Thomas Sowell: Black rednecks and white liberals

TownHall ^ | May 5, 2005 | Thomas Sowell

[Tolik]

Thomas Sowell:

 ...Teachers are not supposed to correct black youngsters who speak "black English" and no one is supposed to be judgmental about the whole lifestyle of black rednecks. In that culture, belligerence is considered being manly and crudity is considered cool, while being civilized is regarded as "acting white."

 These are devastating, self-imposed handicaps that prevent many young ghetto blacks from getting a decent education or an opportunity to rise to higher levels.

 Multiculturalism today celebrates all cultures but it is the poor who ultimately pay the price of that celebration in stunted development, missed opportunities and blighted lives.

 No one today would dare to do what Northern missionaries did after the Civil War, set up schools for newly freed black children in the South with the explicit purpose of removing them from the redneck culture that was holding back both races there.

 A wholly disproportionate number of future black leaders and pioneers in many fields came out of the relatively few and small enclaves of Northern culture deliberately planted in the post-Civil War South. What they did worked and what the multiculturalists are doing today repeatedly fails.

 But results are no longer the test. The test is whether what you say makes you feel good as someone who is a "friend" of blacks. But friends like that can do more damage than enemies.

Nailed It!

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[Cornpone]

"But this way of talking was common centuries ago in those regions of Britain from which white Southerners came."

It would have been nice to know what part of Britain Mr. Sowell believes these cultural characteristics emerged. I can only imagine it must be Scotland as that was where my family and a significant number of those who settled North and South Carolina came from.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

I'm not a redneck, I'm an Appalachian-American.

[cyborg]

I recall reading something about the Scotch-Irish. BTW, it must be Scottish because many Trinidadians of Scotch and partial Scotch descent have a bit of the same culture. The Irish would come pretty close too.

[elk]

I've been running into a lot of this lately. I was at a library booksale, and one [white female, mostly likely liberal as shown by the following comment] person in line commented to me, "I'm saddened that there aren't any minorities here, though."

This is rich.

I didn't want to start an argument, so I just said, after looking at the line, and thinking a moment, with all the sincerity in the world (because I did mean it), "well, I usually find that I can't base my opinion of whether or not diversity exists based solely on visual cues."

Pregnant pause.

"Uh, well, I meant that I don't see any African-Americans here."

Now, ain't that rich, on top of rich. So, when she said "minority" she meant a certain minority group, eh? Hmmmm. This gets so interesting.

I bet she had no idea by looking at me that she was possibly looking at a "minority." Any, I guess the several Indian families in the line didn't count, either?

My thought was, perhaps the members of the African American group she singled out was busy elsewhere. Say, perhaps running their businesses? Or they order their books online, instead of coming to library book sales?

I recall the attempt to put "white guilt" on me in college....but I didn't fit the category, they just assumed I did by stereotyping me per how I looked. I kept wondering why these professors tried to put a shoe on me that didn't fit. Man, I guess this lady in line is still wearing those shoes.

[cyborg]

I get asked a lot where I'm from. Even after I tell people, people still ask (esp. black people) what are you? A label can mean a lot to people, a label can also doom a person. As soon as you figure out your identity someone else will come along to challenge it. I've lived around black folks a while and while it's good to know where you're from, I see a lot of people limiting themselves based on what they THINK black people are/should do.

[cyborg]

You know I've noticed that same thing too. It's a strange mentality isn't it?

[mikegi]

I'm not a redneck, I'm an Appalachian-American.

Thanks for giving me your officially approved title. I've been calling you folks "Incestuous-Americans" for years and don't want to be insensitive. Celebrate diversity ... err, uh ... lack of diversity ... whatever...

[sauropod]

Those shoes don't fit me either and I am white.

I reject white guilt. 'Pod.

[Jeffery T.]

Very Aldus Huxleyian. Seems blacks--Epsilon Minus-- are invariably nurtured to belong to the bottom rung of society by lack of proper upbringing, education and general awareness of the world around them. Only thing I really have to say about this article is that where does black responsibility come in in raising blacks and breaking the cycle of degredation that they find themselves. I tired of blacks blaming white southerners, northern liberals, the Republican party and other "nerfarious" conspiratorial groups for their shortcomings. I say assign blame where it belongs if necessary, but also see your role in your own degredation.

[Cronos]

I guess the several Indian families in the line didn't count,

Indian as in India-Indians or Native Americans?

[Mercat]

I've been working on my family history for several years now. I know that most of my ancestors were from England. They came over in the 17th century and settled in Virginia. Most of them then moved to Kentucky, then Missouri and some of them to Texas. At each stage they acquired more education and gradually went from being dirt farmers to preachers, wage earners, etc. To my knowledge, my mother is the first woman in her family to have a college degree and I'm the first to have an advanced degree.

[catpuppy]

I believe that he refers primarily to the 200,000-400,000 Scots-Irish or "Ulstermen" who immigrated during the 18th century to Appalachia then on into the south and west.

[FreedomPoster]

I've enjoyed watching Tiger Woods' handling of that issue. That young man is one class act.

[cyborg]

I like Tiger too, very classy guy.

[Cornpone]

Ping...

[SouthernFreebird]

Thanks for giving me your officially approved title. I've been calling you folks "Incestuous-Americans" for years and don't want to be insensitive. Celebrate diversity ... err, uh ... lack of diversity ... whatever...

You must have northern blood in you, all arrogance and condescension.

[cyborg]

I am guessing the freeper was being sarcastic... one of the dangers of no sarc tag? (I hope).

[mikegi]

I tired of blacks blaming white southerners, northern liberals, the Republican party and other "nerfarious" conspiratorial groups for their shortcomings. I say assign blame where it belongs if necessary, but also see your role in your own degredation.

I think that you're listening to Jackson and all the other hustlers too much. My own anecdotal evidence: I took my 5 year-old daughter to a robotics competition north of Atlanta a few months ago. It was high school teams competing from all over the Southeast. Now, if there was anything that should be considered "white" or "white/asian", it is robotics and even that's stretching it (it would actually be a tiny subset of those groups). Anyway, there were several schools competing that must have been made of predominately black students (from LA, SC, GA).

Anyway, I got the impression that there's a quiet revolution taking place in the black population. One that's not going to make Jesse Jackson and his goons happy.