Ed, the fact is that it's really harder to be black in America than a lot of other people think.
I assume, given what I see in this nation, that being Black in America (or to be candid, being Black pretty much anywhere in the world) pretty much sucks for most Black people
Think about if your family was treated like slaves and your neighbors family was treated like the Indians.
Perhaps you missed the fact that for many Whites, that was basically their families' historical experience in Europe?
JG, why do you think so many Whites emmigrated here? Because they had it made in the shade in Europe?
No, White came here because they were treated like shit in Europe.
Now that in no way justified what happened to the Blacks, but don't be so ethnocentric that you think that only Blacks understand oppression.
The oppressors tell you that were gonna treat you and your neighbor better but we're going to send them to a house they built on some private land for them but you and your family just better be glad you're free, boy.
Freedom can be just another word for nothing left to lose, I'll certainly acknowledge that.
You're going to have resentment no matter who you are.
Yeah, people who get screwed resent it, for sure. Justifiably so. And that resentment becomes part of the problem, too.
Would YOU hire somebody who was angry and just looking for reasons to believe you were a racist if you were White?
You probably wouldn't, not even if you were NOT even remotely racist.
Why?
Because angry Black people are scary, that's why.
And then you have the descendants of the oppressors telling you that you are equal to everyone else, but when it's time for the promotion you get passed over for someone with less experience and education.
You have some people telling you that, true. They're either idiots or liars.
Or you apply for a job, but get a lesser job than what you applied (and qualified) for. The first thing that pops into your mind is 'that fucking racist.'
And do you imagine that that only happens to Black people?
It's because blacks experience inequality so much that they can't even distinguish real racism/racists from anything else.
Sure..makes sense. If one gets punched enough, one gets punchdrunk.
Black people don't aspire to be uneducated, drug dealers and thieves. They want their children to succeed like everyone else. They just have a helluva lot less to work with and some things have to take the back burner to education.
Yes, of course. We live in a capitalist society. It takes resources to make money and the less you start out with, the less you're apt to make, too.
You realize however, that you are now describing the state of affairs for all poor people, regardless of color, right?
Then someone says "look at Obama or Powell. Don't tell me it can't be done."
Yeah, we are all familiar with that bullshit rationalization. It's an infuriating lie regardless of what color you are, you know.
Neither Obama nor Powell can tell you what it's like to really live as a black American. Jackson, Sharpton and all the other figureheads can't either.
And Bill Gates or Bill Clinton cannot tell you what it's to have had my life, either.
But the people that can tell you are silenced as thugs and such. The ones that actually came from inner city poverty. There needs to be dialogue about this situation and it's going to continue to plague the U.S. until we realize it's not just the blacks that have all the problems.
You do realize, don't you, that I live in one of the poorest (and Whitest) places in America, don't you?
Do you imagine that the kids here, who ALSO get crappy educations, and whose mostly disfucntional families are ALSO on welfare, and whose families ALSO have a long history of economnic and class oppression aren't just as fucked up and crazy as those urbans Black kids?
Where do you think your average skinhead comes from, anyway?
From the affluent white suburbs?
You DO realize, don't you that 2 out of 3 poor people in the USA are White, right?
My point here is fairly simple.
Poverty is a problem and creates problems for the poor that is not limited to Blacks.
Black poverty is worse than White poverty since racism still manifests, but White Poverty is no picnic either.
Now White poverty in no way mitigates the injustice of Black poverty.
But do not ever make the mistake of thinking that just because somebody is White they cannot imagine what injustice is like.
Most Whites are very familiar with what it feels like to get screwed, amigo.
Some of them cannot imagine what it's like to be Black, but we can certainly understand how poverty prevents people from achieving their potential since MOST of us ALSO aren't getting our fair share of the pie, either.
Statistically it's worse for Blacks, of course.
But none of us are statistics, and we all have got our crosses to bear.