Should Americans who are the descendants of slaves from Africa thank America for the opportunity?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Pat Buchanan seems to think so. See http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=117399.

What do you think?

[sara..... 371]

I have sisters that are full black and a brother that is mixed..........i can truthfully say that when we went to Alabama to bring one of my sisters home that it was like stepping back in time about 30 years.......we live in northern state of the usa.....here i dont see the problems that were very evident in Alabama yes still alot of abuse of the system but ..........THANKFUL?.......mmm i dont think so........i think that if we spent more on quality education than on the food stamps and housing they would have a better chance of life that is more than waiting for the next government check. what he is talking about is what has turned people into useless families that only rely on government help to survive because they have not education and in most cases no ability to get a quality higher education to get out of the trap they are in......how many girls have children so that they can get state aide? its the only way of life they know....sorry this is really a topic that i stand on a soap box for.........yep we took slavery away but didnt really offer anything that had substance to allow them to earn a decent living........kind of like if u want to help a man feed his family do u give him fish or teach him to fish

of course u give him the tools and the knowledge of fishing and he will always be able to feed his family.........

i even have heard some people say that black people are not as intelligent as others and i disagree with that also......my sisters and brother have such great marks better than i ever did in school and i carry a 3.8 or 3.9 most the time..........ok i will stop now before i start repeating myself lol sorry if this answer disturbs anyone.........

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Your answer did not disturb me. Thank you for speaking the truth

[athena_ny 1]

I have sisters that are full black and a brother that is mixed..........i can truthfully say that when we went to Alabama to bring one of my sisters home that it was like stepping back in time about 30 years.......we live in northern state of the usa.....here i dont see the problems that were very evident in Alabama yes still alot of abuse of the system but ..........THANKFUL?.......mmm i dont think so........i think that if we spent more on quality education than on the food stamps and housing they would have a better chance of life that is more than waiting for the next government check. what he is talking about is what has turned people into useless families that only rely on government help to survive because they have not education and in most cases no ability to get a quality higher education to get out of the trap they are in......how many girls have children so that they can get state aide? its the only way of life they know....sorry this is really a topic that i stand on a soap box for.........yep we took slavery away but didnt really offer anything that had substance to allow them to earn a decent living........kind of like if u want to help a man feed his family do u give him fish or teach him to fish

of course u give him the tools and the knowledge of fishing and he will always be able to feed his family.........

i even have heard some people say that black people are not as intelligent as others and i disagree with that also......my sisters and brother have such great marks better than i ever did in school and i carry a 3.8 or 3.9 most the time..........ok i will stop now before i start repeating myself lol sorry if this answer disturbs anyone.........

I agree completely. We need to start with education, which we have not. Funding for education is based on property taxes, and minorities disproportionately live in areas struck by poverty. Poor areas aren't going to have the funding for education that an area like Fairfax Co VA or lower Westchester Co NY will have, and therefore it is much harder to break the cycle, which it very much is. Without the tools to be on a level playing field with the privileged, it is extremely hard to measure up. Yes, some people are able to overcome, but racism is still very system and on a societal level and not just a personal level in this country. If education were not sub-par and people had equal opportunity, the programs that people live off on could exist for temporary purposes (I've been through hard times and lived through poverty myself, and I think a government has a duty to provide for people when there is no where else to turn.) instead of a permanent solution.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Funding for education is based on property taxes, and minorities disproportionately live in areas struck by poverty. Poor areas aren't going to have the funding for education that an area like Fairfax Co VA or lower Westchester Co NY will have...

Interesting perspective.

In the state of New Jersey, the poorer school districts get special "Abbott" funding from the state. The result is that those districts are funded (measured per-student) much more than wealthier suburban districts. Yet, they continue to underperform, decades after the Abbott system was initiated.

Edited March 22, 2008 by VJ Troll

[athena_ny 1]

Funding for education is based on property taxes, and minorities disproportionately live in areas struck by poverty. Poor areas aren't going to have the funding for education that an area like Fairfax Co VA or lower Westchester Co NY will have...

Interesting perspective.

In the state of New Jersey, the poorer school districts get special "Abbott" funding from the state. The result is that those districts are funded (measured per-student) much more than wealthier suburban districts. Yet, they continue to underperform, decades after the Abbott system was initiated.

Some states have implemented; but after years of education sucking, I don't think there's a lot of faith in it and a lot of time there isn't the push to succeed so much because we're too worried where the next meal is coming from. But I don't exactly know the psychology.

Funding for under-performing schools is now tied into NCLB - underperforming school doesn't do as well as they want them to on the tests, they get less government aid than a school that is in a well-funded area and has consistently done well even before NCLB was implemented. That's on a government level - makes more sense to me to give the funds to the underperforming schools up front, with an incentive to continue receiving funds tied into the tests if they wanted to make it about that.

I'd have to see figures about how many dollars are going to each child in a wealthy school district and how many dollars are going toward a child in an impoverished, underperforming school district. There's also the concept that a child in a well-performing school district will have the resources from the beginning; it is very hard to turn an underperforming school district into well-performing when many of the children need to play catch up (three, four reading levels behind where they should be, etc).

Also issues with teaching staff in poor districts. They tend to make less (and teachers make far less than they should to begin with) for their efforts, and they have to put far more effort in to show the bare minimum of progress.

Random thoughts, not sure if it's cohesive at this time. However, I am more bitter about this than most, because living in Florida they are donig all they can to strip more and more money from education.

[almaty 19]

lol...no..o be forced into a servant role to a master is never anything to be thankful for....maybe, americans should thank england for infringing on their rights in the 1700s

[panamania79 2]

Pat Buchanan seems to think so. See http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=117399.

What do you think?

This is what I think about that !

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Perhaps the poll should be - should Africans & African Americans thank western civilization for pillaging, strip-mining and subjugating the African continent for a few hundred years.

Seriously, "civilizing the savages" anyone?

[greeneyedgirlfl 0]

Funding for education is based on property taxes, and minorities disproportionately live in areas struck by poverty. Poor areas aren't going to have the funding for education that an area like Fairfax Co VA or lower Westchester Co NY will have...

Interesting perspective.

In the state of New Jersey, the poorer school districts get special "Abbott" funding from the state. The result is that those districts are funded (measured per-student) much more than wealthier suburban districts. Yet, they continue to underperform, decades after the Abbott system was initiated.

Some states have implemented; but after years of education sucking, I don't think there's a lot of faith in it and a lot of time there isn't the push to succeed so much because we're too worried where the next meal is coming from. But I don't exactly know the psychology.

Funding for under-performing schools is now tied into NCLB - underperforming school doesn't do as well as they want them to on the tests, they get less government aid than a school that is in a well-funded area and has consistently done well even before NCLB was implemented. That's on a government level - makes more sense to me to give the funds to the underperforming schools up front, with an incentive to continue receiving funds tied into the tests if they wanted to make it about that.

I'd have to see figures about how many dollars are going to each child in a wealthy school district and how many dollars are going toward a child in an impoverished, underperforming school district. There's also the concept that a child in a well-performing school district will have the resources from the beginning; it is very hard to turn an underperforming school district into well-performing when many of the children need to play catch up (three, four reading levels behind where they should be, etc).

Also issues with teaching staff in poor districts. They tend to make less (and teachers make far less than they should to begin with) for their efforts, and they have to put far more effort in to show the bare minimum of progress.

Random thoughts, not sure if it's cohesive at this time. However, I am more bitter about this than most, because living in Florida they are donig all they can to strip more and more money from education.

Completely agree with you. I work in an urban/suburban school district in FL; the bedroom community just north of us pays substantially more per student than we do. And now with the looming budget shortfall (due to a very slick PR campaign by our governor), we may have our salaries frozen for an undetermined amount of time, not even a cost of living increase, resulting in many veteran, experienced teachers leaving the field. This happened at the last large recession (early '90's) which was when I graduated from university and had to substitute for 2 years before I was hired full-time.

We are shorthanded when it comes to trained teachers (just in my high school, we have over 30 teachers who are going through an "alternative certification program...which means they are learning how to teach on the job); I completed two years of internship in the classroom before I received my degree. Trained teachers are in demand and usually go to the higher performing schools. Some will stay at the lower performing schools, but, for the most part, those schools have a high turnover, high numbers of inexperienced teachers, and an astronomical burnout rate.

This all comes back to the students. It seems to be a vicious cycle....

Edited March 23, 2008 by greeneyedgirlfl

[mawilson 2,133]

Hmm.

Yes: 53%

No: 47%

[Nessa 23]

no.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Its a false question - based a faulty assumption: That if Africa hadn't been pillaged for its resources and its people over a period of centuries - that African countries wouldn't be any better off than they currently are.

I think everyone has to deal with their own situation and circumstances as they find them - but to suggest that slave descended Americans should somehow feel grateful because The Great White Man rescued them from some sort of H. Rider Haggard life of savagery seems a little insulting.

"Yes suh! I sure am grateful that I don't have flies on my face, like those folks on TV".

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Hmm.

Yes: 53%

No: 47%

3/24 10:30am EDT- it's reversed now... Yes 42%, No 58%

Was there a Klan meeting on VJ over the weekend?

[almaty 19]

john birch/csa and the klan had a joint meeting......i heard