To all Blacks out there, what are THE THINGS that make American Blacks

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   gmwilliamsposted 10 years ago

   
   STILL possess a slave-inferior-passive-poverty consciousness, mentality, mindset, & psychology regarding the socioeconomic sphere in American society?  American Blacks are still the most powerless group in American society.  In many American Black communities, there were VERY FEW Black businesses.
   
   American Blacks have very little economic power to influence events which directly affect them such as education and politics for instances.  They have been inculcated to get jobs, oftentimes instead of careers and/or starting their own business. They have been programmed for work for OTHERS instead of for THEMSELVES. Many American Blacks have been content to settle for economic crumbs instead of maximizing their economic potential.  They also have the reputation of being consumers making other communities and peoples wealthy instead of generating dollars through their own businesses and/or enterprises which would enrich their own communities.
   
   American Blacks must become more economically savvy in order to acquire power and influence in order to be respected in this society, especially in terms of political clout.    They have to cease thinking of themselves as subordinate people subconsciously and more like equals in this society.  In essence, they have to starting OWNING instead of being OWNED.
   
   Disclaimer:  I am a Black woman.
   Here's ARE the links:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nfbJb4vz98
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiUKjlIVwtM
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5GvXLGjXeo
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Kp5S-GzjE

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   1. 82

      Credence2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Black households have one twentieth of the net worth of Anglo households. True wealth has to be accumulated over a period of time, generations. We have not had our manacles removed long enough (slavery and Jim crow) to get the inheritances that most of my Anglo friends and associates take for granted. So where does the money come from to start businesses? Ihave written a couple of articles in a message format that addresses this very thing. Have a look sometime if you get a moment.
      
      This does not excuse our need to do better and make more prudent use of the resources available to us. We are a mighty and strong people and if we direct our power in other directions, we could prevail. I keep my cool and do my job or the right thing and  my enemies and adversaries always had a way of disappearing over time
      
      It starts with me and the youngsters I try to educate, that you can do whatever you want with determination and patience.

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      1. 76

         wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         You must live in much more rarefied circles than I do.  Four generations ago my ancestors homesteaded in Idaho - they worked for that little homestead and when they died there wasn't much to split between 7 kids.
         
         When my grandparents died there was no inheritance and my parents are still alive - no inheritance.  The only "inheritance" my folks gave me was a strong work ethic and sense of personal responsibility.  The kids I grew up with were much the same, with no inheritance from their parents - we all even paid for our own education.
         
         Few people live off the work of their parents.

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         1. 82

            Credence2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Wilderness, true and there are always exceptions. But, I speak of national statistics, mean and averages. The information about relative net worth and wealth is statistically established, how much more does that put one group behind the eight ball over the other?
            
            Your circumstances are not typical, no more than Oprah Winfrey's status is true for the vast majority of black folks.

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            1. 76

               wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               But I think my circumstances are quite typical.  The Oprah's, the Bill Gates, the Kennedy's - those are the exceptions.  We can even see this in the enormous college debt being accumulated as parents aren't paying it - the kids are.  My own kids have homes and educations, but it isn't from me - they earned them themselves and I just don't think that is unusual at all.
               
               No one can argue that the wealth is distributed unevenly, but I just don't see that it is from inheritances even though the "average" figures will be skewed enormously by "old" money being passed down through generations.  We all fight that, black, white or anything else.

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               1. 82

                  Credence2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I came to these conclusions based on research for a hub that I wrote. The average household incomes and relative net worth have to have some basis in reality on a larger scale as compared to personal experience. I did not want to use my personal experience with the Anglos that I knew as a substitute for universally accepted statistical data.
                  
                  We are a statistically poorer people with dramatically less household income and net worth, making it that more difficult to leave or do anything for your progeny. That situation is far more universal in the black community as compared with the white one.

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                  1. 76

                     wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     No argument whatsoever that blacks average far less per capita income or net worth.  None.
                     
                     Just with the idea that whites have more because Daddy gave it to them.  That isn't happening, not for the average person out there.

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                     1. 82

                        Credence2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        I hear you. But more money in the family  means more opportunity for the kids, for higher education etc. Giving them the advantage, so they not have to
                        Inherit anything.

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                        1. 76

                           wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                           Again, have to disagree.  That Mom and Dad can comfortably support his family does NOT mean more job ops for the kid any more than it means Dad will pay for higher education.  If it did, we wouldn't be seeing the huge numbers of people with giant school loans.
                           
                           More likely it means a boat for the family, or a European vacation.  Maybe a beater car for the kid, but that's hardly an advantage for city kids, where the number swinging poverty is rampant.
                           
                           Or, even more likely, it means that the kid has no real parent at home, just worker bees too tired to spend time with them after taking care of household chores...

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                        2. 60

                           KFlippinposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                           ?? Inherit what?  Amazing this myth is out there.  Middle class American kids make it on their own, not via inheritance.  They study, they behave, they learn, they respect, they have character and fortitude . . . and not one single thing to do with color impacts their progress.  Attitude and 'work ethic' is everything.  Work ethic is very forgotten in this bizarre conversation.  For that matter the concept of 'work ethic' is certainly not taught in the homes that raise kids who whine and complain when they reach adulthood, yet are on the dole from the get go.  Work Ethic -- is this a forgotten concept?

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                           1. 82

                              Credence2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                              The statistics, if you need me to document, as a reputable source substantiated my points better than your or my personal economic experiences. So, the incredible difference between white/black/ Hispanic economic fortunes( middle class or otherwise) is because the whites have the work ethics and attitudes and the people of color do not? That is what you seem to imply...What makes you think that middle class blacks or Hispanics do not have this 'work ethic'? And why with this work ethics are the economic outcomes so different?

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      2. 60

         KFlippinposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Inheritances?  what hogwash.  Most all middle income and less 'white' Americans get no inheritance at all that promotes their status in life, or their wealth, taxes see to that.  Yours were unlocked from chains while the majority of whites were and continued to be sharecroppers who happened to not die in the war, and who did not own a damn thing either, before or after, and we all sharecropped together after the war because that is all our ancestors knew to do, and it was an agrarian society.  Enough already.

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         1. 82

            Credence2posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            You as a statistical group earn more money and have substantially greater net worth. At least you were free to come and go, never enslaved without choices. You never had to go through "Jim Crow" So, friend, rather than it being enough, we are just getting started

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   2. 85

      Don Wposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The issue starts here.

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2. 60

   MelissaBarrettposted 10 years ago

   Melanin, specifically eumelanin, in high concentrations.

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   1. 85

      gmwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      EVERYONE knows that.  You only glanced at the top of the thread; you DID NOT read the thread in its entirety...........Please READ the thread in ITS entirety, thank you.

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3. 75

   word55posted 10 years ago

   Blacks, African Americans, Negroes or people of color must trust in the spiritual foundation of God. They must believe in God by trusting in Him and employ the faith with works in order to be recognized as respected and prominent people in society. A thorough spiritual education will garner them the justice that they have been seeking for a long time. There is no exception to that. Without that they are inherited with the curse of low self-esteem. The lack of Godliness will be the reason for eventual failure. They must follow The Commandments that God first handed down. Furthermore, there is no black leader since MLK to show them or the world a better way to function in all society...

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   1. 0

      jonnycomelatelyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      word55, I strongly suggest you step down from your glorified christian pedestal of god-ordered life and get real. 
      
      All the time you try to deflect our thoughts away from human responsibility and onto a fictitious "God," you are being totally dishonest with yourself and everyone else.
      
      We humans claim to have brain-power over and above the abilities of other living things.  Well, word55, it's about time you started using those brains.
      
      You, I, every person who has the slightest feelings of superiority over other people with different looks, different skin colour, different shape of nose, hold total responsibility for our feelings and attitude.  We CANNOT pass the buck, because "the Buck Stops Here!"
      
      If any one of us retains the instinctive reaction, born in us as an animal species, that we feel threatened by something or person as a threat, when there is in fact no threat at all, then we need to use those very same brains to work out a better way of reacting.  As humans.   Not insult the intelligence of the people you are reacting against, but telling them "God cares and he's watching you,"
      
      You are a human being too.... The same as your brother and sister who have darker or lighter  skin than you.

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