Townhall.com
Walter E. Williams
April 19, 2017

As a group, black Americans have made the greatest gains -- over some of the highest hurdles and in a very short span of time -- of any racial group in mankind's history. What's the evidence? If one totaled up the earnings of black Americans and considered us as a separate nation with our own gross domestic product, we would rank among the 20 richest nations. It was a black American, Gen. Colin Powell, who once headed the world's mightiest military. Black Americans are among the world's most famous personalities, and a few are among the world's richest people.

The significance of these and other achievements is that at the end of the Civil War, neither a slave nor a slave owner would have believed such progress would be possible in a little over a century -- if ever. As such, it speaks to the intestinal fortitude of a people. Just as importantly, it speaks to the greatness of a nation in which such gains were possible. Nowhere else on the face of the earth would such progress be possible except in the United States of America. The big and thorny issue that confronts our nation is how these gains can be extended to the one-third or more of the black population for whom they have proved elusive.

A major part of the solution should be the elimination of public and private policy that rewards inferiority and irresponsibility. Chief among the policies that reward inferiority and irresponsibility is the welfare state. When some people know that they can have children out of wedlock, drop out of school and refuse employment and suffer little consequence, one should not be surprised to see the growth of such behavior. The poverty rate among blacks is about 30 percent. It's seen as politically correct to blame today's poverty on racial discrimination, but that's nonsense. Why? The poverty rate among black intact husband-and-wife families has been in the single digits for more than two decades. Does one want to argue that racists discriminate against female-headed families but not husband-and-wife families?

Education is one of the ways out of poverty, but stupid political correctness stands in the way for many blacks. For example, a few years ago, a white Charleston, South Carolina, teacher frequently complained of black students calling her a white b----, white m-----f-----, white c--- and white ho. School officials told her that racially charged profanity was simply part of the students' culture and that if she couldn't handle it, she was in the wrong school. The teacher brought a harassment suit, and the school district settled out of court for $200,000.

To suggest that such disrespectful and violent behavior, though it's observed in many predominantly black schools, is part of black culture is an insulting lie. Worse than that is the fact that such destructive behavior and lack of respect for authority is rewarded. We can see some of the results by visiting some city public schools where violence, disorder and disrespect is the order of the day.

Many whites are ashamed and saddened by our history of slavery, Jim Crow and gross racial discrimination. As a result, they often hold blacks accountable to standards and conduct they would never accept from whites. A recent example is black students at colleges such as NYU, UC Berkeley, UCLA and Oberlin demanding racially segregated housing. Spineless college administrators have caved to their demands. These administrators would never even listen to a group of white students demanding white-only housing accommodations. These administrators and other guilt-ridden whites have one standard of conduct for whites and a lower standard for blacks.


Black people can be thankful that racist forms of double standards and public and private policies rewarding inferiority and irresponsibility were not broadly accepted during the 1920s, '30s, '40s and '50s. There would not have been the kind of intellectual excellence and spiritual courage that created the world's most successful civil rights movement.

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Chief among the policies that reward inferiority and irresponsibility is the welfare state.

This is a major plank in the DNC platform.

And millions of blacks nation-wide GLADLY sell themselves out for their 'free stuff.'. .

Until this attitude changes, the problem will only get worse.

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If one totaled up the earnings of black Americans and considered us as a separate nation with our own gross domestic product, we would rank among the 20 richest nations.

And this is despite a large percentage being on welfare.

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It was a black American, Gen. Colin Powell, who once headed the world's mightiest military.

I understand what he means but Secretary Powell (I believe Secretary of State is a higher rank than General) was only chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Bush (41) was head of the military.

Plenty of folks struggling too. I don't think you can generalize, but it it disturbing that more black guys (much more) than whites tend (notice I said tend) to not hang around to raise the kids. I've known plenty of these guys and it's sad. Google Shawn Kemp for instance.


Joke to illustrate the point:-)

Excuses have an effective casualty radius of zero meters.

The successful black friends I have are well educated, aren't customers of law enforcement and work their asses off. They're not stuck around feeling sorry for themselves or blaming whitey on how much wrong they do.

No other group in America has been given so much and done so little with it. It was a very well calculated plan by LBJ to displace the man as head of household with the government to keep blacks voting democrat for the next 200 years.

I hope that rotten son of a bitch is rotting in hell.

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Originally posted by Hound Dog:

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Chief among the policies that reward inferiority and irresponsibility is the welfare state.

This is a major plank in the DNC platform.

And millions of blacks nation-wide GLADLY sell themselves out for their 'free stuff.'. .

Until this attitude changes, the problem will only get worse.

This is the modern day 'plantation' on which blacks are still owned and used by their masters in the Dem party. Until the black community recognizes and changes that dynamic, nothing will change for them as a whole.

Mr. Williams spells it out but how do we change it? How do we undue 50 years of free stuff and i didt do nofin?

The biggest hurdles to true equality are set up by guilt ridden white folk (that had absolutely nothing to do with slavery) and disingenuous black folk that are preying on blacks and whites alike. The recently vacated squatter in the White House did more to set back race relations in the last 8 years than anyone in our history, IMO.

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Originally posted by Edmond:
No other group in America has been given so much and done so little with it.

You should visit a reservation.

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You should visit a reservation.

Tell it like it is brother.

The black community needs to step up and show everyone they are committed to this country. A good example is the recent "Facebook" killer who managed to hide in black communities without anyone in that community notifying law enforcement. I see many, many interviews how the black folks don't trust, will not cooperate with, or even go so far as threatening the police. When 12% of the population commits over 50% of the violent crimes, the mindset needs to change.