I’ve met McWhorter too. I went to his book signing on the Upper West Side in Manhattan for “Doing Our Own Thing”, but I found him to be a bit rude and dismissive to me. Same thing with another conservative I admire, Larry Elder.

My (slightly irrational, but perhaps not) theory on both gentleman is that they made presumptions about me based on my braids. Perhaps most black women in NYC with braids aren’t fans (like I am) and they were bracing themselves….

Dan

I tell him to just give us time. We’re working on it!

A very good point, meep, that is often overlooked because we still can’t get past color. The overwhelming majority of problems that many Black families face are faced in all poor neighborhoods with poor schools and poor expectations of their children in school and behavior.

Higher education has the potential to pull one out of the poverty trap, but this is not usually encouraged in families that have no tradition of this in their family history. In addition, a poor high school education and the funds to get a college education are barriers.

I am speaking from direct experience here because I came from a poor white neighborhood. It was only the draft into the military that I got the discipline, and the GI bill that I got the funding help, that I got the opportunity to earn an engineering degree.

I’ve been trying to think of some valid reason to be in Bezerkley in the linguistics department….

PurpleMD
…lone, conservative, Christian Black female physician in the San Francisco Bay area

Half of this nation supports our President. Yet, half wish “For Peace in our time.” A noble ambition but it did not work for Neville Chamberlain it will not work today. Peace is earned with sacrifice. You cannot negotiate with Osama bin Laden. He must die or be captured.

Give in to Osama bin Laden and some day he may tell you when to rise each day, when to pray, and what you will think. Have the terrorists’ insurgents that kill our soldiers in Iraq threatened our nation on our soil? No, they do not have the men, the material, the strategy, or the funding.

Osama bin Laden evaded our military not because of out sourcing but because he is a superior opponent with the funding and resources to evade the most sophisticated technological fighting force in history. Hitler and Saddam Hussein abused drugs and alcohol. Both were megalomaniacs with psychotic delusions. It took five years to defeat Hitler and over a year to find Saddam. Osama bin Laden does not have these vices and he is not insane. He is just a killer.

This is a World War. It is not Vietnam. We must finish the liberation and restoration of Iraq. Our Military Forces want President Bush to see this through to the end. This is their choice. Will you deny them? Those that have given their life deserve this hard fought peace. And yet what is your reply? Are you on the front line? Your vote must reflect our nations support of winning this War. We cannot and must not change our Commander in Chief.

We should respect the wishes of those that are on the front line. Do the right thing finish and this War. Let those who are fighting and dying have their say. Your vote is your voice.

A good place to start would be with Thomas Sowell, he has at least two books on the subject. You may also check government statistics.

maybe you should either read more carefully, learn some history, or refute the point.

Huh? Please learn some history, you sell black peple short.

I’m going through a series of 8 exams to become an actuary — for each exam, you either pass or fail. Some are multiple choice, some are essay. Either way, your exam is scored impartially. The exam applications only ask for name, address, exam fees, and if you’ve taken one of their exams before. These exams are heavy on math and analysis of that math.

Just as when I was in college and high school, noting no hispanics or blacks in the upper level courses, I see very few blacks or hispanics going through the actuarial program. Interestingly, though women are supposedly not so good at math, the current crop of actuarial students are about 50/50 by sex. So it’s not a matter of bias – it’s a matter of preparation. You’ve got to have a lot of upper level math under your belt to succeed in this program. And it’s tough to get there if you’ve been shortchanged throughout primary school.

My parents got on our cases if we got anything less than a B in any course (except for the ones they considered non-academic). We were told that we had to go to college, and that if we majored in any “suspect” subject, we’d better have a second major in something real, like science or accounting. Academics were the main event – social popularity, athletics, those sorts of things were considered secondary. In a way, they were like a lower-key version of many Asian parents. They had great expectations for us.

Now, my sisters and I have done very well for ourselves. I and my middle sister have masters degrees, and work in financial stuff. My youngest sister is in medical school. We’ve never been given a bye because we were female. I did feel sad for all those kids who were allowed to simply get by on a minimum – it wasn’t just the black kids, but also the poor kids, and those with learning disabilities. These kids were cheated. No one expected much of them, and that’s where most ended up. I pointed this out in one of my schools, and I was persona non grata for remarking on it. Real life is much harsher than school life, when it comes to results. Schools don’t need to be brutal, but they do need to give kids an accurate assessment of where they stand. Too often I’ve seen people who thought they were okay and up to snuff, and didn’t realize until too late how far behind they were with respect to where they wanted to be.

I see that with my own stepdaughter – she’s a white kid who’s been on welfare most of her life. She wants to go to college, and to go on to law school. I’m trying to get her to go to a community college before trying for a university. She is talking up UNC and Duke right now, but she can’t jump from her rural high school to those places. Many universities let the disadvantaged in, but don’t do much to help them actually graduate. Because of these AA programs, people go to schools out of their league, as opposed to junior colleges where they can get prepared for the next level. I think we’ve convinced her to try a 2-yr program, then transfer.

Anyway, it’s not just blacks, but also the poor in general, who need to rethink their overwhelming support for the Dems.

I think the author of that article starts with an incorrect premise. When LBJ was President, blacks were still sharecropping and, for the most part, lived in abject poverty and illiteracy. Government coordinated efforts to reduce those problems were the only possible solutions during that era. Now, obviously, we have other choices.

Let’s not be mistaken: Republicans want black votes, but they don’t NEED THEM.