Originally Posted By: BrotherTurtle
It's funny how black people can't get a fair shot in Alabama. The writer should have driven from Selma to Anniston where I work. Its pretty much a majority black town. Plenty of black folks here work jobs like everyone else. Heck, I work for a black owned company. I have black friends and family members. I don't see any of them being oppressed by whitey.

I don't feel sympathy for these thugs in the story. Regardless of circumstances, a man with 4 felonies can't can't blame whitey for the fact that he can't get a job. He made his choices knowing the consequences. If they wanted to change, they would.

The problem is that these people won't take responsibility for their own choices. Notice the guy complained because they will lock you up for standing in your yard holding a joint. Like the evil cops are doing something wrong harassing all these poor folks just trying to survive.

I preach this to my kids, people who work for me, and anyone else who will listen: Life is a series of choices and consequences. Every now and then there are exceptions, but for the most part people are responsible for where they are in life. Those who learn to make good choices usually end up ok. Those who don't, usually end up as failures. But no one wants to hear about personal responsibility these days.



Agreed. In my experience anyone that spends any time blaming their circumstances on someone else (correctly or not) is generally not working to better their circumstances. This applies to any pursuit in life. If the umpire called you out and you thought it was a bad call because he didn't like you, you probably didn't run sprints later trying to get faster. If you didn't see any deer this year because of your neighbors baiting or wandering dogs you probably didn't spend any time improving your own property or looking for the escape routes big bucks use during pressure. If we tell young black children that their only opportunities for success lay with entertainment, sports or crime because all other paths are blocked by a racist conspiracy it should be of little surprise that education and meaningful employment fall by the wayside.

Dwelling on it puts up a mental block where your life is beyond your control, thus its someone else's responsibility to make it better. This is, to me, the root problem with most of the methods of "fixing inequality". Black people, for any number of reasons, are likely to face significant disadvantages in many aspects of life. The current solution of telling of telling people it is beyond their control because of a vast national conspiracy and they should just sit back and wait for the government to make it better does more harm than good.

On the other hand, as a conservative who spends more time than I'd like dealing with the results of the current state of the black community it is apparent to me that neither of the approved Conservative answers, "heal thyself" or "what problem, everything is fine" won't improve things in my lifetime. Recognition of these basic facts would, in my opinion, right the conservative ship and sponsor a rebirth in the conservative party. I think that as soon as someone smarter than me comes up with a more utilitarian, thought out approach with a chance of any degree of success and conservatives adopt the platform our country will heal and grow. I despise every cent spent on the "you've got it tough, here's free money" approach but I would gladly send that same funding in a more considered direction.

It is obvious to me that crime and poverty in black communities doesn't just affect the black community. It spills over and its ugly stains cement resentment and distrust already festering in our nation. What a world we would live in if there weren't whole neighborhoods or cities deemed unsafe for our traffic. What a world when our economy booms because our productivity reaches its potential with all walks of American life.