Blacks make progress, but then...

[OldWiseGuy]

They are compared to white progress, and all the air goes out of their balloon.

https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_...3ba6/economic-state-of-black-america-2020.pdf



The Economic State of Black America in 2020

"Over the past half-century, Black Americans have made substantial social and economic progress, gaining political rights that long had been denied to them, entering professions from which they had been blocked and largely overcoming centuries of overt racism and oppression.


While there were only five Black Members of Congress when the Civil Rights Act became law in 1964, there currently are 56 Black Members of Congress, including 12% of the House of Representatives. Black activists, scholars, and social commentators have raised awareness about the importance of diversity and shaped the national conversation around race and inequality. There has been a proliferation of Black writers, screenwriters, artists, poets, athletes and musicians who have become superstars in their respective fields. And the 21st century saw the election of the first Black American, Barack Obama, as president of the United States.


Millions of Black Americans also have benefited from the opportunities created by the de jure end of Jim Crow, entering the middle class for the first time, earning undergraduate and advanced degrees, receiving higher wages, achieving professional success and raising children who will build on their achievements. Leading indicators of economic prosperity and other measures of well-being also have trended upward for most of this period, with increased life expectancy, increased household incomes and substantial gains in educational attainment."

But, wait for it (drumroll please) here comes the big HOWEVER...and the predictable comparison to white progress, negating in the reader's mind all the progress made by blacks in the past half century, and effectively returning them to their slave past.

 

[com7fy8]

the predictable comparison to white progress,

Yes, we have humans who can compare statistical numbers.

But blacks need to advance in quality, not only in quantity.

For example, I personally know a lady in her nineties who has been the nursing supervisor of an I.C.U. I do not think she got there because of some racially preferential advancement program.

And . . . of course . . . Ben Carson became able to surgically separate twins joined at the brain and keep both alive. Let's see a program mass-produce people who can do that

Even so > I see that programs can help. But each individual person needs to develop in character, kindness, and education and/or training, and make the effort - - - while learning how to relate and communicate. And the demonstration of this can get you somewhere.

I have integrated various churches and worship services. My overall take is you can have a black person who is for real in character and love. And this person's real genius can be in ability to relate and communicate > this can be the most valuable way to be a genius!!!

And even if someone is not a professional, he or she can be a genius in how to do a simple job, maybe, but with business ingenuity to make plenty of money doing it and using the money wisely.

Now, by the way > you might be able to make money, but what if you spend ten dollars a pack, each day, to smoke it away . . . for one example? That's seventy dollars a week, flushed, and later you could do torture time worse than prison or being beaten by a rogue police pretender . . . suffering the cancer and treatment and still maybe dying . . . along with the company of the emotional havoc your family suffers. So, someone else might be smart enough to live well with half the money you might make.

"It's not how much you have, but" - - - "how much you can do with it," a black man said with me, once

One black pastor came into Boston, bought a store front, and changed it into a church; while I later was there when his son was the pastor, his son cut a hole in the floor, and installed a toilet. Plus, he was using the middle floor of his triple decker while renting upstairs and downstairs, if I understood correctly.

Another black pastor was an E.R. doctor on Cape Cod, but he went into pastoring because he found he could accomplish more with that. And, some years ago, after I had shared with him for a while, I heard his name in the news, about how he and others were helping with community relations with the police, I would say among other things. And another man named in the report was another black pastor I had known while I was a member of his church.

And there is the African Methodist Episcopal church, which started with a slave who got into preaching, and his master was convinced to promote him. And that started before programs. And now A.M.E. is international, and a local A.M.E. pastor I knew went to, if I understood correctly, South Africa to help transition them from apartheid. I won't guarantee my memory on that, but I do remember him going to Africa to help during that time.

While I shared with a number of black pastors, I was living outside doing a missionary experiment of seeing what I could do to help outdoor homeless people, while I was living out on the street as their neighbor. I came to their churches, off the street to visit . . . and visited others while walking from Boston to Murfreesboro, North Carolina.

There were times I shared with the northern pastors during their Bible and prayer groups, and they have given me rides with conversations. So, they are not stuck-up out-of-reach people.

But . . . at times . . . I have been shut up by certain black people. One time I got chewed out by a pastor talking in front of his Wednesday people, saying I had dissed him by sharing a brief teaching before he was going to teach. And a black security person kicked me out of a Christian ministerial location in that area.

And now I can see they were right about how I was wrong, to spare details.

Blacks have helped me to get a clue, then; and a number of us who know me, here, can see how I need much more than a clue. At the time I did the crybaby thing and a demonstration of yelling from off the property, but I think I have grown up some . . . with help of plenty of black upbringing?

Even so, there are blacks who need to get a clue. But there are those who can help me to get a clue about how to love and be humble. And they are where others can meet them and learn from them . . . now . . . already. So, I am fine with programs, but there are already blacks who know who they are and how to live . . . how to love, plus they are able to help others, not only other blacks > Jesus is able to make anyone now, already, able to help anyone find out how to love.

So, when I might hear a youth stupid-mouthing at someone, or hear about a criminal sucker-popping someone, I know this is not only because of white bigots. One trick a kid can know for controlling a parent is to act as though the parent has to do things some way the kid dictates, or else the kid will act out and blame the parent for not going things right. That's very clever; a lot of people fall for this >

"I'm all messed-up and I'm acting out like this . . . because you didn't do things right with me."

But it is a control trick . . . like to how a kid can roll on the supermarket floor and scream everyone's ears in, so it'll look like you're abusing the child . . . holding your reputation hostage, so you meet his or her demand for some candy or fattening food.

But can't any of us get to acting like a lunatic . . . when something that is a treasure pleasure for us is getting messed-with?

So, this is maybe part of why Jesus says to make sure God's kingdom is our treasure. No one can mess with this.

People can have the wrong treasure, and they get in major messes trying to get it, or major torment about losing it. And Jesus says clearly >

"He who loves his life will lose it," in John 12:25.

White bigots are already losing their lives . . . the lives they could have with genuine loving. You can not really love someone, if you are living in hatred or unforgiveness against anyone. That nasty stuff can effect our character, keeping us deeply degraded and weak so we can't hold up even with ones close to us, without breaking down in arguing and complaining and cleverly blaming elsewhere.

Meanwhile, if people seek to become more equal with bigots . . . they could develop the ways that got the bigots what they have; and then you can see how those blacks have in truth become equal to the white bigots . . . nasty, snotty, deeply ruined from being able to love, even abusing. But . . . even so . . . I have shared with blacks who are well-to-do and they are not deeply ruined people who do not know how to love > they are not conceited like I have been. So, these have been my example to help me.

So, we already have blacks who are better than only being economically equal, plus they can help all of us to get more real with God and find out how to really love.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Yes, we have humans who can compare statistical numbers.

And those numbers will change over time. I picture the economic disparity between whites and blacks as a footrace. The white runner not only has a head start, but is faster than the black runner. So even though the black runner is progressing around the track the gap is ever widening (this is also a statistical fact regarding black/white wealth.

From the point of view of activists the black runner is "falling behind" when in reality it is the white runner that is "getting further ahead", which does not negate the progress of the black runner. In fact if the white runner suddenly disappeared the black runner would find himself making excellent progress around the track. It is only when he see the white runner widening the gap between them that he thinks he is 'losing the race'.

The fact is that it is not a race, there is no finish line, only progress around the track. The white runner may be nearing his peak ability to run while the black runner hasn't achieved the same condition yet. Over time the white runner will peak and the black runner will narrow the gap. However, this will take many generations of running on the track, and the black runner has only lately started.

I can add much more to this analogy as well.

 

[com7fy8]

There is the matter of how much a person can do with what the person has.

There are white people who have plenty of money, and I am told their kids are home drugging . . . with no clue how to live and love.

I do not want blacks to become equal with such people.

I have personally known blacks who I would say are well-to-do. I got to know some number of them while I was living out homeless and I often could get my full diet by scavenging dumpsters. So, they were statistics ahead of me, anyway

But, as I have gotten to actually know a number of people, it strikes me very well, how each black person and other person is so unique . . . created . . . not a copy! So, statistics do not tell us much, maybe.

There now already are blacks way ahead of whites, and they are well-to-do and know how to handle it with loving and emotional soundness. So, they are financially ahead, educationally ahead, and emotionally ahead.

Meanwhile, we have whites who are well-to-do and work ethic, but workaholic and unable to make a marriage work and bring up children to know how to love in marriage.

So, the real equality we all need includes being able to love and do well in marriage.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

There is the matter of how much a person can do with what the person has.

There are white people who have plenty of money, and I am told their kids are home drugging . . . with no clue how to live and love.

I do not want blacks to become equal with such people.

I have personally known blacks who I would say are well-to-do. I got to know some number of them while I was living out homeless and I often could get my full diet by scavenging dumpsters. So, they were statistics ahead of me, anyway

But, as I have gotten to actually know a number of people, it strikes me very well, how each black person and other person is so unique . . . created . . . not a copy! So, statistics do not tell us much, maybe.

There now already are blacks way ahead of whites, and they are well-to-do and know how to handle it with loving and emotional soundness. So, they are financially ahead, educationally ahead, and emotionally ahead.

Meanwhile, we have whites who are well-to-do and work ethic, but workaholic and unable to make a marriage work and bring up children to know how to love in marriage.

So, the real equality we all need includes being able to love and do well in marriage.

It is these burdens that make loving more difficult. It's easier to love when you have your ducks in a row. In fact that is part of love, caring for the material needs of yourself and your family.

 

[Arc F1]

They are compared to white progress, and all the air goes out of their balloon.

https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_...3ba6/economic-state-of-black-america-2020.pdf



The Economic State of Black America in 2020

"Over the past half-century, Black Americans have made substantial social and economic progress, gaining political rights that long had been denied to them, entering professions from which they had been blocked and largely overcoming centuries of overt racism and oppression.


While there were only five Black Members of Congress when the Civil Rights Act became law in 1964, there currently are 56 Black Members of Congress, including 12% of the House of Representatives. Black activists, scholars, and social commentators have raised awareness about the importance of diversity and shaped the national conversation around race and inequality. There has been a proliferation of Black writers, screenwriters, artists, poets, athletes and musicians who have become superstars in their respective fields. And the 21st century saw the election of the first Black American, Barack Obama, as president of the United States.


Millions of Black Americans also have benefited from the opportunities created by the de jure end of Jim Crow, entering the middle class for the first time, earning undergraduate and advanced degrees, receiving higher wages, achieving professional success and raising children who will build on their achievements. Leading indicators of economic prosperity and other measures of well-being also have trended upward for most of this period, with increased life expectancy, increased household incomes and substantial gains in educational attainment."

But, wait for it (drumroll please) here comes the big HOWEVER...and the predictable comparison to white progress, negating in the reader's mind all the progress made by blacks in the past half century, and effectively returning them to their slave past.

I always thought that one day we would get past skin color. Yet it's still a comparison of the races. Equal opportunity for the individual should be the goal not advancement of a race.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I always thought that one day we would get past skin color. Yet it's still a comparison of the races. Equal opportunity for the individual should be the goal not advancement of a race.

Sadly the comparisons focus on disparities in wealth and income. More reasonable people point out the cultural and educational differences as the true stumbling blocks to black progress. Unfortunately this is considered to be an unhelpful racist attitude towards blacks by their 'leaders' and activists.

 

[bèlla]

Sadly the comparisons focus on disparities in wealth and income. More reasonable people point out the cultural and educational differences as the true stumbling blocks to black progress. Unfortunately this is considered to be an unhelpful racist attitude towards blacks by their 'leaders' and activists.

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law. —Proverbs 29:18

Disparities always relate to choices. Whether its yours or a parent's. What's lacking is a willingness to consider our decisions in light of the impact they'll have long-term. Forgoing an education has a ripple effect. As does poverty, crime, etc. No one's wholly unscathed.

The question at hand is what do you want? That should be broached in your youth. With quarterly and yearly reviews and tweaks as needed. To insure you're working towards something instead of taking things as they come.

In primary years I used The Book of Virtues by William Bennett and fairy tales as tools for character development with my daughter. They were lessons in judgment and consequence.

She covered these as well:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
The Richest Man in Babylon
Think and Grow Rich
The Teenage Investor
The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens
The Millionaire Next Door
The Millionaire Woman Next Door
The Millionaire Mind
The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke

She read The Wall Street Journal and Barron's magazine. And loved Suze Orman, Jim Cramer, Fast Money and Neil Cavuto. We watched The McLaughlin Group on the weekend.

All that takes is a library card and a television. You can alter a child's trajectory through navigation and foresight.

~Bella

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I always thought that one day we would get past skin color. Yet it's still a comparison of the races. Equal opportunity for the individual should be the goal not advancement of a race.

Obstacles to black advancement are falling rapidly. However the tools needed to take advantage of opportunity are still needed. At this time many of those remaining obstacles can be found within the black community itself.