As a white guy I find the suggestion that African Americans are mired in poverty hurtful

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Even in "liberal" L A I still hear subtle racism expressed.

I remember discussing the L A riots with someone and I had to mention it was black folk who saved Reginald Denny's life.

And this black guy, me, and a white guy were discussing the current election, and the white guy was bringing up every racial trope, albeit subtly. I said "you know most black folk are not on welfare, and most black folk aren't living in poverty."

Any way racism isn't like being pregnant where you are or you aren't. It has to be viewed as being on a scale. Ain't none of us are perfect but we can sure try...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1425525

[SummerSnow]

1. Thank you.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. 72% of African Americans do not live in poverty.

The fact that 28% do is too high and they are worthy of our help but to suggest that all black folk are poor is not supported by the facts.

[SummerSnow]

4. It is a horrible stereotype. Born out of ignorance and racism.

[Human101948]

7. Yes but there is an economic reality about racism in this country...

These ten charts show the black-white economic gap hasn’t budged in 50 years

My colleague Michael A. Fletcher published a big piece Wednesday noting that the United States hasn't made much progress in closing the economic chasm between blacks and whites since the March on Washington 50 years ago.

"Even as racial barriers have been toppled and the nation has grown wealthier and better educated," Fletcher writes, "the economic disparities separating blacks and whites remain as wide as they were when marchers assembled on the Mall in 1963."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/08/28/these-seven-charts-show-the-black-white-economic-gap-hasnt-budged-in-50-years/


http://blackdemographics.com/households/poverty/



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/antonio-moore/americas-financial-divide_b_7013330.html

[VulgarPoet]

3. +1 from a mixed dude.

Growing up, we weren't in poverty, but we were damn close. The idea of conflating 28% of black folks with the entire damn race is pretty fucked up, and tbh we should be trying to elevate our people out of it.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. We all see the world through the prism of our own experience(s)

We all see the world through the prism of our own experiences plus what is colloquially known as "book learnin". I just don't know where the "black=poor=ghetto" meme comes in...

[VulgarPoet]

6. Truth.

And to be fair, I don't know where the meme came from either, all I know is it deserves to be consigned to the same dustbin that the notion of an "American Golden Age", or "American Exceptionalism" can go.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. I would slightly demur from the "American Exceptionalism" meme...

I told this story before... My gf and I lost everything in The Great Recession ; home, car, savings, business, et cetera. When her unemployment benefits ran out we were homeless... My African American buddy put us up in his home for several months and loaned us several thousand dollars to get back on our feet.

Any way. He was career military/career civil servant to the military...Along the way he made an investment in a black owned community bank that he parlayed into over a million dollars. He joined the military in 1951 at seventeen. He was from Birmingham so you know he felt the pain. I asked him how he could fight for a country that mistreated him and his. He said because he believed in its ideals....

We all need to force our nation to live up to its ideals.

[VulgarPoet]

9. It's the Ghandi quote about Christianity kind of thing, huh?

Sort of, "I like your ideals, but I don't like your practitioners"? Definitely agreed on the necessity of making the country live up to its ideals, but the question is how, from the position of what I'd like to be doing if I don't wind up getting plugged in the sandpit in the next two years? I mean, I'm a musician, I'm no politician. Never really had the mindset from it, so how does one change things from the outside?

And I'm glad your buddy did that-- it's one of those things that sort of restores a bit of my faith in the country.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. Yes...He has lived the life, though he has experienced lots of racism along the way...

Yes...He has lived the life, though he has experienced lots of racism along the way, though it didn't make him bitter...


He had two homes, one in Central Florida and one in Fayetteville where he used to be stationed. When we went to visit him there he told us he wanted to buy a home "on the other side of the road" but they wouldn't sell it to him because he was black.
He told me he once wanted to go hunting up in the mountains so he drove out there with his rifle and tried to rent a motel room. The innkeeper said I have no problem giving you a room but you might not feel safe here.

One time we were building a door and door case and went to Loews to buy the material. A woman saw us and took her purse from her cart and grasped it tightly...

Those petty indignities have to leave a mark.