Zer0.MediA said:
Anything that has been done? No. I really don't think that anything has specifically been "done", but I also don't think there is anything you can do that would solve the problem. What could be done, is your parents could have taught you, and you can teach your children that years and years ago, there was something called slavery. Nowadays, people as a whole are more caring and generous and the world is a much better and understanding place.
I'm a little bit confused because you say that you don't think that there's anything I can do, but then suggest something that my parents could have done & something that I can do for my kids. My parent's always taught me to be the best I can be, regardless of my skin color. But I also was taught that people would sometimes expect less of me because of my skin color. And this came more so from my mother (who is white) than it did from any of my fathers (biological, step-father, & legal father-who are all black). And I am only one person. I chose not to fall into the categories that some people thought I should have. Yes, I was pregnant at 16. But I also used that as my excuse to get 2 college degrees by the age of 22. But like I said, I am only one person. There are millions and millions of other black people who need to make decisions for themselves. So I do agree that a lot of black people hold themselves back, but I also believe that is not always the case.
Also, I would find it hard to teach my kids that "there was something called slavery, and that nowadays, people as a whole are more caring and generous and the world is a much better and understanding place," since this is not something I believe. First of all, slavery was not just 'something' that happened. To put it lightly, it was an event that not only changed an entire race of people, but also changed the world as a whole. It was far more than 'something' that just happened & now it's over.
Do YOU honestly believe that the world/people as a whole are more caring & generous & the world is a much better and understanding place??? To some degree, yes. But to the point where I would cloud my child's mental picture of the world? Hell no. I think more than anything that the world/people are more tolerant, if anything, not caring, generous, & understanding. I feel that the countries/governments are just more connected & what happens in one directly affects what happens in many. And this is why countries/governments intervene in the actions of other countries/governments. Not because they care. Just remember, the Civil War was NOT fought to abolish slavery. Do you think that the US govt really gives a shit about the people of Iraq being under Saddam Hussein's rule? Do you believe that US govt really gives a shit about the people of Israel? Once again, I have to give a 'Hell No.' If the US govt didn't have some sort of 'interest' (interest meaning some sort of personal gain), they could care less whether Saddam kills everyone in Iraq or if all the Israeli's accidentally blew themselves up in some suicide bombing crap.
But with all that said, I don't want you to think that I don't believe that there are caring, generous, & understanding individuals in the world. I just believe that their numbers are not as high on the scale as you believe they are.
The only thing you can *do* to take the black family unit out of the making of a slave mentality is to raise new generations of blacks to believe what is true; There's an infinite number of opportunities out there no matter what your skin color is.
I agree with most of this statement. But like you said, blacks must raise new 'generations' with this new thought process. The key word here is 'generations,' implying more than one. A generation is not 5 years. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a generation can be defined as 'the average span of time between the birth of parents and that of their offspring.' So, a generation is roughly (on average) between 20 and 40 years, give and take a few years here and there. This is not something we can expect to see in our lifetime, or our children & grandchildren's lifetime. This is something that has to be instilled, then constantly & consistently reinforced. It can be instilled now, but it is hard to constantly & consistently reinforce ideas to children who can't see the product of what is being reinforced. What I mean is that you can tell kids all you want about how they shouldn't use their race as an excuse & they can be anything they want to be, etc, etc. But it will be harder for them to hold on to the idea that their race isn't an excuse for failure when they could be subject to other people using their race as excuse for them (for example, in school). Also, how can you make your kids believe they can be anything they want to be when there hasn't been a black or female president? Children learn by example. And if all they see on the poster on the wall in their classrooms are the faces of a bunch of old white men as presidents, how can they relate to that?
And I do agree that there are an infinite number of opportunities out there, but people need to figure out how to overcome the obstacles that stand in the way to achieving these opportunities. A lot of times, it might seem that the obstacles are too great to overcome, therefore, the attempt at the opportunity is never taken.
However, it's my opinion that if there's someone in our generation that has a "making-of-a-slave" mentality, he's purposefully being ignorant. For what, I don't know...
This mentality has been conditioned into our brains. It's not something that you can just make or break. It must be unconditioned. You don't just wake up one day & say, 'Hey, I think I'll change my whole way of thinking today!' That's damn near impossible. For example, look at rap videos. What kind of girls do you see being paraded around? The light-skinned ones with long, 'good' hair. Rarely do you see a dark-skinned, bald-head girl sitting in the passenger seat of Jay-Z's ride. So this reinforces the 'making-of-a-slave' mentality by reinforcing the difference between light & dark skinned blacks. Me & my sisters are all light-skinned, with long hair. Whenever females start problems with us, it's never the light-skinned ones with long hair, it's 99.9% of the time, a dark-skinned girl with short hair. Other kids have even come up to her & said, "Do you think you're cute cuzz you you're light-skinned & got long hair?" What kind of idiotic question is that? But that's just a reflection of the 'making-of-a-slave' mentality that is still being reinforced today. And the parents of these children might not even be the ones reinforcing these ideas. Just look at pop culture...and there you have it. So do you feel that these kids are 'purposefully being ignorant' if that's what they have been conditioned to think?
I don't look down on blacks and don't know any whites (although I don't really know too many white people outside of my family) who do.
Okay, well that's great for your family, and the few other white people you know. But there are millions & millions of other white people that you don't know. And just because they say they don't have a problem with black people, doesn't mean that they actually adhere to that statement. People realize that their words can get them into deep shit, that's probably why you don't hear a lot of white people saying that they look down on black people. Wouldn't you hide that fact if you knew it would avoid potential lawsuits, public humiliation, physical attacks, etc, etc? I know I would. Just look at all the shit Trent Lott was put through when he made a statement that was perceived as racist. And look at all the shit Senator Rick Santorum went through after making a public statement about how he felt about gay people? Nothing nice. Not something too many people would want to deal with if they could just avoid it by keeping their mouths shut & smiling in people's faces.
