If you’re in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday swing by the Heritage Foundation for a discussion about what people really need to focus on: morality. I’ve blogged time and again that immorality, not racism or any other “ism,” is the most pressing problem in “inner cities” and urban areas.
Drug and excessive alcohol use, criminality, illegitimacy, government dependency, refusal to work — unless people are willing to give up these destructive things, there is little point in talking about economics, or entrepreneurship, or raising the academic bar. When destructive factors disproportionately affect a racial group, that group must be honest about what’s going on and individuals must consciously make an effort to change and reverse the generational pattern.
That’s what I think, anyway. Nothing else seems to be working, so at this point, my ideas are just as valid as anyone else’s.
Panelists for Moral Reconstruction: A Model for Urban Transformation Conference include John McWhorter (latest op-ed, Ending Victim-Like Thinking — also see these must-reads: Mainstreaming Men and Defined by defiance) and Ward Connerly. Location: 214 Massachusetts Ave NE. Date: July 26. Time: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The blurb:
Our nation’s Gulf Coast Region continues to face serious and ongoing problems in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This Town Hall style Conference will focus on solutions to these vexing policy issues. Transformation of the human spirit, however, is a key ingredient, because the destruction of this spirit is at the heart of the great breakdown witnessed during and following in the wake of these natural disasters. Our conference will seek to outline options and identify solutions that could serve as a model for rebuilding, not only the Gulf Coast, but also for transforming America’s inner cities and urban areas.
Hope to see you there.
Related posts:
- Vanguard
- Star Parker’s Forum At The Cato Institute
- Individuality
- Cowboy Capitalism
- How Not To Be Poor
- Black Conservatives and Black Liberals: What’s the Difference?
- New Orleans and Jackson, Mississippi, on Lockdown
- The Burden of Acting White
- Michigan Civil Rights Initiative
- Baby Daddy
- Black Marriage
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Doesn’t the black community in the U.S. mirror American morality in general? That is, isn’t the black community, like the white community, simultaneously more AND less moral than other societies? The black community is very religious, yet we probably lead other races in intracommunity murders. America is very religious, but has one of the most violent pasts of any nation in history. Of course, internal weakness and external attack are the society killers. Clearly internal weakness poses a bigger threat to the black community today than it does to America’s white community. And just as the Jewish community is extremely vigilant regarding the threat of external attack, our current internal weakness leaves us endangered if there is ever another external attack. Our talented tenth must do more to neutralize our dysfunctional tenth. LaShawn is doing her part. Wednesday should be interesting.
Dear Courageous Lady,
You’ve proclaimed the human condition. Perhaps its worse in inner cities, but it’s pandemic. But for Amazing Grace we’d all be lost.
Indeed. – Admin
I wonder if there’ll be anti-morality protesters there?
You can draw whatever lines you want but seems to me (and I am betting La Shawn will agree) the reasoning behind this is that so few children have a continuous and positive male figure in their lives, and this has a two fold effect. 1)the lack of the male gives them half the parental influance and 2)The remaining parent has to work all the more to keep the family financially stable and thus, even less then half the supervision. Parents teach morals, no parents means a decline in morals.
I think you are correct but I also think you are swimming against the current. Too many others (the professional black leaders and political figures who make a market in victimization) are constantly reinforcing the idea that “it’s not your fault and it’s not your responsibility”. Their message and ideas have to be rejected by the masses before any meaningful change is possible. I doubt I’ll live to see that happen.
Tiffany in Houston said: “SteveDinMD: I can appreciate people like you. You just come right out with your prejudice. Fabulous!
Typical Tiffany always looking for the speck in the eyes of others…..
Comment by jb — 07.22.06 @ 12:17 pm
JB: Dear JB, you don’t KNOW me so it would be in your best interest not to make assumptions about my character. The comment read badly and I pointed it out, just like others have done to me in this very forum.
What it boils down to is this: In my opinion, many white poeple judge black folk as a whole and sum of the parts as opposed to individuals. I’ve accepted that as part and parcel as life. I wish more white folks would be honest enough to admit that to themselves.
I agree with Tiffany about people judging others as a group and not as individuals. But I wouldn’t limit it to white people. I think it is a common problem of not seeing others as individuals.
JohnK
“I wonder if there’ll be anti-morality protesters there? ”
I am not an anti-morality protester, but I think there is always going to be a number of amoral opportunists in every group.
But how others treat the amoral opportunists will change the even the behavior of amoral opportunists.
If the larger group gives an amoral opportunist a better street rep for killing a brother, duh, you get more opportunists killing.
On the other hand, if a family member will turn even a real brother in for the sake of public safetly, you get less opportunists killing each other.
Golly, do you think that maybe they made a mistake when they took the Bible (full of moral absolutes) OUT of the schools, and let moral relevance (”we mustn’t criticize”) in?
And took the Ten Commandments off the walls (because, as SCOTUS said in an infamous decision, “because somebody might be influenced by them”)?
Or that maybe Dostoyesky was right when he said, “If there is no God, there is no crime”?
I keep thinking back to that one commenter, on this very site, who talked about the “working poor”…who are doing everything right, and living moral lives, but still poor, and still not being able to make ends meet on just the minimum wage.
The benefits of living a moral life are not always monetary.
Lashawn, isn’t it a shame that you have to “sell” morality ????
Morality can’t simply be its own reward…..you must “get” something in return.
“Selling” morality to the Black community frequently means telling them they will become millionaires, or reap some other kinds of benefits in exchange for doing good.
But what if that doesn’t happen? What if there’s no monetary reward, from living a moral life? Would people accept that?
Say, morality for its own sake…..and not because you think you are going to “get” something out of it.
It’s a tough sell…..
The idea that there’s no reward on this planet—bad things happen to good people all the time…that’s not a reason to stop, or to …not do good….
…That your reward is in the next life, life everlasting.
That’s the reward.
Again, it’s a tough sell, these days.
While I admit that people need to be recognized as individuals, there are group dynamics at work here. Yes, there are law abiding, responsible, hard working blacks in the inner city. Unfortunately there are too few. I won’t even say there are more of one then the other, but facts are facts, blacks are statistically more likely to be the aggressor (and the victim) in many crimes. Those statistics don’t come from thin air. Anyone who says that the races are exactly the same except for the color of their skin is either ignorant or afraid of being called a racist. There are, however, no differences that can’t be corrected mostly within one generation and almost completely in 2. I’d be a fool to say racism is dead, but there are cultural norms in the black community as a whole. It doesn’t apply to everyone but it does apply.
LB: Can you move my comment down to the ‘What in the Moral World’ post. I typed in the wrong spot. Thanks….
Seahawk, I don’t think putting the church in school would change this at all. Most of my life I’ve been a “weigh the fight with the gain” kind of guy, I was an atheist in High School but I decided long ago it wasn’t worth the fight to get rid of hearing the 2 words in the pledge. This is the same issue. Do I think it’s worth spending hours and days of my life so a piece of paper I’m going to look past every day doesn’t hurt my feelings? I will tell you this though, morality doesn’t come from schools. It comes from your friends (who you may meet at school), your faith in some cases, and most of all your parents. As it was put so well:
“Mother is the word for God on the mouth and heart of a child”
-”The Crow”
Even without religion, if a parent teaches their child that right is right because people deserve consideration then they will know. When I was in High School I stumbled on a 20 in the middle of the hall. I picked it up, took it to the office and asked the secretary if anyone was missing a 20. She said…”Nobody has turned one in, sorry”…I said “no, I found one, is someone missing one”…she seemed to think she misunderstood me again “No Sweetie, sorry, nobody brought one in” it took one more time before she understood that I was turning it in. a week later the principal (the one nobody sees) called me into her office to give it to me and thank me for my honesty. When doing what’s right is news, I worry for the state of our children.
“‘Selling’ morality to the Black community frequently means telling them they will become millionaires, or reap some other kinds of benefits in exchange for doing good.”
Amen, amen, and amen! Glamchild, you hit the nail on the head. Just take a look at many of these mega churches and televised evangelists, most of what they preach is about receiving a “blessing” from God but they have to do something first to get it. You have to give money or pray a certain way to get something from Him.
So even among those blacks who are supposed to be exemplars of morality, it is a false morality. One that is of posturing rather than of any substance. Therefore it is of none effect within the black community. Pretending to be moral is as bad as being immoral. This is why within the black community there is still high rates of immorality even though you have so many blacks who call themselves Christians, attending church regularly, jumping and shouting in so called praise to God.
Lashawn,
Did you get a chance to watch the NBC News Special “Separate but Unequal” last night? It was hosted by Tom Brokaw and focused on issue of race and poverty in Jackson, MS.
For the first time in a while, a liberal news show actually called out many of the issues you speak of. And furthermore, it was refreshing to hear many of the African-American honors students of Jackson, MS talking about morality being the biggest issue facing black America right now. All of the honors students interviewed came from 2-parent families.
At times it read like a script from your blog, and provided factual evidence. Furthermore, there was less focus on blaming whites and more focus on blaming other factors….
LaShawn, have you read Gerry Charlotte Phelps’ Blog? She’s a former leftist who is now a Christian and she runs a center for the poor. Her blog is full of valuable information for people that really are interested in changing the lives of the poor. She has a chapter from her book, What the Poor Are Really Like, that explains how and why people engage in, and perpetuate, the destructive habits that lead to poverty. She also has advice for those of us in the middle and working classes and on how to live in order to be good examples to the poor.
Did anybody see the program about rogue elephants on the Nature channel? It is VERY on point here;
Basically a park in South Africa was having trouble with rhinos dying. After investigation, it was found out that they were being killed by young male elephants. Long story short the park was out of elephants five yrs earlier and the park was restocked with elephants from another park. The problem was that the transport trucks werent large enough to bring in the full grown male elephants and only brought immature males and females. The young males had no authority figures to keep them in line and show them how to act, so they acted out in a destructive way. The park imported a few giant tuskers to reign in the adolescent males and guess what????? No more rhino killings and everybody in the park coexisted as they should.
It was an AMAZING program and, I think, a lesson the black community could learn from. With nearly 75% of births in the black community in the past ten yrs going to single parent households, it will get worse before it gets better.
I am always fascinated by the discussion of morality, ethics and the ethos by those who “reach within themselves” for validation.
So many social liberals eschew religious faith, even though they claim to espouse (selected) religious tenets.
I am afraid that the morality of convenience and the rejection of critical thinking has taken such firm root that only a generation of two of abject failure at life can awaken some segments of our society.
I generally reject Darwinism, but history shows that only fit societies survive.
Tiffany said;” Dear JB, you don’t KNOW me so it would be in your best interest not to make assumptions about my character.”
In fact, I did not make an assumption about your character, but rather evaluated the general run of your comments which quite typically are critical of others. Your words were evaluated, nothing less and nothing more.
“I agree with Tiffany about people judging others as a group and not as individuals. But I wouldn’t limit it to white people. I think it is a common problem of not seeing others as individuals.”
Judged by being black, female and having a stripper’s name – must be bad. But after a first impression, most people will give you a chance as an individual.
from
http://www.lesjones.com/posts/000217.shtml
- Don’t give your daughter a stripper name – Brandi, Candi, Bambi, Tiffany, etc. If you’re not famliar with current stripper names, it may be time for field research.
Jesse Lee Peterson states that most Black preachers are called by their mommas, not by God. When asked to back up the assertion, he brings up Jesse Jackson, Sr.
JLP has attacked T.D. Jakes on Jakes’ style of preaching, but I note not Jakes’ substance.
JLP has attacked Fred Price for stating that a former(?) friend of his, a pastor, was wrong for saying that inter-racial marriage was wrong. This occurred years ago. Price then did a year long series concerning racism in the church and how it has divided the body of Christ. Yet, JLP attacked Price for being a race hustler.
JLP has attacked the Black church and prosperity teaching, yet kisses up to Pat Robertson, who in my opinion, shows how money can corrupt the Word. If you don’t like what I state about Robertson, look at his involvement in “blood diamonds” and his defense of Charles Taylor.
JLP talks about letting go of anger, yet when Alvin Williams backed out of one of JLP’s conferences, JLP let fly with a string of insults that was jaw dropping.
On his now defunct radio show, JLP did an interview of David Duke. JLP agreed with Duke’s positions, only saying that Duke’s “problem” was his focus on white people.
If anyone wants to indite the Black church, feel free to do so. But if you don’t do so without inditing the church, in general, you are wrong and you are helping separate the Body of the Church. Just go to MySpace and see what is being posted by America’s youth. Look at the number one business on the internet. Look at the first industry to make use of commercial podcasting (porn sites in case you didn’t know). Then tell me the church, in general, hasn’t failed.
Morality? Ward Connerly? John McWhorter?
Most Blacks left New Orleans.
Most of the things the media first claimed happened in New Orleans and the SuperDome, didn’t happen.
Maybe it’s me, but I see more hatred and darkness from JLP than I see the light of Christ.
DarkStar,
That was an interesting post. Not quite a diatribe, but you lacked sources. I’m not an authority on the Black church so I’ll leave that to others to comment on, but I am familiar with info tech and how it affects the youth:
You said: Just go to MySpace and see what is being posted by America’s youth.
Stupid photos? Links to lame videos? Really obnoxious, sparkly GIF animations? You obviously refer to puerile content, but have YOU really been around MySpace? Most band sites are clean and there are hundreds of positive, upbeat pages by kids. Check out this one: http://www.myspace.com/bitzofbrin. She’s fourteen years old and she’s one of many kids just like her.
Look at the number one business on the internet.
Spam? Ads? News? Oh, you mean porn. Well, sure it is ubiquitous, and shocking, but hardly the number one business. MySpace, for instance, is more profitable. When porn is the darling of Wall Street get back to me.
Look at the first industry to make use of commercial podcasting (porn sites in case you didn’t know).
OK, this one really baffles me. I’ve been into podcast for almost two years and although there are many randy amateur talk podcasts out there I don’t see any commercial porno podcasts. Can you provide links to back up this claim?
Immorality is a problem in society. I once was treated shamefully by an old friend who claimed he didn’t need God to be moral as he mocked my religious beliefs and talked to me contemptuously. He has always represented the attitude of the opposition for me: intellectually superior and morally bankrupt. When there is no right and wrong, what does “morality” mean?.
“Look at the first industry to make use of commercial podcasting (porn sites in case you didn’t know).
OK, this one really baffles me. I’ve been into podcast for almost two years and although there are many randy amateur talk podcasts out there I don’t see any commercial porno podcasts. Can you provide links to back up this claim? ”
This threw me for a loop also, but I assumed that Darkstar was talking about video podcasting and not voice podcasting. The porn industry does have a history of being a first to use new technology such as movies, VCRs, Internet..
Lack of moral values is no respecter of race, religious beliefs or national origin. It is, however, very true that in this country, moral paucity is celebrated entirely too much. Suddenly the cheating husband of Christy Brinkley is a big celebrity. Branjelina have a child out of wedlock and the world seems to be enthralled. Britney Spears marries a man whose girlfriend is PREGNANT with their second out-of-wedlock child and immediately adds additional children to the mix. Magic Johnson announces he has AIDS and nobody condemns the dangerous lifestyle that may have led to his infection, but rather praises him for his courage in admitting his illness (and I was one of those because I so adore that young man).
A very much married President of the United States – a liberal and darling of the National Organization of Women – has sexual relations with a girl as young as his own daughter (an employee, no less), in the Oval Office. And nobody thinks much of any of it.
Sexually transmitted diseases abound and nobody seems to care very much. Clearly “safe sex” isn’t being practiced or there wouldn’t be so many unwed mothers – and so many children living in less than optimum environments for healthy mental and physical development. Yes, many of them thrive. Some don’t. Some succumb to the drug culture, robbing us of some of our best and brightest – one such was my beloved godson.
If one accepts that we reap what we sow, we are in a whole lot of trouble here. And certainly the licentious and completely amoral attitudes of far too many Westerners can only help the Islamfascists in their efforts to paint us as the “Great Satan”.
There are days when I’m glad I’m 64 years old and this is one of those days. I very much hope I will have joined my Lord (and hopefully see my beloved David again) before the inevitable deluge occurs.
I’m not an authority on the Black church so I’ll leave that to others to comment on, but I am familiar with info tech and how it affects the youth:
I’m in the “info tech” field as well.
You said: Just go to MySpace and see what is being posted by America’s youth.
Yeah, personal information that can be used for sexual preditors to do what they want to do: target underaged kids. Personal information from the kids with bawdy sexual references, sexual humor, etc.
but have YOU really been around MySpace? Most band sites are clean and there are hundreds of positive, upbeat pages by kids
That’s true and their are hundreds of questionable sites as well. And yes I have been around it, before the media became aware of it. My daughter and her friends are/were on it and my daughter showed me around. I wasn’t exactly pleased and I’m not a prude.
Spam? Ads? News? Oh, you mean porn. Well, sure it is ubiquitous, and shocking, but hardly the number one business. MySpace, for instance, is more profitable. When porn is the darling of Wall Street get back to me.
You have just mixed things up good here. Let’s start with the combined income of all porn sites vs. MySpace and you would see MySpace dwarfed. Next, Wall Street is irrelevant to the world of porn but its not irrelevant to the world hotels. Room order porn generates a lot of revenue for hotels, it’s a reason why they offer it and it is a reason why they don’t want to let it be known how much money is generated. It’s equivalent to hotels not putting alcohol on reciepts for business travelers because they know the biz travelers drink a lot of booze but the companies typically don’t pay for it.
OK, this one really baffles me. I’ve been into podcast for almost two years and although there are many randy amateur talk podcasts out there I don’t see any commercial porno podcasts. Can you provide links to back up this claim?
I make no distinction between audio and video podcasts. Porn makers were the first to make heavy use of video podcasts.
Gayle, you put it very well.
Kids need good role models..
Here’s one…
http://tinyurl.com/zcl3v
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