On The Backs of Others

I was watching C-Span's Washington Journal this morning when a woman called, identified herself and her race (black) and then went on a pretty well done rant about the current talking point memos that "everyone should be required to sacrifice".

Her point threw me off a little bit at first, which was that "African Americans have sacrificed enough".  I kind of immediately took a negative turn towards the statement because we all are in the same boat and everybody is going to get wet when it sinks.

But after a couple of hours of thinking about it, I'm almost ashamed of myself for negating her thoughts because mine might have been more wide-reaching when everyone is adversely affected by the political and economic situation in this country today.

She's right, in each and every aspect that I can perceive.  Now I'm not going to go through a lot of "African-American" stuff here because we're talking about Americans who happen, by virtue of birth and through no choice of their own, are black.  And even by saying that I'm somewhat separating myself from "them", but I'm not.  I'm differentiating between my being a white American and her being a black American.  Plain and simple.  She has an African heritage, I have a European heritage, but we are both Americans.

This is one of the problems that continues to occur time and time again, which is that there is some fundamental difference between the humanity of a person due strictly to the chances of their birth and the color of their skin.

The fact is that there aren't many people who don't have some level of all races in their genetic makeup.  Well, maybe Stephen Colbert because Dr. Henry Louis Gates did a genetic makeup on him and said he was the whitest person in America.

But the rest of us are the polyglot of races that have made this country great, and this woman is absolutely right.

Not because of the history of white treatment of blacks, although certainly that is true, but because even today blacks bare a burden that should be abhorrent to all of us.  Every single thing that white Americans take for granted is somehow only available to blacks if "we" GRANT them that particular thing.

Like the right to vote, or sit at a Woolworth snack counter, or go to a truly integrated school and getting all the advantages of the better schools.

Our American Heritage was built on the whip-scarred backs of black America without one thought of just what we were doing, and this woman was right.

Even when the economy was going great guns during the Clinton years and job creation was up into the 10s of millions, most black Americans had absolutely no ability to take advantage of the prosperity.

And today our black population has disproportional unemployment even in excess of our Hispanic Americans.

How long can America continue to keep an entire culture, an entire and major piece of our history hidden by continuing to demand that somehow "the sacrifice be shared by all" when no sacrifice was share in making this country in the first place?

I'm not suggesting that anyone be given a free ride, as the Republicans continue to suggest happens by "these people", particularly with people that don't look like them, but I'm suggesting that if you want to have all the people doing the heavy lifting, then you have to make certain that everyone has the strength necessary to do the job.

This comes down to almost every aspect of life for blacks in America, although not all blacks.  I don't want to get into that conversation right at the moment, but let us just say that even among the downtrodden there are those that weren't actually quite so downtrodden.

But percentage wise, all blacks are still at a disadvantage in today's America.

Because of the dispersal of all people in our society, some communities are black due to the affordability of living there, but in most cases, schools are failing their students, so we have high levels of dropouts.  Of course, our schools are failing all of our students, and the dropout rate is way too high across the board, but let's face it.  There's no really rockin' school in Harlem knocking out blacks that go on to get Ph.D's.  And that's not their fault, it is America's failure.

You see, we have this propensity to determine that people are different, and in that difference, there is some level of humanity that has not been achieved, thus schools almost as good is good enough.  In fact, had we continued with the idea of separate but equal, and actually put as many good teachers in both school systems, applied all school programs equally across the board, our black citizens probably would have been better off in their dreams to achieve an education and gainful employment.

I'm not saying it should have been this way, but when you look at history it is often easy to speculate on what some crucial decision point might have had.  The idea presented in Brown v. Board of Education was the correct way to do it, but the concepts applied after by the courts on bussing was absolutely incorrect.

Communities are communities and should function as such.  In my case growing up with the growing pains of integration, all of the children in our small town were part of the community and integration was logical.  But in cities like NY with 13 million people, trying to take children from one community and sending them to another community was a stupid mistake, not to mention the problems attendant with sick children and a subway ride by a poor parent to pick that child up and take them home.

This is what I'm talking about.  The whites at these same schools didn't have to be concerned for the most part.  Picking up a sick child might have been an inconvenience, but most likely didn't adversely affect that week's take home pay.  The effects are disproportional and always against black people.

We have consistently, and by court orders, set up inconsistencies that were and still are adverse to the lives of most of our black Americans, and it is time to stop.

A perfect example is the complete rearrangement of an entire city by bussing blacks out of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and virtually not letting more than half of them back.  We took their homes, destroyed the ambiance of New Orleans, and in the meantime we took over all the schools and privatized them.  Well, except for a couple of the "black" schools, which have re-energized themselves and become programs any school system would be proud of.

So this woman, speaking on C-Span today was absolutely right.  There is no rhyme or reason to have a totally separate group of people always on the sidelines, busting their asses every day of their lives with only the expectation that their children won't be killed in drive-by shootings, and that perhaps they will achieve the thankless task of working a menial job, or perhaps two or even three.

But I'm sorry.  This woman didn't take it far enough, for you see, there is not a single country in the world developed by those of European descent that hasn't had problems understanding that they weren't the be all that they proclaimed to be.  And it isn't just trouble because of blacks.  It's a perception problem that still exists today, exhibited by a number of countries in Europe, which can't come to grips with the Arab influx into their countries.

We have the same problem today because Republicans want to demonize Hispanic people, utilizing the "illegal immigrant" label when a good third of our country was originally Mexico.  One hundred and sixty years holds sway over thousands of years of family affiliations between what now is two different countries.  What a way to make things work.

I guess winning a war means you automatically get to denigrate the people who have lived on the land for a couple of thousand years.  Or, if you brought them in as slaves then obviously they weren't completely human, even as those "slaves" were torn away from their families who had thousands of years of history.

Yes, I'm ashamed of myself for feeling a little disgruntled by this woman's statement that African-Americans had sacrificed enough, but she's right. 

Four hundred years of slavery, and today's environment is only a little better than slavery in the first place.  Yeah, she's right and America hasn't done right by a major part of this society and is yet again trying to denigrate a new segment of our society.

I'm not talking about social denigration, which occurred, with each new wave of even European immigrants such as the Irish running from the potato famine during the same time as the Mexican-American war, or the Jews in their fleeing a catastrophic growth of genocide under Hitler.

I'm talking about today.  I'm talking about laws designed to put black people behind bars when white people walk.  I'm talking about suspecting that any black person is a criminal, or doesn't have academic credentials, or isn't actually breaking into their own house on the campus of Harvard because they lost their keys.

Some people would like to simply ignore the situation as if all of that was decided 60 years ago, when the fact is that it was decided about 150 years ago with the Emancipation Proclamation and the problem keeps rearing it's ugly head because the decision made no major difference in the views of the population for the vast majority of blacks.

We haven't recognized the full-fledged American citizenship of a large percentage of our American population, and we're trying to act like there's no reason to do so because it is already the law.

But if you look at the immigration laws being passed by the southern states theses days, it looks an awful lot like the Jim Crow laws of the 1950s, and ultimately they will be used against our black Americans as easily as the immigrants.

Four hundred years of American history built on the backs of slaves.  Yeah, this woman was right.  Perhaps if we actually made everyone equal, then the sacrifice could be shared equally, but not until then.

Comments

[Omar Bryant]

"I guess winning a war means you automatically get to denigrate the people who have lived on the land for a couple of thousand years. Or, if you brought them in as slaves then obviously they weren't completely human, even as those "slaves" were torn away from their families who had thousands of years of history."

Of course this has always been the case throughout most of earth's history. However I'm reminded of what King said in his final speech:

"All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper.If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. .....But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights."

Despite how bad things are right now, the real reason things haven't changed is because on the whole most white Americans really aren't doing all that badly. The median income for the average white adult is some twenty times greater than the average black adult. For black males in some communities the level of unemployment are over 40%. If conditions for whites were to ever deteriorate to anything approaching this (and it just well might) there would be a war in the streets. King's dream has been sterilized to represent the taking down of a few "whites only" signs and busing a few kids across town, to which America can tout it's "triumph over inequality".

In many ways-despite the election of a black president (and perhaps in some ways because of it)-race relations have actually gone backwards. We've segregated ourselves from one another, in some ways both races are to blame for this but of course whites have so much more say. Take for example the "whitewashing" of American television. From roughly the mid-seventies through the 80's there were always a significant number of shows that depicted an integrated America ("Cosby Show", "The Jefferson's", "Good-Times" etc.). It seems that as the number of cable channels grew it was easy to throw the "ethnic programming" on to a few networks (i.e BET,U.P.N) and be done with it.

Now, if you are not Caucasian, somewhere between 18-40 and attractive, forget it. You are basically nowhere to be seen on American network television (with the exception of pro-sports and the unpaid mercenary athletes in college sports). This might seem insignificant, but television is where most Americans go to "get away" for a little while and entertain themselves. If we cannot even do that collectively what do we actually have to start with.

[Roger W. Norman]

Wow, great reply.

Actually, there are a lot of "things" that represent another level of discrimination as you represent, one being the use of black couples in commercials, which is good because it's work, but you almost never see an integrated couple. This creates the idea that all things are just fine with "the blacks" as Donald Trump said, but it just doesn't ring true.

In terms of electing a black President, I think that was a really great day for the country, but a very bad day for millions of people who thought that would bring about positive change. And I'm somewhat concerned that I told my wife (she's black and says so) to vote for Obama rather than Hillary because I truly believed he would bring about some real change, but in terms of the hearts and minds of the people about race.

It didn't, as you allude to, but rather brought back a 50 year old schism of segregation. I've written about this within the past 3 years on this blog, so I'm not going to write it again.

I really do appreciate your comments and I hope that I've brought a little different perspective to the conversation.

Roger

[Bill Perkins]

I agree that black Americans have sacrificed enough...and that it is continuing. I also believe the primary challenge being faced by the black community, the Hispanic community, and increasingly the white community is the destruction of the family. The majority of American children are now born out of wedlock.

We can argue about what's caused this, and I'm not trying to push the family structure as a religious issue, and I don't care whether the parents are both male, female or hetero, although I believe the latter to be better for children. Nevertheless, family social and financial stability lead to better educated and socially conscious offspring who can help preserve and even elevate the working and professional classes.

In my view those values were there in the WWI and WWII generations, both black and white, but since have been denigrated in the perversion of my boomer generation to the point of extinction in some communities. The result is an almost unmanageable burden on single mothers. There are housing complexes in some communities now designed for single grandmothers who are doing their best to raise their grandchildren.

What are your ideas on how to address this issue?

[Roger W. Norman]

I'm sorry Bill, but where can I reference this statistic that I've never heard before. A Majority of children born out of wedlock seems to be a bit excessive.

As far as your beliefs, well, they are your beliefs, but I'm not certain just how much that represents. I don't remember any factors that have been presented which suggest children within same sex living situations are the cause for any child becoming abnormal. I mean, ignore the extremes, which may have many other causes, and courts don't seem to have a problem with gays or lesbians adopting children, unless it is a problem with the specific people, which takes it out of the range of a gay or lesbian couple.

As far as the "values" represented, most of it was intolerance, not real "values". Gays (in particular) were prosecuted as if they were something other than human. I don't recall any particular lesbian prosecutions primarily because men don't mind two woman having sex. They just mind two men having sex.

No, there is a disconnect between the concept of the first half of the 20th century and the second half, mostly based on bias and prejudicial attitudes, not values.

Of course, your view of values and mine might be different. My concept of values is that I don't impose my thoughts or preferences on other people, whilst a lot of others think their values are those which should be followed because they are American values.

To me, values are of a personal nature and the way that I treat my family and my friends. When others wish to talk at me about values, I assume they mean their values and what I should be doing based on their assessments. Sorry, not good enough.

If I'm expected to be responsible for my actions, then my values aren't up for grabs. It then becomes some outside force that tries to make my actions less than the values they choose to support.

Sorry, but not really an important part of my life. My values are mine, not up to interpretation and certainly not up to public debate. Too bad most of America only applauds values they think are important, even though the concept is that everyone has a right to their own viewpoints.

Gee, reminds me of little communities hardly able to make ends meet in New England during the 1600s and witch hunts. Was that values?

Roger

[cheap jerseys]

She's right, in each and every aspect that I can perceive. Now I'm not going to go through a lot of "African-American" stuff here because we're talking about Americans who happen, by virtue of birth and through no choice of their own, are black. And even by saying that I'm somewhat separating myself from "them", but I'm not. I'm differentiating between my being a white American and her being a black American. Plain and simple. She has an African heritage, I have a European heritage, but we are both Americans.

[Bill Perkins]

Roger, you respond to the complete and ludicrous distortion of fact by Omar with "Wow,great reply." but nit and go off on unrelated rants regarding someone who you perceive as disagreeing with you. According to the U.S. Census special report in 2006, which is the most recent report that popped up in about .013 seconds, the median income of Caucasians was $50,673 versus $31,969 for blacks, which is 59% more for whites. Not "20 times" or 2000% more. The interesting part, though, is that this statistic actually improved with respect to black income from a 67% spread in 1975. So blacks are actually closing the income gap based on those statistics. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104552.html

According to the CDC National Vital Statistics Report for 2008 that was released last December, the birth rate outside marriage is 40.6%, which five years earlier was 34%. What it is for 2011, I don't know, but I would presume to be a little higher. Still not a majority, so I overstated it somewhat. But not 2000%. For blacks, it was 72%, Hispanic was 53%, and for non-hispanic whites, 29%. If I had the numbers for the 1950, for example, I believe all these numbers would be much much less.

I wasn't trying to address values, which you enjoy discussing. My observation, though, and practical experience after living some 63 years, is that kids have more financial and social advantages in stable two-parent homes, ignoring the extremes as you suggest. I therefore believe that if more children were raised in such homes--never mind their race, cause it affects all races--the employment and the income gap would close more quickly than the trickle the above stats suggest.

I'm simply suggesting you consider the root causes of the disparity today in unemployment rates among the races. Sure, prejudice and racism still exist, but they are a greatly declining issue with each generation, and that takes time. Reverend King and other black leaders have greatly sped up that process during my lifetime. The greater problem today from my view is preparing minority children to compete for jobs. Women today, certainly white and black, are stepping up and taking charge because the men won't. Somehow we have to convince young men of their role and responsibility. They need male mentors, ideally their fathers. How many generations will it take for that to turn around?

[Roger W. Norman]

Tomorrow Bill.