← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · kminta
Thread ID: 8791 | Posts: 8 | Started: 2003-08-05
2003-08-05 19:44 | User Profile
[url=http://www.issues-views.com/index.php/sect/5000/article/2104]Using Racism as a Device[/url]
[Reprinted from Issues & Views Fall/Winter 1996]
In writing Racism Or Attitude: The Ongoing Struggle for Black Liberation and Self-Esteem, James Robinson set out to learn why so many American blacks live more dysfunctional lives today than 30 or 40 years ago. Why, he wondered, in a social environment that is measurably better than it was 50 years ago, are so many blacks worse off? Along the way, in his search, he discovered lots of excuses and myths.
He kept bumping up against the facts. For example, in examining whether racism is to blame for so many young black men incarcerated in prison, he learned that, while the criminal justice system appears to be somewhat racially biased in its sentencing practices, the number of blacks imprisoned for serious crimes is proportionate to the reporting of those crimes. In other words, the numbers of crimes reported by blacks themselves in their communities closely relate to the numbers of incarcerated black men.
Robinson concludes that, rather than mulling over questions about fairness, "a more probing question would be why so many African Americans commit crimes."And, he further asks, "If racial discrimination in employment, housing, and the criminal justice system are to be blamed for a high crime rate in black ghettos, why wasn't crime worse back in the 1930s, 1940's, and 1950s," when blacks were severely discriminated against?
These prickly questions and more are raised and discussed by Robinson. More important than white racism, which he says "has undergone a number of permutations," is the "even more serious problem" of black attitudes about race.
Robinson describes how certain blacks use racism as a device. A stubborn belief in racism as the main obstacle to black progress binds all blacks together, "in a way that socioeconomic status does not." Believing that racism is the major source of black woes, says Robinson, "has come to define blackness in a way that allows all black people, from Oprah Winfrey to the lowest black person on the totem pole, to feel a sense of unity." This false notion especially assuages the guilt of the middle class black, who can say, "No matter how successful I become, I can still say to my lower-class black brother, 'Hey, I'm not doing so good; I am still suffering because I am black.'"
While the middle class black uses racism to suit his purposes, lower class blacks use racism as an excuse for not trying harder or for not trying at all. Robinson writes, "Racism has become a term that all African Americans can use to explain whatever problems they confront because it absolves them of personal responsibility." In this way, all problems are seen as coming from outside the self. Robinson highlights prison inmates who call themselves "political" prisoners, so they can reject all personal responsibility for their criminal actions.
The book probes such subjects as the impact of class differences and values, black reliance on affirmative action, prospects for economic empowerment, relations between blacks and other ethnic groups, the similarities between early black nationalists and black conservatives, and what Robinson calls, "the declining significance of integration."
Racism or Attitude: The Ongoing Struggle for Black Liberation and Self-Esteem can be purchased from [url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0306449455/qid%3D993432986/102-5828622-6220958]Amazon.com[/url].
Copyright é 1996 Issues & Views
2003-08-05 20:14 | User Profile
Good post, kminta. Laziness and dishonesty increase when those qualities are subsidized. Blacks would do better -at least somewhat better - if society and the government didn't keep them so well-supplied with excuses.
2003-08-06 04:09 | User Profile
Really good essay -- wanna bet Robinson is gonna get shunned and turned into a pariah?
2003-08-06 17:19 | User Profile
We've heard this before, though. There's always an Armstrong Williams out there to say that blacks need to pull themselves up by their Nike laces. It always gets some cheers from conservative Whites, but blacks don't change their behavior in response.
**Robinson concludes that, rather than mulling over questions about fairness, "a more probing question would be why so many African Americans commit crimes."And, he further asks, "If racial discrimination in employment, housing, and the criminal justice system are to be blamed for a high crime rate in black ghettos, why wasn't crime worse back in the 1930s, 1940's, and 1950s," when blacks were severely discriminated against? **
The difference is the attitude climate. Blacks, convinced they're as great as Whites, start chafing when they see that the goodies aren't split down the middle. Unlike the 50s, blacks now have Jew's permission to let it rip. Anything goes. No black man fears the consequences of strutting like a chieftain - he knows damn well the bespectacled White man will cower before him. He knows damn well the judge will let him off, the Jew lawyer will defend him, the media will excuse his behavior, and if any White law enforcement member so much as touches a patch of brillo on his burrhead, it will be a supreme insult to his Black Manhood and he can call all Jew forces for a million-dollar civil suit and highly sympathetic media coverage. The world worships at the shrine of the Great Negro, and he knows it.
Blacks can either learn to accept their lower status or be physically separated from Whites - two options that will be tough to see through. I like the latter 'cause it's cleaner.
2003-08-06 17:31 | User Profile
**Blacks can either learn to accept their lower status or be physically separated from Whites - two options that will be tough to see through. **
The "racial equality" genie is out of the bottle, so blacks and their supporters will never submit to seeing blacks sink down to the level of their merits.
** I like the latter 'cause it's cleaner. **
I concur; it's the ONLY way.
2003-08-06 20:20 | User Profile
Something to ponder as we watch "the future" unfold is how the negro and other non-whites will treat the jew and how the non-whites will revere their benefactors.
Like the real thankless animals that they are, non-whites will bite the hand that pets them, :D , thus bringing scorn from all sides upon the jew and it's seed. It is already happening... :rolleyes:
2003-08-07 03:08 | User Profile
Indeed. If there is cosmic justice, the jews will be taken down by the very weapon they have wielded against us: colored hordes.
2003-08-07 17:26 | User Profile
**The "racial equality" genie is out of the bottle, so blacks and their supporters will never submit to seeing blacks sink down to the level of their merits. **
Yes, I think this is largely correct, a reality that argues against the Sam Francis counsel that we should "retake" America. It's kind of a shame, really, because I get the very strong sense that in the first half of the century, cck-strutting minorities were an extreme rarity. They knew always that someone out there might just put them to work as a tree decoration. To put it the way you're not supposed to put it, they knew their place.*
Now, indeed, the genie's out of the bottle, and we can't squeeze the racial equality toothpaste back into the tube. What that's going to mean is White boundary shoring and possible deportations. Proud black man is in for a surprise.