[PASTED FROM A PREVIOUS DEAD POST OF MINE BUT RELEVANT]
Hmmm, interesting subject.
MY VIEW:
To be honest, I have no problem with black only events or cable channels. If people want to do that and there is a market for it so be it, sometimes I even watch a little BET when the music videos are on. As far as reparations however I have to say no way, when the IRS shows up at my door looking for money for a crime I didnt commit is the day I stop paying taxes. That being said, things in America are still not equal and I think that we must realistically address the issue.
THE PROBLEM:
The inequality currently, in my opinion, is not institutional like it was 40 years ago. If you are a black man in America with the right skills, you will go far. What does exist in the black community is a type of economic disparity that must be addressed. The problem in the black community comes from two sources. The first is the poorly funded school systems that a large number of minorities attend. Schools in California get their funding based on the property taxes of the area, basically the more expensive the houses the more money per student. So rich neighborhoods have very well financed schools where poor ones are broke. The bad school leads to children that cannot compete educationally with kids form the suburbs, who tend to be white, so they end up stuck in the same neighborhood they grew up in and send their own kids to poor under-funded schools. A type of cyclical poverty. The second source of the economic disparity, that might offend some people, is the black subculture. Asians faced many of the same issues that the black community did, now the have economic parity with whites. I think the African American community does need to look at itself and make some changes. Things like education need to be stressed more, and developing a fixation on the mythical white privilege really probably doesnt help the African American community either; it just gives some people an excuse for failure.
THE SOLUTION:
The solution is a two-step solution. First, fix the schools, all schools should receive equal funding based on the number on students not their fathers income. Also, alternative solutions like vouchers for private schools should be pursued. Second, and more difficult, is the African American community would benefit from stressing education, and looking up to successful black men who are not sports stars. The second solution is going to have to come from within the Black community itself.
SOME EXTRA POINTS:
Blacks are better off in America (by a wide margin then they are in Afica) to say a few Africans live better lives than a few African Americans, while true, doesn't prove that Africans are better off than African Americans.
I think one of the huge problems in the Black community is they tend to have too many 'ready made' excuses for failure. Focusing on the 'slavery issue' and other things that have never influenced any living black american in any way is just another example of these.
Things are beter than they were, if you cant see that you are dishonest, but things are still not equal, see my post above.
Much of the inequality today is based on economic class and less on race, although both still exist.
I have worked for large and small companies and know many people that do hiring; i have never seen or even heard of anyone not hiring someone based on color. Of course that might be because of the location I am from where race relations are good.
Terry
