Antipoverty programs that "take care of Black folk" are part of a social
safety net takes care of whites too. The problem isn't the net, i.e., 'dependency
on hand outs' or the idea that blacks have to be taken care of by the
government. The problem is the lack of political will to make jobs, housing and
education accessible to blacks on the same basis as they are generally accessible to
middle class whites.
The Democratic party is a political machine that is basically controlled by
the same rich people who control the Republican Party. It's not in the
interests of rich people to eliminate a color-based caste system and a multiracial
underclass which benefits rich people at the expense of poor people (if you have
to work for a living, you are poor) .
It is no "myth" that Blacks of African descent (as a group) haven't made it
and can't make like other groups. I believe the reason African Americans can't
make it like other groups is a legacy of slavery and legally enforced racial
segregation and discrimination that cannot be overcome without 1) serious
enforcement of laws against race-based discrimination in the job and housing
markets, and 2) changes in K-12 educational policies designed to close the education
achievement gap between white and black students.
It's not enough for some of the better school districts in the suburbs to
agree to enroll a small number of Blacks from poor performing schools in
Minneapolis. However, the NAACP withdrew its educational lawsuit against the state
with prejudice (it can't sue again). The settlement agreement stipulated that a
limited one-way busing program ("The Choice is Yours") would solve the problem
of black and poor children getting an inadequate education in Minnesota. I
opposed the NAACP settlement because it validates the latest gimmick that the
Republicrats have used to win support for the status quo in the public schools:
"escape hatches" for a limited number of students who attend the worst schools.
We need to make all public schools in Minneapolis good schools. The
Minneapolis School District should also try to emulate school districts that base
instruction for the general student population on a college-bound curriculum and an
individualized planning process.
Affirmative Action in hiring programs generally require employers to make an
effort to attract qualified job applicants who are Black and members of other
protected classes. Employers covered by these programs do hire Whites over
more qualified Blacks. The hiring "quotas" you hear about are the minimum number
of members of a protected class that an employer must hire to avoid sanctions,
like the loss of federal contracts. The quota for new hires is usually two
standard deviations below the proportion of job applicants. For example, if 50%
of the qualified job applicants are Black, the employer can fill their "quota"
by filling something like 5 to 10% of the jobs that come open with Blacks.
For propaganda purposes some employers have been known to hire some of the least
qualified Black applicants and never the best qualified Black applicants --
for the better jobs. It is also not unusual for employers who discriminate in
favor of whites when filling the best jobs to discriminate in favor of blacks
when filling the worst, lowest paying jobs.
To address the issue of discrimination in the job and housing markets I have
proposed setting up organizations to gather evidence of unlawful
discrimination, utilizing survey teams similar to those fielded by the federal
Department
of Housing and Urban Development, and to prosecute those who engage in unlawful
discrimination. HUD has gathered mountains of evidence of discrimination in
the housing markets, but has only bothered to prosecute a few discriminators.
-Doug Mann, King Field
Educationright.tripod.com
In a message dated 6/1/2003 12:39:06 AM Central Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> As long as the DFL (with no resistance from the Rs or Gs or Is, etc.) holds
> onto the fiction of the Kerner Commission Report of 1968, that Blacks can't
> make it like other groups and therefore have to be taken care of by the
> government, you will have this upside down world in which Whites get jobs
on
> the Democratic City Plantations to take care of the Black folk. Just as
> Social Security money is the cocaine of the federal government for both
> parties (much of the fabled surplus of the 90s was SS money just as much of
> the debt today will be cushioned by SS money) so too are "poverty programs"
> the cocaine of city machines, hence the continued poverty, lousy education
> and housing, etc. No secret here, as it is detailed in Ron Edwards book.
> Peter Jessen, Portland, www.BeaconOnTheHill.com, publisher of
> www.TheMinneapolisStory.com
>
TEMPORARY REMINDER:
1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject
(Mpls-specific, of course.)
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