Posted on 12/11/2001 4:13:41 AM PST by SJackson
SO it seems there's this new poll that contains sobering assessments and harsh criticisms of black people.
For instance, 42 percent of those surveyed felt that the biggest threat to black progress is lack of education.
Thirty-one percent of those surveyed felt that irresponsibility and disinterest are the main reason black fathers are frequently absent from the lives of their children.
Fifty-six percent of those surveyed felt that black men have "failed" their families. And guess what? One hundred percent of those surveyed are black.
In fact, the poll was conducted by Black Entertainment Television (BET) as part of "Under One Roof," a continuing project surveying the state of the African-American family. You can find the results online at www.bet.com (click on "Features").
Some of those results will, I suspect, surprise many white people. It will be news to them that blacks judge themselves so harshly.
Small wonder. White folks don't, as a general rule, read Essence, hang out at the black neighborhood barbershop or visit bet.com. So they would have no way of knowing that black folks are some of the most ruthlessly self-critical people you'll ever want to meet. But there's an unwritten rule to that criticism: White folks aren't allowed to hear it. Blacks don't usually speak frankly of their own failings in the presence of whites for the same reason you don't hand ammunition to a man who's trying to shoot you.
In other words, black folks tend to censor self-criticism for fear some white people will use that as validation for racism. Indeed, there's no shortage of whites for whom black self-criticism comes like manna from heaven. People for whom black poverty, crime, fatherlessness and other pathologies can never be discussed except as evidence - indeed, proof - of some genetic flaw that unfailingly attaches to brown skin.
So black folks have learned to preach a gospel of "unity," under which criticism of the family stays inside the family.
....snip....
It would be healthy for the nation at large and the black community in particular for black people to be able to discuss those problems, to challenge, criticize and debate one another openly and honestly, without caring who hears. Healthy for the black community because it hastens the search for solutions. Healthy for the nation because it helps destroy the myth of monolith. Not to mention a certain insidious double standard. Or hadn't you noticed that, when white fathers fail their families, white people never have to stop and wonder if any of this will be interpreted as evidence of their congenital inferiority?
Yes, African-Americans ought to be wary of ever appearing to validate bigotry. But where wariness demands abrogation of the fundamental human right to debate and dissent, it crosses the point of diminishing returns and makes us what we abhor. There is, after all, a word for the person who insists that all black people speak and think alike.
Racist.
I suspect that any African-Americans seeing this piece will only have that sentiment reinforced. One of the difficulties AA's face is that they cannot work out their problems without gawking intrusions like this. It sure would get my own back up.
There should be a Class action suit against the Teachers,Unions,City and State Government based on the lack of teaching done in these Public Schools.
42 percent of those surveyed felt that the biggest threat to black progress is lack of education
If we are to EVER eradicate the sense of hopelessness and stagnation in some parts of our inner cities, it will be by providing a REAL education. The biggest scandal, in my estimation, is that people like Jesse and Al help keep lack of choice and lack of progress in inner city schools because it provides them with political capital. For a look at what can happen when there is REAL education, take a look at K.I.P.P..
The link I provided is a private school. Also, when I refer to choice: it means letting PARENTS decide where to put their children, either in a private or public, religious or secular school. I agree we cannot expect the government to solve all their problems, but what do you propose we do about those children whose parents don't really give a damn? From a purely selfish point of view, if we do not educate them, they become a burden to society...
That is so sad and so true. I propose that all we can do is let those who are willing try. Contrary to the popular belief on this site there are hundreds of thousands of government employees who really love this country and the people in it and really want to help.
My problem is that the issue of the failure of single and no-parent families is not discussed enough for me. The liberal media won't say anything and liberal ideas are trying to say that any group of people 'who love each other' is a family. I think that even our public schools could teach that having a child without having a husband is a disasterous thing for a girl to do and they should keep their legs together. We see these idiotic commercials that push the evils of smoking cigarettes like that is the only evil in the country. OHHH how I'd love to see such an effort pushing responsibility to babies and children.
about 3 years ago i went to the oakland museum.
after parking my car and as i was walking to the entrance,
out of the blue comes a black kid on his bicycle, looks at me and says 'honky'!!
i was really shocked, believe me. how did i react to him?
i fired right back with 'yo mama'! he got a good laugh out of that.
but all us honkies know that blacks 'can't be' racist!!
black folks are some of the most ruthlessly self-critical people you'll ever want to meet.
Classifying a group based upon phyical characteristics and passing judgements on their behavior should be avoided... to be accurate, one should stick to references to the culture and not the individuals, reputable statistical citations, and qualifiers like "most"... like this:
Considering that blacks (comprising 16% of the population) commit over 90% of the violent crimes against blacks, black culture views education as something to be discouraged, and that blacks vote virtually as a block for the party that would keep them dependent and poor, one could rephrase the line above as:
"black folks culture [is one] of the most ruthlessly self-critical self-destructive people cultures you'll ever want to [see].
Greg
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