Obama: America's 'Deeply Rooted' Racism Will Take Time To Tackle

[boedicca]

If America's Racism is Deeply Rooted (which I dispute), Obama is doing everything he can To Irrigate It. Nothing like a deep watering by Sharpton and Holder to keep Racism Alive!

 

[Mustang]

No, the feeling is coming from the poor people who see they have simply been left to rot in ghettos in the city.

That's the problem with too many "poor people." They are waiting for other people to change their circumstances. That is in fact why most of them are poor.

How do you change your circumstance if you're poor? How EXACTLY?

Oh...oh....oh.....I KNOW!!!!!

Get a job and work hard. That's all you need to do. There is always a job for you if you want it. All you have to do is get it and work hard. Everyone who works hard will succeed.

Simple, huh!??!!

Do you even know what the word, circumstances, means? Getting a job doesn't change you're circumstances if you're poor. Getting a job changes your status if you're unemployed, but WEALTH changes your circumstances if you're poor.

So you don't get the connection between work and money? Seriously?

The simple truth of the matter is that plenty of poor people work. They just don't make much more than what it takes to limp along in poverty. They can put food on the table, but it probably is not very good food. It will be cheap food. They can afford a car, but not a new one and maybe not even a reliable one. When people are poor, they live paycheck to paycheck. They aren't as worried about getting ahead as they are about falling even further behind.

They need to make better decisions. Work harder. Spend less. Americans, even "poor" ones, are among the wealthiest in the world. That they can't work harder and smarter and be responsible and make more is ridiculous. How old are you that you never learned that?

The cost of living is up. The cost of a college education is WAY up. Wages are down, and productivity gains have not been reflected in an increase of pay for workers even as the wealthy are taking home a large share of the nation's income.

As for me, I'm one of those people who DID pull myself up by my bootstraps unlike a lot of the people who actually hand out that advice despite the fact that they had every advantage along the way including having parents and other family members who paved the way for their future success. The point is that I KNOW how hard it is to overcome the obstacles. But it's actually getting harder to do that in America than in generations past. And of course, prior to Obamacare, a medical emergency followed by a medical bankruptcy could derail any family, even families WITH health insurance.

 

[Avatar4321]

Fucking idiots. MOST Poor people work HARDER THAN YOU DO. They work harder than I do. It takes more than hard work. Mother-fucking arrogant assholes.

Yeah, I'm sure that lovely attitude has paid off well for you.

I'm good. I was born lucky.

then maybe you should try to work hard too. That way you could see what you can really accomplish

 

[mudwhistle]

That's the problem with too many "poor people." They are waiting for other people to change their circumstances. That is in fact why most of them are poor.

How do you change your circumstance if you're poor? How EXACTLY?

Oh...oh....oh.....I KNOW!!!!!

Get a job and work hard. That's all you need to do. There is always a job for you if you want it. All you have to do is get it and work hard. Everyone who works hard will succeed.

Simple, huh!??!!

Do you even know what the word, circumstances, means? Getting a job doesn't change you're circumstances if you're poor. Getting a job changes your status if you're unemployed, but WEALTH changes your circumstances if you're poor.

So you don't get the connection between work and money? Seriously?

The simple truth of the matter is that plenty of poor people work. They just don't make much more than what it takes to limp along in poverty. They can put food on the table, but it probably is not very good food. It will be cheap food. They can afford a car, but not a new one and maybe not even a reliable one. When people are poor, they live paycheck to paycheck. They aren't as worried about getting ahead as they are about falling even further behind.

They need to make better decisions. Work harder. Spend less. Americans, even "poor" ones, are among the wealthiest in the world. That they can't work harder and smarter and be responsible and make more is ridiculous. How old are you that you never learned that?

The cost of living is up. The cost of a college education is WAY up. Wages are down, and productivity gains have not been reflected in an increase of pay for workers even as the wealthy are taking home a large share of the nation's income.

As for me, I'm one of those people who DID pull myself up by my bootstraps unlike a lot of the people who actually hand out that advice despite the fact that they had every advantage along the way including having parents and other family members who paved the way for their future success. The point is that I KNOW how hard it is to overcome the obstacles. But it's actually getting harder to do that in America than in generations past. And of course, prior to Obamacare, a medical emergency followed by a medical bankruptcy could derail any family, even families WITH health insurance.

Yeah, God bless Obama.

Too bad we can't afford the insurance.

 

[LoneLaugher]

No, the feeling is coming from the poor people who see they have simply been left to rot in ghettos in the city.

That's the problem with too many "poor people." They are waiting for other people to change their circumstances. That is in fact why most of them are poor.

How do you change your circumstance if you're poor? How EXACTLY?

Oh...oh....oh.....I KNOW!!!!!

Get a job and work hard. That's all you need to do. There is always a job for you if you want it. All you have to do is get it and work hard. Everyone who works hard will succeed.

Simple, huh!??!!

Do you even know what the word, circumstances, means? Getting a job doesn't change you're circumstances if you're poor. Getting a job changes your status if you're unemployed, but WEALTH changes your circumstances if you're poor.

So you don't get the connection between work and money? Seriously?

The simple truth of the matter is that plenty of poor people work. They just don't make much more than what it takes to limp along in poverty. They can put food on the table, but it probably is not very good food. It will be cheap food. They can afford a car, but not a new one and maybe not even a reliable one. When people are poor, they live paycheck to paycheck. They aren't as worried about getting ahead as they are about falling even further behind.

They need to make better decisions. Work harder. Spend less. Americans, even "poor" ones, are among the wealthiest in the world. That they can't work harder and smarter and be responsible and make more is ridiculous. How old are you that you never learned that?

Hard work is important. It is n

Fucking idiots. MOST Poor people work HARDER THAN YOU DO. They work harder than I do. It takes more than hard work. Mother-fucking arrogant assholes.

Yeah, I'm sure that lovely attitude has paid off well for you.

I'm good. I was born lucky.

then maybe you should try to work hard too. That way you could see what you can really accomplish

I'm good there too. Thanks, though.

 

[frigidweirdo]

How do you change your circumstance if you're poor? How EXACTLY?

How do the many, many, many, many people who start out poor improve their lives?

This is a serious question?

In case it is, the formula is fairly consistent: You don't allow your circumstances to stop you; you learn every time you fail and avoid repeating what caused the failure; you keep your standards and expectations high; you don't fall victim to excuse-making and finger pointing; you stay disciplined and sacrifice; you take advantage of every available opportunity to improve your skills; you do an excellent job at work, regardless of your position; you stay on track and you stay patient; you build on each success and learn from every misstep.

You put a higher priority on being happy than on being "rich".

Was this answer really necessary?

.

You say this as is every person who works hard succeeds. They don't.

Look at the financial crisis. People who had succeeded enough to be able to put money down on a home, lost their job, lost their home to some rich person, lost a lot. Why? Because they didn't try hard enough? Or because the rich decided it would be so?

But we're not even talking about success in succeeding beyond having a life in some way. Why do some people end up destitute? Some are because they deserve it. Others because they had a bad education, both in school and outside of school. others because they have serious problems, like mental problems that makes it hard for them to do many jobs, makes it hard to succeed.

But I guess it's easy to just paint everyone with the same brush.

 

[frigidweirdo]

No, the feeling is coming from the poor people who see they have simply been left to rot in ghettos in the city.

That's the problem with too many "poor people." They are waiting for other people to change their circumstances. That is in fact why most of them are poor.

How do you change your circumstance if you're poor? How EXACTLY?

Just like anyone else. Clean yourself up. Get a job somewhere that will give you a chance, say Wal Mart for example. Show up to work on time, do your job, save money. Once you've been there for a year or two, leverage that to find a better job. Keep going from there. How else would one do it? You start from where you are and move forward.

They should also invest in their kids. That's how immigrants do it here, and they often don't even speak English.

Or you could commit some crimes, it's quicker that way to earn money.

 

[Mac1958]

How do you change your circumstance if you're poor? How EXACTLY?

How do the many, many, many, many people who start out poor improve their lives?

This is a serious question?

In case it is, the formula is fairly consistent: You don't allow your circumstances to stop you; you learn every time you fail and avoid repeating what caused the failure; you keep your standards and expectations high; you don't fall victim to excuse-making and finger pointing; you stay disciplined and sacrifice; you take advantage of every available opportunity to improve your skills; you do an excellent job at work, regardless of your position; you stay on track and you stay patient; you build on each success and learn from every misstep.

You put a higher priority on being happy than on being "rich".

Was this answer really necessary?

.

You say this as is every person who works hard succeeds. They don't.

Look at the financial crisis. People who had succeeded enough to be able to put money down on a home, lost their job, lost their home to some rich person, lost a lot. Why? Because they didn't try hard enough? Or because the rich decided it would be so?

But we're not even talking about success in succeeding beyond having a life in some way. Why do some people end up destitute? Some are because they deserve it. Others because they had a bad education, both in school and outside of school. others because they have serious problems, like mental problems that makes it hard for them to do many jobs, makes it hard to succeed.

But I guess it's easy to just paint everyone with the same brush.

There are always excuses, and we're getting more and more in this country every single day.

I have more faith in people than you do.

.

 

[frigidweirdo]

It really is sad that so many people in this country feel this way.

You're poor, it's hopeless.

Even worse that this kind of attitude is promoted.

.

Who promotes it?

Why is it when you look at a situation and try and figure out a solution, you get hammered by the right?

If your refrigerator is broken do you A) Find out what the problem is then try and fix it or B) blame the refrigerator and say it's clearly not working hard enough?

 

[Mac1958]

It really is sad that so many people in this country feel this way.

You're poor, it's hopeless.

Even worse that this kind of attitude is promoted.

.

Who promotes it?

Why is it when you look at a situation and try and figure out a solution, you get hammered by the right?

If your refrigerator is broken do you A) Find out what the problem is then try and fix it or B) blame the refrigerator and say it's clearly not working hard enough?

A refrigerator is an inanimate object.

People, race or gender or wealth irrelevant, have the capacity to grow and improve and learn and get better. At the same time, however, people will tend to believe it when they are constantly told that someone needs to make excuses for them, or make things easier for them. If they fail and are told it's someone else's fault - rather than told that everyone fails and has to get back up - what do you suppose they're going to do? They're going to give up after that one failure.

I have faith in people, but I know they can be manipulated to have less faith in themselves. I hate to see it.

.

 

[frigidweirdo]

There are always excuses, and we're getting more and more in this country every single day.

I have more faith in people than you do.

.

It's not about excuses. It's about the fact that if you're in poverty in the US it is much harder to get out of it than in other western countries.

It's so simple to blame things on excuses, and this is why the US is suffering so much racial problems. People are stuck, education isn't helping them get out, the gap between those in poverty and those who are affluent is as wide as it has been for a long time.

It's not hard to see there are problems not being solved, just blaming other people for something they can't necessarily control.

 

[mudwhistle]

No, the feeling is coming from the poor people who see they have simply been left to rot in ghettos in the city.

That's the problem with too many "poor people." They are waiting for other people to change their circumstances. That is in fact why most of them are poor.

How do you change your circumstance if you're poor? How EXACTLY?

Oh...oh....oh.....I KNOW!!!!!

Get a job and work hard. That's all you need to do. There is always a job for you if you want it. All you have to do is get it and work hard. Everyone who works hard will succeed.

Simple, huh!??!!

Do you even know what the word, circumstances, means? Getting a job doesn't change you're circumstances if you're poor. Getting a job changes your status if you're unemployed, but WEALTH changes your circumstances if you're poor.

The simple truth of the matter is that plenty of poor people work. They just don't make much more than what it takes to limp along in poverty. They can put food on the table, but it probably is not very good food. It will be cheap food. They can afford a car, but not a new one and maybe not even a reliable one. When people are poor, they live paycheck to paycheck. They aren't as worried about getting ahead as they are about falling even further behind.

Being employed vs unemployed changes your circumstances.

 

[mudwhistle]

There are always excuses, and we're getting more and more in this country every single day.

I have more faith in people than you do.

.

It's not about excuses. It's about the fact that if you're in poverty in the US it is much harder to get out of it than in other western countries.

It's so simple to blame things on excuses, and this is why the US is suffering so much racial problems. People are stuck, education isn't helping them get out, the gap between those in poverty and those who are affluent is as wide as it has been for a long time.

It's not hard to see there are problems not being solved, just blaming other people for something they can't necessarily control.

 

[kaz]

Being president and black has helped a little, it's shown people it can be done, but for many that's not enough. Obama didn't come from poverty to his position.

No, it hasn't, because he's decided to use the incredible opportunity to be a street thug and stoke the flames of racism. It's sad what he could have done with this for this country. He's no different than Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson or the other race pimps.

 

[frigidweirdo]

A refrigerator is an inanimate object.

People, race or gender or wealth irrelevant, have the capacity to grow and improve and learn and get better. At the same time, however, people will tend to believe it when they are constantly told that someone needs to make excuses for them, or make things easier for them. If they fail and are told it's someone else's fault - rather than told that everyone fails and has to get back up - what do you suppose they're going to do? They're going to give up after that one failure.

I have faith in people, but I know they can be manipulated to have less faith in themselves. I hate to see it.

.

You know you don't need to comment on refrigerator, right? It's a metaphor.

The point being that often, to solve a problem, you need to identify the problem. The right seem to just want to ignore the problem, and you can see it happening time and time again on here.

Yes, people have the capacity to grow, doesn't mean EVERYONE can grow to a level they would like.

However you're expecting people to grow without the base to grow from. If they don't have the family support, don't have the educational support, they're just expected to grow and compete against people who do what this.

Oh, just work hard. Right? Well if everyone's working hard, but some had advantages as kids and others didn't who is going to advance and who is going to get stuck?

Now, if 25% of people in poverty are black and a lot less for white people, and black people see white people advancing and black people not, for whatever reason, how are people going to take it? If it's because opportunities are there for the richer people, who just happen to be majority white, and you're disadvantaged and black.

You say people can be manipulated to have less faith in themselves. Maybe a lot of this comes from being thrown into a school life that isn't fit for purpose, being told they're idiots from an early age because they're not the right sort of students for the type of teaching which they are forced to accept. What is the right doing about this? Nothing, other than saying it's the people's fault if they don't rise above their station, oh, you're in poverty, maybe you should have studied harder, maybe you should have worked harder, oh, you couldn't get a job because you didn't have any qualifications, well go work in walmart, oh you can't get a job there either, well it's your fault.

So you're trying to claim the left are talking people down, but you don't realise that the way the right does things, often makes people feel lower than low.

 

[frigidweirdo]

There are always excuses, and we're getting more and more in this country every single day.

I have more faith in people than you do.

.

It's not about excuses. It's about the fact that if you're in poverty in the US it is much harder to get out of it than in other western countries.

It's so simple to blame things on excuses, and this is why the US is suffering so much racial problems. People are stuck, education isn't helping them get out, the gap between those in poverty and those who are affluent is as wide as it has been for a long time.

It's not hard to see there are problems not being solved, just blaming other people for something they can't necessarily control.

great post. I see you have your argument all ready and prepared.

 

[kaz]

That's the problem with too many "poor people." They are waiting for other people to change their circumstances. That is in fact why most of them are poor.

How do you change your circumstance if you're poor? How EXACTLY?

Oh...oh....oh.....I KNOW!!!!!

Get a job and work hard. That's all you need to do. There is always a job for you if you want it. All you have to do is get it and work hard. Everyone who works hard will succeed.

Simple, huh!??!!

Do you even know what the word, circumstances, means? Getting a job doesn't change you're circumstances if you're poor. Getting a job changes your status if you're unemployed, but WEALTH changes your circumstances if you're poor.

So you don't get the connection between work and money? Seriously?

The simple truth of the matter is that plenty of poor people work. They just don't make much more than what it takes to limp along in poverty. They can put food on the table, but it probably is not very good food. It will be cheap food. They can afford a car, but not a new one and maybe not even a reliable one. When people are poor, they live paycheck to paycheck. They aren't as worried about getting ahead as they are about falling even further behind.

They need to make better decisions. Work harder. Spend less. Americans, even "poor" ones, are among the wealthiest in the world. That they can't work harder and smarter and be responsible and make more is ridiculous. How old are you that you never learned that?

The cost of living is up. The cost of a college education is WAY up. Wages are down, and productivity gains have not been reflected in an increase of pay for workers even as the wealthy are taking home a large share of the nation's income.

As for me, I'm one of those people who DID pull myself up by my bootstraps unlike a lot of the people who actually hand out that advice despite the fact that they had every advantage along the way including having parents and other family members who paved the way for their future success. The point is that I KNOW how hard it is to overcome the obstacles. But it's actually getting harder to do that in America than in generations past. And of course, prior to Obamacare, a medical emergency followed by a medical bankruptcy could derail any family, even families WITH health insurance.

Again the politics of fear. That they "could" get derailed by bankruptcy is not an argument for an entire community remaining poor.

I was strictly middle class. My parents helped me some with my undergraduate degree (U of Maryland, double major in Math & Computer Science). I worked, took five years and paid most of it myself. I worked a full time job while getting my first Masters degree (MS in Computer Science, Virginia Tech). They paid for it, I worked long hours. Then I quit my job and borrowed the money to get my second (U of Michigan, MBA). Then I started earning six figures and paid it back. I did nothing that no one else can do. I worked my ass off and did what I had to do. That door is open to everyone. For most of the world and most of history it's not. You sit in a country where no one has any excuses and make excuses. If you did it as you claim, then you know that it's just up to you.

Now supposed someone kept telling you like you do to blacks that you can't make it, the system is against you, don't even try. And suppose you decided to listen to that lie and quit, thinking they are right. Who is that on?

 

[frigidweirdo]

Again the politics of fear. That they "could" get derailed by bankruptcy is not an argument for an entire community remaining poor.

I was strictly middle class. My parents helped me some with my undergraduate degree (U of Maryland, double major in Math & Computer Science). I worked, took five years and paid most of it myself. I worked a full time job while getting my first Masters degree (MS in Computer Science, Virginia Tech). They paid for it, I worked long hours. Then I quit my job and borrowed the money to get my second (U of Michigan, MBA). Then I started earning six figures and paid it back. I did nothing that no one else can do. I worked my ass off and did what I had to do. That door is open to everyone. For most of the world and most of history it's not. You sit in a country where no one has any excuses and make excuses. If you did it as you claim, then you know that it's just up to you.

Now supposed someone kept telling you like you do to blacks that you can't make it, the system is against you, don't even try. And suppose you decided to listen to that lie and quit, thinking they are right. Who is that on?

Let's try this. You have parental emotion support. You have physical support. You no doubt went to a good school with good educational support. You were able to take you SATs and get a mark that was good enough to get into university. Along the way you might have had problems and issues but nothing compared to a lot of people.

Some kids don't have the ability to go to university. Some kids don't get the education to be able to go to university when otherwise they might have been able to.
Some kids get caught up in gangs. Some kids get told from an early age that they're not academic enough for school, and this equates to being told they're stupid. If you get told it enough, you're going to believe it.

Now imagine you're not academic enough for university, you might get through high school if you have some good teachers, but you don't, you get told you're stupid by the system, you see those around you not going anywhere, you realise there isn't much difference between then and you, you don't have the support at home, then you get some white middle class guy telling everyone how damn easy it is to just work hard and get your degree and then get a good job.

How would you react.

We generally call this empathy. Some people lack it.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Your type of senseless babble is the problem. You point fingers without one shred of anything but racism, but I doubt you realize it. The term "I have a black friend" has been a litmus test for true racists for a very long time.

You got any black friends? Probably not, but IF you do, ask them to explain racism to you.
That is, if you have the sense to understand what racism IS. Which I doubt. I have seen the shit you write and you seem pretty fucking stupid.

Why I bet you think that in Alabama back in the twenties and thirties that black men were treated as the equals of whites.

Come on, prove that my opinion of your stupidity is a fact and state that blacks in the deep south were always treated as the equals of whites.

Will you do that for me?

Let's talk about black friends. I used to have a friend, Doreen, who attended clerical school with me. After we graduated and both got good jobs, Doreen wanted to move out of the crappy neighborhood she lived in to someplace nicer with a better school for her son. She asked me to go apartment-shopping with her. Turned out that what she wanted was for me to pretend that I, with my middle-class whiteness, was the applicant because she was sure that the apartment managers wouldn't want to rent to a black woman, and would make excuses to reject her application. I refused, because I don't believe in lying and because she was being ridiculous, which I told her. As it happens, every single place she went to practically fell all over themselves to convince her to choose their complex. One guy put it succinctly: "You get Section 8 AND you're employed full-time. We know that one way or another, we're actually going to get our rent. That's huge."

Let's talk some more about black folks we know (since, unlike you, I actually know more than one). My sister, who is whiter than sour cream, has four children, three boys and a girl. The girl and two of the boys are albino-white with blonde hair and blue eyes. The third boy is black. When he was in his teens, he went through a rebellious phase, hanging with a bunch of other black kids at his high school, wearing his pants around his knees, blathering on about being mistreated because he was black, how the black man could never get ahead, yada yada. He was an enormous, insufferable pain in the ass at family gatherings for several years. I personally started refusing to go anywhere with him in public because it so often turned into an ordeal where he got into some waiter's or security guard's face. (Although there were some truly funny moments, too, like when my sister got mad at him in the mall and started chewing him out, and he started to walk away. She stopped him, and he turned to a bystander and said, "Who's the crazy white woman?")

My nephew is in his late twenties now, and he doesn't hang out with those friends from high school who taught him about how "hard" it is to be black in America. Why? Well, Simon was what his friends called "raised white", which means my sister and brother-in-law hounded him as relentlessly as his siblings about getting grades, graduating, and learning how to behave in polite society. Last I heard, one of his friends has done time, and the other dropped out of school and works at a cashier job. And Simon? Graduated from ASU, became an investment banker, and lives in Scottsdale with his wife and two daughters.

No, I don't think the difference was that my sister and brother-in-law are white. I think any parent of any color could have produced similar results with a similar mindset: keep your shit together, behave yourself, and get an education. Does Simon encounter people who have a problem with his skin color? Sure. Is that an insurmountable roadblock? Apparently not.

 

[kaz]

Again the politics of fear. That they "could" get derailed by bankruptcy is not an argument for an entire community remaining poor.

I was strictly middle class. My parents helped me some with my undergraduate degree (U of Maryland, double major in Math & Computer Science). I worked, took five years and paid most of it myself. I worked a full time job while getting my first Masters degree (MS in Computer Science, Virginia Tech). They paid for it, I worked long hours. Then I quit my job and borrowed the money to get my second (U of Michigan, MBA). Then I started earning six figures and paid it back. I did nothing that no one else can do. I worked my ass off and did what I had to do. That door is open to everyone. For most of the world and most of history it's not. You sit in a country where no one has any excuses and make excuses. If you did it as you claim, then you know that it's just up to you.

Now supposed someone kept telling you like you do to blacks that you can't make it, the system is against you, don't even try. And suppose you decided to listen to that lie and quit, thinking they are right. Who is that on?

Let's try this. You have parental emotion support. You have physical support. You no doubt went to a good school with good educational support. You were able to take you SATs and get a mark that was good enough to get into university. Along the way you might have had problems and issues but nothing compared to a lot of people.

Some kids don't have the ability to go to university. Some kids don't get the education to be able to go to university when otherwise they might have been able to.
Some kids get caught up in gangs. Some kids get told from an early age that they're not academic enough for school, and this equates to being told they're stupid. If you get told it enough, you're going to believe it.

Now imagine you're not academic enough for university, you might get through high school if you have some good teachers, but you don't, you get told you're stupid by the system, you see those around you not going anywhere, you realise there isn't much difference between then and you, you don't have the support at home, then you get some white middle class guy telling everyone how damn easy it is to just work hard and get your degree and then get a good job.

How would you react.

We generally call this empathy. Some people lack it.

Which is again a great argument for my point. Stop telling them they can't succeed. Tell them to start from where they are and go as far as they can. Their attitude is far more important than their education or training. You can fix the latter, not the former.