On Multiculturalism

In the piece you point out, Fred does what he blasts the press for doing: Blacks are the underclass, which is a minority of Blacks.

Ain’t that wonderful?

I think Fred would just be happier if there were a race war and all the niggers and spics were eliminated.

Would that make you feel better, Fred????

I hope you come by LBC to see this. I’d love to see your response.

(LB, I’m deliberately being inflammatory, I understand if you edit this.)

Signed,
A tired black woman

I’m sure your Mom, at some point, LaShawn, or maybe some other important person in your life, shared this with you: You can please all of the people some of the time and you can please some of the people all of the time. But, you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

Whether you started this blog in an effort to “make new friends” or not, I have no idea. However, if you started this blog to be honest, and to share your viewpoint [which by the way, I believe you've done a commendable job!], and in that regard, to impart a bit of knowledge or wisdom on some of us, once in a while, then “being nice,” and “P.C.” and all that “warm and fuzzy” stuff shouldn’t matter.

I suspect that the people that are offended – liberals and conservatives, alike – are the ones that typically wake up on the wrong side of the bed in the first place, so pretty much nothing you do is going to make them happy.

I had a job in my last life [the one I had before I moved to the Middle East] at a large law firm in North Carolina – got hired there right after we moved down south from New Hampshire. Being a northerner, not accustomed to being sickeningly sweet all of the time and sugar coating everything, I just never quite “fit in” with my peers at this firm. I was never invited to lunch with any of the other paralegals or secretaries, or for cocktails after work – or the office baby showers, wedding showers, etc. I was at this firm for less than two months when I got called into a meeting with a couple of the partners who wanted to “discuss my job performance” with me. I was certain, walking down the hall to the conference room, that I was going to be fired for the first time in my life, and I was already telling myself that it was entirely my fault, that I should have done, could have done… And now I was going to be fired!

Instead of being fired, I was offered a promotion, over many others, to work for THE senior partner. The paralegal working for him at the time was going to be “demoted” and I was told that this was likely to cause a bit of distention [yeah, understatement, there!] among some of my peers. One of the partners explained why I was chosen for the position, and she rambled on about what issues this could cause for me with others [she had no clue I already had the tee-shirt!]. The last thing she said to me before I left the conference room was, “Beth, we didn’t hire you to make friends here. We hired you to get a job done.” There, LaShawn, my advice to you. You’re welcome!

Feel better, now?

Okay. Good. Group hug everyone!

Yeah, alright, enough of that huggy, schmuggy stuff…

In response to Fred’s gross over-generalizations, I would like to point out some fallacious assumptions:

1) Your limited knowledge of the Spanish language, and how it’s spoken by Hispanic blacks is not surprising. Any person who’s studied the language is well aware of the fact that Spanish people (those directly descended from Spain) view much of the Spanish spoken by Latin American Hispanics as a form of “broken Spanish” similar to how ebonics is broken English. In other words it may be suitable to call it “Hisbonics”

2) There’s difference between color-blind policy and color-conscious policy. As a black person, I share many of LaShawn’s political views, but to completely ignore race when constructing policy is malignant neglect given even the most basic knowledge of our racist history and it’s present day impact. Racial preferences (which I oppose) are distinct from affirmative action (which I support), because the former emphasizes double standards, and the latter takes proactive measures to counter historical injustice. In other words, there is nothing wrong with universities actively recruting minority students, provided they do so without severely sacrificing the academic expectations of the students they recruit.

Cries of racism have certainly gotten out of control. But Fred’s 2 short paragraphs say a lot about his view of racial groups, and are ridden with racist views (”Hispanic blacks behave normally”…implying that American Blacks are inherently abnormal), regardless of whether or not he actively discriminates against blacks is the type of racism that people should be focused on

Lastly, Fred, and his allies suffer from chronic historical myopia. “The intense discord that quietly underlies American life” existed before these policies of special privilege. Anyone with a basic understanding of American history can recognize that the discord existed long before these the 60’s. Of course this doesn’t justify all entitlement policies. Perhaps he should understand that policies of entitlement, which helped exacerbate black-white inequality in the first place, originated with the New Deal . (read, “When Affirmative Action was White” by Columbia University Professor Ira Katznelson).

LaShawn you have a law background. I would hope you recognize that the 2003 case that upheld the use of race as a factor in college admissions, fully recognized that this can’t go on forever, but they also understood that the costs of completely ignoring race are too great at this point, which is why they advocated the “marginal” use of race in constructing policies.

Sorry for the long post…

Ian,

I don’t believe we should attempt to make up for the past either, at least in a redistributive sense (i.e.- financial reparations). But America’s future will be directly tied to it’s ability to reverse the negative direction in which it sent a substantial porion of its population, through past mistake. This includes both the gross extension of welfare (which conservatives always point out), and legacy of Jim Crow and slavery.

Part of the problem with conservative opposition to any and approaches to black victimization of the past, is they only see slavery, but forget about Jim Crow. Black people didn’t achieve equal rights or opportunities (in a legal sense) until 1964. What that means prior to that every system designed for blacks (schooling, health care, etc.) was inferior. You’re absolutely right, we need to make sure that doesn’t happen again. But you can’t just open the prison gates and expect the prisoners to instantly be able to be prepared to properly function in the society from which they’ve been banned for hundreds of years. Like LaShawn, I am an opponent of the constant victimlogy spewed by too many black leaders and scholars, who are afraid to discuss individual responsibility. But somehow 40 years of using race to help blacks, followed by 400 years of using race to hurt blacks just doesn’t add up to a balanced equation. The book I mentioned called for one more generation of race-sensitive policy, not simply to make up for the past, but to build a better future.

Personally, it bothers me that black leaders’ hopes hinge so much on affirmative action. It’s almost as if they think black people are doomed without it, which in my opinion, is almost as bad as whites believing we are inferior. Furthermore, I believe we should switch from race-based to more socioeconomic-based policies. Of course many conservative whites think this is just a coded term for racial preferences, because in their minds “all blacks are poor”, or “all poor people are black” despite the fact that there are more middle class blacks than poor blacks.

Again, sorry for the long post. LaShawn keep promoting discourse…I’ll always support that.

Stop apologizing for long posts! Write as much as you want. I “lend” my bandwidth for a good cause. – Admin

Frank, you rock!

Frank, I can appreciate your points. I don’t think many conservatives equate blacks with poverty. Coming from Texas, I see poverty across all ethnic groups. What bother me about such programs is that they are inherently unfair. Jobs, grants, college scholarships, etc. should be awarded solely on what the person has done, not because of the color of their skin. I believe in total equality, that no one should get preferential treatment. As for switching from race based policies to socio-economic policies, I have to agree as well, mainly because I am a Jeffersonian at heart and believe that government should not involve itself in such things. When they do, they invariably make matters worse.
I do find your logic and approach very refreshing. One gets tired of the victicrats and there whining and seeing someone use their minds instead of their mouths and emotions is a very pleasant change.

Preview of Monday night’s speech? Oration by El Presidente in “Our First Mexican President.” (Including trackback to “On Multiculturalism” which hasn’t shown up here…yet.)

http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2006/05/15/on-multiculturalism/#comment-69388 – Admin

One thing about Fred is that he believes that genetics play a major role in what is happening.

http://www.fredoneverything.net/Rushton.shtml

So if Fred is just telling it like it is, then why all the complaining? It’s genetic. As Fred notes in the link, we have smaller brains and higher testosterone levels which makes it inevitable that we will perform less well academically and commit more crimes. There is little that can be changed.

Even for those that overcome their genetic tendencies or even live conservative lifestyles, the genetic tendencies are still there and chances of successful blacks having less intelligent children who lean toward criminal activity are still higher. As Fred states, the colder weather races evolved differently from the warm weather races. Our brains developed less while are bodies developed more. So there is little hope and much of the fussing over the black problem in America is basic futile.

Please explain…what is Black Self Help? How is it different from Self Help??

I love your blog and have told similar-minded people about it. It’s really helped me cope with trends I disagree with.

I’ve bookmarked Frank, to read more of his views, and if I’ve judged him too quickly, I apologise-I’ve been wrong before, but I’ve also been right. Just now following the link provided by shade to another post of Frank’s, allow me one more of my “shoot from the lip judgements”:Frank and I disagree on more than one subject. I’m happy to leave it at that.

I’ve been a longtime fan, but I rarely comment. I will say, keep callin’ it as you see it. If you can hang onto civility, while still talkin’ straight, more power to ya. Some of us appreciate the civility, even if no matter what you’ll get some angry responses. (As for Fred, I agree with *some* of his concerns, but the guy sounds a little racist to me. I, for one, don’t care if there are 10% whites in America, provided that we truly become a melting pot and speak one unifying language.)

Lottajota said:
“but the guy sounds a little racist to me.”

I agree. In searching over his blogs, I notice that he somewhat positively mentions some individual blacks, including LaShawn, but even then, he only mentions them in quick passing and not with much enthusiasm. I have personally dealt with a few whites who will declare not liking blacks, but will tell me that I’m the exception, but I don’t go for that. If you make one broad claim about a group that I’m a part of, then you make that claim about me. If you state that blacks are predisposed to be less intelligent, then you are saying this about me and my family, thus you lose my respect.

Uh, Frank … if what you say is true about Latin American Spanish, then please explain why half of the reading list I had to cover for my Master’s in Spanish Literature was from Latin America?!? I think that attitude about peninsular Spanish being superior to Latin American Spanish is too “eurocentric” — much like believing The Queen’s English is superior to American English. Nobel prizes for literature have been awarded to “Americans” as well as to Europeans. (When you get to “Ebonics”, you’re then talking about a dialect of a language. Latin Am. Spanish is not a dialect. It is SPANISH.)

Call it as you see it and don’t mince words. Just imagine how much better off we’d be if everyone did that as a rule of thumb.
Just keep on callin’ out them spades, La Shawn

Ciao

You go girl!! If more Americans heard the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, this would be a changed country. I may not agree with everything you write but I’ll defend your absolute right to write it! The only caveat is that there be no name calling or nastiness. My apologies for those “nasties” that seem to slime their way throughout the blogosphere.

Keep up the good work!!