Comments on: Report: Black Men Mired In Social Crisis

National Urban League Says Incarceration, Unemployment And AIDS Afflict Black Males To Larger Degree

[dog-x8]

toldyouso21, I am sitting here reading your post in awe! I agree with everything you have written. You need to write a book. It would be a best seller!! I wish every parent could read your post. No matter which race we are it is the truth."And the truth will set you free." Thank you.

[romancer51]

Hell, we are lucky if we speak and write english well. And I am not talking about immigrants either. Go to any other country that is up and coming in the global professional services (Many of those are the ones getting our service jobs), and the people speak 2,3,4 and more languages. Did you think the people working for Dell in India only service America? Not.. they speak and write in many languages. Perfect workforce for an excellent global service market. I agree, many black males are victims of entitlement mindset, learned helplessness, self imposed boundaries, bad decisions and anger ineffectively channeled into destructive endeavors.

[romancer51]

Don't fret white America. At the rate American's are unravelling the fabric upon which this great nation was built, we all will be joining black males, mired in social decay. We make nothing anyone really wants, our manufacturing jobs are all but gone and now our more affluent service sector jobs are moving to other countries that will perform the job more professionally and at a fraction of our cost. Wake up America! We had better learn how to really compete in this globally competitive environment.

[harp1963]

I'm a white guy. The thing that I don't understand about black America is that they don't vote in high percentages. If I was Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, I'd be raising hell about poor voter turnout and registration. There is no reason a guy like Trent Lott should get elected in the State of Mississippi. I mean, c'mon, this guy said the U.S. would have been better off if Strom Thurmond would have won the Presidency in the 1940's. Strom's whole campaign theme was seperation of the races. How does a guy like this get elected in a state that is practically all black?! You want power in American? Get your butt to the County Courthouse in your local town and REGISTER TO VOTE! Then when election day comes GET YOUR BUTT TO THE LOCAL VOTING STATION AND VOTE! After you establish a historical record of voting in mass, then politicians you voted in and out will in turn magically begin to be afraid of your voting power and send some perks and beneficial laws your way. That's unfortunately how it works in America. All the best.

[wmb57]

Its amazing how many chose to target blacks rather then read the article. This article does not blame whites for the problem, it says the problem exists and it hurts our society as well as blacks that the problem exists. Some recommendations are made to help the issue.

If the attitudes that were in these comments were what black people have to deal with every day, then our society is part of the problem.

[tbweb]

I don't usually quote Jesse Jackson but a good quote is a good quote no matter where it comes from and Jesse hit the nail on the head when he said "You may not be responsible for being down, but you are responsible for getting up!" Whatever it takes I might add!

[toldyouso21]

This idea that past wrongs must be paid for could be argued that it has already happened through programs such as Welfare, Spedy, OIC, WIC, and the availability and certainty of full college grants to students from poor families.
I think whites do not go down that road, because , 1 it would be unfair to the present generations, 2. it would never, ever be enough and 3 the best gift people can be given is the unfettered opportunity to succeed if people will just get off their duffs and try. The real truth is, money or not, a certain segment will always find an excuse for not trying and the hatred for the "oreos" or uncle toms? Because they prove blacks can make it and assimilate if they want--and they blow the arguements of black professional victims out of the water. America never promised anyone that they would pay for past wrongs--this country only promised opportunity for those who wanted it. As for profiling, that would mean I was singling black men out for suspiscion based on physical characteristics-- I believe you really meant I should stop either generalising, pigeon holing or stereotyping. None of which I was doing--but...there it is--the way the language is interpreted can make or break linguistic nuance.

[toldyouso21]

Posted by Billpl at 12:21 AM : Apr 17, 2007

I think one of the obstacles facing black males may be a disconnect or a true inability to understand English verbiage. This problem means when some males speak on issues like disrespect--they have a totally different understanding on what disrespect means. From your post for example--you would argue that OJ did not disrespect his wife by killing her? Death is the ultimate in disrespect--for it negates one persons right to exist and confers on another the right to take that life. This cross misunderstanding goes beyond this issue. It is why so many whites (and others) are tired of the preferential treatment blacks feel they are owed (not recognizing that many whites have it just as bad and they get no preferential treatment) and continually trying to be repaid for slavery. I have often wondered about the reparations claim. I find it odd, that blacks today wish to be paid for what their ancestors went through when just after the war, many blacks were awarded 40 acres and a mule--though they might have had that taken away by mobs. .

[toldyouso21]

More twisted truths. OJ didn't dis' his ex-wife! He killed her. In a violent crime of passion. If you do a little research you'll find out she was the one who disrespected him. profiling Posted by Billpl at 12:21 AM : Apr 17, 2007

One cannot harm a person until one negates their humanity. One does not start by negating humanity. It starts with disrespect, with hateful slurs passed off as humour--ugly cartoons, then it progresses to name calling, then pointing finger and blame and finally to harming them. This is a known dynamic of human psychology. It was done to the Jews and to any other group that others wanted an excuse for harming--but to begin down that road--a person must start with disrespect. All other maltreatment progresses from that point--and that is not profiling---if you witness the behavior of many black males--from being sexually promiscuous to having nothing to do with their offspring, to hitting women or seeing them as "hoes" then, as I said--it starts with disrespect--how far it goes on the spectrum depends on the man, the circumstance and the level of anger--but every person must on some level--cease to respect the autonomy of another person to get there. And FYI. long before OJ killed his wife, he had already beat her and hospitalized her several times as revealed in police records, and not disputed by OJ.

[toldyouso21]

If you don't like the way you're treated in this country, then by all means take a boat back to Africa where you can be with your other homies...
Posted by flynnhaven at 11:57 PM : Apr 16, 2007

I was with you until that last comment. Please understand that blacks could never go back to Africa as anything other than guests. They are not tribally pure--having been bred over the centuries with other tribes, europeans, native Americans, etc. They would not have any place to go except perhaps Liberia. Please also understand that with the exception of Hispanics and those who can trace their ancestry to the Pilgrims that many Blacks are have American ancestry much older than Europeans who came here in the early 1900s. As a people, Slaves were not allowed to be imported after 1859 so all slave descended Black Americans have been here for almost 150 years with many having ancestry that goes back 300 years or more. In short, they have as American ancesty seniority. :)