Jason L. Riley, ever the one to be the dog in the manger, writes in his Wall Street Journal column:
Racial gaps that were steadily narrowing in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s would expand in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, which suggests that the disparities that continue today aren’t being driven by racism, notwithstanding claims to the contrary from liberals and their allies in the media. It also suggests that attitudes toward marriage, education, work and the rule of law play a much larger role than the left wants to acknowledge. More marches won’t address out-of-wedlock childbearing. More sit-ins won’t lower black crime rates or narrow the school achievement gap.
Even electing and appointing more black officials, which has been a major priority for civil-rights leaders over the past half-century, can’t compensate for these cultural deficiencies. Black mayors, police chiefs and school superintendents have been commonplace since the 1970s, including in major cities with large black populations. Racially gerrymandered voting districts have ensured the election of blacks to Congress. Even the election of a black president—twice—failed to close the divide in many key measures. Black-white differences in poverty, homeownership and incomes all grew wider under President Obama.
Discussion of antisocial behavior in poor black communities, let alone the possibility that it plays a significant role in racial inequality, has become another casualty of the post-’60s era. King and other black leaders at the time spoke openly about the need for more-responsible behavior in poor black communities. After remarking on disproportionately high inner-city crime rates, King told a black congregation in St. Louis that “we’ve got to do something about our moral standards.†He added: “We know that there are many things wrong in the white world, but there are many things wrong in the black world too. We can’t keep on blaming the white man. There are things we must do for ourselves.â€
I think he discounts racism as a factor in holding the advancement of American blacks too quickly. I think it’s racism that caused the quotas and set-asides that were supposed to help American blacks result in giving preferences to African and Caribbean blacks. All that the presumably well-intentioned could see was the color their skins.
I also have no explanation other than racism to account for how limited the power of blacks is in the Democratic caucus. If blacks held power in proportion to black voters’ importance for Democrats there would be many more black Congressional representatives and more of the leadership would be blacks as well.
Paternalism is possibly the most virulent form of racism.
I wish it were only skin color. What the author describes as “cultural deficiencies” are not imaginary. Skin color is the uniform they wear and cannot shed. But colors’ power to harm Blacks would fade soon enough if the “cultural deficiencies” would ameliorate, it takes time to learn to trust, and trust is what they need, to be given position, power, responsibility.
What I fear is that for many Blacks, that’s acting White, and they’ve developed an alternative society where there is no shame in crime, no shame in having bastard children, no shame in milking anyone and everyone for what ever the fools will give. Prison is a badge of honor. Honest work is shameful. I-Pods in the ear all day long memorizing gangsta rap lyrics and memes.
What can you do for such people? Reparations? Words? More and more prison time?
We don’t know, but we vote with our feet, say nice things about them out of fear as we quietly move away.