White America's Racism is NOT the Problem.

There I said it…

Just yesterday I shared a parody concerning how our national preoccupation with Wokism is likely to affect the services upon which we all depend.  Too bad it’s not farcical or even funny.

The demise of meritocracy and its replacement by the demand for “equity” seems to be a popular topic recently.  In just the last week I’ve listened to excellent podcasts featuring Victor Davis Hanson and another with Heather MacDonald.  Both lament the expanding abrogation of performance and competency standards.

Today, everywhere one turns, the focus seems to be on ‘equity” or, perhaps more accurately, the steering well clear of the racist label - at all costs.  Equity in the social context now means that the demographics of any institution, selection process or opportunity, be it government, academic, religious or commercial, must reflect the country as a whole.  Today, Black Americans make up just under 13% or the 333 million who live “legally” in the US.  18% of us are Hispanic.  9% are other and the rest are white.  God help any institution, private or public, who allows its employment, leadership or hiring to mimic anything less than national demographics, especially regarding Black Americans.  Such evildoers must be, BY DEFAULT, racist.  After all, it’s the only allowable explanation, isn’t it?

This is, however, terribly wrongheaded thinking.  And so destructive.  

It all begins with the allegation that America, and thereby white Americans, are and have always been racist.  This is just not true.

What is true is that:

• Slavery was allowed in the United States until a Republican president waged and won a bloody civil war to abolish it in the 1860s.

• Early leaders did own slaves.  Ironically, history confirms most treated their slaves like family.

• Unfortunately, the abolition of slavery after the Civil War did not rid the country of racism.  Pockets of it still existed, especially in the south.  Discrimination was tolerated. In many places until the mid 1950s, too many still acted in grotesque violation of our principles. This is the truth.  But, it is no longer the case.

• A 100 years after the abolition of slavery, in the 1960s, the Civil Rights Act followed by Affirmative Action and other changes in the US law began to rid the country of racism aggressively, once and for all.

• Opportunities for Black Americans were mandated and enforced.  They exploded.

• Today, no country on earth treats its minorities as well as America does.

• America is not racist nor is it ruled by racists.  Some exist, of course.  But, as a whole, the country is most certainly not. In fact, even being called racist strikes fear into the hearts of white folks everywhere.

This reality leads us to what I recently heard called the Race Hustle.  Remember the 2013 classic, the American Hustle, starring Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence? The term Race Hustle refers to using the threat of being called racist as a lever, even a sledgehammer, to force capitulation to the wishes of those who use it.  The Race Hustle is prevalent in politics, academia and corporate HR and PR departments.  All one has to do is threaten to label a CEO, a political candidate, a Judge, a company, the owner of a sports team or media channel, a teacher or even the statues in the town square, “racist” and they will be eating out of your hand. 

After all, wherever, whenever Black Americans are not present AND succeeding to the same degree as white Americans, it can only be racism.  Right?

Wrong.

Black Americans, as a group, do not succeed in academia or business to the same degree as white Americans NOT because the opportunities aren’t there, or the doors are not open.  It is because they are undereducated and unprepared.  As a result, they are less competent and less skilled.  It is precisely the same reason the NBA and the NFL are dominated by Black Americans.  They are just flat out better than white Americans almost to a man.

The success of Black Americans can be raised to equal those of white Americans only if Black Americans do it themselves.  The problem is not an American or white problem.  It is a cultural problem within Black America.  Until the vast majority of Black Americans, especially their leaders, scale back their relentless attacks on white racism and, instead, focus on the education and values, which they model and inculcate their children, this pointless antagonism will rage on.  Until the divisiveness reaches an explosion point.

There I said it.

Here are just a few examples of the problem.

BLM rages against white oppression, police brutality, an unfair justice system.  They encourage and financially sponsor looting and the destruction of communities, which often comprise businesses mostly owned by Black Americans.  To what end beside CNN?

Do they ever once acknowledge that…

In the 10-24 age group, 75% more Black American young men are murdered than white men in the same bracket.  Or that the “demographics” of murder among young black men is…

• Blacks murdered by whites - 3%

• Blacks murdered by Police - 2%

• Blacks murdered by Blacks – 80+%.
  

Or, that despite being less than 13% of the population, Blacks commit 35-40% of serious crimes, which goes a long way to explaining why the criminal justice system can’t practice “equity”.

Aside from the extortion of US corporations so BLM leaders can buy mansions and fund extravagant lifestyles, how are Black Americans being helped?  Certainly not by a nonstop diet of deceitful rubbish intended to obfuscate the real problem.  Or being exhorted to destroy downtown Chicago and Portland?

Similarly, the more academic institutions water down admission standards for Black Americans the more they incarcerate them in a spiral of failure.  Look at Law Schools.  Likely, no other sector of academia bends over further to ensure equity.  Law school admission practices all but guarantee that Blacks and other minorities will exceed equity standards. 

How is that paying off?  Not very well, apparently.  A robust survey of law schools throughout country recently revealed that:

• First year Black students make up 51% of the bottom 10% of the class.

• And 67% of the bottom 20%.

This should come as no surprise.  Once “rigged” admissions are over and color-blind exams start, the underequipped begin to sink.

Even more troubling are NAEP results.  The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what U.S. students know and can do in various subjects.  It is commonly referred to as the Nation’s Report Card.

NAEP reported that 84% of Black students lack proficiency in math and 85% in reading.  This, in effect, makes them functionally illiterate.

In 23 Baltimore City Schools (a combination of high school and elementary), zero students tested proficient in math in 2022, according to a report by Project Baltimore.

Despite this mind-blowing unpreparedness, some (many) of these students will be admitted to higher levels of education.  How do you think they will fare?

More importantly, how can one argue this is America’s fault?  Or a consequence of racism by white Americans.  Such allegations are ludicrous.

Then there is the current rage.  Do away with College Boards, ostensibly because they are unfair to black and other minorities.  Many schools have made them optional.  I read some (like statewide University of California) have forbidden them altogether.  This is no solution.  Once again it promotes placing underequipped students in positions where they cannot compete.  Here’s a thought.  If SATs were truly pegged against Black applicants, wouldn’t you think those who managed to get in would excel?  What SATs are pegged against is unprepared students – of all colors.

Let’s be clear-eyed.  The time is long past to call it like it is.  Not by me.  Not by white Americans. 

But by Black Americans as a group, who must stop lobbying for chances they haven’t earned and start earning them. 

Parents must demand their children make education the priority it is.  Parents must lead by example.  A good first step would be to stop inappropriate pregnancies where the likelihood of a two-parent family is virtually nonexistent.  Black Americans must take pride in meeting and exceeding the standards of American society, instead of claiming racism every time a Black American comes up short.

There can be no doubt - Black Americans will be far better off, when Black America heals itself, instead of blaming the forefathers.  It is really the only way healing will come about.  Hopefully we will not reach a point where the competency of the nation becomes so diminished that life in America is reduced to a shadow of its former self.  When planes start crashing, bridges collapsing, trains derailing, riots and looting overwhelm, hospital death rates climb. 

Or are we already there?

As long as Black America gives credence to the liberal politicians, mass media, rabble rousers like Al Sharpton, BLM and, yes, Barack Obama, who keep preaching white America is to blame, it’s hard to imagine a reversal of present trends. As long as Democratic politicians use taxpayer funds to reward poor behaviors incentives will ensure the status quo prevails.

Now, I’ve really said it.