Americans Support Racial Profiling

[Fischkoepfin 1]

So if poor, black people do not value education and do not run out and get an advanced degree on their own, should we just shrug and say "oh well"?

This does not seem like a very productive solution to me.

Why not? Isn't that what we do with poor white people, too? Why should poor blacks get more breaks/benefits/compassion than poor white people? Because 150 years ago their cousin's uncle's wife's brother's ex-girlfriend came from a family that owned slaves? You can only use the "oh woe! poor downtrodden race of people!" thing so long. I seem to remember the Irish being thought of as nothing but trash when they first immigrated here. Why don't I see them moaning and complaining these days about how oppressed they are?

At some point in their history, EVERY race/nation was a victim of slavery. Did they all become a bunch of whiny freeloaders because of past injustices, or did they get off their a$$es and do something about it?

[Edit]

I really should clarify, because I kinda sound like a racist there. I am only referring to blacks who CHOOSE to be victims and do nothing to improve their lives. I feel the same way about ALL people who play the "victim card" and accept no personal responsibility for their own circumstances.

Poor blacks should not get any more breaks than poor white people do; it is actually the other way around if you compare the number of blacks and whites who live on social security, food stamps, and the like. It is just that we like to pretend that poor blacks are cut a lot of slack because we don't compare them to poor whites very often but to middle-class blacks.

As to your point about the Irish immigrants, you are somewhat right, but forget that in a segregated society (and by this I mean not just the South), someone who looks white still has an advantage. The other advantage Irish immigrants had is that after them came more immigrants who conformed even less to the Anglo-American way of life, and it was them who took the lowest rank of white society from the Irish.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Not taking responsibility for past injustice is practically the same as not taking responsibility for oneself. This is not about the blame-game but about understanding that community that have been oppressed for centuries can't uplift themselves in less than 50 years. Someone in the past screwed this up, and we'll have to do something to rectify this mistake.

And what, exactly, would that be? Nail-job, hair-do, and bing-bling rim stamps on top of the food stamp program? Do you know how mad it makes me when I see these $200.00 hair-do, $50.00 nail-job gals pay for their groceries with food stamps to then carry them to the vehicle with fcuking $5,000.00 set of wheels and $2,500.00 stereo? I'm sorry but there ain't a first fcuking thing any institution can do to bury that sick set of priorities.

[PlatyPius 5]

I have a better idea. Let's stop pretending that we're a welfare state and that it's everyone's responsibility to support everyone else. It isn't. Either people make it on their own, or they die. Simple as that, and the way it should be. We've tampered with "Survival of the Fittest" long enough. Abolish welfare, food stamps, HUD, and medicaid says I. Is it my responsibility to support a lazy-a$$? No, it isn't. I don't care what colour they are.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

*quietly raises her hand*

I am a white American woman whose ancestry is deeply rooted in the Native American ancestry. I have worked my a$$ off to get where I am today. The _____ race (you fill in the blank) doesn't corner the market on having the hardest time getting anywhere in this life. You make the conscious choice to either pull yourself up by the proverbial bootstraps or wallow in your own self pity. I was raised in a poor family and I am the only one of my siblings that has chosen to make something of myself. I never once thought that my race or ethnicity had anything to do with how hard it was (and still is at times) to get where I am today.

Thank you very much.

Thank You!

[Fischkoepfin 1]

Cian,

Every poor person who does not help themselves is more money out of your pocket to pay for their expenses. More crime on the streets because of poverty. More children without health insurance.

Without worrying about whose responsibility it TECHNICALLY is to take care of the problem of poverty, black or otherwise, you can still see how, in terms of even money, it is not beneficial for our society to have a lot of poor people in it.

I think we should try to find solutions to the poverty problem for ALL of our sakes, without pointing fingers.

Good point.

[Scott & Lai 12]

At some point in their history, EVERY race/nation was a victim of slavery. Did they all become a bunch of whiny freeloaders because of past injustices, or did they get off their a$$es and do something about it?

[Edit]

I really should clarify, because I kinda sound like a racist there. I am only referring to blacks who CHOOSE to be victims and do nothing to improve their lives. I feel the same way about ALL people who play the "victim card" and accept no personal responsibility for their own circumstances.

Yep. In fact, the very word "slave" comes from "Slav," referring to the fact that so many of them were enslaved.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Cian,

Every poor person who does not help themselves is more money out of your pocket to pay for their expenses. More crime on the streets because of poverty. More children without health insurance.

Without worrying about whose responsibility it TECHNICALLY is to take care of the problem of poverty, black or otherwise, you can still see how, in terms of even money, it is not beneficial for our society to have a lot of poor people in it.

I think we should try to find solutions to the poverty problem for ALL of our sakes, without pointing fingers.

Good point.

Yes, it is a good point. It's just that more free rides ain't the answer. Promoting personal responsibility is.

[Garfield fan 0]

I have a better idea. Let's stop pretending that we're a welfare state and that it's everyone's responsibility to support everyone else. It isn't. Either people make it on their own, or they die. Simple as that, and the way it should be. We've tampered with "Survival of the Fittest" long enough. Abolish welfare, food stamps, HUD, and medicaid says I. Is it my responsibility to support a lazy-a$$? No, it isn't. I don't care what colour they are.

[Scott & Lai 12]

I have a better idea. Let's stop pretending that we're a welfare state and that it's everyone's responsibility to support everyone else. It isn't. Either people make it on their own, or they die. Simple as that, and the way it should be. We've tampered with "Survival of the Fittest" long enough. Abolish welfare, food stamps, HUD, and medicaid says I. Is it my responsibility to support a lazy-a$$? No, it isn't. I don't care what colour they are.

"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."

-- James Madison, 4 Annals of congress 179 (1794)

Edited September 3, 2006 by Scott & Lai

[Fischkoepfin 1]

Not taking responsibility for past injustice is practically the same as not taking responsibility for oneself. This is not about the blame-game but about understanding that community that have been oppressed for centuries can't uplift themselves in less than 50 years. Someone in the past screwed this up, and we'll have to do something to rectify this mistake.

And what, exactly, would that be? Nail-job, hair-do, and bing-bling rim stamps on top of the food stamp program? Do you know how mad it makes me when I see these $200.00 hair-do, $50.00 nail-job gals pay for their groceries with food stamps to then carry them to the vehicle with fcuking $5,000.00 set of wheels and $2,500.00 stereo? I'm sorry but there ain't a first fcuking thing any institution can do to bury that sick set of priorities.

Money alone is not going to solve the problem, you are right about that. And I totally understand your anger, but then you don't know how they paid for their hair-dos or their car stereo or why they are receiving food stamps. And this is not an exclusively black issue either. White people on social security or food stamps exhibit similarly contradictory patterns.

And, if you read my earlier post, I believe that the only way to address the issue of internalized prejudice is to start taking it seriously. One way to do that is to start thinking about poor blacks as remarkably similar to poor whites. Also, the impetus to help poor blacks overcome their defiance to education has to come outside the middle-class black community, from those who made it and not from someone outside who is not trusted.

As a society, however, we need to be more patient and to give people a chance. Trying to invest more heavily in impoverished schools could actually accomplish something because good teachers make better students.

Cian,

Every poor person who does not help themselves is more money out of your pocket to pay for their expenses. More crime on the streets because of poverty. More children without health insurance.

Without worrying about whose responsibility it TECHNICALLY is to take care of the problem of poverty, black or otherwise, you can still see how, in terms of even money, it is not beneficial for our society to have a lot of poor people in it.

I think we should try to find solutions to the poverty problem for ALL of our sakes, without pointing fingers.

Good point.

Yes, it is a good point. It's just that more free rides ain't the answer. Promoting personal responsibility is.

Right on!

[Jenn! 918]

I wonder where I'd be today if my single mother hadn't been able to collect welfare to support her daughter while she went to college in order to get a job and pay for my private school education. Probably sitting on my lazy ### I bet.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

And what, exactly, would that be? Nail-job, hair-do, and bing-bling rim stamps on top of the food stamp program? Do you know how mad it makes me when I see these $200.00 hair-do, $50.00 nail-job gals pay for their groceries with food stamps to then carry them to the vehicle with fcuking $5,000.00 set of wheels and $2,500.00 stereo? I'm sorry but there ain't a first fcuking thing any institution can do to bury that sick set of priorities.

Money alone is not going to solve the problem, you are right about that. And I totally understand your anger, but then you don't know how they paid for their hair-dos or their car stereo or why they are receiving food stamps. And this is not an exclusively black issue either. White people on social security or food stamps exhibit similarly contradictory patterns.

Oh, this was not about black folk. I've seen white trash acting like that and hispanics as well. Makes me mad all the same. I don't care where that Benz came from, if you have it, you don't need my tax money to pay for your baby's diapers. And I don't care how you got a hold of the cash it took to get your hair and nails done, but that could have paid for your cereal instead of my tax money. Anyway you slice it, there are fcuked up priorities and I am tired of paying for that.

PAtient? Yes. A chance? That's what this is all about. But there's got to be more pushing, too. The Clinton / Republican Congress "welfare to work" program type deal. That's my cup of tea. Get them folks off their butts and make it worth their while to work. Those that still prefer to be lazy: ** them!

I wonder where I'd be today if my single mother hadn't been able to collect welfare to support her daughter while she went to college in order to get a job and pay for my private school education. Probably sitting on my lazy ### I bet.

I suppose you can appreciate the difference between relying on help from the community to get through a rough patch or to better onself on the one hand and making it a way of life on the other?

[type2negative 0]

And what, exactly, would that be? Nail-job, hair-do, and bing-bling rim stamps on top of the food stamp program? Do you know how mad it makes me when I see these $200.00 hair-do, $50.00 nail-job gals pay for their groceries with food stamps to then carry them to the vehicle with fcuking $5,000.00 set of wheels and $2,500.00 stereo? I'm sorry but there ain't a first fcuking thing any institution can do to bury that sick set of priorities.

Hmmm Semms like this huy have met a .......WELFARE QUEEN...

How was you encounter?

[Jenn! 918]

I wonder where I'd be today if my single mother hadn't been able to collect welfare to support her daughter while she went to college in order to get a job and pay for my private school education. Probably sitting on my lazy ### I bet.

I suppose you can appreciate the difference between relying on help from the community to get through a rough patch or to better onself on the one hand and making it a way of life on the other?

Most definitely. I would hate to see welfare done away with on account of the abusers.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

And what, exactly, would that be? Nail-job, hair-do, and bing-bling rim stamps on top of the food stamp program? Do you know how mad it makes me when I see these $200.00 hair-do, $50.00 nail-job gals pay for their groceries with food stamps to then carry them to the vehicle with fcuking $5,000.00 set of wheels and $2,500.00 stereo? I'm sorry but there ain't a first fcuking thing any institution can do to bury that sick set of priorities.

Hmmm Semms like this huy have met a .......WELFARE QUEEN...

How was you encounter?

What do you mean A welfare queen. There are scores of them out there. It's scary...

I wonder where I'd be today if my single mother hadn't been able to collect welfare to support her daughter while she went to college in order to get a job and pay for my private school education. Probably sitting on my lazy ### I bet.

I suppose you can appreciate the difference between relying on help from the community to get through a rough patch or to better onself on the one hand and making it a way of life on the other?

Most definitely. I would hate to see welfare done away with on account of the abusers.

As would I. A person can get into a situation where (s)he needs a little help to get back on his/her feet. I wouldn't want to deny that help to a person in need.