This thread, which will or may absorb some posts from other threads, should be about the causes of crime and poverty and other social ills in America's Black community, and what to do about them. If you believe that these problems are not solvable by outside intervention -- more precisely, are caused by some unchangeable internal 'essence' present in Black people, or in most of them, then you might not find the content of this thread of any interest. On the other hand, if you can recommend any good books or articles or academic works, especially if they are available on line, please contribute them. It's an emotional subject, so is likely to provoke exchanges of insults without any content. It is also like to evoke expressions of pure opinion, without any substantial content. Please try not to post this kind of thing: thoughtful opinion and especially personal anecdote, on the other hand, would be most appreciated as well as references to external sources.
Education and retention of kids in school, birth control education, treating drug addiction as a medical problem, employment. Addressing these will be a start.
I have to go off line for a while, but I will throw this out for discussion. “Blacks, however, posed a special problem. The Socialist Party, believing that respectability and success were becoming attainable, virtually ignored them, and center-right wing socialists even acquiesced in segregation. As historian Ira Kipnis writes: ‘There is no record that the party ever actively opposed discrimination against Negroes from 1912-1917.’ even the party’s most popular leader, Eugene Debs, who defied social prejudice by refusing to speak before segregated audiences in the South, failed to see any need for special attention by the party to the plight of blacks.” Art For The Masses, A Radical Magazine and Its Graphics, 1911-1917, Rebecca Zurier, Temple University Press, 1988. p. 15. If you have access to old issues of The Masses you will find a great deal of overt crude racism in its copy and its art. The early progressive Left in America displays a lot of hostility to black Americans. I suspect it is carry over from the DP's reaction to Reconstruction and its embrace of racial theories used to excuse slavery and later segregation.
Sounds right to me. The devil is in the details. I'll try to post some links tomorrow (it's nearly 10pm where I live) to relevant books and articles.
The Causes of Inner-City Poverty: Eight Hypotheses in Search of Reality ■ Inner-city poverty is the result of profound structural economic shifts that have eroded the competitive position of the central cities in the industrial sectors that historically provided employment for the working poor, especially minorities. Thus demand for their labor has declined disastrously. ■ Inner-city poverty is a reflection of the inadequate human capital of the labor force, which results in lower productivity and inability to compete for employment in emerging sectors that pay adequate wages. ■ Inner-city poverty results from the persistence of racial and gender discrimination in employment, which prevents the population from achieving its full potential in the labor market. ■ Inner-city poverty is the product of the complex interaction of culture and behavior, which has produced a population that is isolated, self-referential, and detached from the formal economy and labor market. ■ Inner-city poverty is the outcome of a long, historical process of segregating poor and minority populations in U.S. cities that resulted in a spatial mismatch between workers and jobs when employment decentralized. ■ Inner-city poverty results from migration processes that simultaneously remove the middle-class and successful members of the community, thereby reducing social capital, while bringing in new, poorer populations whose competition in the labor market drives down wages and employment chances of residents. ■ Inner-city poverty reflects an endogenous growth deficit that results from low levels of entrepreneurship and access to capital, especially among minority populations. ■ Inner-city poverty is the unanticipated consequence of public policy that was in- tended to alleviate social problems but has, in fact, caused them to worsen in some respects. https://www.huduser.gov/Periodicals/CITYSCPE/VOL3NUM3/article3.pdf
Every child of any color is imprinted with basic beliefs that usually stay in place as they grow; sometimes for life. Not things they are taught or told- things they see, learned by example even before they learn to speak... ways of behaving, temper, abuse or kindness, controlling, etc. The better the environment, the more likely the child's success as an adult is. Not absolute, and there are exceptions- but the trend follows that truth. If the average condition of any group of people is at some certain level- it's logical to say the children of that group have conditions relative to that which they came from. It's not because of color genetically, but because of trends in the group. As an example the percentage of kids being raised in single-parent homes is the highest among black of all groups. Most people understand how this removes role models and overloads the parent, making the job far more difficult. This only one issue- but it's a very large one. Abortions reflect the issue too; the ratio of black abortion is 27.1, for every 10 among white/non-hispanics. These are social issues, cultural issues, character issues. The problem is that they can't be resolved by passing a law, or for that matter with government aid. It's the kind of things groups grow into or out of over time, values built and passed along to be built even better. However it does have far less to do with color than environment in the home setting, thus we have black people in all walks of life and at all skill levels. It is the average that creates statistics, but it is still individuals that determine their own destiny. It is of course harder in some areas for people who are associated with groups. While that varies substantially- most people experience discrimination of some kind at some point in life, yet still excel. Thats where personal values step in; great things are possible for anyone- especially if you don't let the negatives you perceive in your life dictate your destiny. Single parent homes by race:
As a kid in the 1940's I remember when a man in the neighborhood got out of line, refused to work, abused his wife, didn't provide for his kids, all the bad things that happen in the hood, my dad would get together with a group of men in the neighborhood and pay the man a visit. They would put a fear in him so bad that he would become a model husband and father. Not a bad idea to start up in the hood if the blacks want to correct their culture and image and pitiful situation. But I fear we have spoiled the black race, that makes it whitey's fault, and it will take drastic action to correct the situation. A company of Marines could straighten up a hood in quick order.
LBJ and the Dem Party has kept them on the plantation. The best thing for blacks would be to cut them totally off of any government welfare what-so-ever. Sink or swim.
Whitey has no place telling blacks how to fix themselves, doesn't anyone see how racist that would be? Black solutions need to come from the black community. Since advice is actually being elicited, I would suggest that blacks move their target off whites, and towards those that share closest demographics with them, Hispanics. By the numbers it is impossible or blacks to directly complete with whites in almost all advanced fields, its not a race thing its a numbers thing, starting from the bottom. The disparity between high school gradates between whites and blacks doesn't just stop there, the next thing to look at is college graduation rates, then you get into post-grad. Until those numbers are equalized, blacks will remain so far out of contention for any type of parity in relation to population. You see this sort of thing every now and then when some racist liberal rag goes off on a tangent of how few black CEOs there are or whatnot, never actually getting into the real numbers as to why that is so...
Here's a similar story. I cannot vouch for its truthfulness, but it was told to me by someone whom I trust a lot. The Sikhs in Britain are a model minority. Proud, hard-working, law-abiding. But in one particular British town, one young Sikh was the exception to the rule, to the great embarrassment of the Sikh community. From shoplifting he graduated to breaking into cars, then into burglary, then apparently into mugging. Punctuated by the English slap-on-the-wrist legal system. So ... there was a meeting of the Sikh elders in his community. What to do? Well, he might have got a visit, but it was not to turn him into a model person. He disappeared. Never seen again. Now I have no way of knowing if this tale is true, as I said. It was just related to me by someone who lived there and who knew some Sikhs pretty well. So who knows?
It sounds like you are saying they should blame someone different. I suggest they stop looking beyond themselves, because that is where the power to achieve change is at. Nowhere else. And why they are where they are has nothing to do with the future- unless you can't accept responsibility for the future and have to shift responsibility for it.
Had to go all the way to the bottom, but the nail was finally hit on the head. ■ Inner-city poverty is the unanticipated consequence of public policy that was intended to alleviate social problems but has, in fact, caused them to worsen in some respects. Unanticipated only by the idiotic Democrats, and their chronically-backfiring attempts at social engineering. Conservatives saw the disastrous results coming from a mile away. And the Democrat way is to double down in the face of their own failures, and confirm that the definition of insanity is indeed- doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result.
I think you missed my point. If you want people to advance, they need realistic goals. For blacks, the more realistic goals to achieve in terms of demographics would be along the lines of Hispanics. Since the two are much closer. The core concepts like parenting, education, legitimacy, and so forth are for them and them alone...
Great post! Thanks for this! Everyone should read it! So much better than trading your-side-is-to-blame-no-yours-is insults.
While I agree things like parenting are the purview of the parents- the results that are produced by their choices affect their race as a group, and all of society as well. While the ideal is that nobody tells you how to do your job- you had still better do it well if you want it to produce positive results. Those results fall first on the people making bad decisions- they have the most to gain or lose, that should be the incentive to change, buy seems to be inadequate. Consequence is the best teacher, the best school. Whenever you bail someone out of consequence- they don't learn. Sometimes, the tuition is very high, but the alternatives are not really answers. Having the highest abortion rate and still three times the share of single parent homes makes it pretty clear that serious improvement is needed. Telling a person what to do is worthless- unless that person has the goal of improving, and will use the guidance to do so. What needs to be done is not any kind of secret, it's obvious. It is the number making the choice to do it that is falling short.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — While Philadelphia police officers were dealing with a gunman who shot six of their own during a standoff at a home in the Nicetown-Tioga section, cops also had to deal with being taunted by some bystanders. CBS3’s Alexandria Hoff reports a crowd of people laughed and yelled at officers in the midst of gunfire during a standoff on Wednesday. What is needed is many black leaders condemning these idiots. The media should also condemn them. The neighbors should condemn them. Young people see this and want to be like the idiots.
