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Pardon my intrusion, but your argument seems to be sliding around. Earlier in this thread you objected to the suggestion that blacks being portrayed as equal to or superior to whites in intelligence or wealth on commercials was not innapropriate, given the only practical difference between the groups was economic and not soci-economic.
Now you appear to be offering an explanation as to why they are (allegedly) inferior.







Obviously there are a lot of different sides to this issue. it's not just black v. white. The point I was trying to make is, that even though the black community has disproportionately suffered as a result of discrimination.... most whites today wouldn't say they've benefited from it. The point being, there really is no up side. By no means am I offering an excuse for any perceived "inferiority". I wouldn't use that word for the simple reason that I'm not sure what it means in this context. No one questions that the black community suffers from disproportionately high crime, poverty, lower rates of college graduation, and lower levels of home and business ownership. But I wouldn't categorize that as "inferiority"... merely the social ills of an underclass. And you're right, most other minority or immigrant groups in America have been able to rise higher in a shorter period of time... but as you said, they also don't have the unique history of once being bought and sold as property.


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There is no utopian past of African-American culture, however, before the Great Society and the massive welfare state there was a strong and expanding black middle class in America. Historically black urban areas that now resemble post-war Berlin were thriving middle class communities in the 50s. Harlem and East St. Louis are excellent examples.



*see redlining and the creation of ghettos.


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Yes, African-Americans have made contributions and met with success in athletics and music, yet one need only to look no further than the NBA and hip-hop to understand that the ills that permeate the general African-American culture have found their way into the professional sports and music industries. Also, I wouldn't actually say that dunking a basketball is an intellectual achievement. Yes, it would be a shame to have never had the music that blacks have created in this country, but would a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis show that blacks have contributed more to this country (not just financially) than they have cost this country?




Well thank goodness we don't apply a cost-benefit analysis to every demographic in America to determine its value to society. We don't live in a fascist state... yet. Although no one seemed to think blacks were much of a drain on the economy when cotton was king.
And I wouldn't call dunking a basketball much of an intellectual achievement either. Maybe during that century or two that it was illegal to teach blacks to read, or the following century when blacks were denied entrance into white schools, they could've been scoring a few intellectual achievements. Who knows.

'Nuff said. Sorry for the derailing.

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"We had part of a Slinky - but I straightened it."