Black Lives Matter is an honorable movement and is in no way racist

Great post. Conquered, conlonized, and enslaved populations all have similar issues. That's true of Hawaiian populations, Mexican American populations as opposed to other Latin American populations in the U.S., and other groups you've mentioned.

It also differentiates the African immigrant populations vs. African-American populations.

I think the one thing it points to is that there is a factor that is present in all of those groups and that can actually make a difference.

That being said, it doesn't excuse a lack of taking personal responsibilities or not trying. But it could show that any member of those groups that does succeed overcomes additional hardships that other groups don't encounter.

 

See and that's you misunderstanding what they went through, Irish and Italians ABSOLUTELY stuck out when they were getting off the boat and they were hoarded into slums that they had trouble escaping. Irish went to Irish schools, Italians went to Italian schools, Jews went to Jewish schools. It really wasn't integrated like you seem to think....it was pretty segregated.

Anyway, my point was that there are no institutional barriers for anyone today. Sure some people have a harder time in life, a lot of which is because of their own actions, but that's not the same as actual barriers to success. Things are so good today that we may think there are social barriers, but they don't really exist the same way they once did. In some ways that's a really awesome thing, but it can get annoying at times.

 

That was a good point and I really should have touched on it. Conquered, colonized, and enslaved people are more prone to looking at the world as a place where things merely happen to them rather than seeing the world as a place where they can make things happen.

The result is being a lot more prone to blaming outside forces for things that go wrong as opposed to seeing things as being the result of their own actions and looking for solutions.

 

I am well versed on history, especially US history. Italians and Irish were well integrated within 2-3 generations and you are starting to see the same thing with some Mexican Americans. That has not been the case with American blacks. They cannot "pass" as white, there is less integration and when there has been biracial people that are half black, they are usually historically viewed as black. Also Italians and Irish were not told they couldn't enter white only restaurants or schools only 50-60 years ago.

I do not agree with some people that feel that every single misfortune that occurs to a black person in America is racism or a result of them being black. Still I think you are understating the current situation in this country. In many ways it is better but there are still legitimate barriers that are more often found in the black community such as broken homes, violence, poverty and apathy. I am not saying that if a black man fails it is because of racism, black people fail or succeed all the times on their merits and hard work just like everyone else... but let's not over look the strong reality that is shown in staggering statistics.

 

You asked for a villain that caused unwanted pregnancies to go up: lack of access to contraceptives and people who aim to defund organizations that provide them is exactly that villain you asked for. Every study has shown that free access to more effective methods of contraception beyond condoms has helped drastically reduce 1) unwanted preganancies and 2) abortions.

You should also be aware that PP is one of the largest providers of Title X services for contraceptives--but in your alternative fantasy world where the same people arguing for PP to be defunded also construct a government-owned and operated infrastructure to replace PP's role in sexual health, I suppose you can have your cake and eat it.

 

Who said anything about ancestors or what may or may not have happened?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ns-jon-burge-police-torture-victims/25766531/

History repeats itself--if we let it.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-site

 

Those blacks had it coming. Right?

/s

 

I think the difference is a willingness to "melt" and essentially stop holding on to their past and become Americans rather than Irish, or Italian, or Polish, or Chinese, or whatever. I don't think dark skinned Italians, Hispanics (including black Hispanics), Indians, Asians, or even actual Africans "pass as white", but a lot of them do a better job adapting to the identity of one who is an American first. In fact, the very suggestion that those who found success did so because they were "passing as white" is part of the problem. Far too many black Americans that are 5th or 6th generation (or more) Americans cling to a divisive subculture that views pretty much anything outside that subculture as "being white" and views success as "being a sellout". That prevents them from being just another person.

It's not just a black thing in case anyone was wondering, it's usually a poor thing though. At one point I had a really tragic white friend who had probably the worst family I've ever heard about, they damn near disowned her (those that were out of jail at the time) because she got a decent job and stopped smoking weed. In their minds, her not doing drugs with them and having a decent job meant that she was acting too "high and mighty" and that she thought she was better than them....she almost was. Eventually she quit the job and started smoking weed again, among many other things, and popped out a couple of kids that she couldn't afford to have...thus perpetuating the cycle.

It's really easy to get or stay poor no matter who you are, and there are ALWAYS people who will go out of their way to help you get or stay poor. More so than anything else, a r****ded anti-success culture is what Americans in poverty have to overcome regardless of race.


.

 

I didn't ask for a villain, I asked if white people were responsible for unplanned pregnancy being higher in the black community than in the white community. Apparently you think that white people are in fact responsible. I don't agree with your conclusion. Traffic fatalities increase when speed limits are raised, but the people that are responsible for the traffic fatalities are not the people raising the speed limits, they are the people that are not driving carefully. Defunding Planned Parenthood doesn't cause unplanned pregnancy, because pregnancies do not spontaneously happen in the absence of Planned Parenthood.

Also, like I said, I have no problem with free contraceptives.

There are already government owned and operated clinics that serve the same purpose as Planned Parenthood, less the provision of abortion. This is not some pie in the sky fantasy of what could happen, it already exists. Right now, women can go to government run and funded facilities and have free or low cost access to birth control. Private entities can also receive public support, and there are some that do. Without the stigma of abortion attached to it, people would be happy to keep funding planned parenthood.

 

So how do you explain things like the fact that when two resumes that are identical but one has an african american sounding name and the other a white sound name - the one with the white sounding one gets the interview by a statistically significant standard?

How can you explain that and say with a straight face that there are no barriers to success based on race?????

 

That's one person's opinion but what's Obama's excuse for sending bombs and money over there... Also, several of the poor black areas are ran by democrats. Black people should demand more accountability from the democratic party other than the excuse that all republicans are racist since the black vote is very important to them.

I like Bernie, but many black people would probably be wasting their time voting for him just like they did with Obama and every other democratic representative.

Ok, I have no negative rebuttal for that response... But I will add welfare also needs to be reformed because it seems to glorify and endorse single parenthood.

 

Your quote from before ->

Mmm. Your logic absolutely pins all of the responsibility on the individual in question and disregards any external factor which works in your favor in this case--and clearly doesn't in others. As a quick example, abortions happen outside of PP regardless: and PP aren't the ones seeking abortion, they're just "raising the speed limit" on access to it. Because, you know, people restricting access to contraceptives aren't doing anything to stop contraceptives from flowing.

I too want to live in your fantasy world where the same people who support defunding PP ALSO happen to overwhelmingly want to overturn Hobby Lobby and give free access to contraceptives to the urban poor, but somehow I don't think that will happen. And while you're right to point out that there is a network of government clinics that offer Title X services, PP happens to shoulder an overwhelming burden of the urban poor.

To square it all together: if you want to ignore all factors beyond individual behavior and allege your own anecdotal reasons for why things are the way they are, so be it. But the data, the evidence, history, and all else are against you in this case.

 

That's not a legitimate barrier to success because it can be overcome. If your parents screwed you by naming you Sharquisha then yeah, you'll have to work to overcome that just as if your parents screwed you by naming you Bubba or some other dumb sounding name, race has nothing to do with that.

That said, it's unfair, but I'm sure a lot of people think that if your parents were dumb enough to give you an awful name, the odds are pretty good that you are dumb too. If I was given a terrible name, I'd have legally changed it as soon as I was able to. Of course there are people that overcome their dumb sounding names, but I certainly wouldn't want that disadvantage and I'd be mad at my parents if they put that on me.

 

...I wanted to point out that you just called African American sounding names terrible and dumb sounding without prompting.

#inb4 there is no systematic racism. It's not about race, but African American sounding names are by default "awful", "terrible", and "dumb sounding". lol

Maybe them changing their names to less "awful" ones will fix this:

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

 

A lot of them are, and I gave you an example of a "white" name that sounds dumb. If he wasn't a football player Knowshon Moreno would have struggled to overcome his really stupid name. You can cry about it and call it unfair if you like, but that's just the way it is.

 

Why do the names "sound dumb?"

Do Asian ethnic names also "sound dumb" to you? Latino names?

And why do the way their names sound make any difference as to who they are?

"the way it is" the way you're painting it now = irrational, systematic racism. mmm.

 

We're not talking about "ethnic names" we're talking about subculture names. When it comes to stupid sounding names, it doesn't matter what race the person is....because it's not a race issue. Moon Unit Zappa has a stupid sounding name, is that a race issue? No, her folks gave her a dumb sounding name.

Black people giving their children goofy names is a fairly new phenomenon and honestly it should stop if they care about their children. People of all races should put some thought into what they name their kids because they will be judged on that name as long as they use it.

 

right, the one sub-culture you're judging being "black people" in this case. hey, those names are as goofy as Bubba in my opinion. Dumb names go across all races, they just happen to be concentrated enough in African-Americans to make them less hireable as a whole.

And again, why does your name or what it sounds like even matter? does that determine your amount of job skills? should that have any part to play in your career?

"Now if only our society were dictated by people who thought, hey, that Marvin fellow sounds like a swell Anglo-Saxon and not part of a dangerous "black people" sub-culture. Let's hire them!"

It's not a race thing but you just happen to think that the reason "black people" can't get ahead is because they all recently started naming their children "goofy" names. lol.

 

like Thurgood Marshall's parents should have named him Bob LOL.

or wait, is Thurgood arbitrarily smart because it's an anglo-saxon last name?

 

SMH, you're hopeless, I didn't say that the "reason" black people "can't get ahead" is because of stupid names....I didn't even say that black people can't get ahead....they can. That said, if your parents give you a stupid sounding name, it's something you have to overcome no matter what race you are

If this is something you can't understand then we should just stop now.

Thurgood Marshall was born in 1908 and Thurgood is a very old name....he was given it WELL before the fairly new trend of black people giving their children stupid names that they just make up on a whim.