Racism Vs. Personal Responsibility (Read the Description)

There seems to be a battle going on between Black Americans who believe that racism is the primary cause of most black suffering today Versus Those black Americans who think that lack of personal responsibility is more of a problem. I tend to think that both situations tend to pose problems for our community. However, Personal responsibility is something that we can easily work on now. While racists probably will not be easy to sway to our way of thinking.

Of course we should fight racism when it poses a threat to our moving forward. I just dont see that it prevents us from obtaining our goals as often as many might claim.

Obviously there is reason to pay attention to both racism and our personal responsibilities. It would be ridiculous to assume that personal responsibility is something that we should ignore. Unfortunately it seems like that is what many of us are doing.

Many of us seem to be more interested in making white people feel the need to fix our problems rather than getting up and pushing our community members to "pull themselves up by the bootstraps".

I like to use this analogy... Parents with more than one child will probably understand this.... Imagine that you have two children. You enter one of your childrens rooms(lets call him Jamal) only to find it in shambles. There is a huge mess on the floor. Of course you ask Jamal, the child who owns the room, to clean up. He informs you that his brother(Jermaine) made the mess and he does not want to clean it. You being the logical parent that you are, know that Jermaine could not have made the mess in Jamals room. At least not all by himself. You see that Jamals clothes are also on the floor. You tell Jamal that the room belongs to him and not Jermaine. You then tell him that he is responsible for his own room. "Jermaine has his own room to clean", you explain. You then inform Jamal that he should not allow Jermaine to make a mess of his room.

I look at our community in quite the same way. Even if at one point white America helped make the mess in our community, at this point it is mostly our responsibility to clean up that mess. We can also let outsiders know that we wont allow them to come into our community and cause any messes, just like Jamal can inform his brother Jermaine, to keep his room clean or keep out...

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Black
• responsibility
• racism
• conservative
• leaders
• cosby
• crime
• snitching
• ForChangeMovement

[molloyx]

I certainly agree with much of what you have to say but nonetheless cannot ignore how difficult it must be for a young black man or a young black woman to come up out of the war zones of inner city environments [ which are ENTIRELY the result of racism ], where schools are underfunded and falling apart and the economy is equivalent that of the Great Depression. That said, I detest the 'get paid' for waking up black aspects of certain hip hop idiocy and so aplaud you for your courage.

[ForChangeMovement]

While i agree that racism plays a part in what goes on in poor communities, i think that its probably not a good idea to say that it is entirely the result of racism. I just dont like absolute statements like that. There are many reasons why things are bad in these areas, and racism is just one of them.

As for schools. You should research Kansas City & a few other places where they poured boatloads of money into inner city schools. There schools had it all! Still, the students did poorly...

[Natashalulu]

Education! In predominately black schools the educational curriculum is inadequate. The curricula in schools like these doesn't prepare students for college. You know it and I know it but why can't the government see it?

[ForChangeMovement]

If what you are saying is true, then it is up to us to make sure that the government knows.

I am now enrolled in an HBCU. In speaking with the professors, It seems as if the students arent taking education seriously. As a matter of fact i have a new video that focuses on studies done on education and blacks reaction to education in America. These studies seem to point to more cultural problems then governmental issues. Most blacks are middle class and not poor. They attend schools w/ Whites.

[ForChangeMovement]

Still even in optimal situations blacks are still doing worse than other students. Check out my video called "the sport of embracing failure" Where I highlight some of these studies.

This isnt to say that schools cant do better. All im saying is that we have to take more responsibility ourselves.

[Satansoppressed]

The FEAR is why Blacks don't usually even attempt to make major changes. Most fear being attacked either by radical racist (the type who prank call or DRAG YOU behind a pickup truck which did happen to a Black man recently) and then you have the undercover racist who are usually lawmakers (to make sure nothing pro-Black get's passed), cops (to bully you) and media personalities (to exploit you). Racism is on a more esoteric level now days which is why it's more dangerous than ever before.

[Satansoppressed]

Your perspective on this subject assumes that life is fair. Well, it's not fair and we have a LONG history of approaching the government: We have taken the radical approach (marches, protest) and also the more rational approach (writing representatives). Nothing has really worked. Even though we gain employment in positions of authority (ie senator, president,) we still get death threats from GOVERNMENT AGENCIES (CIA, FBI and other unchecked posse's) for making decisions to help our communities.

[anywayokey]

You're a great man. Thank you.

[90rashad]

I can send you a video of a white woman admitting that racism done non politically correct today, then it was back in the 60s when it was politically correct. There are certain things we are limit to in this society. I can put this whole video to shame. Although you have made some good points. You really don't have a clue what really going on behind closed doors.

[dmulherion24]

they won't hire us, they target us to go to prison. um in jail cause i couldn't pay a fine for 90 days but a white boy slept with his little sister and we did the same time. i can't walk down the street without being approached by a white police, checking to see if i have a warrant. i was attacked by my neighbors but the white policemen wouldn't even help me or my family almost like they wanted me to kill them. they lie about all our history they can't even admit christ was black. i have more

[younggenius83]

man, why don't you make anymore videos!

[Freshhhhh1982]

The truth probably lie somewhere in the middle.

[markusmccourtus]

hair colour , the media tells us all were different and it's just not the case , we are all human beings and we all have the same capabilities , so forget about how dark or light your skin is or any other physical attributes as they make no difference to how you are , it's your enviroment that creates you and nothing else !!

[markusmccourtus]

it's simply way's of thinking that make people different , and it seem's to me that the media has conditioned everyone to think black and white people ae different, and thats not technically the case , i believe culturly everyone can be different but of course that is no different from an american being different to a canadian white or black , it again boils down to ways of thinking , racism is ridiculous and should be stamped out , we are all beautifull no matter what colour our skin eyes or ..