[BamaGirl]

I do not deny that there might be something like a post-slavery syndrome. There has to be. No other group of people, even Africans from other nations who immigrate here, don't act in the same way.
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Actually Thomas Sowell in his book "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" gives a pretty compelling alternative explanation. The blacks in the South inherited their backwards behavior from the local whites, who were overwhelmingly immigrants from the borderlands between England & Scotland. The "culture" of these rednecks was quite degenerate, including a lack of respect for life, wanton sex, inclinations to violence, no work ethic etc. Sound familiar?

[RobbyS]

Well, it is true that the "hillbillys " of Appalachia exhibit much the same behavior. My wife's sister-in-law , who is from West Virginia, has very little contact with her family, who are caught in the same cycle of poverty as urban blacks. But one can see still see the same lethargy in white families who migrated to the iindustrial areas of the north. A culture can be a prison.

[The Cuban]

That coul also go a long way in explaining it, I agree.

[squarebarb]

That's not true of the Scots-Irish and you ought to be ashamed of yourself for making those kinds of generalizations.

The overwhelming migration of the Scots-Irish to American came between 1720 and about 1760 and from that group came the majority of American presidents and generals.

They were the poorest group to immigrate here from the British Isles and they did very well. Aside from material considerations, (they weren't wearing velvet and jewels) they were the ones who took the brunt of the Indian Wars of all kinds.

If there are pockets of lassitude and white poverty in Appalachia, these pockets exist in every culture. But maybe they like the country life.

Shame on you!

[Enterprise]

"The "culture" of these rednecks was quite degenerate, including a lack of respect for life, wanton sex, inclinations to violence, no work ethic etc. Sound familiar?"

Minnesota Vikings?