I came across a very interesting article in another thread on this, that brings a number of related things into sharper focus.
Race, Values, the O.J. Verdict, and Right-To-Carry, or
A Statistician Explains a Conundrum
http://web.archive.org/web/20070706054607/http://www.john-ross.net/race&rtc.htm
It does not leave me with much hope for rapprochement with the larger Black community.
We used to live in rural Texas and we owned a cattle ranch. My husband hired all black cowboys, some of them became good faithful friends with whom we had very frank conversations.
I will never forget a conversation I had with Eugene. He told me that “comin’ up we was told that The (white) Man ain't never gonna let you be nuthin’ or do nuthin’”.
That was shocking to me because I thought all children were told to grow up and be the best you can be. Go to school if you can but work hard and be honest in all things.
I think this is still going on in the black community. After Katrina there was a young black man here fixing my dishwasher, we got into a conversation about hurricane Katrina. He was absolutely convinced that George Bush had bombed the levees for the purpose of drowning black people.
I asked him how he came to that (shocking) conclusion and he said his older black relatives who still lived in NO had told him.
I tried to explain to him that a levee washes out from the bottom because of the action of the water pushing against it. He seemed open to that but probably went back to his old way of thinking when he left my house.