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The New Jim Crow
How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste
Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its 44th president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation's "triumph over race." Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America.
Obama's mere presence in the Oval Office is offered as proof that "the land of the free" has finally made good on its promise of equality. There's an implicit yet undeniable message embedded in his appearance on the world stage: this is what freedom looks like; this is what democracy can do for you. If you are poor, marginalized, or relegated to an inferior caste, there is hope for you. Trust us. Trust our rules, laws, customs, and wars. You, too, can get to the promised land.
Perhaps greater lies have been told in the past century, but they can be counted on one hand. Racial caste is alive and well in America.
Most people don't like it when I say this. It makes them angry. In the "era of colorblindness" there's a nearly fanatical desire to cling to the myth that we as a nation have "moved beyond" race. Here are a few facts that run counter to that triumphant racial narrative:
*There are more African Americans under correctional control today -- in prison or jail, on probation or parole -- than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.
*As of 2004, more African American men were disenfranchised (due to felon disenfranchisement laws) than in 1870, the year the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, prohibiting laws that explicitly deny the right to vote on the basis of race.
* A black child born today is less likely to be raised by both parents than a black child born during slavery. The recent disintegration of the African American family is due in large part to the mass imprisonment of black fathers.
*If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas have been labeled felons for life. (In the Chicago area, the figure is nearly 80%.) These men are part of a growing undercaste -- not class, caste -- permanently relegated, by law, to a second-class status. They can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education, and public benefits, much as their grandparents and great-grandparents were during the Jim Crow era.
Excuses for the Lockdown
There is, of course, a colorblind explanation for all this: crime rates. Our prison population has exploded from about 300,000 to more than 2 million in a few short decades, it is said, because of rampant crime. We're told that the reason so many black and brown men find themselves behind bars and ushered into a permanent, second-class status is because they happen to be the bad guys.
The
uncomfortable truth, however, is that crime rates do not explain the
sudden and dramatic mass incarceration of African Americans during the
past 30 years. Crime rates have fluctuated over the last few decades
-- they are currently are at historical lows -- but imprisonment rates
have consistently soared. Quintupled, in fact. And the vast majority
of that increase is due to the War on Drugs. Drug offenses alone
account for about two-thirds of the increase in the federal inmate
population, and more than half of the increase in the state prison
population.
The drug war has been brutal -- complete with SWAT teams, tanks, bazookas, grenade launchers, and sweeps of entire neighborhoods -- but those who live in white communities have little clue to the devastation wrought. This war has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color, even though studies consistently show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates. In fact, some studies indicate that white youth are significantly more likely to engage in illegal drug dealing than black youth. Any notion that drug use among African Americans is more severe or dangerous is belied by the data. White youth, for example, have about three times the number of drug-related visits to the emergency room as their African American counterparts.
That is not what you would guess, though, when entering our nation's prisons and jails, overflowing as they are with black and brown drug offenders. In some states, African Americans comprise 80%-90% of all drug offenders sent to prison.
This is the point at which I am typically interrupted and reminded that black men have higher rates of violent crime. That's why the drug war is waged in poor communities of color and not middle-class suburbs. Drug warriors are trying to get rid of those drug kingpins and violent offenders who make ghetto communities a living hell. It has nothing to do with race; it's all about violent crime.
Again, not so. President Ronald Reagan officially declared the current drug war in 1982, when drug crime was declining, not rising. From the outset, the war had little to do with drug crime and nearly everything to do with racial politics. The drug war was part of a grand and highly successful Republican Party strategy of using racially coded political appeals on issues of crime and welfare to attract poor and working class white voters who were resentful of, and threatened by, desegregation, busing, and affirmative action. In the words of H.R. Haldeman, President Richard Nixon's White House Chief of Staff: "[T]he whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to."
A few years after the drug war was announced, crack cocaine hit the streets of inner-city communities. The Reagan administration seized on this development with glee, hiring staff who were to be responsible for publicizing inner-city crack babies, crack mothers, crack whores, and drug-related violence. The goal was to make inner-city crack abuse and violence a media sensation, bolstering public support for the drug war which, it was hoped, would lead Congress to devote millions of dollars in additional funding to it.
The plan worked like a charm. For more than a decade, black drug dealers and users would be regulars in newspaper stories and would saturate the evening TV news. Congress and state legislatures nationwide would devote billions of dollars to the drug war and pass harsh mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes -- sentences longer than murderers receive in many countries.
Democrats began competing with Republicans to prove that they could be even tougher on the dark-skinned pariahs. In President Bill Clinton's boastful words, "I can be nicked a lot, but no one can say I'm soft on crime." The facts bear him out. Clinton's "tough on crime" policies resulted in the largest increase in federal and state prison inmates of any president in American history. But Clinton was not satisfied with exploding prison populations. He and the "New Democrats" championed legislation banning drug felons from public housing (no matter how minor the offense) and denying them basic public benefits, including food stamps, for life. Discrimination in virtually every aspect of political, economic, and social life is now perfectly legal, if you've been labeled a felon.
Facing Facts
But what about all those violent criminals and drug kingpins? Isn't the drug war waged in ghetto communities because that's where the violent offenders can be found? The answer is yes... in made-for-TV movies. In real life, the answer is no.
The drug war has never been focused on rooting out drug kingpins or violent offenders. Federal funding flows to those agencies that increase dramatically the volume of drug arrests, not the agencies most successful in bringing down the bosses. What gets rewarded in this war is sheer numbers of drug arrests. To make matters worse, federal drug forfeiture laws allow state and local law enforcement agencies to keep for their own use 80% of the cash, cars, and homes seized from drug suspects, thus granting law enforcement a direct monetary interest in the profitability of the drug market.
The results have been predictable: people of color rounded up en masse for relatively minor, non-violent drug offenses. In 2005, four out of five drug arrests were for possession, only one out of five for sales. Most people in state prison have no history of violence or even of significant selling activity. In fact, during the 1990s -- the period of the most dramatic expansion of the drug war -- nearly 80% of the increase in drug arrests was for marijuana possession, a drug generally considered less harmful than alcohol or tobacco and at least as prevalent in middle-class white communities as in the inner city.
In this way, a new racial undercaste has been created in an astonishingly short period of time -- a new Jim Crow system. Millions of people of color are now saddled with criminal records and legally denied the very rights that their parents and grandparents fought for and, in some cases, died for.
Affirmative action, though, has put a happy face on this racial reality. Seeing black people graduate from Harvard and Yale and become CEOs or corporate lawyers -- not to mention president of the United States -- causes us all to marvel at what a long way we've come.
Recent data shows, though, that much of black progress is a myth. In many respects, African Americans are doing no better than they were when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and uprisings swept inner cities across America. Nearly a quarter of African Americans live below the poverty line today, approximately the same percentage as in 1968. The black child poverty rate is actually higher now than it was then. Unemployment rates in black communities rival those in Third World countries. And that's with affirmative action!
When we pull back the curtain and take a look at what our "colorblind" society creates without affirmative action, we see a familiar social, political, and economic structure -- the structure of racial caste. The entrance into this new caste system can be found at the prison gate.
This is not Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream. This is not the promised land. The cyclical rebirth of caste in America is a recurring racial nightmare.
48 Comments so far
Show AllThis insane 'drug war' is one of the most prominent features of the neo-fascist American state.
Good posts above. But cut to the chase.
It's a class war.
Blacks are the bottom rung.
Do you know how many White judges,
CEO's and community 'leaders' skate
around the drug laws they enforce?
"ingnore the man behind the curtain!"
In conjunction with the author's thesis, this is part of "The Great Lurch Backwards" to a nightmarish redux of the Robber Baron era contemplated by Nixon, begun by Grandpa Caligula (Reagan), continued apace by Daddy Bush & Clinton, spectacularly finished by Dubya, Cheney, & Co., and left unaddressed in any meaningful way by Obama.
During said era, blacks were relegated to second class status, with those in the rural South in virtual slavery under Jim Crow and sharecropping. What is similar now to then was that the biggest defenders of this social order was poor whites, for if blacks were full participants in society, said poor whites would simultaneously gain competition and become part of the bottom rung of society. And as any honest and competent social scientist can attest to, it is any easy bit of propaganda for the elite to demonize "the other" lest attention be drawn to the upper classes manipulating the social order to their benefit. Until working class whites quit buying this intellectually lazy lie put out by those who actually impoverish them, the misery will continue.
NateW: "What is similar now to then was that the biggest defenders of this social order was poor whites, for if blacks were full participants in society, said poor whites would simultaneously gain competition and become part of the bottom rung of society. And as any honest and competent social scientist can attest to, it is any easy bit of propaganda for the elite to demonize "the other" lest attention be drawn to the upper classes manipulating the social order to their benefit. Until working class whites quit buying this intellectually lazy lie put out by those who actually impoverish them, the misery will continue."
You nailed it! The ruling elite has been playing the people who are in the lowest socioeconomic cohorts against each other since Amerikkka's founding. Unless and until the poor whites, blacks, browns, et al join forces into "One Big Union" as set forth by the IWW about 100 years ago, things will never change. The rich will continue their exploitation of the poor.
"Until working class whites quit buying this intellectually lazy lie"
They won't until they see it's not in their interest, and that's not likely any time soon.
African Americans have a leadership problem. African Americans should create a parallel leadership where individuals are elected by black votes and black money alone. These elected individuals should act as a check and balance to the Congressional Black Caucus. This parallel leadership then could lobby Congress on behalf of African American interests when the Congressional Black Caucus won't.
In the meantime, African American youth should be made aware of their predecessors mistakes and make it their life's business to achieve education and acquire skills that make them more valuable as free citizens, than prison citizens.
If there is a "black leadership problem" it is only because TPB continue
to destroy leadership as it arises -- they don't any longer wait for it
to succeed - as with Martin Luther King, Jr.
The only way the right wing rises is by political violence and we've seen
that violence over the past 50 years and more take all liberal/progressive
leadership.
End this fake, inane and brutalizing drug war -- !!
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
Is there something peculiar about blacks that they have to "make it their life's business" to do the old Horatio Alger routine and make them more valuable to the capitalist syatem? If you mean the low expectations of growing up poor in a distressed, dysfunctional family, lots of white people face the same thing too, yet they rise above their circumstances in disporportionate numbers compared to blacks. So why are you pickling on just blacks? Are you asking them to work far harder, or have far more innate talent, than a white person needs to achieve the same status in the syatem? Is this fair? Or are you suggesting someting more vile - that they have to work harder because they are innately inferior (I know; from you nick, I assume you are a black woman yourself).
Fortunately, we don't have to suggest the latter, becasue there is something else going on that this article failed to metiion - still-widespread job and housing discrimination, as well as direct discriminitory violence from white police on the street. A black teenager was walking home from Pittsburgh's CAPA talented and gifted school was recently brutally beaten by three white cops for "loitering". Being a good Horatio Alger really worked for him didn't it?
As a white guy, I grew up up in a disfunctional family and a violent abusive father, I never studied hard, never "applied myself", yet success practically fell in my lap! If I had grown up black, I would likewise be a bitter man in prison too, or probably dead.
"African Americans have a leadership problem. African Americans should create a parallel leadership where individuals are elected by black votes and black money alone"
Beyond your faith in the purifying power of "black money," you seem to think that blacks have never created their own leaders or organizations.
Robert Moses was the mayor of NYC who destroyed dynamic black neighborhoods in order to build highways, and called it "urban renewal." North American cities looked on this as a form of success, and then they destroyed their own black areas of town for "renewal."
So if Moses can treat black social capital as some kind of dreadful sea that needs to be parted to let the white people flee to safety (in suburbia), perhaps the orthodox version of American politics isn't useful to them at all.
"The recent disintegration of the African American family is due in large part to the mass imprisonment of black fathers."
SOURCE
No lets just assume all men are good and whitty's keepin the black man down. I personally have seen friends and family decide to not work while they had kids.
The problem is a lack of birth control, no where does this article mention the high numbers of African American single mothers. This number is somewhere around 67% ( http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/region6/docs/aahmi_brochure.html)
Give out some free birth control pills to those who wish to be sexually active.
Right now you have a cycle in which a African American mom has a child at a young age.
This child grows up without the guidance( or support, keep in mind its VERY difficult to raise a kid solo) of a father.
Therefore the child is more likely to engage in risky behavior, such as unprotected sex... And thus will ether get pregnant at a young age, or become a father at a young age. And at this age young fathers are VERY unlikely to take
responsibility and raise there kids. Now repeat and you can see whats going on today.
The solution is BIRTH CONTROL. Then child-bearing can be postponed to an age where the parent will be more responsible.
The current drug war is a side affect, NOT the cause. You have kids with no father trying to make money the only way they know how. Out of desperation they sell drugs( Just like the British Empire during the opium wars). Break the cycle, encourage safe sex.
PS: Not that this matters since my logic is sound, but this is coming from a black man
In Europe, everyone gets to stop working while they have kids. By law, every mother gets a year of paid maternity leave, or generous welfare payments while they have children. Everyone uses these benefits, and no one gets accused of being "lazy" or "irresponsible" while they are using them.
The American white man's "work ethic" is highly over-rated.
Regardless, theres no reason for a 15 year old to become a parent.
Its about enabling young people to make responsible choices, plus you forget to mention Europe has an aging population. Its essential people have a economic incentive to reproduce.
You wont fix this problem by giving poor people money, you fix it by encouraging safe ( and cheap) birth control so child bearing can be delayed to an age where the parent is mature enough to take care of kids.
Or you can rant about how we need to create a great new-world were personal responsibility is a thing of the past.
"Its essential people have a economic incentive to reproduce."
Not really, 6 billion and counting is probably more than enough.
keithsoulasa -
You make some very good points. But, the breakdown of African American families is due to multiple causes, and the "War on Drugs" is one of the biggest, along with welfare programs structured to encourage black fathers to leave, and decades of sending middle class jobs overseas.
Birth control is part of the solution, but so is creating an economy where there are enough good-paying legal jobs.
Gee, all of these years I thought that the Drug War was a back lash by our WWII Fathers on their Hippie kids. Quick, they are Pot smoking and LSD using crazy people, arrest them. I think that the Crack and Coke,ect,came along later as a major issue.
I was sitting at a Democratic Caucus, in a very liberal University town. As I watched my significant other walk to the front of the hall, a long haired middle aged hippie type who was sitting in front of me said "That's ....., he's just like a white man". I was floored. I was outraged. Then I was saddened. So I agree that race is still an issue. But that runs both ways. A black GF of mine married a white guy. Her family was split in half, with half furious that she was marrying a white guy, and half that didn't care. When I was living with a guy who is black, I got more grief from black females than from whites.
Give it another generation for the Black/White issue, but fix the drug laws NOW.
All of this goes back to parenting.
Go to ANY school. Black, white, hispanic, asian, etc. all sit together in the same class. None of them is given special treatment and none of them is ignored. All of them have the same chance to make the same grades.
So what happens AFTER the child leaves school? That is where the issues are, and where the parents come in to play.
Good parenting doesn't require education, job skills, money, or physical ability. ANYONE can be a good parent and anyone can be a lousy parent. It has a huge affect on the children either way.
"Go to ANY school. Black, white, hispanic, asian, etc. all sit together in the same class. None of them is given special treatment and none of them is ignored..."
Actually, what you wrote is not true at all. Sociologists studying these things find that black children are often treated in a negatively prejudicial manner by teachers compare to White or Asian students. And, the system used in most US states, whereby schools are largely fnianced by property taxes guarantees that public schools will be good in rich, white high real estate value districts, and very poor in poor black districts.
Good parenting requires a minimum amount of money and physical ability. And some people do not have that minimal amount, as sad as it is to say. I agree many parents have the resources to do better than they do, but many don't.
bligh4
You'd have thought that Nixon and Reagan (two Republicans) invented Jim Crow.
Good old Democrats didn't have a damn thing to do with it, I guess. (fyi, Bull Conner was a democrat).
Nixon and his campaign invented the "Southern Strategy," a system to exploit the differences between the reactionaries in the Democratic Party (i.e. Bull Connor, Strom Thurmond, et al) and the progressives/radicals (i.e. Martin Luther King, New Left Radicals, et al).
During the 20th century there were (and still are) very conservative Democrats in the South. Some of the more reactionary Democrats of the 20th century were called "Dixiecrats" because of their pro Jim Crow agenda.
In other words calling shit a rose doesn't make smell any better.
In addition, let us not forget that Black people in this country (that are descendents of slaves) have no ties to their historic cultural identity. Look at how well African immigrants apply themselves! African American "Negros" have lost their sense of "Self". Their "Great" African heritage has been replaced with a destructive story of hatred. The trauma experienced during the Slave, Jim Crow and “Civil Rights” eras continue to psychically haunt and cripple the majority of the Black community.
One of the reasons they have such a hard time is because of their disconnection with their ancestral story. Ethiopians, Nigerians and other African groups still identify with the greatness of African history and culture. Their leadership understands the historical contributions that African people have made to civilization. They have a healthy sense of self and community.
Black descendents of slaves only know collectively what has been taught to them by a historically racist and culturally imperialist society. Their self image is dominated by ideas of self hatred, materialism and nihilism as is reflected in the psychotic content of their modern "Black" music.
In addition, let us not forget that Black people in this country (that are descendents of slaves) have no ties to their historic cultural identity. Look at how well African immigrants apply themselves! African American "Negros" have lost their sense of "Self". Their "Great" African heritage has been replaced with a destructive story of hatred. The trauma experienced during the Slave, Jim Crow and “Civil Rights” eras continue to psychically haunt and cripple the majority of the Black community.
One of the reasons they have such a hard time is because of their disconnection with their ancestral story. Ethiopians, Nigerians and other African groups still identify with the greatness of African history and culture. Their leadership understands the historical contributions that African people have made to civilization. They have a healthy sense of self and community.
Black descendents of slaves only know collectively what has been taught to them by a historically racist and culturally imperialist society. Their self image is dominated by ideas of self hatred, materialism and nihilism as is reflected in the psychotic content of their modern "Black" music.
When it comes to issues surrounding racial (in)justice, truthiness isn't terribly popular for the majority of Americans, including more self-described liberals than one would think, and I am surprised that CD would involve this topic on its website.
Perhaps it takes a scenario like today where most everyone gets the N****R treatment, for an article such as Ms. Alexander's to be relevant.
I agree lawbfree and at the same time it is one of the keys to a brighter future for all. I think there is a huge fear that prevents "White Liberals" from honestly addressing the "World Supremacy" issue. Each group in the human family has an important point of view and valuable insights. Through Wisdom we could all sit at the table of power and decision making and truly integrate the best that each culture has to offer.
Native Americans, Africans, Caucasians, Asians, Latinos etc...
I understand that I can be ridiculously idealistic.
Interesting article, but I disagree with most of the author's conclusions. For what it's worth, the black incarceration rate is actually significantly LOWER in the southern U.S(and Hawaii) than in the liberal northeastern U.S "- States with the lowest black-to-white ratio were Hawaii, with 1.9, Georgia with 3.3 and Mississippi with 3.5." - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,289835,00.html
And also, according to some statistics, blacks do use illicit drugs at a higher rate than whites - http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2010/study-blacks-drink-less-but.html
but they drink alcohol at a lower rate.
Race and drug use - http://www.arthurhu.com/index/drugs.htm
This directly contradicts much of what the author states(unless she means all drugs including alcohol).
This is also interesting: "Blacks commit about 68 percent of all violent crime in the city(New York City), according to police records, though they are just 24 percent of the city's population." - http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/item_EB3eFdXwY0uojyH5PeJHhI;jsessionid=76B05F5BE3C1F12D3E7D4A36D4D4CEF1
I'm not sure what you point is concerning the "LOWER" incarceration rate for Blacks in the South than in the "Liberal" north. I think the author is simply pointing out the disproportionate rate that Blacks are over all incarcerated and rendered as a "permanent" under class.
I agree with you that blacks very well may use illicit drugs at a higher rate than whites especially in light of how a significant number of blacks have been cornered economically and duped into drug dealing which evolved into the "Black Economy" hence the "War on Drugs" and the epic proportions of drug addiction and incarceration.
Also, how much of the 68 percent of violent crime was Black on Black? As I stated earlier, African "American" descendants of slaves are still spiritually and psychologically damaged from the historic precedent of white cultural imperialism. Their families were destroyed and their minds were erased and to this day (as a whole) they are seriously dysfunctional and psychotic. And to make matters worse, most of them don't know that they don't know.
gnken
You make some nice points but all you info is from biased conservative news sources.
"Federal funding flows to those agencies that increase dramatically the volume of drug arrests, not the agencies most successful in bringing down the bosses."
Do you remember the case where two judges went to prison because they were working with privately-owned jails that needed more clients? I can't remember if they were actual shareholders or were getting cash for sending kids there for stupid offenses. Anyway, they were white kids whose parents found a way to investigate the slime-balls and have them tried. I wonder how much of this is going on in the black ghettos where poor, undeducated parents are unlikely to investigate such things?
"According to an official UN report, opium production in Afghanistan has risen dramatically since the downfall of the Taliban in 2001. More land is now used for opium in Afghanistan, than for coca cultivation in Latin America. In 2007, 93% of the opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan. This is no accident."
Bring down the bosses? Not a chance! Too much money is being made by too many people in high places, including the banksters who are doing some of the money-laundering.
Isn't there a class caste also, or do working and poor white have nothing to worry about and only themselves to blame?
The only people "progressing" are the elites.
I'm not disputing slavery, the legacy of Jim Crow, redlining, urban renewal, and of course the funneling of drugs into black communities.But none of that was done as a favor to whites. Too many people seem to make that assumption. Only a small percentage of people, not all of them white men, have benefitted from racial disenfranchisement.
It's not a genocide, it's business, it's capitalism. For-profit prisons, guns, the election of right-wing capitalists to public office are all grim dividends reaped by the drug war, and none of those things are good for the 99%.
The elites aren't rooting out drug kingpins because they ARE the drug kingpins. They like the gangs. They like the violence that occurs. It gives them excuses to enact Draconian laws. It helps put them in power. It makes them a fortune.
The solutions don't lie in "leadership", identity politics, and bootstrap self-help nonsense. They lie in reparations, an end to the drug war, a total cancellation of all domestic debt, universal employment at a living wage, and universal single-payer healthcare/education. Those things will help working and poor people of all shades immensely.
"I'm not disputing slavery, the legacy of Jim Crow, redlining, urban renewal, and of course the funneling of drugs into black communities. But none of that was done as a favor to whites. Too many people seem to make that assumption. Only a small percentage of people, not all of them white men, have benefited from racial disenfranchisement."
I know it may be difficult to see or believe thegreatrockyhill but it looks to me as if you are being an apologist for white male dominance. It’s politically and socially incorrect to point it out, but white people have taken over this land (America's) by force. Criminal actions were utilized to obtain and sustain white power here and abroad. Many of us have benefited from this directly and indirectly. Yes its true "not all of them were white men" however the great majority of them were/are. Let's stop pretending as if TRUE centers of power and decision making are controlled by any people other than white. Make no mistake about it, Obama is a front man to pacify the people in light of the blatantly criminal and hateful Bush presidency.
Black and red people have been targeted not as a "favor to whites" but because the subconscious guilt and fear of the ruling class who have laundered and hidden enormous wealth obtained from stolen land and 300+ years of free labor. There is no "statute of limitations" for these crimes and they are afraid. This is why they will continue to systematically target blacks and red people to, at the very least, neutralize their collective progress towards true self determination.
"Their families were destroyed and their minds were erased and to this day (as a whole) they are seriously dysfunctional and psychotic. And to make matters worse, most of them don't know that they don't know."
Do you know any black people? Seriously.
Black people on the whole aren't any more or less violent and regressive as any other group of people.
pjd-"If you mean the low expectations of growing up poor in a distressed, dysfunctional family, lots of white people face the same thing too, yet they rise above their circumstances in disporportionate numbers compared to blacks."
I don't know too many of those white people. The ones that did usually knew the right people or were born into a cozy income bracket. Some of them might seem to be well off, but they're in debt up to their asses and are a paycheck away from the street or a relative's spare room.
Me, I'm white, male, heterosexual, grew up Catholic, had a relatively stable home, both parents are still married to this day, wasn't egregiously abused in any way, resisted peer pressure and have successfully avoided drugs and alcohol for all my life, have stayed out of trouble and have no criminal record, yet I'm 36, still living with my parents, am 11 grand in debt, am stuck in a job I despise, working for a company I despise, and while things could be worse, I am certainly not living the life I want. I seem to work harder than most people I know also. I have for all my adult life. I've never held a cushy office job. It's always been stress and strain for me. I guess I f'ed up somewhere.
On the other hand, I know black people that are now CEO's, commercial artists, chemists, teachers, pharmacists, writers, etc. Not to diminish them at all, but they all seemed to have a bit of help getting to where they did. They weren't self-made. Some of them came from upper-income homes or even had families that were politically connected.
President Obama was raised by his upper income grandparents. He didn't grow up ina trailer park or housing project.
As far as schools go, in my experience, the so-called "gifted" kids, usually white, Asian, and upper-income were catered to the most.
"Black descendents of slaves only know collectively what has been taught to them by a historically racist and culturally imperialist society. Their self image is dominated by ideas of self hatred, materialism and nihilism as is reflected in the psychotic content of their modern 'Black' music."
Much of so-called "black music" is in fact positive and socially-conscious, but the gangsta and party/club music gets the most attention.
I'm a metalhead. MY music is often considered nihilist and psychotic.
Look up Varg Vikernes or Glen Benton or "Norwegian Black Metal Scene" sometime.
Like metal, "black music" or hip-hop (which I'll admit is not my cup of tea), is a very diverse genre with lots of artists saying lots of different things. Don't burn the good with the bad. For every 50 Cent there's a Mr. Lif.
Yes, thegreatrockyhill I do know a good number of black people, professionals, working poor and outlaws as well.
"Black people on the whole aren't any more or less violent and regressive as any other group of people."
On this one we can agree to disagree. The majority of Black people who descended from slavery (As a whole) are in much worse shape (Socially, Economically, Psychologically etc.) than those who aren't from that particular legacy. Their families, communities, businesses, marriages etc. have an alarming rate of failure that isn't being documented or reported fairly.
"Much of so-called "black music" is in fact positive and socially-conscious, but the gangsta and party/club music gets the most attention. "
I agree with you here. However I don't think it is an accident that an appetite for the degenerative music has been cultivated and fed to the Black youth. Positive Black images and concepts are practically non-existent on the almost all white owned FM radio and T.V. networks (Not to mention the Public Schools). 50 Cent, Snoop Doggy Dog and others are paid $$millions to project images of homicide, pimping and materialism to the youth 24hrs a day.
Also, I only mentioned music as ONE arena in which Black people project their "Collective" (Slavery induced) self hatred. The divorce rate in the Black community is approaching 70%. You don't find that kind of divorce rate among any other group in the country!
"On the other hand, I know black people that are now CEO's, commercial artists, chemists, teachers, pharmacists, writers, etc. Not to diminish them at all, but they all seemed to have a bit of help getting to where they did. They weren't self-made. Some of them came from upper-income homes or even had families that were politically connected. "
You can always find the exceptional and successful blacks, however that doesn't take away from the facts outlined by the author of this article. And it also doesn't take away from the reality of cultural imperialism imposed on black, brown and red people in the Western hemisphere by whites. Neither does it subtract from the on going measures of criminal psyops, mis-education and social-economic tricks and traps that ruling class whites have used historically against darker hued people but are now using against poor and "middle class" whites too.
As far as birth control goes, under universal single payer, it would be free for everyone. Everyone's having too many kids, not just whites, and it's taxing on the planet. Overpopulation causes a lot of problems that the elites profit from.
My sister left her suburban, white neighborhood because there were drug problems, namely her neighbors who were selling drugs and were related to her ex-urb absentee landlords.
Legalize drugs, and treat addiction like an illness fully covered under universal single payer. You'll see the demand for hard drugs plummet as well as gang violence,prostitution, and robberies. And speaking of robberies, drug-related violence isn't just a black or brown gang thing. White suburban and rural areas have had violent drug-related crime. Not long ago, an elderly woman was murdered by a teenage boy for drug money. It was covered in our local news even though it happened in a suburban area.
Also, we always hear about the Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings, but never about the mostly white biker gangs like the Pagans and Hell's Angels, all of whom are financed by drug peddling.
"Also, we always hear about the Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings, but never about the mostly white biker gangs like the Pagans and Hell's Angels, all of whom are financed by drug peddling."
True indeed "thegreatrockyhill"! The images that we see, the "spin" on information and the world view that we're fed are all carefully crafted.
Nevertheless, if you have a 7th grade class room where all of the students are failing do you blame the children or the adults?
If a society is failing do you blame the people, or do you blame the stewards of the institutions that shape the world view and behaviors of its subjects?
"Also, we always hear about the Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings, but never about the mostly white biker gangs like the Pagans and Hell's Angels, all of whom are financed by drug peddling."
True indeed "thegreatrockyhill"! The images that we see, the "spin" on information and the world view that we're fed are all carefully crafted.
Nevertheless, if you have a 7th grade class room where all of the students are failing do you blame the children or the adults?
If a society is failing do you blame the people, or do you blame the stewards of the institutions that shape the world view and behaviors of its subjects?
Ethnic pride/knowledge is overrated also. Being aware of my Polish/Irish/Hungarian/German ancestry never helped me. Dashikis don't lift anyone up.
Not that people shouldn't learn about their lineage, but it's not a solution.
"Ethnic pride/knowledge is overrated also. Being aware of my Polish/Irish/Hungarian/German ancestry never helped me. Dashikis don't lift anyone up."
"Not that people shouldn't learn about their lineage, but it's not a solution."
I respectfully disagree. Its not about "Ethnic pride" but cultural knowledge is an important key to the solution. If you don't know what was destroyed with the Native culture of this land then you have no context for understanding the beauty such a "Cultural" perspective could bring. All native lands have been invaded, watered down and systematically eliminated. There is much value in the original world view that darker hued people have/had.
However, since Europeans have thoroughly established "their way" as the only "legitimate" world view, everyday working class people have nothing to compare it too. Therefore it appears as if cultural knowledge has no value in solving the world’s problems when in fact it is a very important key.
"I respectfully disagree. Its not about 'Ethnic pride' but cultural knowledge is an important key to the solution. If you don't know what was destroyed with the Native culture of this land then you have no context for understanding the beauty such a 'Cultural' perspective could bring. All native lands have been invaded, watered down and systematically eliminated. There is much value in the original world view that darker hued people have/had.
However, since Europeans have thoroughly established 'their way' as the only 'legitimate' world view, everyday working class people have nothing to compare it too. Therefore it appears as if cultural knowledge has no value in solving the world’s problems when in fact it is a very important key."
So socialist reform doesn't matter? People can learn all they want to about their heritage. That's fine. But it doesn't create jobs, pull people out of poverty, end wars.
I agree, your point is well taken. Class is the parent of racisim and should not be ignored.
"Neither does it subtract from the on going measures of criminal psyops, mis-education and social-economic tricks and traps that ruling class whites have used historically against darker hued people but are now using against poor and "middle class" whites too."
When have they not used it against other whites? I'm not suggesting that blacks haven't been persecuted in different ways, but when has the ruling class ever really been on the side of working and poor whites?
"And as any honest and competent social scientist can attest to, it is any easy bit of propaganda for the elite to demonize 'the other' lest attention be drawn to the upper classes manipulating the social order to their benefit. Until working class whites quit buying this intellectually lazy lie put out by those who actually impoverish them, the misery will continue."
It would also help if people on the left would stop acting as if those working and poor whites have everything to lose from racial justice, cause it, benefit immensely from it, have no reason to be angry, ignore their plight, and at times stereotype them as an "other" also, i.e. Archie Bunker.
"I know it may be difficult to see or believe thegreatrockyhill but it looks to me as if you are being an apologist for white male dominance."
No. I'm not apologizing for that at all or ignoring racism. That's a foolish remark actually, especially when I've risked my job and serious personal injury confronting racist whites and openly complaining about my racist employer. I wouldn't favor reparations if I were aligned with people like Steve Sailer. But who is really dominant here? Is the white guy in the trailer park who's unemployed and on disability "dominant" or "supreme?" Are the white elites concerned about his plight?
"It’s politically and socially incorrect to point it out, but white people have taken over this land (America's) by force."
Only the elites really took anything over. You're ignoring class.
"Criminal actions were utilized to obtain and sustain white power here and abroad."
What "power?" I saw 3 white guys sleeping under a bridge today. Where was their "power?"
"Many of us have benefited from this directly and indirectly."
How?
"Yes its true 'not all of them were white men' however the great majority of them were/are. Let's stop pretending as if TRUE centers of power and decision making are controlled by any people other than white. Make no mistake about it, Obama is a front man to pacify the people in light of the blatantly criminal and hateful Bush presidency."
I'm not pretending that they aren't predominantly WASPS, but is that little clique really looking out for anyone but themselves? I agree, Obama is a puppet for the military/industrial complex.
"Black and red people have been targeted not as a 'favor to whites' but because the subconscious guilt and fear of the ruling class who have laundered and hidden enormous wealth obtained from stolen land and 300+ years of free labor. There is no 'statute of limitations' for these crimes and they are afraid. This is why they will continue to systematically target blacks and red people to, at the very least, neutralize their collective progress towards true self determination."
You think the ruling class are racked with guilt? They may be fearful, but what they are fearful of is a mass, populist uprising, a transracial coalition if you will. Hence, why they love divisive identity politics.
I agree that there's no statute of limitations, which is why I favor reparations. What I object to is the dismissal of class issues in favor of race issues. They intertwine whether people want to see it or not. Class matters whether people see it or not. To ignore class is to believe in the myth of of a meritocracy, and that the only problem with the meritocracy is racism.
"Nevertheless, if you have a 7th grade class room where all of the students are failing do you blame the children or the adults?
If a society is failing do you blame the people, or do you blame the stewards of the institutions that shape the world view and behaviors of its subjects."
I have never blamed the people collectively. I blame the elites.
I'm a bit skeptical of that Arthur Hu fellow. He appears to be a conservative. Here's a gem from him...
"The people who keep themselves in the best health and the best educated and work the hardest will always come out on top, no matter how fair the system is."
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Oh btw, Corporate News Network's Anderson Blooper, another blueblood, is on my TV now talking about the "Stop Snitching" crap in the inner city. He's got some pundit on going off about "better parenting" and scapegoating hip-hop. Yeah, let's not talk about drug decriminalization, universal single-payer education/healthcare, debt forgiveness, and employment at a healthy salary for all. Lets also not discuss how law enforcement lets violent criminals run free because they "snitch" on other criminals to the police.
Its imposible to define what a healthy salary is. Should a single man be able to provide for his 6 kids with 6 different mothers. Should 2 parents have to work to provide for one child, ect.
Plus if you artificially force a raise in wages you just make money worth less. Do you have any idea how many cars are in the ghetto. In most urban transit cities its environmentally and economically irresponsible to own and operate a car. But you must respect the right of the individual to spend his/her money in a unwise way. Single-payer healthcare i'll agree with.
As for post- high school education. NO SINGLE PAYER. Fact is you have the freedom to spend anywhere from 15'000 to 200'000 on getting a 4 yr degree from ether a state or a private school. Recruiters don't look at a degree from Cal-State and say "Oh you poor bastard, im not hiring you" but again its about PERSONAL CHOICE. So far i've gotten fee wavers for my first 2 yrs of community college. Although my sis went to a private university and paid 80'000 for the same 2 yrs of school. Do i have a right to force my sister to go to a cheaper school , no.
Freedom = Responsibility
Keithsoulsa-6 kids with 6 different moms? Holy stereotypes!
A living salary should keep up with CEO pay. I propose $22 an hour at 40 hours a week. People think I'm crazy for suggesting that figure, but imagine how happy workers would be. Big business can afford it too. Please don't give me that nonsense about devaluing the dollar either. Increasing the minimum wage hasn't done that.
Can most people afford 15 grand to go go college let alone 200 grand? Other nations offer their citizens free secondary education. If they can do it so can we.
Personal choice my ass. The free market makes choices for people.
TrueToo-I apologize for being snippy. I just think too many people ignore class and focus on race exclusively.
"Class is the parent of racism and should not be ignored."
Excellent. I totally agree. That's all I was trying to say. I get just as miffed when people suggest that racism is extinct, and I certainly know from experience that it's still with us.
The War on Drugs has always been a class and racial war. It was created for that. It was the most effective way of keeping the 'greaser' and the 'gook' in their servile place and later the 'nigger' on the 'plantation'. After all, with the enactment of Civil Rights Laws and the 'ending of Jim Crow' the racist United States ruling class had to do something. It's a neat way of keeping apartheid and even slavery alive without calling it that.
I'd like to try to come up with some way to challenge the right of the state to take away a person's right to vote permanently if he/she commits a felon. In other countries, France and Great Britain for example, people can't vote while they are in prison but they regain their right to vote when they have finished serving their sentences.