Racism is NOT Blacks’ Biggest Problem

Racism is NOT Blacks’ Biggest Problem

© David Burton 2019

Black Problems
 


      Blacks in America still face numerous problems here in the year 2019 – but, racism is not their biggest one.

      At a Democratic presidential debate in September of 2019, it was stated that among young black voters, “ ‘Several recent polls indicate their No. 1 concern is racism.’
      “Nothing more clearly divides left from right than this statement. The left says the No. 1 problem facing black Americans is racism. No one else does. [Emphasis mine] Anyone who says racism is a greater problem than, for example, the absence of black fathers (more than three-quarters of black children are born to unwed mothers) either is woefully ignorant or purposefully wants to spread racial division.
      “Furthermore, if such polls exist and they are right, there is no hope for black America in this generation. It means that the left has successfully indoctrinated young Americans, white and black, into believing that a truly decent country is so indecent it hates its black population.
      “{One candidate remarked that:} . . . ‘Racism in America is endemic. ... It is found in our education system, where in Texas, a 5-year-old child in kindergarten is five times as likely to be disciplined or suspended or expelled based on the color of their skin.’
      “This is one of the left's ‘proofs’ of ‘endemic’ American racism: America is so racist even kindergarten teachers and school principals . . . expel black students solely because they are black, not because black students are disruptive at rates higher than their percentage in the classroom. . .” (Ref. 1)

      Taleeb Starkes is the Black author of Black Lies Matter and of the Amazon bestseller, The Un-Civil War, which confronts the criminal and dysfunctional subculture in many inner-city black communities in the United States. Here is his list of the five biggest issues facing blacks in America as of September 2016. Notice that racism doesn’t make his list.

Problem #5. The Victim Mentality
      “Nothing holds someone back more than seeing himself as a victim. Why? Because a victim is not responsible for his situation. Everything is someone else’s fault. [Emphasis mine] And the victim sees little chance of improving his life. How can he get ahead if someone is holding him back? All this makes the victim unhappy, frustrated and angry.
      “This is how too many blacks see themselves – as victims. So much so that their victim status becomes their primary identity and their ruling ideology. I call it victimology. Unfortunately, many black churches preach this ‘victimology,’ many black parents pass it on to their children, inner-city schools teach it to their students and the black media reinforce it. Meanwhile, the NAACP and other black grievance groups fundraise on it.

Problem #4. Lack of Diversity
      “Blacks repeatedly demand an ‘honest dialogue or debate about race.’ But how can there ever be an honest dialogue about race between blacks and whites when there is virtually no honest dialogue between blacks and blacks? [Emphasis mine] It’s hypocritical. And if a black doesn’t think, ‘whites are ultimately responsible for black people’s problems,’ they’re labeled a ‘sell-out,’ ‘Uncle Tom,’ or ‘race-traitor.’
      “As long as this type of groupthink exists, race-reverends of the Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson type will continue to be celebrated while independent black thinkers such as Professors Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams will be shunned.
      “The honest race dialogue and debate -- that first has to happen -- is not between blacks and whites but between blacks and blacks. [Emphasis mine] We demand diversity from others, but need to practice it ourselves where it really matters -- in thought, opinion, and even political affiliation.

Problem #3. Urban Terrorism
      “As just about everyone knows, but too few talk about publicly, in majority black cities, violent black on black crime is rampant. [Emphasis mine] A Department of Justice study from 1980-2008 revealed that blacks accounted for almost half of the nation’s homicide victims (47.4%) and more than half of the offenders (52.4%) all while only being 13% of America’s population.
      “The Tuskegee Institute conducted a study of all known lynchings of blacks that occurred between 1882-1968. During this 86-year span, which is essentially the post-Civil War era up to the Civil Rights era, 3,446 Blacks where reportedly lynched. Presently, black-on-black murder eclipses the number of blacks lynched over the course of 80 years roughly every six months.
      “Unbelievably, the culpability for this disproportionate amount of mayhem actually lies with a menacing 2-3% minority within the black populace. I call them urban terrorists. And since they’re literally spawned from problem #2, the black community protects them. [Emphasis mine]

Problem #2. Proliferation of Baby Mamas
      “The disintegration of the nuclear family has led to an astronomical increase of single-mother households. [Emphasis mine] According to the Moynihan Report, in 1965, nearly 25 percent of black children were born to unwed mothers. The report’s author Daniel Patrick Moynihan said this was a disaster in the making. He was, of course, vilified by so-called black leaders and their progressive allies. But he was right. Today the out of wedlock birth rate is nearly 75 percent. and even higher in some urban areas. [Emphasis mine]
      “To be clear, Baby Daddies share this responsibility with Baby Mamas. Yet, while Baby Daddies are blamed and rarely shown compassion, Baby Mamas are rarely blamed and receive both compassion and support. This lopsided dynamic and the previously listed pathologies stem directly from the number one problem facing the black community...

Problem #1. Unquestioning Allegiance to so-called Progressive Policies
      “Unwavering loyalty to progressive, liberal policies is the primary reason these dire conditions persist. It both makes them possible and perpetuates them. It’s no coincidence that progressivism is the common thread that binds predominately black cities where single-parent homes, failing schools, rampant poverty and crime predominate. [Emphasis mine]
      “Look at cities like Detroit, Philadelphia and Baltimore. They’ve been run by progressive Democrats for decades. If their liberal policies were at all effective, these cities should have become models of economic growth and prosperity. Instead, they’re models of dysfunction. By fostering and exploiting the victim mentality, discouraging self-examination, subsidizing baby-mamas, and making excuses for black thugs, so-called progressive policies don’t alleviate the problems that afflict the black community, they aggravate those problems. [Emphasis mine]
      “You may have noticed that racism did not make the list. Why not? It’s simple: There will be no solution to the problems afflicting black America until more blacks recognize that the issues plaguing our community are ultimately self-inflicted.
      “Does racism exist? Sure. But there are other problems far more serious. And waiting until there are no more racists will mean waiting, and making excuses, forever.”
[Emphasis mine] (Ref. 2)

      Another Black American author, Larry Elder, on his talk show in 2017, had this to say about the major problems facing blacks in America – and again, in his opinion, racism was not the primary issue.

      “Talk-show host, attorney, and best-selling author Larry Elder said the breakdown of the family -- fatherless families -- is the number one problem in America, not racism or discrimination or bad cops. [Emphasis mine] He added that when it comes to murder, nearly half of the homicides each year are black-on-black killings.
      “. . . Larry Elder said there is a liberal agenda at work and ‘the goal is to tell black people that we’re victims, that discrimination, racism remain major problems in America when, in fact, they don’t. And they want black people to vote for the Democratic Party.’ [Emphasis mine]
      " ‘The Democratic Party gets 95% of the black vote, and the reason they get it is blacks are convinced that the number one issue facing the country is social justice, racist white cops, discrimination, systemic racism, micro-aggression – whatever new word they come up with – and it’s a bunch of nonsense,’ he said.
      “ ‘The number one problem domestically facing this country is the breakdown of the family,’ said Elder. ‘And President Obama said it, I didn’t. A kid raised without a dad is five times more likely to be poor and commit crimes; nine times more likely to drop out of school; and 20 times more likely to end up in jail. ’ [Emphasis mine]
      " ‘So, you’re far more likely to end up in jail without having a dad, than you are because of a white racist cop,’ said Elder.
      “{With respect to the false claim that} . . . ‘you could probably find evidence that, in general, cops are more willing to shoot if the perpetrator is black than white.’
      “Elder said, ‘What’s your data, what’s your basis for saying that? I’m talking about what the facts are. Nine hundred sixty-five people were shot by cops last year and killed. Four percent of them were white cops shooting unarmed blacks. ’ [Emphasis mine]   . . .
      " ‘In Chicago, which is a third black, a third white, a third Hispanic, 70% of the homicides are black on black . . .’ ‘Where is Black Lives Matter on that?’
      “ ‘The idea that a racist white cop shooting unarmed black people is a peril to black people is BS,’ said Elder. ‘It’s complete and total BS. And the reason for these so-called activists saying this is the assumption that racism remains a major problem in America, and the media, CNN and especially MSNBC, runs down whenever a black cop shoots somebody, and it’s [then] some march in Washington. It’s ridiculous.’
      " ‘Half the homicides in this country are committed by and against black people,’ said Elder. ‘Last year there were 14,000 homicides – not talking about suicides, I’m talking about homicides -- half of them were black [and] 96% of them were black on black of that 7,000. Where’s the Black Lives Matter on that?’ “ (Ref. 3)

      If the condition of Blacks in America is to improve, it won’t be by misdirecting attention to the false and irrelevant charge of racism in America. “It should be apparent to any open-minded person that a large segment of the Black community in the United States is mired in poverty, crime, and drug dependence. The inconvenient truth is that much of this failure is self-inflicted. Further, the attempts by American society to help, in general, have been misguided and are proving to be nothing but abject failures. Let’s ignore the rhetoric and lies being thrown about. Let’s face reality.” (Ref. 4)

      To aid the Black community, American Liberals have employed the usual socialist solution, that of pouring money on the problem. But, “heaping governmental financial aid on the unwed, the fatherless, the untrained, and the unemployed has the unintended consequence of encouraging illegitimacy, family abandonment, school dropout, and the absence of a motivation to work.” [Emphasis mine] (Ref. 5)

      So, do you buy into the all-too-often spouted canard that racism is the biggest problem facing Black Americans? In reality, it is quite apparent to anyone with an open mind that racism is definitely not the biggest problem facing Black Americans today. In spite of what Black Lives Matter may shout, white police shooting unarmed Blacks is definitely not a major problem. Discrimination in schools and colleges no longer poses a major obstacle to Blacks. Job discrimination is no longer the rampant scourge it once was for Blacks. Lack of opportunity no longer keeps Blacks repressed – President Barack Obama, along with former secretaries of State Collin Powell and Condoleezza Rice were able to rise to achieve greatness, even though they are Black Americans! [5]

      What truly is Black America’s biggest problem is the propaganda, lies and falsehoods handed them by America’s liberals and so-called progressives who shout out that rampant racism on the part of bigoted white America is their biggest problem. The facts simply belie this! A corollary to the fiction that racism is the biggest problem facing Black Americans is the fact that too many Blacks – and too many unthinking white liberals – unquestionably accept this statement as a God-given truth. Sometimes, wallowing in victimhood takes less courage and effort than facing reality and working to eliminate the actual cause of the real problem.

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References:

  1. What The Democrats Said At Their Debate, Dennis prage, The Jewish Press, Page 6, 20 September 2019.
  2. The Top 5 Issues Facing Black Americans, Taleeb Starkes, Prager University, 19 September 2016.
  3. Larry Elder: Fatherless Families Are No. 1 Problem in America, Not Racism, Michael W. Chapman, cnsnews.com, 17 August 2017.
  4. An Inconvenient Truth – Part2, David Burton, Sonof Eliyahu; Article 171, 19 July 2013.
  5. An Inconvenient Truth, David Burton, Son of Eliyahu; Article 136, 8 August 2012.

 


  13 December 2019 {Article 391; Whatever_67}    
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