What has changed?
Mon, 2008-01-21 18:27
#1
What has changed?
Mon, 2008-01-21 18:27
#2
In his final speech, Martin Luther King said that American blacks would reach the promised land. It's a great peice of oratory, but my question is how close is black america to reaching the place King dreamed of? How much has changed for blacks in the United states?
[ 21 January 2008: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]
Tue, 2008-01-22 00:26
#3
Left Turn
Much has changed for blacks in America, for the worse.
"The Dramatic loss of manufacturing jobs, historically the entry level positions for low-income Americans, has worsened the outlook for the third of African Americans, and half of all black children, living below the poverty level (defined in 1990 as $12, 67 for a family of four, and $9,736 for a family of three). With a poverty rate already three times greater than for whites, this black poverty caste is growing in absolute terms and as a percentage of all African Americans "(The Struggle for Black Equality, p. 226)
-- African Americans were 22 percent of the prison population in 1930, 45 percent in 1990 (The Struggle for Black Equality, p.227)
-- The portion of blacks attending desegregated schools declined from 60 percent in 1971 to below 50 percent by 1980, and continued to decline throughout the 80s, so that by 1990, 75 percent of African-American students attended schools that were over 90 percent black (The Struggle for Black equality, p. 224)
"After narrowing for several decades, the gap between black and white life expectancy increased in the mid-1980s from 56. to 6.2 years and is still widening" (The Struggle for Black Equality, p. 227)
All excerpts and statistics are from "The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1992" by Harvard Sitkoff. Revised Edition. Published in New York by Hill and Wang. Copyright 1993.
Martin Luther King would be appalled.
[ 22 January 2008: Message edited by: Left Turn ]
Tue, 2008-01-22 05:22
#4
One thing that has changed is the expectation that racism has been discussed for "so long" that surely we should be talking of something else... [img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img] The opposition has grown smoother, craftier at derailing opponents of racism with backtalk apparently voiced in good (white) faith. Here is a very funny discussion of this problem.
[url=http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/607897.html]How to suppress discussions of racism (in six easy steps)[/url]
quote:
1. Control what your audience sees.
2. Attack the person, not the argument.
3. Argue against straw men.
4. Deflect attention away from the specific criticism.
5. Racism, however ugly, is better than the alternative.
6. Prove your opponent has mistaken some other quality for racism.
[ 22 January 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
Tue, 2008-01-22 06:45
#5
Maysie
Some comments and links from my favourite blog, [url=http://www.racialicious.com/2008/01/21/remember-the-dream/#comments]raci... on the topic of MLK day yesterday.
Tue, 2008-01-22 06:59
#6
Left Turn:
quote:
All excerpts and statistics are from "The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1992" by Harvard Sitkoff. Revised Edition. Published in New York by Hill and Wang. Copyright 1993.
I'd be curious if there is any difference between these numbers in 1993 and today. Given Bush's rule, I'd think the decline has continued.
Tue, 2008-01-22 11:20
#7
quote:
One thing that has changed is the expectation that racism has been discussed for "so long" that surely we should be talking of something else...
I think many Americans believe that racism ended with the civil rights movement, and that if racism does exist, it exists in the south. This means that a janitor in Little Rock Arkansas is expected to face up to his racist ideas, but a high powered lawyer in San Fransisco doesn't have to think about the way he or she views blacks and Latinos. It's a double standard used to villify the poor. Why should the bigoted bar be so much lower for the wealthy?
[ 22 January 2008: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]
Tue, 2008-01-22 11:36
#8
By "Americans," I assum you mean White North-Americans.
Also, I think it helps to realize that there is no disembodied expectation floating out there. Some people are openly exerting racism, a lot more are suffering from it, and most White liberals claim - if pressed - to be in a third, kind of twilight zone.
Tue, 2008-01-22 13:11
#9
quote:
By "Americans," I assum you mean White North-Americans.
OK, yes, white North Americans. Only in Canada we stereotype Qurbecois and flatlanders as racist, while Ontario is portrayed as a bastion of cosmopolitin tolerence.
[ 22 January 2008: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]
Wed, 2008-01-23 06:14
#10
Interesting topic.
Because of teh success of barack Obama, there's been a lot of media commentary on how the Black community has "made it" and reached full success and acceptance and that the struggle is now over.
But for every Barack Obama with Harvard degrees and political clout, there are thousands more who are struggling and finding themselves in far worse conditions than the average white person.
It's easy to point to the success that some members of the black community have had - Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods - and say that it's evidence that there is no race problem in America but what is remarkable about tehm is that tehy are far more the exception than the rule.