| curl-6 said: It only takes one person, one generation, to pick themselves up and succeed. Blaming stuff from like 150 years ago doesn't help anyone and just creates a defeatist mentality; nobody is going to get anywhere in life by blaming all their problems on an external "oppressor" or events in the distant past that can't be changed. If the problem is say poverty, then let's help poor people. All poor people, not one race than another. Cos the thing is, favouring one group over another, no matter how good your intentions are, breeds resentment and actually increases racism, making society worse for everybody; we're in this mess now because of the last decade of well intentioned but ultimately unhelpful favouritism of certain groups. |
Racism and racist governmental policies didn't end with Abe Lincoln. The mass move to suburbs happened roughly from 1945-1965 when many of our grandparents were likely buying their first homes (depending on how old you are). The heavy governmental subsidization of this move excluded black people from being able to purchase homes, pulling the wealth out of inner cities and leaving many of our parents generation in vastly different starting positions depending on the color of their skin. Many black individuals born in the 70s and 80 were born into deeply poor inner cities with crumbling school systems and many white individuals were born into much wealthier suburban neighborhoods with much more heavily funded school systems.
By all means, let's help the poor, but we need to address the damage that our government did to majority minority communities.
