Re: Whaaaaaat?
Originally posted by DvlDog4WVU:
Riots in Ferguson, was anyone really shocked, sweeping change to ensure it doesn't happen again, address the issues, or concerned about it? No
If the same behavior occurred in a predominantly white beighborhood, all hell would have broken loose.
Posted from
Rivals Mobile
White people only riot when their teams win or lose at important sporting events.

Not because of perceived social injustices.
Originally posted by DvlDog4WVU:
Rampant crime, low literacy/education/jobless rates. It's largely dismissed.
Flip the script, same reaction? No.
I'm not celebrating it, which by your reaction you jumped on it like it was a ***** in heat. You immediately went to the victim status. I'm sad about it. It's my perception that black culture doesn't put the same cultural pressure on behavior that is below the standard of what is acceptable. Quite the opposite actually. It's celebrated in the music, the movies, and in everyday life. It's not the same in white culture. There is more of a sense of what we termed in the Marine Corps as policing our own. We refused to be relegated to victim status and took responsibility for our actions.
Until it starts to change from inside the communities then by and large white America will not care. There is a different standard.
Posted from
Rivals Mobile
I mostly agree with your point. The above about the rioting was just an attempt at interjecting a little humor.
You are right in that there seems to be a large contingent that would label somebody as a sellout if they tried to conform to societal norms. It seems that "street cred" is sometimes more coveted. However, I think you see the same things in predominantly white communities that have been predominantly underprivileged. I think somebody else already mentioned parts of Appalachia.
A couple of things that have happened fairly recently. My son had a "career day" at his school, but the only career representatives that were there were mostly the things that can be found in that county, and nothing outside of it. Police, military, fireman, coal miner, nurse, etc. There was no exposure to any possibilities outside that county. You take inner city kids and what are they going to see if they even have a "career day"? And how many of those kids will think it's even attainable? This is where it needs to start changing from inside, as you said. Give examples of what's attainable outside of what they see every day.
Another thing. I had a black friend that I worked with for awhile. His dad was an architect and his mother was a nurse, and he ended up getting a degree in engineering. However, the time his parents were going to college was when segregation was still rampant. His parents didn't have any where near the opportunities that white people had at that time. Now, we know today is different, but we are still only 1 or 2 generations away from segregation. Therefore the parents and grandparents of today's kids didn't have as many opportunities as white people did, so the cycle of poverty would have been largely due to that segregation, and it's not as easy to break free from that whether you're in a white or black neighborhood.
Be it inner city or generational welfare families, it isn't overly common for people to break free from that. We are seeing more and more of it, which is good, but it's still an issue. And the issue isn't that there aren't opportunities because there are lots of them, but the issue is whether those opportunities get communicated to the kids.