Letters to the Editor
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count me among the disappointed
silenced is right on. Gary, please please read up on at the very least on prisons and racial disparity. the us department of justice is as good a source as any for some nonpartisan, sobering information: you could, for instance, find out which demographic stands a 1 in 3 chance of ending up in prison at some point in their lifetime -- much less being affected by the imprisonment of a breadwinner or close relative. one in three. this not from Al Sharpton, but from the usdoj statistics site. at the "end of racism" we have the biggest prison system per capita in the world by far, and more black inmates per capita than South Africa at the height of apartheid.
fyi, i was on board with your stoner episode, I thought it took some courage to flout the secular religion that is the war on "drugs" that feeds the abovementioned prison-industrial complex.
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Race may not matter, and then one day it does
Structural racism? A French Canadian pointed this out to me: if a man of mixed race and a white man are in a conflict, and the police are called, then there is an uneven likelihood of a fair hearing, and both parties know it.
(Canada? Blacks and whites marry each other, and the English and French hate each other. Go figure.)
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eh...yeah ok..whatever Gary
1) Racism still exists in America, and I think most people on this website would acknowledge that. There are many white folks ( also Asian and Latino) who would rather not mix with any blacks, middle class or not. The issue is the preservation of cultural identity. Most white folks do indeed see themselves as a seperate race with a seperate culture and they don't want that diluted. Every step that white folks make towards real integration will only lead, in their view, to destruction of their own ways of life, which is why you have just as much support among white dems for laws against "illegal" immigration. Even if African Americans all abandoned the ghetto, became doctors or high minded comedians or day time talk show hosts, they would still be told to be in their hood. That is why we have white flight, we have white parents running to the Supreme Court to get their children in seperate school districts and girls suing the U Michigan because they gave chance to a black kid to have the same opportunities that she the girl always had and will always have. There are few white folks who would truly want an egalitarian society, maybe like 10-15% who want genuine real change, where race is no longer an issue. the rest either dont care or dont wanna talk about it.
2) Having said that, blacks folks need to change their leaders..people like Sharpton and Jackson have outlived their purpose and need to stop ranting every time they see a white person. The black community needs to find young blood, young leaders who will lead the community through a path that has the foundations of technology, sciences etc. They dont need leaders who get all upset over slavery and are bent on bringing about white guilt, which destroys any practical steps towards reconciliation. They have to realize that Puffy, Farrakhan, Tupac, Beyonce, Jay Z, Snoop Dogg and Jordan are not real leaders. They are just another group of publicity hounds who want more money and are willing to sell their community junk and false advice for the sake of more money. The black community needs more doctors, engineers, scientists as heroes that kids can look up to (and not just black kids). I mean look in India and Vietnam . Whoever thought Bill Gates would be treated as a rock star over there...The guy has his own groupies in those countries..every kid growing up in India and Asia says "Mommy I wanna be a nerd like Bill Gates"..in the black community they all wanna be LIKE MIKE.
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How Do We Move Forward?
I appreciate this article’s optimistic point of view on racial progress, but like the others who have posted here, I must disagree with the conclusions. Yet, this article has opened a space for dialogue. And that is where the real value is in this. I am looking to further this conversation productively. I know King’s Dream as well as the next person, but that was articulated decades ago. I want to see a goal in our contemporary conversation on race that allows the entire nation to take ownership of “the problem,” and therefore invest in the “solution.” So please, let’s talk about it.
Above all I think we need clarity to move forward. What exactly is this “problem” we want to solve? Is it that there are too many black urban poor? Is it that “they” are disproportionately effected by detrimental social conditions? Is the rest of the nation is apathetic? Is the media’s portrayal of the situation distressingly inadequate? Perhaps it is all of these and more (I think it is).
And that’s an awful lot to talk (and think) about.
So why don’t we lay out the problems, one by one, talk about them. Listen to each other. And then see what kind of solution we want, where we want “race” to go. I beleive this is happening all over the country at times, but it isn't systematic or widespread. That has to change.
Of course, there’s a long history for all of this race mess, and that should definitely be part of the discussion, but we cannot dwell there to move forward. We’ve talked race to death, and it’s easy (and human) to get very upset about it. But we have to have an objective in this ongoing conversation or it is wasted effort.
So let’s talk about how these problems are problems. Let’s talk about how we can use our resources to deal with all of this. Let’s talk. Let’s listen. Let’s learn. And let’s do.
-Derek McPhatter
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The rhetoric may be dying...
But not the reality. I'm half black, half white and I live in NYC. Never been arrested, never been in trouble with the cops, yet I'm prepared if a police officer speaks to me, to put my hands up in front of me, palms out and open and say calmly, "Officer, I am non-aggressive and cooperative."
Now I wonder why that would be?
Regardless of ANY other factor, non-equal treatment before the Law is THE only meaningful indicator of race relations in America.
I wonder what those poll results had they been couched in terms of the law? As in: Before the law are you...."