Re: Racism

Dan Clemmensen (Dan@Clemmensen.ShireNet.com)
Tue, 05 Aug 1997 18:36:10 -0400


EvMick@aol.com wrote:
>
> As an aside...and taking no sides...has anyone besides me noticed that what
> the US and State Governments have done in an effort to eliminate racism has
> validated what the white supremicists have been saying all along?
>
> The government appears to be saying...via it's actions....that blacks are
> incompetent...inept...and can't make it on their own...because of them nasty
> mean white guys...who they can't compete with...so the wunnerful guv will
> give them a hand.
>
The theory is that blacks were placed at a substantial disadvantage
by a couple of centuries of legal (i.e. government-sponsored)
discrimination. Thus, we need to give blacks preferential treatment
to compensate. Frankly, this has always seemed reasonable to me
both in theory and in practice, but just as the earlier discrimination
hurt most blacks and some whites, the current situation hurts some
whites and some blacks, while helping some blacks. Since I'm a
white upper-income male, I'm not usually directly affected, so the
current situation, though clearly not perfect, is good enough that
it's not high on my list of things to think about.

I want to live in a world where each individual is evaluated and
treated as an individual. I would like government policy to be
directed toward that goal. I would like to see a gradual elimination
of preferential treatment for blacks over a period of decades. I
believe that this is exactly what we are seeing. I would also like
to see us work our way out of some of the nasty effects of our
current welfare system. We seem to be making progress with this, too.
these subjects are correlated because, due to our history, many
blacks are poor and became part of the welfare system. Note that
many poor whites who are part of an equivalent but distinct
welfare subculture. We cannot eliminate these subcultures overnight
simply by waving our hands and trotting out our high-falutin'
principles. Those are real black and white people.