Critique of Black Culture
 

I pulled this from a conservative blog Townhall.com. I apologize for not putting the link up, my system at work makes that difficult. I'll try to fix that when I get home.

Obviously this is a conservative website, and the author states he is a conservative so make of it what you will. I found it interesting because, other than Bill Cosby I don't see many people that are willing to come out and say this in a public forum. What are your thoughts on this?

From Weblog on Townhall.com
Brothers Behind Bars - It Ain't Whitey's Fault!

The following is my e-mail commenting on a story by Washington Times columnist John McCaslin:


Mr. MsCaslin,

I just read your "Inside the Beltway" snippett in today's Washington Times that Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) is griping about the "alarming overrepresentation" ob black men in the U.S. penal system. He's upset that two-thirds of the U.S. prison population consists of racial and ethnic minorities, black men in their 20's have a one-in-eight chance of being locked up, and that black males born today have a one-in-three chance of going to prison during their lifetime, compared to a one-in-17 chance for white males.

As a black man, this upsets me, as well, but, as a conservative, I am infuriated by the "reason" that Congressman Rangel gives for this crisis. Apparently, he is attributing this serious problem to a "racist" criminal justice system, instead of the criminally anti-social behavior of many black men. "Despite the notion that the scales of justice is [sic] blind, it is no secret that racial bias plays a deplorable role in the disproportionate conviction and sentencing of African-American men, compared to their racial counterparts, who are charged with the same or a similar offense," says Rep. Rangel.

Nonsense.

This represents a classic knee-jerk response of "blame Whitey" by the modern-day black "leadership" in dealing with virtually every social and economic ill that has befallen the black community since the end of the Civil Rights Movement. Too many black men behind bars? Blame the white man. Seventy-percent black illegitimacy rate? Blame the white man. Middle-class black students academically underperforming compared to white, Asian and Caribbean immigrant students? Blame the white man. Instead of placing responsibility where it belongs - the anti-social behavior of black American males and the victimologist, separatist, and anti-intellectual black sub-culture from which it is bred, not too mention three generations of open-ended welfare that raped black Americans of any incentive to better themselves - Rangel, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and their ilk resort to the same tired excuse. And that's all it is- an excuse! Instead of combatting the aforementioned social ills and admonishing blacks to take responsibility for their actions, behavior and lives, today's black "leaders" continue to play the race card while screaming for more government handouts.

This explains why solutions to black-male incarceration and other problems in the black community will forever remain elusive.

Dutch Martin

Both versions are true, and they form a vicious circle.

No, they don't. Many so-called and usually self-appointed black leaders continue to remove the members of the black community from any share of responsibility for their condition. When you disembody the cause, you have precluded self-determinism. Therefore, these "leaders" create a dependency via advocacy ("I'll fill your needs since the white man will not permit you to fill them yourself") from which they derive benefit.

Real black leaders who do not subscribe to the idea that blacks are exempt from a share of the responsibility for their fate and preach self-determinism are castigated by the so-called black leaders and those members of the black community who benefit from a dependency upon them. There's your viscous circle.

This is a complex problem. You can look at racism, labelling theory, welfare, affirmative action, etc. as aspects that contribute to the perpetuation of the apparent inability of blacks to better their position in society.

But ultimately they are all only factors that contribute to a tendency to decide whether or not to better their positions. The child of a working mother is going to have a better chance at betterment. The child of the working mother's child is going to stand a good chance at betterment if their parent was successful as well. It's a feedback loop of sorts, but until more blacks are willing to fight the factors and start the cycle things are only going to get worse as educational levels decline and racial ratios increase.

I think the writer would be lambasted just for thinking such ideas, let alone writing them, if he's were white.

He's spot on about looking for excuses, seems the trend in todays society to dodge responsibility for one's actions. Blame it on the fact that your father smacked your ass one time when you were a kid or whatever, anything but the fact that you, as an individual, commited the crime.

I also frequent townhall.com, but don't read the blogs, just the main commentary pages.

They have several really good black commentators that do look at things sensibly and objectively, and, because they are black, are able to get away with it, although the "Uncle Tom" and "Oreo" appelations are still thrown around by black community leaders that make money off the continuing oppression of their folks.

I'm reminded of the shitstorm that followed Bill Cosby saying much the same things in his call for personal responsibility this past year.

thomas sewell writes there occassionally.

I love walter williams.

I, for one, am glad to see increasing calls for personal responsibility in any and all groups. The Victim Mentality is killing our society.

here here

Watching white people try to discuss black culture is funny. :)

Here is the link to Mr. Martin's post.

This is what Mr. Martin is referring to:

Brothers behind bars
The "alarming overrepresentation" of black men in the U.S. penal system concerns Rep. Charles B. Rangel, outspoken New York Democrat and member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The congressman from Harlem notes that two-thirds of the U.S. prison population is made up of racial and ethnic minorities — and for black men in their 20s "one in every eight is in prison or jail on any given day."

"Even more upsetting is that African-American males born today have a one-in-three chance of going to prison during their lifetime, compared to a one-in-17 chance for white males," Mr. Rangel notes. "At year-end 2003, African-American inmates represented an estimated 44 percent of all inmates with sentences of more than one year."

That causes Mr. Rangel to wonder if the sentencing system is truly colorblind.

"Despite the notion that the scales of justice is blind, it is no secret that racial bias plays a deplorable role in the disproportionate conviction and sentencing of African-American men, compared to their racial counterparts, who are charged with the same or a similar offense," he notes.

In fact, the United States is experiencing a decrease in crime rates, yet the overall prison population — federal, state and local — is increasing, particularly among blacks. This is said to be because of "truth-in-sentencing" laws that limit early releases, impose mandatory sentences for drug offenses, and set "three strikes and you're out" laws for repeat offenders.

More than 2 million Americans are behind bars.

I share Rep. Rangel's concerns, though racial bias in the justice system is just one of the many problems that needs to be addressed. Mr. Martin is reaching just a little bit...he accuses Rangel of a knee-jerk reaction, when he seems to be doing the same thing.

When I compare Rangel's opinion with Martin's what I see is one person looking at the symptoms of the problem and forecasting that the problem will get no better for the current generation of black men and one person looking at the causes and possible solutions to the problem.

So, if you are a young black man (10 years old let's say), you have Rangel telling you that one out of thee black men will find themselves behind bars (i.e., your future is shit) OR you have Martin and Cosby, et al saying stay in school, don't have babies you can't raise, stay out of gangs, don't do drugs and to visualize a positive future, who you gonna listen to? The guy that excuses every bad thing that happens to you (enabler) or the guy that says "yeah, the playing field ain't level but life ain't fair - but we made it and you can too!!!"

A leader of black people who predicts that one in three black men will be behind bars in ten years is pretty much insuring that he will be proven correct because he is already saying its not your fault. Nice.

How do you know that Rangel is predicting? As I see it, he's noting a problem and highlighting one of the causes. I don't think he's trying to be necessarily negative or fatalistic.

I don't necessarily disagree with Martin, but he's overgeneralizing.

That's worth repeating. :thumbsup:

.