I think that is the root of the confusion here.....you seem to separate your life from that of your ancestors while I do not. I see elements of my life as both direct and indirect results of decisions that they did or didn't make. It seems to me that you only see your ancestors as names on papers..............I see them a real people...who had real feelings and did the best they could in a messed up situation with the odds stacked against them. All things considered, I think they did a fantastic job. I can honestly say...that I love them....just like I do my parents and the other elders in my family. They aren't items to be placed on dusty closet shelves only to be brought out for the occasional family reunion....they are a part of us....always have been and always will be. By acknowledging them and their lives we are not "live off their past", we simply recognize, respect and cherish the roles they play in our past....which sets the stage our future.
I have no problem with remembering ancestors and heritage but I find it utterly disgraceful when the race hustlers use that history for political gain. Those are the real racists. Sheila Jackson Lee, for example, claiming that she is a freed slave…how preposterous is that? She didn’t go through what her forefathers went through. She got an ivy league education and is a US congresswoman. No one gives r****ded comments like that a second thought because we simply accept the race card under any circumstance. Being born black or of any race does not automatically put you at a disadvantage. Is there racism and bigotry today? Of course, but its not prevalent to the extent that a person cannot succeed in this country. Hell, we have a black US president. If racism was so systemic how could he even get elected and then re-elected? There are so many other ethnic groups that came to the US with foreign accents and very little wealth and became millionaires. The truth is if you work hard, stay out of trouble, present yourself well, go to school, and are ambitious you CANNOT fail…regardless of your skin color, period. But doing those things are all personal choices. Instead, people don’t want to do those things. They take the easy way out and blame their plight on others or the system. It’s easy to look in that mirror and see enslaved forefathers. Much harder for someone to look in that mirror and see their own reflection and think about what they can do to change and be better.
I've provided you with examples but if you need stats go look @ the per capita income of asians in this country vs other ethnic groups. Some of those people couldn't speak english when they came here and had very little money yet somehow they're doing just fine. And its not a coincidence that the Asian culture stresses education and they happen to be an overrepresented minority at most higher learning institutions. Sorry I can't pull up the numbers now because I'm typing from my phone but please feel free to pull up statistics to disprove these statements.
Disagree, Det. Amaru is an average American of average intellect searching for answers to his life. He is prone to leaps of illogic but at least he is trying to think through the links of his heritage to his future. IMO he eventually will have a break through moment and discover that he is who he is because of what he himself achieves, regardless of lineage.
1. "Asian culture?" Who knew that the largest continent on Earth had a single culture? On a serious note, you do realize that some Asian groups, particularly SE Asian, are amongst the lowest in America in terms of economic indicators? The model minority myth hides a lot of variation. 2. If you compare education/experience levels and incomes of Asians and whites, you'd see that Asians are systematically underpaid in relation to comparable white peers. In other words, if. on a general level, they were being treated equally with white people, the gap in average income would be even greater. Please do explain how "working hard" will address this issue. Like I've said before, I'm not advocating not working hard, but the old "bootstraps" argument glosses over significant facts.
Just trying to get across the idea that these "American" people, as you call them, were not a unified people. In fact, I think they referred to themselves and were generally referred to as separate nations... as in the Cherokee Nation. Our aggression was nothing new to them except for our technological advantage and the sheer numbers involved. I would hasten to add that I think there were some very peaceful tribes and some who worked well together-- kind of like the world today!
As a person of 100% Asian descent, I know this. If you need me to be more specific I am referring to countries including China, India, Japan, and Vietnam. There are dozens of cultures within these countries as well. I am speaking on a general level and what the census bureau groups into one category, but you can pick at it all you want. It's so easy to look at a data set and chalk up the numbers to racism. My favorite is when people argue that the verbal/written portion of standardized tests are racially biased. Are standardized test writers racist? I could say yes but that would be the easy way out. I'd rather score better than the guy who's family has been here for 200 years. You're right, working hard is not the only element of success especially at the senior management and executive levels within companies. A lot of it is about networking, communication skills, political navigation, personal branding, etc. I can speak for myself when I say that my dad pushed me to do those things because he was never taught any of that growing up. He learned quickly that those skills were important to climb up the corporate ladder and financially be on par with my counterparts. Again, it's so easy to chalk it up to racism, but I'll take the harder road any day. FYI here are the aggregate income by race numbers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_States#Race
I've read your post......not sure how it is really relevant to ANYTHING I have said. But.......your opinion has been noted
What I achieve is a result of my own hard work....of course. But it is also a result of the work of those who come before me. "If we stand tall it is because we stand on the shoulders of many ancestors" -African Proverb.
So why are you so wanting/willing to hand back to divided, warring groups of people The New World? Is that not Liberal Guilt to the Nth Degree?
WTH are you talking about? "Liberal Guilt"? I'm no liberal.....I'm a Pan-Africanist. Pan-Africanism is my political philosophy. If you haven't noticed that about me now......I have to wonder if you have been paying attention to any of my posts in D&D
So what do you "chalk it up to" or are you denying that the trend exists? Surely you're not implying that a massive group of people coming from a hundred different cultures all systematically lack communication, networking, and personal branding skills (or conversely that white people are systematically superior in all these skills) in a manner that would justify the general workplace bias toward white people. In addition, many of the soft factors that you mention, such as networking, are inextricably tied with racial issues. Again, I'm not saying this is a reason for minorities to not do everything in their power to get ahead, but that's no reason to ignore what statistics and common sense tell us. The "put your head down and work" attitude has its merits, but it also has its drawbacks.
Gaddaffi was a believer in Pan-Africanism.. That is why he posted the picture. While I do not always agree with you, I respect your willingness to discuss your beliefs in a civil manner.
