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Question for African-Americans

DifferentDrummr

DifferentDrummr

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In your opinion, what are the best steps that this country can take to improve the economic health of the African-American community?
 
DifferentDrummr said:
In your opinion, what are the best steps that this country can take to improve the economic health of the African-American community?
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Howdy DD ...

The country, as a country, is unable to do anything. Improving economic "health" is an individual undertaking.

Thom Paine
 
Invest in poor communities. Fully fund the schools there, and give incentives for businesses (not minimum wage work but real careers) to operate in poor neighborhoods and hire local. The schools in poor neighborhoods are almost always horribly underfunded and there's often no good jobs that a person can use to support themselves. That's how you'll change people being systematically trapped in the poorhouse.
 
DifferentDrummr said:
In your opinion, what are the best steps that this country can take to improve the economic health of the African-American community?
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Why focus on improving the economic health of one racial community? Wouldn't it be more productive to work on improving the economic health of all communities, regardless of race?
 
I am not African American.

However i think the question is flawed and framed poorly. I don't think this is an "African American" issue, i think its an Inner City issue. There are plenty of Black, Hispanic, White, and Asian areas in the inner city that are chronically poor and therefore are chronically under-educated. Education is this decades civil rights issue, but not just for blacks, for all poor inner city people.i think that paschendale is right on this one, except i think that there don't need to be incentives to bring businesses into the inner city, i think that the educated populous will allow the mayor (whose job it is) to bring in more jobs. At least not on a national scail, i mean mayors provide incentives all the time on local taxes and such its kind of their job.
 
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TeleKat said:
Why focus on improving the economic health of one racial community? Wouldn't it be more productive to work on improving the economic health of all communities, regardless of race?
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It's not a coincidence that black communities are disproportionately poor. Systemic discrimination is one of the big reasons that so many black communities are so poor. That's a different problem than other sources of poverty, and different problems require different solutions.

Politicalunrest said:
I am not African American.


However i think the question is flawed and framed poorly. I don't think this is an "African American" issue, i think its an Inner City issue. There are plenty of Black, Hispanic, White, and Asian areas in the inner city that are chronically poor and therefore are chronically under-educated. Education is this decades civil rights issue, but not just for blacks, for all poor inner city people.i think that paschendale is right on this one, except i think that there don't need to be incentives to bring businesses into the inner city, i think that the educated populous will allow the mayor (whose job it is) to bring in more jobs. At least not on a national scail, i mean mayors provide incentives all the time on local taxes and such its kind of their job.
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I hope it is that simple to get business and jobs into poor communities. Tax incentives just seem to be the main way that this kind of change is conducted. However, I disagree with your assertion that the problem is only urban. It's not. Rural black communities have it just as hard, if not harder.
 
Paschendale said:
It's not a coincidence that black communities are disproportionately poor. Systemic discrimination is one of the big reasons that so many black communities are so poor. That's a different problem than other sources of poverty, and different problems require different solutions.
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Hey Paschendale :2wave:

I realize there are legitimate structural issues that are keeping black communities down, however, there are also legitimate structural issues keeping other communities down too. I agree that we should be boosting up black communities, my point was simply that those aren't the only communities we should be focusing on. There are more problems at play than systematic racism, though that I do agree that it is a legitimate problem as well.
 
DifferentDrummr said:
In your opinion, what are the best steps that this country can take to improve the economic health of the African-American community?
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What about the economic health of the white community? The Hispanic community?

Stop dividing by race. Divisions such as your question are the reasons there will always be racism.

People fight so hard to be treated equally, yet you are setting them aside and treating them differently.

I'm sorry, but Affirmative Action was the biggest blow to fighting racism this country has ever seen. "We want to be treated equally! But.. well.. not."
 
I had a discussion about this with a black co-worker from Ferguson (yes, I live just a few miles from there, and have multiple co-workers that live in that area). She says that the problem is mostly internal. Black leaders are so caught up in racial divide, that they overlook glaring problems such as the deterioration of the black family unit. The lack of role models. Gangsta and thug influences. Disdain for education. We live in a time when folks like Bill Cosby are considered "sell-outs" or "Uncle Tom's" just because they try to focus on these sort of problems. Kids look up more to Lil Wayne than they do Cosby. THAT'S a problem.

You can't have "economic" health until you have "social" health, and inner city social health is on life support.
 
Velvet Elvis said:
I had a discussion about this with a black co-worker from Ferguson (yes, I live just a few miles from there, and have multiple co-workers that live in that area). She says that the problem is mostly internal. Black leaders are so caught up in racial divide, that they overlook glaring problems such as the deterioration of the black family unit. The lack of role models. Gangsta and thug influences. Disdain for education. We live in a time when folks like Bill Cosby are considered "sell-outs" or "Uncle Tom's" just because they try to focus on these sort of problems. Kids look up more to Lil Wayne than they do Cosby. THAT'S a problem.

You can't have "economic" health until you have "social" health, and inner city social health is on life support.
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I completely agree.

Healing must start internally. Nobody can force change.
 
Superfly said:
What about the economic health of the white community? The Hispanic community?

Stop dividing by race. Divisions such as your question are the reasons there will always be racism.

People fight so hard to be treated equally, yet you are setting them aside and treating them differently.

I'm sorry, but Affirmative Action was the biggest blow to fighting racism this country has ever seen. "We want to be treated equally! But.. well.. not."
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This is complete nonsense from start to finish. Merely recognizing the different challenges that minorities face in this country does nothing to perpetuate racism. Claiming so does nothing more than create a useful excuse for racist behavior and attitudes.
 
Investing in schools, as noble of an endeavor as it might be, is still ignoring the root of the problem.

Too many Black kids are being raised without fathers. This is just a fact. Until this changes no amount of money is going to make any real difference.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
Investing in schools, as noble of an endeavor as it might be, is still ignoring the root of the problem.

Too many Black kids are being raised without fathers. This is just a fact. Until this changes no amount of money is going to make any real difference.
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Agreed. No amount of money can change the way a community raises children.
 
DifferentDrummr said:
In your opinion, what are the best steps that this country can take to improve the economic health of the African-American community?
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I think that a first step would be to shut off this "African American Communities" business. We're all here; there are no athiests in fox holes: we're all Americans trying to get ahead.
 
Jack Fabulous said:
Investing in schools, as noble of an endeavor as it might be, is still ignoring the root of the problem.

Too many Black kids are being raised without fathers. This is just a fact. Until this changes no amount of money is going to make any real difference.
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I have noted this before

I went to a wealthy prep school that liberally awarded scholarships to minority students. at one time, those recipients were the Jewish children of immigrants, later it was blacks. One of my black classmates came from a tough part of town. while his little brother was a football star who got a scholarship to a Catholic Football powerhouse (3X National poll champions) this friend of mine was into theater and poetry. He got into williams. He later died of AIDS after earning a PhD at Yale

now when our Jewish or Asian friends made good grades or got into top colleges, they were praised by their family, their friends and their communities. When my black classmate made the honor roll and got into Williams, the black kids in his community called him "acting white" or Uncle Tom

we were pretty close-he mentioned that to me. He said that hurt more than people calling him names like "Fairy" and "fruit".

I wonder why so many Jewish kids whose parents came here with nothing but the tattoos nazi prison guards had given them, were able to make top grades and get academic scholarships to places like U of Chicago and Columbia, while black kids whose parents hadn't faced genocide, are rarely found in the Phi Beta Kappa invitees at Dartmouth or on the Cornell Law Review
 
Superfly said:
What about the economic health of the white community? The Hispanic community?

Stop dividing by race. Divisions such as your question are the reasons there will always be racism.

People fight so hard to be treated equally, yet you are setting them aside and treating them differently.

I'm sorry, but Affirmative Action was the biggest blow to fighting racism this country has ever seen. "We want to be treated equally! But.. well.. not."
Click to expand...


Please stop talking immediately.

It's people such as yourself that racism will always exist because when ever people actually want have a serious discussion about race, people like you jump in and say that we should just ignore race which literally makes no sense.

Secondly, please stop talking as the main beneficiaries of AA are white women. (Sally Kohn: Affirmative Action Helps White Women More Than Others | TIME.com)
(Who are the Intended Beneficiaries of Affirmative Action? [NC State University Affirmative Action in Employment Training])

How are you going to get rid of racism by not talking about race? Do you get rid of cancer by just ignoring it?
 
Jack Fabulous said:
Investing in schools, as noble of an endeavor as it might be, is still ignoring the root of the problem.

Too many Black kids are being raised without fathers. This is just a fact. Until this changes no amount of money is going to make any real difference.
Click to expand...

That has jack **** to do with anything. I was raise in a single-family household, same with a number of other people I know, and I put a serious value on education. Having a parent is completely and utterly unrelated to how much a person values education.
 
Mr. Invisible said:
That has jack **** to do with anything. I was raise in a single-family household, same with a number of other people I know, and I put a serious value on education. Having a parent is completely and utterly unrelated to how much a person values education.
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Just because you bucked the trend doesn't mean the trend doesn't exist. You're right in that a single-parent household can raise a child properly. However, studies prove that this is not the norm.
 
Velvet Elvis said:
Just because you bucked the trend doesn't mean the trend doesn't exist. You're right in that a single-parent household can raise a child properly. However, studies prove that this is not the norm.
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Even at that, there are more issues in play than the single parent issue. It is the culture. Nothing more, nothing less. It is what such communities allow as normal.
 
TeleKat said:
Why focus on improving the economic health of one racial community? Wouldn't it be more productive to work on improving the economic health of all communities, regardless of race?
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Each community is going to have unique issues, and therefore the solutions will be different from one to the next. That certainly doesn't mean to say that only one of these communities should be considered.
 
Velvet Elvis said:
Just because you bucked the trend doesn't mean the trend doesn't exist. You're right in that a single-parent household can raise a child properly. However, studies prove that this is not the norm.
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Not saying that those studies are not legit, but given that this is 2014, citing studies from 1989, 1982, and 1993 is kind of problematic in the sense that the info can very easily become dated. Do you happen to have anymore recent studies?
 
Build low income housing in every community.

Say "Goodbye" to high crime areas, ghettos, under performing schools, and the problems associated with the lack of decent role models.
 
a351 said:
This is complete nonsense from start to finish. Merely recognizing the different challenges that minorities face in this country does nothing to perpetuate racism. Claiming so does nothing more than create a useful excuse for racist behavior and attitudes.
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You think minorities are the only ones who face challenges? Hogwash. A lot of people face challenges, and skin color has absolutely nothing to do with it.

But thanks for calling me a racist, just because I am speaking what I feel to be the truth. Stop setting aside people because of their race, and maybe racism will stop.

Can't have it both ways. Minorities either want to be treated equally, or they don't.
 
Mr. Invisible said:
Please stop talking immediately.

It's people such as yourself that racism will always exist because when ever people actually want have a serious discussion about race, people like you jump in and say that we should just ignore race which literally makes no sense.
Click to expand...

I have every right to speak, just as you do.

I am not a racist, despite the fact that you say I am. Why is it that I can't ask a simple question without being branded a racist?
 
TeleKat said:
Why focus on improving the economic health of one racial community? Wouldn't it be more productive to work on improving the economic health of all communities, regardless of race?
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In an ideal world, yes-but this is about politics. I practice medicine (and am not black) and in disease after disease blacks are the worst affected. The causes are multifactorial but the outcomes are even more diverse. Higher mortality, higher morbidity, etc-blacks do worse.

Its a leftist notion that all groups should have similar health outcomes is at the root of this. Decades of poverty, substance abuse, psych issues, etc dont change the situation for ANY ethnic group, including blacks.

In my view, the key is increasing the wealth and education of this or any group. How? Better schools. Free market economics. Education (not leftist, not al sharpton style). Remove obstacles to the free market. With the money will come improved outcomes-already well documented.
 
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