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lookdamnit

Listed below are comments made by lookdamnit between Thursday, 6th November 2008 and Thursday, 6th November 2008.

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An end to "victimhood"? 8:03pm on 06 Nov 2008 I just had this discussion the other day with my translator. I'm a white american living in Rwanda and I grew up in the southern US. My city was roughly 1/3rd black with nearly the entirety of the rest being white. I think that black culture's current state has been funneled in such a way to produce reinforce unsustainable professional goals. I used to believe role models were just something adults said but didn't make a bit of difference; however, now I believe in them whole-heartedly. It is relatively recent in US history that black americans could do anything bu t the most menial of jobs. It wasn't really until the second half of the twentieth century that desegregation permitted blacks to go to good schools and be eligible for what I would consider a normal 9-5 job. That's in the past, we say, but that is a gross oversimplification.

Rome wasn't built in a day and it will take many more generations to undo the system that was systematically created over centuries to keep black people out of power. We've got two big issues in the US right now that I see as obstacles to giving black people the same opportunities as the rest. The first is how we distribute money for schools..especially in the South, based on neighborhoods & "home schools." This system ensures that the students of rich neighborhoods have far more money spent on them and that children of poor neighborhoods, mostly blacks and latinos, have considerably less money. This, of course, means that black and latino students do not have the same opportunities because their schools have less resources per student.

Black culture has for a long time been pre-occupied with entertainment. I believe this began but it was all they were allowed to do as slaves and then as a subjugated race. Today this manifests in an abundance of black role models that are in professions which are unattainable for almost every black child, namely in the sports and music industries. Until these role models are adamant about creating more black professors and less black basketball stars, this will continue to be a problem. Unfortunately, many of these stars don't value education as much as they should.

And yes, I voted for Obama!

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