Tim Veil wrote...
Again, I'm not sure why this results in rancor towards those receiving such funds. It's not like black folks are really running this show. As far as I'm concerned, those funds are basically a buyoff: welfare (combined with giant storage-schools..."stay in school!") keep the lumpen prolitariat from rising up and "bum rushin' the show". And to tell you the truth, if someone handed me a check I'd friggin cash it so fast I'd make the skinniest welfare crack addict look like a turtle on "check day".Because the money that is "given" to them through these unconstitutional federal gravy-train programs was stolen from me, and millions of other taxpayers at gunpoint.
Don't bring out the tired old excuse of blacks being "oppressed by the >US system". Plenty of people have received their share of shitty >deals, yet they put all that behind them and managed to prosper while >the black so-called "leadership" is still whining and clamoring >for "mo' welfare" and affirmative-action.Well, here's the meat of this issue, and where the issue gets sticky. Let me first of all state that there IS an issue here. Go to the grad schools in math, science, and engineering. The number of African Americans in PhD programs in these areas is disproportionately low. (I've heard it said that in many years the number of PhDs given nationwide to African Americans in mathematics is often only 2 or 3!) Meanwhile, immigrant Asians (Chinese, Vietnamese, etc...) zoom past African Americans in these areas, despite the fact that they almost invariably come out of poverty that only rural areas of the Ozarks and the deep south come close to. So I agree there's an issue here.
What's the problem? Race? Aside from the fact that race is itself a nearly fictional concept, in the same PhD programs we see plenty of Africans, Haitians, and other black and nominally black folks doing just fine, at least here in the snow-pummeled northeast.
Is the white man holding down black folks? Possibly. But I am willing to concede this is only an excacerbating factor here, for reasons that can easily be derived from the paragraph above.
Are African Americans just plain stupider than white folks? No way. First of all, African Americans (such as Halle Berry) are not significantly different genetically from whites (apparently most African Americans have a preponderance of European genes, while something like 50% of males in the South are believed to have some percentage of African genes). In addition, anyone who's spent real time with, say, "A Love Supreme" by Coltrane understands that black folks constituted the US's equivalent of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Stravinsky. So inherent genetic capability or other potential smarts/talent is not the issue here. (And for the record, the CEO of the Fortune 100 company I work for is African American.)
Black leadership is one potential issue here, but the other ethnic groups that do so well in the US have no identifiable leaders here. Why do we assume that black folks somehow are special in needing "leadership" that is any less predatory than white leadership?
I'd go on to attempt an answer, but it'll only come out sounding vageuly Utne-reader-ish. Let's just say that what makes an ethnic group healthy is the strength of civil and familial bonds. And throwing money at the problem ain't going to make it go away.
Want one piece of a solution? Excellent, no-bullshit schools. Any school that needs a metal detector should get blown up. Any kid coming to school with a knife or gun gets thrown out, period. The kid can be free to roam the streets, or get arrested or whatever, but he ain't "rotated" to another school. Also, completely uncompromised and European-level academic standards. None of this "you can't graduate from a real education system 'cause your underprivileged" crap. Regents exams in every subject, and if you don't pass enough of 'em you're out on your ass.
Of course, liberals and conservatives alike would be horrified to have those lumpen-kids "out on the streets". But at least have a real education system that's not a complete fucking joke. This might not solve the problem, but at least you gave a hungry man a fishing pole. If he doesn't use it after that, that's his problem. But right, the schools are a joke.
Talk about "reparations"? Blacks have already received plenty >of "reparations". We called it the "Great Society".Well, if the "reparations" took the form of a real school system that wasn't a laughable joke, I'd be for it, and consider it the price I have to pay for livin' pretty high on the hog these days, thank you (I was drivin' around in 2 feet of snow tonight in My MB SUV lookin' for an open McDonalds! Holy shit I'm corrupt!). Any other 'reparations' would probably be time and money wasted that could be put to best use learning how to convert Iraqi bodies into black-top for our oil trucks!
-TD
-- Tim Veil
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