Quote from whitster:
for those who decry racism, let's remember that blacks who are immigrants from the West Indies tend to soundly shellack in income, education, etc. native born blacks, which again tends ot point to culture, not race as THE factor. also, note the OOW birth rate (as mentioned quite often by Bill Cosby et al) for native born blacks is over 70%. if this was an edifice of racism, that's kind of hard to argue, since it was in the 20% range at the turn of the century when there was FAR FAR FAR more anti-black racism than there is now. in fact, one of the single greatest predictors of a child's future success rate is whether he was born out of wedlock or not. women who have multiple out of wedlock births are engaging in behavior that makes it significantly more likely their kids will not succeed
I would argue that they only "shellac" African Americans who don't take advantage of the benefits inherent in being born, living and working here. For those who value and pursue knowledge and consistently work to improve themselves (as their white counterparts do), many learning and material achievements are very attainable.
OOW is not a function of racism by any realistic stretch of the imagination. And a 70% number is just ridiculous. I have taken to asking youngsters how much they believe it costs to raise/have children and take them through the age of 18. You would be appalled if you heard some of the responses. And stating them here would only serve to piss off folks unnecessarily. Let's just say they have no clue. But neither do their parents. This is where the education needs to start to break this cycle (IMHO).
I can tell you that there is a quiet tempest brewing in the community though as it relates to political correctness in the immigration fight. This is NOT a civil rights fight. It's about the stomach to do the correct thing. My achieving community is quietly noticing (and becoming vocal) how hypocritical the country is becoming as the argument is being framed. We are debating the new class of white slave owners and their adjustments to keep their newly trafficked commodity, Poor Mexicans!
Don't be so quick to pigeon hole the community as staunchly democratic either. There is a quiet change on the horizon as this politically correct tide rolls. If the republican party continues to ignore the "we can get Mexican votes posture" they are going to slowly gain an African American contingent. Jesse, Al and Tavis are not the spokespersons or leaders as they once were lauded.
The democratic party can ill afford to lose any sizable number of voters, but they slowly are. Gaining potential mexican votes at the expense of losing the known African American contingent is not in the thought pattern, yet! The net gain could possibly be zero. Ted Kennedy's statements of the other week at the mexican rally are not sitting well.
The republican problem, McCain! Were he not there, the switch could be more palatable. He's too much like the democratic party that the potential voters are leaving. If McCain is NOT the nominee, the run for president could be quite interesting.
Our answer is in the youth and the severing of the bond to current bad behaviors of the community. It's not a singular bad, it's the community. OOW births, rap, drug selling, dropping out of school (society), ebonics. Tons of ills creating the issue of failure in the community. Stop trying to be cool and mimicking bad language to be cool. Do not embrace the terms of the day. Reject the term bling, and use proper english. I'm speaking to ALL of America. That will help my task, and eventually OUR country.
