Posted on 04/25/2005 9:55:53 PM PDT by CHARLITE
For most of the history of this country, differences between the black and the white population--whether in income, IQ, crime rates, or whatever--have been attributed to either race or racism. For much of the first half of the 20th century, these differences were attributed to race--that is, to an assumption that blacks just did not have it in their genes to do as well as white people. The tide began to turn in the second half of the 20th century, when the assumption developed that black-white differences were due to racism on the part of whites.
Three decades of my own research lead me to believe that neither of those explanations will stand up under scrutiny of the facts. As one small example, a study published last year indicated that most of the black alumni of Harvard were from either the West Indies or Africa, or were the children of West Indian or African immigrants. These people are the same race as American blacks, who greatly outnumber either or both.
If this disparity is not due to race, it is equally hard to explain by racism. To a racist, one black is pretty much the same as another. But, even if a racist somehow let his racism stop at the water's edge, how could he tell which student was the son or daughter of someone born in the West Indies or in Africa, especially since their American-born offspring probably do not even have a foreign accent?
What then could explain such large disparities in demographic "representation" among these three groups of blacks? Perhaps they have different patterns of behavior and different cultures and values behind their behavior.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
She was complaining to me once that should had met a few American blacks but that she couldn't understand what they were saying and they like to try to touch her a lot.
Interesting...can we apply a similar rationale to Muslims?
In America it is not the same.
Hey Cy, you're right. Plus they need to figure out that there are a lot of white liberals who "may not like them just for being black." In fact, I'd wager that's even more likely.
My brother in law, who is a priest, went to the Seminary with Clarence Thomas, who was a couple of years below him. Clarence complained once about the racist attitudes of some of the white Seminarians from the North and Midwest. My b-i-l told him that it had nothing to do with being black, it was just that he was from the South. Apparently ALL the Southern seminarians were treated that way because the others made no distinction between white and black Southerners.
The ghetto-speak thing is confusing, though, because some in the ghetto crowd sound like black southerners, and some sound like they're from the Bronx or something!
Having an "ethnic" or "regional" accent is one thing. Talking like a two-bit thug is quite another.
I think there are more white liberals that hate black people than black people realize.
Thats because the North (think the outer boroughs and suburbs of New York) and the upper midwest (think Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit) have traditionally been VERY segregated with few interracial relationships of any kind. Don't let the blueness of their voting habits fool you.
Many in the 'ghetto crowd' are from the South. In fact, much of the most popular rap today is 'dirty South' rap. In fact, many are as proud of being from the South and hate New York so much to put some of the more outspoken southron FReepers to shame. Don't underestimate the nothern snobbery when coming to 'accents' though.
bump to the top
Yeah, like those wimmin who live in places like Scarsdale or Great Neck (sorry Radiohead, this doesn't apply to Seattle) who vote Democratic and insist on using the word "African American" yet would call the cops if they saw a black person walking in their neighborhood.
"Dirty South" = Crank = Sh-t from the Hellhole that is Atlanta.
the biggest loss for American blacks has not been that they don't become lawyers or doctors, its that so few actually go into well-paid yet hard work that you could be guarenteed to stay with for 30 yrs.....
Blacks have not had a significant middle class up until just recently....
IMO....you change your family tree by climbing from the the solid work type jobs that most of our fathers had after WW2 and then the subsequent generations get up into the professions.....
its one step at a time....
Why is it that so many American blacks alway blame others for their own predicament? The others always seem to be "the man" - "the white man"
My friends from Botswana frequently ask me questions like:
"Why do American blacks speak like that with such horrible English - Don't they realize they look like fools?"
"Can you tell me why a woman would allow the man to call her a whore?"
I can personally point out white liberal hatred, outright and vicious with a particular white lesbian professor at Stony Brook. She said the most vicious things about black people and treated black student interns like garbage, wrote bad recommendations,etc. Liberals are despicable people for their two faced-ness.
I don't think there's anything wrong with those professions provided it's your own choice. You have to live here to know what I'm talking about with respect to the cops and firemen thing. I do think that the best thing for black people to become very independent and be entrepreneurs and start their own businesses. Don't answer to anyone else but one's self.
I don't understand the white fascination with black rap...its totally sexist and totally racist.....
My parents both came from blue collar backgrounds, yet their parents pushed them to get out of the parochial (literally and figuratively) environment they were raised in and to eventually succeed in the professional world.
Unfortunatly, there are white folks in areas such as where Cy and I grew up who expect nothing from their kids, and whose kids know that they will have a nice patronage job when they finally grow up.
The part I made into an ellipsis ([...]) could have been anything. Culture is the deep medium of explanation for so much complexity in human behavior. Unchecked tendencies among today's intellectual elite has, totally falsely, narrowed down the explanatory field of culture to a wafer-thin medium.
It is actually to the point where this "parallax effect" is dangerous.
[Note to self: Read Albion's Seed]
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