I will be the first to say that there is racism in this country. I have seen it first hand when a good friend of mine who is black and I were both looking to purchase new vehicles. At the time we both worked for a Forture 250 company and I could drive anything I wanted no questions asked yet he need to fill out credit app leave drivers license etc. 
That being said I truly believe that ANYONE can make a better life for themselves if they try and are willing to work hard. Before anyway starts screaming about being priliged or even middle class I will give you my background my father quit school at 16 married my mom at 17 (she was 20 and pregnant) I was born 2 months after he turned 18 I attended 17 schools in by the end of the first quarter my junior year (2.75 years in one school, 1.5 years in another school and 1.25 in the final school) so when you consider that out of 11.25 years of school I attended 5.5 years at three different schools that gives you an idea of how long we stayed or should I say didnt stay someplace. Dont forget physical and emotional abuse. Parents divorcing when I was 8 mother working overnight in a factory. As a child my family and I lived in our car and in a homeless shelter. I quit school at 16. Life is against me right? WRONG!!! I KNEW that there was a better way of life and I would have to work hard to have it.  I joined the military the day I turned 17, spent three years in the Army. I spent a long time figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up, working in factories, construction etc. I used to GI Bill for college graduating with high honors and being asked to speak at my commencement.  Now I own a small business, am happily married (to a teacher ironically enough) and have a daughter that I adore.  NO ONE gave me anything I WORKED VERY VERY HARD for it. I am not saying my life is perfect but I am saying it better than I ever thought that it could be.

Well, there is good news for blacks anyway. From slavery…to segregation…to institutionalized discrimination…to generalized subtle prejudice…they are getting there, step by step. Actually, nowadays, does one suffer more from asserting oneself as black, Jew, Muslim, or homosexual?
Of course, blacks are still widely viewed as inferior. A friend of mine, Kenneth Clair, has been on death row for 2 decades for being a black transient in close proximity to the murder of a white woman. It is painfully evident to anyone familiar with his case that had the color scheme been reversed, he would never have been bothered.
May I recommend an excellent book on the racism that remains in this nation, and others too? “Learning to be White,” by Thandeka, a Unitarian Universalist minister. She makes the amazing, and very convincing, argument that the first victims of racism are white. White children are born color-blind; as they grow up, they find that staying that way would break their connection to their family and friends, and that the only way forward is to make the heartbreaking determination that they are superior and to start acting accordingly.
May I invite you to play Thandeka’s “race game?” Most of us have no trouble referring to people by their color if it is “inferior” to ours. I respectfully dare white readers of this blog to refer to their acquaintances as “my white husband,” “the white lady at the front desk,” “the white bus driver,” “my white dry-cleaner,” etc.; always use the color to refer to anyone.
Hint: according to Thandeka, no white person, no matter how tolerant, has ever done this for more than a few hours without getting sick. Much work remains to be done before the color of our skin does not play a major role in the way others judge us.
Love…

Subtle, intrinsic racism is so embedded in American culture that most of us can adamantly assert “I am not a racist” while still harboring deeply and fundamentally discriminatory beliefs and instincts. 

Think, for example, about the “unfavorable” notice you might encounter just shopping (in a grocery store, for example) with an African-American friend, particularly one of the opposite sex, and how you would feel about it .. defensive? ... angry? ... embarrassed?...  It’s quite an eye-opener, you should try it  

As such, I agree with the authors/writers who are cited in this article, that it is past time for white America to open our eyes to this latent prejudice and fix it. 

As a Christian I further believe we are, and will be, called to account for this hateful cultural artifact which lives insidiously in our homes, hearts, churches and our culture at large…. It’s food for thought.

All races and cultures have their 50% good people, those who stand firm in their moral and religious convictions, 30% are wishy washy go with the flow, follow whatever or whoever is popular at the moment and the last 20% define the race by misdeeds, crime prejudice and bigotry. 

Al Sharpton and I hate to say Jesse Jackson have proved to be the 20% leading the 30%.

The United States of America fails to understand what 400 years of slavery,murder,lynchings,assassinations,rape,beatingsjim crow,discrimination,bigotry,amd segregation has done to African Americans. They refuse to acknowledge or apologize for it. And until that happens,we as a nation will never heal our racial divisions.

It was a mistake to loosen discipline and dumb down education. It is a mistake to continue to under fund teaching and micromanage the teacher. Teachers are taught to teach, they only have so much energy to spend and it shouldn’t be spent as a clerk. Their time should be spent in class and their attention focused on the students. Different strategies work for different personalities and different teachers will get results that don’t depend on following a desk jockey mandated guide. Judge the teachers by their results and not by how many forms they fill out.

The students need to follow behavior guides that keep disruption down and allow all students to concentrate on their studies. Too many schools are a site of chaos and aggressive behavior. Hall conduct is too free. Schools need to be safe places to learn. Student aggression towards others should not be tolerated. Students unable to control themselves should be sent to special schools until such time as they learn to behave.

Good English should be required. The use of poorly constructed English, may be allowed at home and off campus, but shouldn’t be tolerated in school. If the students don’t learn to speak properly then they will surely be trapped in meagre jobs and under employed. Do not allow the criminal element to define who you are.

It is very difficult for poor Americans, whatever their ethnic background to “Lift themselves up by their boothstraps.”  They barely have the wherewithal to manage daily living in our society, let alone to have the ability to use extraordinary methods to better their financial lot. Using the military as a means to better oneself has its limits.  How many billionairs does that produce?

It is all too easy to put blame on other members of society.  We need to learn a little compassion and stop saying that “attitude” is at fault.

This reminded me of a cartoon:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAgoldwater.htm

Scroll down it’s there.

NO, I’m not black, but I’m not ethnocentric, and I’m not BLINDED by the rhetoric and bias.  GET REAL…and stop downing oppressed peoples for not “making” it in America when history shows WHY ALL oppressed minorities are not making it.

That’s the thing. Some people find it very convenient to negate history.

The subject of race is one of those subjects on which it is very near impossible to have an honest discourse.  And, until we are able to have an honest discourse it is very difficult to effectively address the problems.  My personal beliefs are that all people who are poor have a difficult time in our society, whether Black or White.  We tend to say in our society that we care about the poor, but when people are being really honest, they believe that most people are poor because of their own doing. It is also my belief that we do a disservice to ourselves when we go through life blaming our situation in life on others and we also do a disservice when we encourage others to blame society for holding them back. I believe there are more Blacks in prison, because there is a higher percentage of Blacks who commit crimes.  I do not believe it is my fault, because I am White, that Blacks have a higher crime rate.  I believe they are responsible for their choices just as I am responsible for mine.  We have each got to want better for ourselves and work for it.  No one owes any of us anything whether our ancestors came on a slave ship from Africa or came on the Mayflower. The days of someone holding you back because you are of a certain race or gender, are in the rear view mirror of life.  My motto is equality for all, but coddle no one.

Your article addresses many of the symptoms, but none of the causes of poverty and ignorance of black America - primarily, unchecked welfare and government dependancy in the inner city.  Unfortunately, a growing number of black Americans are the product of a liberal, socialist government agenda that perpetuates unwed motherhood, fatherless children, and the general decay of the African American community, and I don’t say that subtly or obliquely.  This has been done by liberals in hopes that they can create more liberal votes, but the effect is to devastate the value system and the future of black America, and create more of the same problems.  Incestuous, isn’t it?  We all lose, except for the power-hungry liberal/socialists.  I wonder when African-Americans as a community will realize they are being used by the liberals. 

I believe your own arguments actually support that it really is all about traditional family and value systems.  And, all the handouts and government programs in the world can’t help anyone who’s value system is backwards.

Missy #63337, Sorry, I guess I should reassess my ability to be sarcastic.

It might be helpful to look at the racial aspects of economic status, educational opportunities, health care access and related factors in this discussion from wider perspectives.

In real numbers, poor and disadvantaged whites outnumber blacks. In percentage of ethnic groups living at a lower standard of living, American Indians are also facing similar struggles as those of blacks.

In fact, the “black vs. white” arguments are ... well, not black-and-white. There are many subtle and discreet factors involved.

A good example was the recent news about “freedmen” blacks being “disenrolled” from the Oklahoma Cherokee Nation. Food for thought:

“Who is a Cherokee? Many Americans have Indians in the family tree”

PopulistAmerica.com  
March 14, 2007

http://www.populistamerica.com/who_is_a_cherokee

People are too common.  Look into a child’s eyes it is the same, race is not there.  So how many of you commons relax with Negroes, Negroes whether or not you think they are longer hung might enchant your daughters?  It is so absurd.  200,000 years officially thus far homo sapiens who can walk the streets of New York without second glance are found in Earth.  Most prisoners in this several fold largest prison population are there for not being Caucasion, ho hum.  Are folks angry?

The fact that the US military widely opens its arms to Black recruits belies your allegation, Paul. This is the land of opportunity, the opportunity to pull yourself up out of the abject poverty and neglect found in Americas most gov.-forsaken places and go off to a foreign land to lose a couple limbs so that we can be free—and capitalistic—and Christian.