Why Are Blacks Still Struggling In America?
It's the Culture Stupid!
The U.S Census Bureau has an interesting publication, and in it is a chart showing Real Median Household Income by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1967 to 2016. In that chart it shows, over the course of time, that Asians are numero uno in this department, whites are number two, Hispanics are third, and blacks have consistently been dead last. Now why is that?
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2017/demo/P60-259.pdf
Well, the first and most obvious answer is that they got a late start due to their origins in this country as slaves, which began a long time before America was even a consideration by the way. Not just that, but they were held back for a very long time not even allowed to be educated. This is why we have things like affirmative action, and various government programs and entitlements to help them catch up.
Now, there is no argument that although their standard of living has improved over time, blacks still underperform when compared to other groups as can be seen in the aforementioned chart. I would also like to make a distinction here between native born blacks and those who immigrated from countries like Nigeria, Somalia, Haiti, etc. To quote BlackEnterprise.com a few years back, "The Nielsen research finds that the median household income for foreign-born blacks is 30% higher than U.S.-born blacks." (http://www.blackenterprise.com/black-immigrants-in-u-s-earning-30-more-than-u-s-born-blacks/)
To quote Bloomberg.com from earlier this year, "One of the most striking facts about immigration to the U.S. ... is the superior education of Africans coming to this country. If we consider adults age 25 or older, born in Africa and living in the U.S., 41.7 of them have a bachelor’s degree or more, according to 2009 data. For contrast, the native-born population has a bachelor’s degree or more at the much lower rate of only 28.1 percent in these estimates ... (https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-12/africa-is-sending-us-its-best-and-brightest)
So, some blacks immigrating from certain countries are doing just as well if not better than Asians, Indians, and whites as a group. This makes me very skeptical regarding the notion of 'institutionalized racism.' I do not believe that it is 'the man' who is keeping native born blacks down. Let me count the ways I believe this is happening:
The illegitimacy rate for native born blacks, by all counts, is anywhere between 70 to 75%. Put another way, about three out of four black kids is a bastard. Without a strict father figure in the house boys tend to be unruly and get in trouble. Boys need a tough authoritarian male to look up to and keep them in check, and mom needs them to help pay the bills. If mom has to work two jobs to make ends meat, then junior is just going to get into that much more trouble.
Reliance on welfare causes resentment, low motivation, and low self-esteem. It is fairly conventional knowledge that F.D.R.'s New Deal practically destroyed the black family. Basically the government assumed the role of father or provider, and so male partners were no longer required to stick around after they got their girl pregnant hence the skyrocketing illegitimacy rate. According to Walter Williams, "In 1940, black illegitimacy stood at 14 percent. It had risen to 25 percent by 1965, when Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action" and was widely condemned as a racist. By 1980, the black illegitimacy rate had more than doubled, to 56 percent, and it has been growing since. Today's black illegitimacy rate is nearly 75 percent."
(https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/walter-e-williams/true-black-tragedy-illegitimacy-rate-nearly-75)Any culture that criticizes learning and demonizes education, and states the pursuit of such things is "acting white" is doomed. I am speaking, of course, about urban culture. Chris Rock commented on this in one of his stand ups where he spoke about the almost prideful admittance one who endorses this culture has to not know the answer to your questions, and that "books are like kryptonite..." It is also a culture that promotes an actual 'toxic masculinity' that calls women "bitches" and "hoes," and if you look at me funny, then I am going to beat the shit out of you. This culture embraces the desire to want to aspire to be a thug and 'gangsta.' It glorifies it in fact. It promotes violence, degradation of women, and if you watch Joel McHale's show on Netflix, then you know that black women are also becoming this way, ready to fly off the handle and get into a fist fight in public over the most minor indiscretion or insult. Can you picture the Queen of England, Mother Theresa, or Ivanka Trump acting like this? How about the kids from Little House on the Prairie? What about Jordan Peterson, Walter Williams, or Thomas Sowell? All I am saying is that it is a largely uncivilized, anti-intellectual culture that has single moms spending more time and money on their nails and hair than reading a book to their kids. Like Prince sang in "Come On" - "Ha, ha - you and your girlfriend, Y'all two of a kind, Just runnin' these knuckleheads, Three and four at a time, Both of you's want babies, But you still actin' wild, The first rule in makin' one, You can't be no child, Instead of hittin' that remy (Hittin' that remy), Why don't y'all hit the door? (Hit the door), I'll book us on the red eye, And we'll be good to go (Good to go)."
Being taught hate and resentment at a very early age by civil rights leaders, Democrat politicians, and a biased left wing media with an agenda causes kids to grow up with massive chips on their shoulders and basically act like assholes themselves. It is reverse racism. Assuming I am a racist simply because I am white is ... wait for it ... RACIST! Another problem this creates is the awareness of the existence of jerks. If someone is rude or inconsiderate to me, then I just assume that they are a jerk, but if I am black and they are white, well then it must be racism. He didn't hold the door open for me because he is a racist. But what if he didn't hold the door open for me either? Would we not have to then conclude that maybe he is not necessarily a racist but just a big jerk? See, for native born blacks in America today there are no white jerks. Sure, a black guy who does not hold the door open for another black guy may be perceived as a jerk, but if he is white then he is automatically a racist. See my point here?
So what is the solution? How do we get kids to stop embracing such a destructive culture? We have to make being smart and informed cool somehow. Right now you are considered hoity toity if you are intelligent and know things. I know, sad isn't it? I remember Dennis Miller making it cool for me to want to expand my vocabulary back in the nineties. Alex P. Keaton made being smart cool for me on Family Ties back in the eighties. We need someone like that again. The alternative is pictured below.
