[JZoback]

Not one word on the dynamics of how the US government though social engineering programs has systematical destroyed black america.

[teenyelliott]

Ghetto poverty has troubled white consciences

Doesn't trouble me.

In 1940 the illegitimacy rate among blacks was 19 per cent; today it is 70 per cent. Only 30 to 40 per cent of black men graduate from high school.

Nobody's fault but the chicks who get pregnant and the guys who drop out. And their parents.

affirmative action which has done apparently little to end black poverty.

Hmmmmmmm.

It is a problem that cannot be ignored for ever

It has not been ignored. This country, and every individual taxpayer, has put more money into job training, public schools, head start programs, WIC, welfare, food stamps, college grants, and every other kind of social program than any other country in the world.

It is no one else's fault if you do not value education, morals, respect, and hard work.

Why is it some people can work their way out of poverty, and others are content to sit on their butts? Why is it there are so many young single women with multiple children who they cannot support? Why is it that poverty seems to equate to filth and disregard? Why is it that people who live on welfare have no sense of pride, and no regard for others?

NONE of that is ANYONE ELSE's fault.

If you are poor, uneducated and able bodied, look in the damned mirror. It has nothing to do with race. Stop blaming everybody else.

Personal responsibility will set you free.

[SamAdams76]

But those stories have twists. Powell and Rice sprang from solid middle-class backgrounds. They have risen by playing down race.

And this is a bad thing how?

[headsonpikes]

Not one word on the dynamics of how the US government though social engineering programs has systematical destroyed black america.

As we young house-framers used to say, "One spike, one blow!"

You speak the unutterable truth. The Welfare system is actually just another vector of the genocide implicit in every socialist scheme. American-style socialism is neither unique nor exceptional.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

Maybe if their leaders would focus on real problems instead of getting worked up over what symbol is on certain state flags they would not be in the situation they are currently in. I see it as their leaders have failed them.

[avile]

"Almost four decades after King was killed, there are still two Americas. One is largely white and wealthy, one largely black and poor. They live cheek by jowl in the same country yet in separate worlds"

A major difference is that MLK was an integrationist/assimilationist.
back then black babies had the same names as their white neighbors. now we have "africanized names" and a developing separate culture.
This would have disturbed MLK as he stated that Africa meant nothing to him. remember the African kings sold ( who they considered to be) their undesirables and to promote such culture is quite ironic.

[Zack Nguyen]

bump

[King Prout]

self-perpetuating joblessness, poor education and a culture that worships crime.

BINGO

add in the effect of cradle-to-grave dependency upon public subsidy, general disdain for self-control, and from almost all sources an endless stream of the soft bigotry of low expectations, and, well... ya gits what ya pays for: a subset of the population which is mired in the lowest behaviors and resultant conditions of humanity.