it an environment where some hear only dog whistles, it's nice to see someone recognize common sense. -- Santorum's Black-Poverty Solution Works By: John McWhorter Posted: January 18, 2012 at 12:20 AM He said that blacks should work, graduate and marry before having kids. What's racist about that? The Republican candidates have offered no end of fodder for those dedicated to stamping out tacky statements on race. We seem to get almost one a week. There was Newt Gingrich hoping that poor brown kids will work after school while white ones in the suburbs lounge around. Absurd, I agree. Similarly dismissible are Ron Paul's apparent fears of a coming race war, Herman Cain's notion that black voters' commitment to Democrats stems from "brainwashing" and Rick Santorum's idea that poverty in America is a black thing (or "blah" thing, as he wanted us to think he said). But even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and Santorum's latest insight on race, in Monday night's debate, was a proper one. It was, in its way, right on time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. All the man said was that there are three life lessons that would make a major dent in black poverty: "Work, graduate from high school and get married before you have children." Already Santorum is being pilloried by the likes of Salon's Joan Walsh as ignorant of how racism makes it impossible for black people to do the right things. Interesting. Work, graduate, marry before having kids: What black church audience, what Tavis Smiley forum panel, what ordinary black person anywhere in the United States, would not applaud that advice coming from the right mouths? Who would tell Maya Angelou or the Rev. Joseph Lowery that they were sellouts for preaching that advice? Work, graduate, marry -- that is, earn your keep, get a basic education and raise your kids with someone else at your side. Where does anyone come off telling us that institutional racism makes this too much to ask? Any white person who does is calling us fools, and any black person who chimes in hates him- or herself. The truth is that Santorum's factoid (he said that only 2 percent of people who follow this formula end up in poverty) is a bit off. It has always gotten a tad distorted, in the style of the old "operator" game, on the vine. It traces to empirical findings by William Galston, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton, who demonstrated a while back that if you 1) finish high school, 2) marry before having a child and 3) don't have a child until you're 20, then you almost certainly will not be poor. The statistics Galston found were stunning: Only 8 percent of people who do all three are poor. Of those who don't, a full 79 percent are. Still, this is race-neutral, party-neutral, needlepoint wisdom. (Important facts on the issues are here.) For our first thought upon hearing it to be "But that's not fair to expect when racism exists" is unhealthy. First, it disrespects the true fighting spirit of Dr. King. Since when was it the point that we can achieve only when things are set up just so? Second, focusing on racism on these three points doesn't hold up. Example: If the way to keep more black youths in school is to make institutional racism go away, then why is it that even when you pump black school districts full of new cash, they stay the way they are? Of late, Kansas City, Mo., has been neatly demonstrating this, but it happens nationwide all the time. Racism may have played a role in how these districts got that way, but we can't go back and change that. Taking racism away now won't keep these kids in school -- the solutions are elsewhere. Let's keep going. Is institutional racism why poor people can't get married when they have a child together? I, for one, have little interest in stressing the formality of marriage, but what about simple cohabitation? The standard argument is that black men without college degrees can't get jobs because the old-time manufacturing economy has eroded. But there are solutions here that aren't about combating racism: community colleges and vocational training. These two things are not stressed enough in a race debate that focuses unduly on four-year college degrees, when there are actually plenty of solid-paying jobs available for people without them. Even in a bad economy, we will always need ultrasound technicians, heating and air conditioning installers, and ... just think how long that list goes on. So the solution is about education, not taking away racism. Finally, I'd be interested in hearing how what white people feel about black people, concretely or abstractly, has to do with having kids before the age of 20. Suddenly there's no more racism -- and then everybody starts waiting longer before reproducing? Come on -- whatever the conversation about this is, it's not about racism. Note: I'm not saying that following the three life tenets is a slam dunk. We need to talk about making schools better, making vocational training affordable and useful, and even about kids making kids and why it's not the best thing. But Santorum knows this. As quiet as it's kept, he has supported block grants, Healthy Start and community health centers, all of them institutions dear to the heart of anyone concerned with poor black people in America. What's nonsense is the idea that Santorum's comment was racially insensitive, or an example of race-baiting, or racist. What he's suggesting that black people do is good advice, and it doesn't become bad advice just because he's white, Republican and not precisely polite. For him, or anyone, to pretend that "institutional racism" makes it unrealistic to suggest three such simple pieces of advice for black America is, in itself, racist. It implies that black people are subhuman beings devoid of resilience or sense. I refuse to believe that this is the content of our character, and I salute Santorum -- this time -- for having the guts to know that it's not and to say so. John McWhorter is a contributing editor to The Root.
Wouldn't that work for WHITE poverty? Or Hispanic poverty? Or ANY POVERTY? They are so WORRIED about "Black" problems....and fail to see it the SAME PROBLEM that everyone faces. It's not a BLACK, BROWN, or a Color Problem......it is an INCOME problem. Republicans are HELL BENT on keeping the Rich RICH, while trying to appeal to the Middle Class. The problem of America, according to them, is the black poor...it seems. We know it is a veil attack on Obama, but it shows them How clueless they really are...
Yep. He's trying to appeal to poor whites though, so he won't mention that white people in poverty are facing the same issues. Trying to maintain the "I may be poor, but at least I'm better than that poor black person" illusion.
A cute way to play the race card. Another attempt to distract and divide folks with race. Blacks are primarily poor due to their personal failings. Fot that matter, so are all the lower 99%. All who are poor are so due to their personal failings. All the 1% merrit it due to personal virtue. Nothing new from the party of wealth.
Catholic leaders think Rick and Newt are racist: -- Catholic leaders issued a letter Friday to GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, themselves Catholics, urging them “to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail.” The letter, signed by 45 Catholic leaders says: Mr. Gingrich has frequently attacked President Obama as a “food stamp president” and claimed that African Americans are content to collect welfare benefits rather than pursue employment. Campaigning in Iowa, Mr. Santorum remarked: “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.” “At a time when nearly 1 in 6 Americans live in poverty, charities and the free market alone can’t address the urgent needs of our most vulnerable neighbors. And while jobseekers outnumber job openings 4-to-1, suggesting that the unemployed would rather collect benefits than work is misleading and insulting,” the letter adds. “This statement is urging prominent Catholics in the race to go back and look at church teaching,” John Gehring, the Catholic outreach coordinator at Faith in Public Life, tells The Florida Independent, adding “that the letter is also about poverty.” “The Catholic bishops have been incredibly important in raising a prophetic voice that really challenges those who think that the free market alone can sort of solve our economic problems,” Gehring says. “You have Catholic conservative leaders, like John Boener, Paul Ryan, Rick Santourm, Newt Gingrich and they’ve all been looking to dismantle vital social safety nets,” Gehring says. Faith in Public Life “works to promote a common good message in the media and helps progressive and moderate faith leaders to get their message out,” Gehring tells the Independent. “We’ve done a lot of work around common ground issues on abortion, we try to talk with pro-choice leaders. We provide an alternative voice, making sure that the values debate is not one-sided. For many decades the Christian right has dominated political conversations over faith and values.” Gehring highlights the idea of “intrinsic evil,” adding that “a lot of people look at Catholic teaching and think about abortion as being a preeminent political issue, and that is true, but the bishops are also very clear that racism and torture — where Santorum is very bad on, Santurom has been an apologist for enhanced interrogation — are an intrinsic evil.” He also highlights that Gingrich and Santorum’s “rhetoric around class and racial issues is in many ways out of line with Catholic social teaching.” “That is something Catholic voters will be concerned about,” Gehring says, “particularly given that both Santourm and Gingrich have not been shy about talking about the importance of their faith from a personal perspetcive and also how it shapes their political views as well.” Color Lines, which reports on racial justice issues, reported Thursday that ”Gingrich argues that the reason so many people are on food stamps is not that the economy has thrown millions into poverty, but rather that lazy black families are getting on the dole and don’t want to work. Earlier this month, Gingrich told an audience in New Hampshire, ‘If the NAACP invites me, I’ll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.’” Color Lines adds: “Gingrich’s attack on the food stamp program is not surprising; it’s the kind of politics that he’s been helping to perfect for over 30 years.”
I certainly would not put anything past the GOP, however in this case the issue of black Americans in particular is a hot issue because statistics have shown that Black Americans have been hurt more by the economic struggles than any other group. I welcome dialogue from both parties concerning an issue many folks won't touch.
DISINGENUOUS thread to the core. Can see from 5 miles away this thread and subject has little to NOTHING to do with exposing "failings" along party lines whatsoever, & nothing to do with the MULTITUDE of present day issues. It reeks of nothing-else-to-do race baiting
I was just listening to something about poverty in black communities. this guy went and did some research and came to the conclusion that drugs were the sole reason for poverty in black communities. He made a very valid point that before the crack epidemic, black communities were on the verge of breaking the barrier and be up to par with middle class white america. Once the drugs started flooding America, the black communities were the hardest hit because 85% of drug dealers at the time were african americans( the guy reporting/investigating is a black man) Can't remember all of the broadcast, but it was a great piece.
Crack set the urban communities back decades. Not only were people throwing their lives away smoking it, but crack is what turned harmless vandals into bloods and crips- I believe there is one gang that was a hip-hop group, then picked up selling crack.
lol, rick, no one wants to hear your opinion of black people. it's so annoying when "black" and "poor" are used interchangeably.
will you soon be answering a question with another question? do you ever make a clear and unambiguous statement of your beliefs? or do you have to wait until the party tells you what you believe?
