pan, that's an entirely differnt post that the one i responded to.
the quote i originally cited,
Quote:
To me the racism that exists exists because the minorities keep throwing the fact they are minorities into our faces.
In America today there is no reason for a black man/hispanic/asian or woman to yell about how they are not treated fairly.
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That was the real kicker. I don't think my characterization of that posting is unfair. It think that statement is racially prejudiced, and that it is factually untrue. I'm more inclined to accept a few of the points you offer in your followup posting. I do think educational opportunity is the answer. But there are still cultural issues to be worked out.
The stereotypes of african americans, especially men, do not tend to identify with high performance in school. parents may have had decreased access to education, etc..
so when you put a kid who's parents were rich enough to go to grad school in with a kid who's parents are undereducated, underemployed, and whose culture is being bombarded with messages that tell that child they aren't smart...
you tell me who benifits from increased education spending. Alone, money isn't enough. It's a damn good start, but it won't even the field entirely. Head Start programs, more intervention for kids who are having problems reading, after school activities, etc...these related areas of social support are huge factors in if kids stay in school, and want to do well.
People (white, black, whatever) who are told that society does not expect them to do well on a test/school/whatever spend so much mental energy trying to get around that opposition, to outhink the test, to try to prove that wrong...that they end up harming their performance. It's called stereotype threat, and it's a very real issue in the academic performance of minority students, especially gifted and talented kids.
I didn't include that link as a lecture. As i posted with it, I've been pretty floored at the results i've gotten. It wasn't because they were good. What it tells me isn't that i'm a bad person, or a racist. what it tells me is that i live in a culture saturated with implicit racism and stereotypes. It tells me that it takes conscious effort to disrupt those cultural messages, and work to be a fair person. i don't see how we can expect to level the playing field without such conscious effort, as represented though not perfected by AA.