it just baffles me that people can have such skewed views of the issues here, enough to double down on it, without even knowing the other side. When you have the other side willing to tell all the details, with charts and everything. Still, the double down continues. People just assume black people are complaining about nothing, then they want to tell them how it is. Is it some form of paternalism? That black people simply can't understand what is good for them..? The blinders just go up, and nothing positive comes out of the exchange.
It is absolutely paternalism. It's the wildest thing because there is a complete disconnection between the situation and the bigger problem is it is lazy grouping. "Black people need to..." I'm sorry, I (ryutaro's mama) am Black too...what exactly do I need to do? Oh right, to people like Giuliani, we are all a part of the same group. We are all assigned the same stereotype of the most negative aspects of our community. It's easier that way. No thought needed.
People that are content to live in their bubble where "they made all the correct choices, so why can't they?" have the privilege of not having to deal with the extenuating circumstances associated with people that happen to be of color and live in impoverished situations. "Why can't you just pull yourself up by your boot straps? I did." Well, there was time when, no matter how hard someone worked, they could not move certain places because they didn't rent/sell to PoC. Employ PoC. And the law protected their ability to continue those kinds of practices. Most Fair Employment and Housing Acts weren't adopted (at the State level) until the late 50s, early 60s. Even then, unfair practices didn't go away overnight.
So if we can accept that wealth and privilege (see: Paris Hilton) can be passed down, generational, somehow the opposite isn't also true? A group that has been disenfranchised, zoned into worse living areas, and treated as second class citizens as recent as less than 50 years ago, somehow need to "get it together like Bill Cosby"?
People like Guiliani would rather stick their fingers in their ears and act like everything is now equal. It's better but hardly equal and we are only 4-5 generations removed from slavery. Think about that.
I am not saying that certain people shouldn't do better or are somehow free of personal responsibility.
PEOPLE SHOULD ALWAYS STRIVE TO BE BETTER. No, I am saying stop looking at the issues and ignoring the shit that got us to where we are in the first place.