Quote:
Originally Posted by AKA_Monet
Let me also ask you this, do you feel left out of somethings in regards to these issues? Do you care? Help me understand? I am just asking?
|
Hi AKA_Monet,
Sorry for the delay replying to this. I wanted to give this last question some thought as well.
I do care deeply about these matters- and in the context of people I care about as well as the world in general.
I don't necessarily feel left out, but I do feel like some of my views are not welcome- and on both sides at the extreme.
I do believe that a number of African-Americans and other legally defined and protected minority groups take unfair/unintended advantage of legal protections offered to them. There is no doubt about it- I have seen it with my own eyes.
But I do not think this is because of their race- it is human nature. It is a tough world out there and we ALL take advantage of whatever opportunities we have. Some of us do that in a good way, and some of us do that in a negative way.
And for racial groups already in a position of privilege and power, the same happens but it is more of a status quo thing since obviously there are no legal protections necessary.
I also have observed that some people of ALL races, religious groups etc. do look out for their own first to a degree that is detrimental to the long term goal of a true melting-pot society.
This is all normal human behavior that transcends race, religion or any other defining characteristic one wants to use to parse the population into groups.
However, the cold hard reality is that African-Americans as a group seem to get the "shaft" when this happens.
This is what I want to understand and what I think needs fixing.
This Democratic Primary is a good example. Obama gets the African-American vote while Hillary is stronger among women, the aged and Hispanic voters.
This messy Democratic Primary is a perfect example of what scares me. Whichever way it goes, there is going to be a lot of ugliness.
African-American vs. Hispanic interests are the real key economically. The big problem Democrats have right now is the issue of immigration and jobs going abroad as two of their key target constituencies are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum on how to deal with such issues.
Slavery and segregation were abolished in prior generations- but I think in my generation we are going to have to come to grips with the realities of a global economy, a growing permanent underclass in the US resulting from globalization and outsourcing; and why that hits the African-American community like a sledgehammer.
But amid all this cold analysis are human faces.
Remember the case of Josiah Sutton in Houston anyone? I know his mother. I was there the day she found out his conviction was overturned on DNA evidence and I will never forget her falling to the ground crying to the Lord in gratitude that her son was about to be freed. I was terrified to later find out he was convicted and his brilliant life path destroyed because he was black and wearing the same color baseball cap as the actual assailant in the case. He was convicted on THAT lousy eyewitness testimony. What white man would be convicted on those flimsy grounds?
Or there is a lady I know who is a single mom and has an absolutely brilliant child. He has such a future ahead if he can survive where he is living now. This is one of the most intelligent kids I have ever met- and his Mom is fighting a losing battle to keep him away from those who want to bring him into a more dangerous life- a struggle most of us white people can never imagine.
And then there are the falsely prosecuted college students and lacrosse players from Duke U. who are free now but will forever be demonized in the minds of many- young men who were made into symbols of hate for no reason at all other than the political ambitions of others.
These are the individual people I lose sleep over.
And I get upset because a lot of self-proclaimed black leaders are just as responsible for some of these dilemmas as the existing power structure.