Quote of the Day: Dr. King Would Rejoice
"Martin Luther King, resurrected, would be prouder of black America than many of its leaders and thinkers. Economic disparities remain, but in 1960 nine in 10 blacks were poor, whereas today three of four blacks are not. Tracing the remaining disparities to racism becomes trickier by the year. The 'institutional racism' many trace these statistics to is something black people of King's time would have considered a much more workable adversary than open bigotry and segregation. Some holdouts remain bigots, but not enough to keep Barack Obama out of the White House, and overall, racism is considered as socially embarrassing as pedophilia.
King could never have predicted that this would happen so quickly. Is America 'post-racial'? Afraid not. But is the treatment of black people in America still so transparently and grievously unjust as to make a mockery of our democratic ideals and require redress with all deliberate speed? Afraid not, again, and Dr. King would rejoice, as we should with him."
~John McWhorter of the Manhattan Institute, in USAToday
5 Comments:
What NCLB - No Child Left Behind has told us via it's rule to report scores of sub-groups - including minorities is that in most school systems across the country - even suburban ones... even rural ones... is that blacks, in general score lower on achievement tests.... (as do the economically disadvantaged).
as long as we have large populations of black kids who do not get an education that enables them to find a job in a 21st workplace.. we are going to have continuing serious problems with entitlements.....
so.. it's more than a Dr. King "thing".... it affects every single taxpayer.. and these entitlements contribute mightily to our deficit and debt....
On international comparisons - the proficiency level of most American high school graduates ... sucks...
about 25% of our kids - meet international proficiency standards whereas the average Euro or Asian country achieves 50-70%.
this translates into jobs... for well-educated... in a 21st workplace...
and.. for us.. the 75% who do not meet proficiency levels .. have a difficult time getting a job that pays enough for them to be financially capable of providing food and shelter for themselves and their family - not to mention health care.
Ultimately - those that become the "working poor" .. don't pay income taxes either...
by the time they get all their food stamps, subsidized school lunches... housing vouchers... and child tax credits. and stay out of prison.... it's a tremendous drain on the country.
Would Dr. King be happy?
Probably not but as Mr. Perry points out - it's not overt discrimination...
it's actually worse...
it started with discrimination but now it's become a cultural albatross...
I am struck by more and more comments by black mayors in our cities who have black police leadership and black school leadership.. and the problem is still with us - a huge school dropout rate among blacks.. and the girls having kids... but even the ones who graduate are often functionally illiterate... much less "proficient".
When we rail against entitlements, recognize that a huge percentage of them are for "kids"....
we don't give entitlements to able-bodied adults without kids....
we give them to people who have kids....(and destitute elderly).
right?
about 30% of MedicAid is for pre-natal care, pregnancy, birth, and post-birth charity.... i.e. people having kids who cannot pay for them.
Thomas Sowell disagrees with this and thinks they've done worse (as a group) since the '50s. I think Dr. King would be appalled by the 80% of single-parent black children.
I agree. and so are many black leaders...
One would think with Black Mayors, and black police chiefs and black school heads that progress would have been made... and maybe it has but we have a terrible program with young folks quitting school and having kids... that they can no more afford than the man in the moon and they are expecting the "govt" to pay for their needs.
Larry,
"and they are expecting the "govt" to pay for their needs."
I think you may have hit the nail on the head, but I'd take it one step further. They expect the govt to take care of all their problems because they keep telling them that they can/will... and I think it's pretty clear how that's working out.
"it started with discrimination but now it's become a cultural albatross..."
You may want to check yourself, we agree on at least 2 things you said in one comment. :)
You may want to check yourself, we agree on at least 2 things you said in one comment. :)
scary eh?
:-)
most folks when they say half of people don't pay income tax don't realize the demographic.
the demographic is kids...
people who have kids get mucho tax breaks on Fed income tax...
that's the deal...
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