tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9587882.post1003494081629430564..comments2023-10-31T04:49:20.509-07:00Comments on SOME SOLDIER'S MOM: YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK???Some Soldier's Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16934456863737157251noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9587882.post-54347416262228100512009-01-29T03:25:00.000-08:002009-01-29T03:25:00.000-08:00Sounds good to me.Sounds good to me.Call Me Grandmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04556766960758796894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9587882.post-71227646099797363602009-01-23T10:22:00.000-08:002009-01-23T10:22:00.000-08:00How many more years should we encourage the relian...<I>How many more years should we encourage the reliance on the "victim" mentality?</I><BR/><BR/>We should never encourage reliance on a mentality of victimhood.<BR/><BR/>Neither, however, should we pretend that because slavery is long over, and because we recently (in historical terms) established legal equality for blacks, that somehow the legacy of slavery and discrimination has been wiped out.<BR/><BR/>The fact is that blacks were dumped out into society with nothing after slavery was abolished. For the next century, blacks were largely prevented from getting ahead by official and unofficial discrimination which was often violent, and which largely kept blacks from all but the most menial jobs and the most rudimentary education.<BR/><BR/>How, since the 1960s, could blacks possibly have caught up to whites? To do so would require that blacks work much, much harder than whites, or be much, much more talented. For whites are trying to get ahead as much as blacks are.<BR/><BR/>I don't mean to suggest that individual hard work and personal responsibility aren't important. They are. But they aren't the cause of the problem, and they aren't the only solution.<BR/><BR/><I>The five women in our family were openly discriminated against, but we pushed and PROVED we could do it. </I><BR/><BR/>I'm sure it was hard. But let's be sure to acknowledge that it would have been that much harder if, on top of everything else, you had been black.<BR/><BR/><I>We all have bootstraps available to us.</I><BR/><BR/>Yes. Those bootstraps, however, are clearly harder for blacks to employ than for whites. Whites also, on average, start out in life with much more than blacks, as a direct result of our history.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03180927671866095059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9587882.post-74654677121155330212009-01-23T10:13:00.000-08:002009-01-23T10:13:00.000-08:00James -- I have no doubt that discrimination again...James -- I have no doubt that discrimination against blacks occurred. But slavery ended more than 100 years ago and the Civil Rights Act and the legislation enabling Affirmative Action have both been in place for a half century. How many more years should we encourage the reliance on the "victim" mentality? I know many successful people of color (none were actually born in Africa and some are actually offended to be referred to by a distant nationality... especially because some are Jamaican, Bahamian, etc.) These people are lawyers, politicians, doctors, ministers, military and business owners. None were born to privilege, but all utilized Affirmative Action to access schooling and employment opportunities -- which did not guarantee their success: they worked and studied to achieve. <BR/><BR/>And although my siblings and I did not qualify for Affirmative Action, we were "financially disadvantaged" (we were damn poor on the south side of Chicago), but we studied hard, worked hard, made our own opportunities and we achieved. The five women in our family were openly discriminated against, but we pushed and PROVED we could do it. <BR/><BR/>And frankly, I am tired of all in our population (any skin color, any nationality) who want to sit around and expect others to GIVE them success or pay for when they are not. We all have bootstraps available to us. Slavery and discrimination were horrible, but relying on it to justify your lot in life is ludicrous.Some Soldier's Momhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16934456863737157251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9587882.post-49492638116765670122009-01-23T08:35:00.000-08:002009-01-23T08:35:00.000-08:00I didn't own any slaves. My family immigrated (leg...<I>I didn't own any slaves. My family immigrated (legally) after slavery was banned.</I><BR/><BR/>You didn't own any slaves, and so you shouldn't feel responsible for what happened back then.<BR/><BR/>But you do benefit, every day, from the lingering consequences of slavery and discrimination. Just as the nation's blacks suffer, every day, from those consequences.<BR/><BR/>As for your immigrant ancestors (and mine), those immigrants almost always came to this country in search of jobs, and the opportunities they found were largely the result of slavery, even though slavery itself had ended by then.<BR/><BR/>These immigrants also arrived here to find a two-tiered system, in which they could, with hard work, talent, and maybe luck, achieve economic goals, education, and other opportunities denied to the nation's black citizens for a century after slavery ended.<BR/><BR/>I don't support reparations, but this is certainly an historic injustice which remains with us today.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03180927671866095059noreply@blogger.com