Black boys see little to encourage education

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 8/17/03 | NATHAN McCALL

[Clemenza]

In 1932, approximately half of black Americans were out of work. In some Northern cities, whites called for blacks to be fired from any jobs as long as there were whites out of work.

A little historical context: After immigration from Europe dried up, blacks became commonly used as strikebreakers, causing animosity between working class whites and blacks. Let's also not forget that competition for housing (and by extension, neighborhoods) was fierce during the depression only adding to the animosity.

[Educated Lady in GA]

I will bet that you do not even know that the majority of welfare recipients are white and not black. You must consider that the term "welfare" consists of a plethora of services provided by the government. Within these multitude of services Blacks make up a small percentage of welfare recipients, mostly because they are unaware of the many different services available. You should check the stats. I said that because I feel that it is amazing that people will spend time bashing the views/opinions of someone and insist that they are wrong for thinking and feeling that way, but not recognize that they are trying to force their own views/opinions on to someone else.

[HitmanLV]

The only ones who encouraged my education was my folks.

The idea that I had sterling role models that would inspire me to stay in school and become like them is absurd. Never happened.

I am 38 now, and I still don't have those kind of role models. :-)