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Do White Americans Want to Keep Black Americans Down?
Townhall.com ^ | July 17, 2017 | Michael Brown

Posted on 07/17/2016 5:46:06 AM PDT by Kaslin

Is there systemic, intentional racism in America today? Do large numbers of white Americans want to keep black Americans down? If not, why have other minorities overcome the odds to rise to the top of society while so many black Americans are languishing?

Let’s consider how other minority groups have fared in America.

Jews today make up less than 2 percent of our population, and they have certainly suffered discrimination here in America, let alone (in deadly fashion) around the world. As Wikipedia notes, “In the first half of the 20th century, Jews were discriminated against in employment, access to residential and resort areas, membership in clubs and organizations, and in tightened quotas on Jewish enrollment and teaching positions in colleges and universities. Restaurants, hotels and other establishments that barred Jews from entry were called ‘restricted’.”

Early in the 20th century, there was even an attempt to restrict Jewish attendance in Ivy League schools like Harvard. Yet all these obstacles (and many others) were overcome, and today, no one would deny the powerful influence Jewish men and women have in virtually every facet of American society. In fact, anti-Semites claim that Jews control Hollywood, the banks, the media, and the government!

Asian Americans make us up less than 6 percent of our population and have had their own share of obstacles to overcome, including the mistreatment of Japanese Americans during the World War II.

Yet Asian Americans are often at the top of their classes in the nation’s most elite schools, frequently leading the way in the business world and beyond. Why have they succeeded as relative newcomers compared to black Americans, who have been here since the inception of our nation?

Does this provide evidence that black Americans are being singled out for mistreatment and that there is an intentional, premeditated plan to keep black Americans down?

A white racist might say, “Not at all. This just proves that blacks are inferior.”

But not only is that an utterly despicable statement, it is also totally false.

Studies have indicated that recent African immigrants “tend to be older, more likely to have a higher education and a higher income, and less likely to live in poverty.”

A recent caller to my show, who previously lived in Kenya and Tanzania and who jokingly identified himself as an African African American (triple A, as he said), repeated to me what other recent African immigrants have shared on my show: Their lot is often different than the lot of other African Americans, and they find themselves getting better educations and better jobs.

So, what it is that keeps so many black Americans down, specifically, those who have been here for a period of generations?

It is certainly true that there are white Americans who hate blacks and want to oppress them keep down, but I personally believe that accounts for a very small minority of white Americans. 

It is also true that black Americans often are not treated the same way white Americans are. But here too, I don’t believe this is done in an intentional, systemic way, which would have been the case during the days of segregation and slavery.

How, then, do we explain the very real disparity in our society between black Americans and white Americans, or between black Americans and other minority groups?

Why, on average, do black American families make so much less than, say, Hindu American families or Jewish American families (roughly $35,000 per black family as compared to more than $100,000 per Hindu or Jewish family)?

I believe it is the welfare system (and its related policies) that has kept black Americans down, however well-intentioned this system may have been at the outset.

Put another way, the system is enslaving many blacks rather than empowering them, destroying the family in the process, but it is not so much the result of systemic racism as it is the result of systemically flawed policies.

In an eloquent Facebook post, black NFL star and outspoken Christian Benjamin Watson asks the question, “As Americans, do black lives matter to us?”

He makes many valid points and raises many valid concerns, some of which indict white Americans and some of which indict black Americans, but at all points, he is redemptive, pointing to the cross and calling each of us higher.

Watson’s criticisms are fair and on target, including this one: “Black lives DON'T matter when some politicians enable generational dependency, stifling individual responsibility while others completely deny the importance of programs that are needed to help the marginalized. A crutch is the vital friend of the injured, its ultimate purpose to one day be laid aside as its former dependent walks on their own. If it oversteps its purpose the user will no longer feel the need to walk. Erroneously, they may not even think they can ever do so. Consequently, a stagnant, hopeless life seems to matter less.”

I agree with Watson that the system itself is flawed, even if the intent behind the system was good. And I agree with his other comments, indicating that many disparities do exist between black and white Americans, that there is injustice in our land, that the family must be rebuilt, and that our current policies are only exacerbating the problems.

But how do we address these issues? Obviously, provoking others to rage, anger, and violence only makes things massively worse.

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a controversial black leader who grew up without a father on a plantation during the Jim Crowe era, proposes a totally different approach. He argues that the only way for black Americans to move forward, regardless of injustice and discrimination and inequality, is to practice love and forgiveness, to rebuild the family, and to take full responsibility for one’s situation, refusing to blame others and refusing to depend on others

The entitlement mentality, which the government helped produce, is hurting black Americans not helping them, and while recognizing that there are genuine ways the government can help the poor and needy, our current system is doing far more harm than good.

It’s time for white Americans, like me, to stand side by side with black Americans, like Ben Watson, and say, “Enough with our flawed system. We stand with you against injustice and discrimination, and we want to empower you, not enslave you. America will not thrive until you are thriving.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: novictimsnopeace
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To: Kaslin

According to the Democrats, when I get up in the morning, I want to hurt women, homosexuals and people whose skin is a different shade than mine.

Actually, I just want a cup of coffee.


21 posted on 07/17/2016 5:59:06 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Kaslin

The term “Race relations have never been worse in this country” has become shopworn. It has been repeated constantly over the past one hundred years. It would be interesting to demonstrate just where in the world where blacks and whites live in close proximity that race relations can be accurately described as good or excellent.


22 posted on 07/17/2016 6:01:17 AM PDT by allendale
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To: Kaslin
Philip Schuyler ‏@FiveRights Feb 10

Remember me? 7 weeks ago I ran over 40 people Vegas. Cops were "uncomfortable" re my motive. Then poof, story gone.


23 posted on 07/17/2016 6:01:32 AM PDT by Byron_the_Aussie (Globalism = Terrorism)
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To: Kaslin

First of all, there is no Black America. The political concept of homogenity is farcical.

There are several perhaps even many sub cultural groupings of Americans of color.

Given the mania for sports, no one can say that America wants to keep black football or basket ball or women’s tennis down. No one wants to keep Professor Walter Williams and other conservative black political and economic minds down. No one wants to keep black entrapraneurs like Herman Cain down, or the many black people who have developed a small business owning and operating a tractor trailer rig.

If there is a subcultural group to be kept down it would be the rabble rousers of the black caucus or Black Lives matter or the thousands of black urban murdering trash. The whole of Baltimore government is a blight on all of America......should be kept down. No one wants to keep the many purveyors of ribs and BBQ down.

To lump all people of color into the concept of black America is ludicrous and an indication of fundamental weakness.

The discrimination above, the profiling is to recognize strength and excellence


24 posted on 07/17/2016 6:03:28 AM PDT by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;WASP ....Opabinia can teach us a lot)
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To: Kaslin

Most whites don’t think about blacks much at all. They don’t wish them ill, they hope they succeed just as much as anyone else, but they spend little time, if any, thinking about them as a group. Blacks are just another subset of people in America, and whites don’t have time to devote to “systemic racism.” They idea that whites go about their day thinking of ways to keep the brothers down, which many blacks seem to cling to, is preposterous.


25 posted on 07/17/2016 6:03:50 AM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
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To: samtheman

Is the data real? If so, this chart explains more than ANYTHING I’ve seen or heard on this subject of race.


26 posted on 07/17/2016 6:03:54 AM PDT by SomeCallMeTim ( The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them!)
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To: blueunicorn6

I can’t express how wonderful it would be if most blacks cared about lifting themselves up.


27 posted on 07/17/2016 6:05:41 AM PDT by SomeCallMeTim ( The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them!)
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To: blueunicorn6

I can’t express how wonderful it would be if most blacks cared about lifting themselves up.


28 posted on 07/17/2016 6:05:48 AM PDT by SomeCallMeTim ( The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them!)
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To: Kaslin
"Do White Americans Want to Keep Black Americans Down?"

The dimocraps do..!!

The dimocraps have done everything they can think of to make sure the black man stays where he is... They feed, house them and clothed them... The left keeps them well sedated with LOTS of narcotics so they don't realize what's happening to them.

They treat them like live stock and will continue to do so until the black folk wakeup and stop voting for the scumbags...

MHO....

29 posted on 07/17/2016 6:09:37 AM PDT by unread (Joe McCarthy was right.......)
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To: Kaslin

Blacks in Africa, captured and sold other blacks to Arabs for the slave trade & are still doing it today.

Blacks bought themselves the country of Liberia, so they could return to Africa if they so chose? In the Civil War, the blacks rose up and freed themselves? Blacks passed Affirmative Action legislation?

Whites today are going about their business in this country and are not spending their days thinking about blacks. Some people need to get over themselves and stop looking for more handouts from Whitey.


30 posted on 07/17/2016 6:10:07 AM PDT by abclily
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To: Kaslin

No, we just want them to act like normal human beings and stop “keeping it real” by acting like ghetto thugs.


31 posted on 07/17/2016 6:11:09 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: SomeCallMeTim

Is the data real?


A half an hour searching should be enough to validate or refute the data.

I might do that later today.


32 posted on 07/17/2016 6:13:20 AM PDT by samtheman (Trump For America.)
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To: Kaslin

Be math actin’ white?


33 posted on 07/17/2016 6:13:20 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: mulligan

I am getting to the point where I no longer consider 99% of blacks to not be a fellow citizen, but a hostile foreign force seeking to subvert and overthrow my country.


34 posted on 07/17/2016 6:14:51 AM PDT by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
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To: oh8eleven

Lyndon Bains Johnson.


35 posted on 07/17/2016 6:15:44 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: rovenstinez

“I think a lot of people among blacks, see progress as being tribal, for the whole ghetto, and don’t see themselves as an INDIVIDUAL getting up and making headway.”

I think this is a very good point. I work in a very diverse workplace, and we have frank discussions about race. My black co-workers always say “our community” when they comment, and the non-blacks say “my experience.” They seem not to expect me to speak for all whites, yet they feel that they can speak for all blacks. That’s a huge difference in outlook.


36 posted on 07/17/2016 6:16:32 AM PDT by mrs. a (It's a short life but a merry one...)
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To: Kaslin

Most of us would rather they elevate themselves above the culture of welfare and thuggery and become responsible citizens.


37 posted on 07/17/2016 6:18:36 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: trebb

This is so true.


38 posted on 07/17/2016 6:19:32 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needI have beeed the ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
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To: Kaslin

Actually, most white people are too busy with their own lives, and families, to sit around worrying about black people. Or, ANY people no connected to them in some way.

We assume because we take care of our families that other people do the same. Adult responsibility should apply over all races.

Failure to make ourselves poor, to make black people rich, is not our priority. If they think that is “keeping them down”, then they got more problems that just “the man”.

Not giving my neighbor (no matter the race) a free ride does not mean I “hate” my neighbor, it just means I take my responsibilities seriously, and so should s/he.


39 posted on 07/17/2016 6:21:50 AM PDT by FrankR (You're only enslaved to the extent of the charity that you receive!)
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To: Kaslin

Very stupid question...has this idiot been to a ball game recently, where most of the highest paid players are black, who marry white trophy wives, we watch black actors in action films, love some of their music, cheer when they win awards for real accomplishments not hand outs.

I’d love to have a Charlie Pride and Darius Rucker duet album. Love both their voices. Did NOT like Hooty and the Blow Fish though, not my style music. C & W is along with gospel.


40 posted on 07/17/2016 6:22:25 AM PDT by GailA (If politicians won't keep their promises to the Military, they won't keep them to you!)
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