[old curmudgeon]

Since Bush One, this country has lost to Pacific Rim countries: textiles, furniture, automobiles, metal working equipment, and many many other industries.

The tax laws, EPA and other government agencies have encouraged their departure and hurt those that have stayed.

Those were jobs that offered a chance to both white and black young people.

Our problems with young blacks will never change until those policies that drive manufacturing overseas are reversed.

[combat_boots]

"...by the mid 1960′s HALF of all blacks had moved into the middle class? Black families were intact, the door of opportunity had been opened, and discrimination became illegal. There was still plenty of racism and obstacles, but blacks were moving forward. Then, everything starts to change and unravel for the black family, as we see the big white liberal helping hand decide that government programs must be implemented. Welfare dependency soared in the 70′s. Government checks replaced husbands, gangs replaced Dads, and broken homes became the norm. By the 1980′s seventy to eighty percent of black babies were born to unwed mothers. These mothers lived their lives dependent on the government. Their children grew up and also depended on the government, and the vicious cycle of dependency began." http://blog.chron.com/texassparkle/2014/05/the-myth-of-white-privilege/