This post is in response to an article I just read in the Atlanta Post.
Author Anthony Jerrod begins his article with a glowing description of black people’s existence in America, referring to the many and various trials and tribulations we as a people have endured and indeed overcome since the dark days of slavery while ignoring so many of the actions and activities that we bring upon ourselves, but that is another article for another day.
My main focus is on the “Eight Political Lies About Blacks That You Shouldn’t Believe”. First, these “lies” are more like OPINIONS, which cannot be lies unless they are untruths presented as facts. My dad used to say “opinions are like a**holes. Everybody has one and each one is different”. Just because ONE PERSON puts forth an opinion doesn’t make it an urban legend as this writer seems to say.
Secondly, the article says these lies are POLITICAL, which is a huge misnomer. I will indicate these as I advance.
Third, I am posting this rebuttal on my own blog at www.blackindependent.cordpress.com because the Atlanta Post will not publish dissenting viewpoints, giving credence to at least one charge that the black press is monolithic and does not tolerate dissent. That is not true of ALL black press, just 98% of it.
Lie #1 Black children were more likely to be raised in a two parent family during slavery
The article begins with a commentary about the statement in a Family Leader pledge and signed by GOP presidential hopefuls Michelle Bachman and Rick Santorum that black children were more likely to be raised in a two parent family during slavery than during the Obama administration. Mr Jerrod falsely claims that the statement says that black children are “better off under slavery” which is a total misrepresentation of the statement’s content as well as the intent.
In addition, the statement may actually be more accurate than you might think. While it is true that slave families were not families in the traditional sense, it IS true that SOME slave children were raised in families where the mother and father were present. My Great grandfather, a Cherokee Indian, was captured and sold into slavery as a youth, then fathered one child during and six children AFTER slavery. He, his son and his wife of African descent lived together for the last seven years of slavery. In today’s America, with almost half the black children born out of wedlock, the instance of two parent families is almost a myth itself.
Lie #2: Blacks are the biggest benefactors of government programs.
The writer rightly points out that more whites than blacks receive government benefits, but fails to mention that, on a per capita basis, a larger percentage of blacks receive benefits than do whites. Perhaps the article should have said something like four of ten blacks and two of ten whites get benefits. That would mean that millions more whites get benefits but that is because they outnumber us ten to one. You can prove this “myth” yourself. Just drop by ANY government office and see who is standing in the lines.
Lie #3: All Black people are liberals and are affiliated with the Democratic Party.
First of all, only an idiot uses the term ALL when describing people’s behavior. I have NEVER heard any credible person say that ALL blacks are liberal Democrats, but I do know that economists say that 5% unemployment is FULL employment, so what is it when 95% of blacks vote Democrat? Close enough? Mr Jerrod also claims there is a “diversity of ideas” in the black community. OK, Just listen to black owned radio, watch black owned TV (OOPS. Sorry. I forgot there ain’t no more of that after BET was sold to Bill Gates), check out the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, read any black owned newspaper and let me know if you find any such diversity. The monolith is so intense that when the NCAA adopted it’s “No Pass, No Play” rule several years ago, almost every black coach and politician in the country pitched a fit, saying that”African-Americans would be hurt most”. Say what???
Lie #4: Blacks teach their children to hate America.
This is one that gives Rush Limbaugh a lot more power than he deserves. The notion that the statement of one man can become legend, upsetting so many people is incredible. Anyway, Rush never said Blacks teach their kids to hate America. What Rush DID say was that MANY Black parents raise their kids raise their kids under the premise that America owes them something and that the reason for their lack of station and standing in this country is due to RACISM. If you are raised with that notion in your head you are BOUND to hate America. Trust me. Rush does not hate Blacks. None other than the honorable Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (the most powerful black man in the country then and now) officiated at Limbaugh’s wedding several years ago.
Lie #5: Black women were better off under slavery because abortion was illegal then.
Here we go again. This was attributed to a statement by an anti abortion group Conservative Radiance Foundation that “Abortion Makes Three-Fifths Human Seem Generous”. Well, think about it. Congress declared, after emancipation that a black man was “three fifths” of a person. Today, the pro abortion crowd considers a fetus to be even less than three fifths of a human being, so the statement is actually TRUE from the viewpoint of the fetus. Sure, abortion was not illegal but unheard of under slavery. The owner would be stupid to kill his own “assets”. That would be left to the free black woman of today, to kill her own offspring in the name of CHOICE, which, in this case, is just another word for convenience.
Lie #6: Blacks lack a sense of morality.
Here again the writer imposes his own misguided interpretation of a statement to fit his own philosophy or lack of knowledge. No one says that Blacks are less moral than whites due to our higher levels of out of wedlock pregnancies. The way we live, black or white, is not a political issue, but a cultural one. Out of wedlock births is less stigmatic than in years past, and whites have as many if not more unwanted pregnancies than blacks, but again you have to look deeper into the numbers. Blacks have a higher percentage of teen pregnancy than do almost every other ethnic group in the country. That has less to do with morality than with just plain dumb. Being born BLACK in America is tough enough without making it worse by having children that you cannot afford to take care of.
Lie #7: Blacks are not able to sustain their own businesses.
This is my favorite! Black apologists always tout the glowing numbers about how much money blacks earn, spend and invest in their businesses but again they are preaching to an audience that largely declines the effort to analyze in detail the information that is placed before them, preferring to let others do the difficult mental work and then running with the resulting opinions. I include the entire quote:
According to the Census Bureau, there are currently over 1.9 million black-owned businesses, a figure that is up 60.5% since 2002. Among all businesses in the US, 7.1% are black-owned, up from 5.2% in 2002. Sales from black-owned businesses totaled $137.4 billion, up 55.1% from the previous survey in 2002. The total number of black-owned businesses according to the survey was 1,921,881, and of them, 1.8 million had no paid employees, an increase of 64.5% from 2002. In 2007, non-employers accounted for 94% of the total number of black-owned firms and 28% of gross receipts. Clearly, blacks are able to sustain their own businesses.
Of course you feel good about these great numbers, but think about it: NINETY FOUR PERCENT of black owned firms had NO PAID EMPLOYEES? almost two million black owned businesses with total sales of 137.4 billion??? That is just over $70,000 EACH. Now, there are a handful of black owned businesses earning MILLIONS of dollars each, and for each of those there are about 14 that earn next to nothing. I agree with the writer that MANY Blacks can indeed sustain their own businesses, but if by SUSTAIN you mean the business pays for itself, I can prove that the vast majority of black owned firms are supported (sustained?) by the income from other occupations. In other words, the owner has to use money from other sources in order to operate his “business”. The way I see it, if a business does not survive on it’s own income it should not even be counted as a business, but a hobby and an expensive one at that.
Lie #8: Many blacks are lazy and won’t work.
Let me you something. Are there lazy whites? Are there lazy blacks? Are there MANY of them, both groups? So, why is this statement included? And Why is it a lie? Surely there are lazy people of all ethnic persuasions. I don’t get this one at all, but the six comments the Atlanta Post chose to publish indicate that the readers agree.
In my opinion this is due to the fact that the average reader of certain media venues don’t even bother to think about the deeper implications of what they read, but are completely satisfied to take someone else’s opinion as their own as long as it conforms to their own views. You know, like the people who claim that God approved of slavery because He mentioned it or that the Bible contains approval for incest and marijuana use.
I am not saying there are not a whole lot of misconceptions and misinformation about blacks floating around in this country if not around world. What I am saying is that most of what we are reading, watching and hearing is not much more than the ravings of tiny groups of lunatics who have nothing better to base their arguments other than speculation, ignorance and a slanted view of their surroundings and the people in it. What is really sad is that so much attention is being paid not only to the perpetrators but to those who choose to waste their time and energies responding to it.
As individuals Blacks are no more and no less moral, noble, lazy or ignorant than any other group, but as a group, we seem to conform to what most of the world thinks of us.
Finally, with the POSSIBLE exception of #3 and #4, these issues are not political at all, but social and cultural, so the premise of the article itself is incorrect, but since it is a collection of the opinions of one person, I guess it doesn’t really have much impact on people with thinking brains.