginning will have very little to do with its conclusion. Slavery, segregation, welfare, drug laws, incarceration, racism…I do not apologize when reminding the adults in the room that nobody cares. Not the landlord, the electric company, the bank, nope….not even other blacks. At the end of the day, we do what needs to be done for ourselves and our families. Support means to keep alive. To empower. To extend. Yep. The Black Community is keeping victimhood on a ventilator. It’s the “woe” in “woe is me” more than it chooses to be the “me”. Slavery is gone in this country, but they’re managing to keep its spirit alive. One need only look to Ferguson, Baltimore, or Brooklyn to see the most intensely committed revolts with not a slave owner in sight.
So, my Black brethren, take what I say and use it. Support me, curse me, threaten me…I don’t care. So long as my family and I choose to live amongst you, I can’t have you robbing, shooting, and throwing neighborhoods to the shitter.
Here are my 5 Simple Steps to Square Your Shit Away, Brothers.
1. Accountability
“There is a much stronger case to be made that efforts to help blacks have had more pernicious and lasting effects on black attitudes and habits than either slavery or segregation.” ~Jason L. Riley (Black Guy)
Facts matter and words mean things. The unquenchable need to blame people you don’t know for things you’ve never experienced done by folks who aren’t even alive is, well, irrational. There isn’t a need for blame when it comes to fueling one’s engine for success. Self-sabotage, though? Yeah, we have to beat someone with the blame stick when that happens. Black folks, prepare.
See, what’s always been baffling to me was the complete inconsistent logic used by race baiters and embraced by the black community when it came to “success”. The BC is no stranger when it comes to athletic success and in that realm we see champions of a “no excuses” mindset that all but disappear once the balls get put away. I mean, who remembers my man Mugsy Bogues? That idiot had no idea midgets weren’t supposed to play in the NBA! Or what about the ’66 Miners from Texas Western? Ever hear of them? Yeah, they kind of put all the obstacles and meanies out of sight and focused on what mattered…results.
Today what do you have? Eric Garner is a martyr for your “fight” against brutality? Al Sharpton is your fearless leader? We see criminals defended and looters supported. We see corrupt politician leeches put on pedestals. You want to argue with teachers that hit your kids back, or administrators that don’t have the patience (who can blame them?) to deal with uncivilized children who are being educated FOR FREE by taxpayer dollars. It’s EVERYONE’S fault but yours when your kids don’t know how to operate in society because slavery, right? Others are to blame because your brothers can’t find a job but have IPhones and jewelry because racism, right? Someone has to pay for your lack of maternal preparation because of Jim Crow, right?
STOP IT and GROW UP! Losers lose because they don’t DO what winning requires. In sports, we don’t complain how big the other team is, or how much they keep scoring, or why the refs seem to be against us…IF WE’RE TRYING TO WIN. No, we score, then score some more. That’s it. No mystery, conspiracy, or travesty. Either you do what it takes to win or you lose. If what it takes YOU is more than what it takes THEM, then tough shit. Nobody cares. I did say these steps were simple, didn’t I?
2. Fatherhood.
“One of the greatest gifts my father gave me – unintentionally – was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity. We had a bit of a rollercoaster life with some really challenging financial periods. He was always unshaken, completely tranquil, the same ebullient, laughing, jovial man” ~Ben Okri (Black Guy)
Fathers are the most important piece of the childhood puzzle missing in the Black Community. They’re the model for masculinity. They’re the earner who provides the slack a mother needs to mother. They’ve always been the champion of a family’s struggle, and the hero of its sons. They show what a man’s supposed to do to daughters. They show what a man’s supposed to be to sons.
Well, in the black community, they show everyone how to disappear, if anything at all. In the BC, if you’re a kid, you’re currently 72% likely to be born to a single mother. Over half of you will be raised by her, with a boyfriend (or girlfriend) here and there in the mix. I’m reminded of a recent visit to the dr.’s office where the receptionist asked who the lady was to my right. I answered “My wife.” She then proceeded to follow up with “Are you legally married?” I laughed and replied affirmatively. She then STILL followed up with “Do you reside at the same address?” I was like “Holy crap? Are you serious?” She said to me, and she was a BLACK nurse, “Well, if I only ask the black families I’ll get in trouble.” WTF?
But back to you, Black Dads…
There was a time when you were in the household MORE than your white counterparts. Yep, and that’s AFTER slavery, btw. What happened? I know, I know. Welfare forced you out, feminism kept you out. Look, you’ll find no adversary on those fronts here, but again, I have to say…Nobody cares.
When there’s a 5 year old black boy with no dad at a little league game, no one cares about how hard it is to be a dad. When the 10 year old boy is struggling to not be victimized in school, no one cares what’s keeping you away from empowering him. When a young lady is having sex at 12 because she has no strong image of what a man is and how he treats a woman, no one cares about your child support struggles.
Magicians make a career out of making something disappear. Why? Because being here and not being here is so different that it should take magic to make it so.
Your child didn’t ask to be here. You brought him. Man up and father him now.
Simple, right?
3. Education.
“The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.” ~Thomas Sowell (Black Guy)
Anyone who knows me knows that I hold the education of our children in the highest regard. A super talented drug addict singer once sung “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.” This is where education comes in.
Now unbeknownst to so many parents out there, education begins as soon as that baby is out of the womb and into this cold, cruel, beautiful world. Education begins with stories of pride, exposure to character, and the warmth of one’s loved ones. Education begins with the reassuring embrace of a loving mother. The delightfully fulfilled gaze of a father. Even the laughter shared amongst friends. But it continues…
The world is a map only navigated by a vision tempered in reality. We do not get through, by, nor over obstacles in this life by finding the feelgood. We don’t put food in the fridge or gas in the car by making the goosebumps rise or the butterflies flutter. We can only navigate the map. The map has paths that have been used by others that are safe and fruitful, just as it has those that have led to others’ demise. The beauty is that these maps are available. The challenge is that kids can’t read them. That’s where it truly takes a village, but you get to get them started.
Eventually, many of you will forge some sort of relationship with some government sponsored “school”, but whatever they try to sell you, don’t you dare think that building of strangers is responsible for your child’s “education”. On the contrary, you’ll find them undermining your authority and “discovering” new reasons why your child can’t succeed at every pass. Nobody cares. Don’t trust them. Certainly don’t believe them. Your child’s education is YOUR privilege. Nobody can rob you of that gift and don’t you ever think otherwise.
Keeping it simple.
4. Ritual.
“When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don’t just turn it off one day.” ~Chinua Achebe (Black Guy)
Links on a chain. We’re all just links on a chain. There was a time when we all knew that. Whether it was the dance “of your people” or the phrase the old folks use to say, we all have, at the very least, clues and remnants of where we came.
Before technology and the distraction of an overzealous government, we practiced being “us” together. We’d sing, dance, pray, eat, and share together in the fashion and manner which we were shown. We were shown by a compassionate grandparent or elder. We would, in turn, pass down these customs and traditions to the next genera…link in the same manner. This connected us to more, fueled a pride for accomplishments done by other links, but it made sure of one incredibly important thing. It showed, no, proved we weren’t alone in this. There were others like us who faced the very things in front of us…and they crushed it. They conquered all would be saboteurs. The land, money, weather, disease, war… Nope. None of those things could prevent the chain from reaching you.
Make sure none of you forget it.
5. Tribe.
“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.” ~Alex Haley (Black Guy)
You can NOT do this alone. The government is NOT designed to help you. Those who don’t look like you and aren’t from the places you are simply do NOT know how to help, despite some of their best elitist intentions.
You need your people. People need people. YOUR people represent the best of you. From your history, to your identity, to your customs and traditions, we’re stronger when surrounded by our loved ones in any situation. The most dire of them tend to benefit the most from the safety net of our tribe.
Like strands on a spider’s web, the more connections it has, the stronger a tribe will be. From the celebration of new life, to the reverence shown to its elders, your tribe can provide a powerful synergy the black community has missed for some time now. Abandoned? Had stolen? Again, nobody cares.
Get results. The kind of simple results only to be found in tribe.
“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” ~George Washington Carver (yeah, you guessed it…black guy.)
For every Clarence Thomas, Bill Cosby, Allen West or Thomas Sowell, there are a 1000, well, Freddie Grays.
Google "color of crime" in any state and the numbers will shock you. Remove blacks (and Hispanics) from the equation and America would have less gun violence and crime than Norway. It certainly puts these isolated "police brutality" incidences in proper context.
Radicals like Sharpton, Black Panthers etc., need to be removed as the face of the community and replaced by role models and articulate leaders everyone can rally around.
It's not unlike the plight facing Muslims. The peaceful sector isn't doing enough to marginalize the radicals. So the radicals become the face of the community to anyone on the outside. Today in the black community if you are successful and on the straight and narrow, you're labeled an "Uncle Tom" -- a sellout living in a "white man's world"
Once upon a time, blacks contributed to American culture with jazz and rock and roll. Today they contaminate it with ghetto rap.
Accountability, fatherhood, education, ritual, tribe...that's all culture. Nothing will change until the culture changes and there's absolutely nothing anyone on the outside looking in can do about it.
The numbers don't lie, Democrat policies exacerbate the problem -- more poverty, crime, out of wedlock kids, and dependency within the black community.
The ghetto black community are America's Palestinians.
Google "color of crime" in any state and the numbers will shock you. Remove blacks (and Hispanics) from the equation and America would have less gun violence and crime than Norway. It certainly puts these isolated "police brutality" incidences in proper context.
Radicals like Sharpton, Black Panthers etc., need to be removed as the face of the community and replaced by role models and articulate leaders everyone can rally around.
It's not unlike the plight facing Muslims. The peaceful sector isn't doing enough to marginalize the radicals. So the radicals become the face of the community to anyone on the outside. Today in the black community if you are successful and on the straight and narrow, you're labeled an "Uncle Tom" -- a sellout living in a "white man's world"
Once upon a time, blacks contributed to American culture with jazz and rock and roll. Today they contaminate it with ghetto rap.
Accountability, fatherhood, education, ritual, tribe...that's all culture. Nothing will change until the culture changes and there's absolutely nothing anyone on the outside looking in can do about it.
The numbers don't lie, Democrat policies exacerbate the problem -- more poverty, crime, out of wedlock kids, and dependency within the black community.
The ghetto black community are America's Palestinians.
At least 19 people were shot across the city Tuesday and Wednesday, three of them fatally.
Baltimore is a complete failure.
Baltimore is a complete failure.
[h=1]Race, Politics and Lies[/h]Thomas Sowell | May 05, 2015
Among the many painful ironies in the current racial turmoil is that communities scattered across the country were disrupted by riots and looting because of the demonstrable lie that Michael Brown was shot in the back by a white policeman in Missouri -- but there was not nearly as much turmoil created by the demonstrable fact that a fleeing black man was shot dead by a white policeman in South Carolina.
Totally ignored was the fact that a black policeman in Alabama fatally shot an unarmed white teenager, and was cleared of any charges, at about the same time that a white policeman was cleared of charges in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.
In a world where the truth means so little, and headstrong preconceptions seem to be all that matter, what hope is there for rational words or rational behavior, much less mutual understanding across racial lines?
When the recorded fatal shooting of a fleeing man in South Carolina brought instant condemnation by whites and blacks alike, and by the most conservative as well as the most liberal commentators, that moment of mutual understanding was very fleeting, as if mutual understanding were something to be avoided, as a threat to a vision of "us against them" that was more popular.
That vision is nowhere more clearly expressed than in attempts to automatically depict whatever social problems exist in ghetto communities as being caused by the sins or negligence of whites, whether racism in general or a "legacy of slavery" in particular. Like most emotionally powerful visions, it is seldom, if ever, subjected to the test of evidence.
The "legacy of slavery" argument is not just an excuse for inexcusable behavior in the ghettos. In a larger sense, it is an evasion of responsibility for the disastrous consequences of the prevailing social vision of our times, and the political policies based on that vision, over the past half century.
Anyone who is serious about evidence need only compare black communities as they evolved in the first 100 years after slavery with black communities as they evolved in the first 50 years after the explosive growth of the welfare state, beginning in the 1960s.
You would be hard-pressed to find as many ghetto riots prior to the 1960s as we have seen just in the past year, much less in the 50 years since a wave of such riots swept across the country in 1965.
We are told that such riots are a result of black poverty and white racism. But in fact -- for those who still have some respect for facts -- black poverty was far worse, and white racism was far worse, prior to 1960. But violent crime within black ghettos was far less Murder rates among black males were going down -- repeat, DOWN -- during the much lamented 1950s, while it went up after the much celebrated 1960s, reaching levels more than double what they had been before. Most black children were raised in two-parent families prior to the 1960s. But today the great majority of black children are raised in one-parent families.
Such trends are not unique to blacks, nor even to the United States. The welfare state has led to remarkably similar trends among the white underclass in England over the same period. Just read "Life at the Bottom," by Theodore Dalrymple, a British physician who worked in a hospital in a white slum neighborhood.
You cannot take any people, of any color, and exempt them from the requirements of civilization -- including work, behavioral standards, personal responsibility and all the other basic things that the clever intelligentsia disdain -- without ruinous consequences to them and to society at large.
Non-judgmental subsidies of counterproductive lifestyles are treating people as if they were livestock, to be fed and tended by others in a welfare state -- and yet expecting them to develop as human beings have developed when facing the challenges of life themselves.
One key fact that keeps getting ignored is that the poverty rate among black married couples has been in single digits every year since 1994. Behavior matters and facts matter, more than the prevailing social visions or political empires built on those visions.
Among the many painful ironies in the current racial turmoil is that communities scattered across the country were disrupted by riots and looting because of the demonstrable lie that Michael Brown was shot in the back by a white policeman in Missouri -- but there was not nearly as much turmoil created by the demonstrable fact that a fleeing black man was shot dead by a white policeman in South Carolina.
Totally ignored was the fact that a black policeman in Alabama fatally shot an unarmed white teenager, and was cleared of any charges, at about the same time that a white policeman was cleared of charges in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.
In a world where the truth means so little, and headstrong preconceptions seem to be all that matter, what hope is there for rational words or rational behavior, much less mutual understanding across racial lines?
When the recorded fatal shooting of a fleeing man in South Carolina brought instant condemnation by whites and blacks alike, and by the most conservative as well as the most liberal commentators, that moment of mutual understanding was very fleeting, as if mutual understanding were something to be avoided, as a threat to a vision of "us against them" that was more popular.
That vision is nowhere more clearly expressed than in attempts to automatically depict whatever social problems exist in ghetto communities as being caused by the sins or negligence of whites, whether racism in general or a "legacy of slavery" in particular. Like most emotionally powerful visions, it is seldom, if ever, subjected to the test of evidence.
The "legacy of slavery" argument is not just an excuse for inexcusable behavior in the ghettos. In a larger sense, it is an evasion of responsibility for the disastrous consequences of the prevailing social vision of our times, and the political policies based on that vision, over the past half century.
Anyone who is serious about evidence need only compare black communities as they evolved in the first 100 years after slavery with black communities as they evolved in the first 50 years after the explosive growth of the welfare state, beginning in the 1960s.
You would be hard-pressed to find as many ghetto riots prior to the 1960s as we have seen just in the past year, much less in the 50 years since a wave of such riots swept across the country in 1965.
We are told that such riots are a result of black poverty and white racism. But in fact -- for those who still have some respect for facts -- black poverty was far worse, and white racism was far worse, prior to 1960. But violent crime within black ghettos was far less Murder rates among black males were going down -- repeat, DOWN -- during the much lamented 1950s, while it went up after the much celebrated 1960s, reaching levels more than double what they had been before. Most black children were raised in two-parent families prior to the 1960s. But today the great majority of black children are raised in one-parent families.
Such trends are not unique to blacks, nor even to the United States. The welfare state has led to remarkably similar trends among the white underclass in England over the same period. Just read "Life at the Bottom," by Theodore Dalrymple, a British physician who worked in a hospital in a white slum neighborhood.
You cannot take any people, of any color, and exempt them from the requirements of civilization -- including work, behavioral standards, personal responsibility and all the other basic things that the clever intelligentsia disdain -- without ruinous consequences to them and to society at large.
Non-judgmental subsidies of counterproductive lifestyles are treating people as if they were livestock, to be fed and tended by others in a welfare state -- and yet expecting them to develop as human beings have developed when facing the challenges of life themselves.
One key fact that keeps getting ignored is that the poverty rate among black married couples has been in single digits every year since 1994. Behavior matters and facts matter, more than the prevailing social visions or political empires built on those visions.
