Eminent Domain Stuff
New London Update (2/24/06)
Bad NLDC!
Coverage of the Rally at New London's City Hall (w/ pics)
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
True Racial Reconciliation
This week's Homespun Symposium is from Marc at Hubs and Spokes:
We have come a long way from the days of Martin Luther King Jr. and the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement...although not necessarily in the right direction. In what may be the most well known but least appreciated quote of all time, Dr. King said the following:
The only way to have true racial reconciliation is to address the true underlying problems that lead to disparities among the races. There are two fundamental aspects of life that need to be fixed. Probably the most commonly cited is quality of education. It is a well-known fact that schools in the inner city provide, on average, lower quality education than those elsewhere. However, the blame for this does not rest squarely on the shoulders of school officials, teachers or even The Man.
Although improving education in the inner city would obviously help, there is a more fundamental problem. Namely, the moral fabric of under-represented minorities. While this is not necessarily a popular (and certainly not PC) stance to take, it's hard to argue with. Considering this...
Only when we have found a way to address the basic, underlying problem, of family structure (or lack thereof) can we truly reach racial reconciliation. Without equal opportunities early in life we end up with individuals who have failed to succeed and are surrounded by people who continue to blame The Man or anyone but themselves. In my opinion, the Chruch certainly has a huge role to play in this process. However, no one (not even the Church) can force anyone to change. As for the government, I would give them the same advice I always do: Get out of our way! Fortunately, I think they're heeding that advice in at least some respects. All we can do is provide what assistance we are capable of and try to encourage people in these tough situations to grab life by the proverbial horns and take responsibility for themselves.
I do not subscribe to The White Man's Burden sort of crap. I am more than willing to accept people based on their abilities and qualities regardless of their skin color. Certainly there are still racists among us who will never give minorities a fair shake...but those racists will be made irrelevant when minorities have the opportunity to excel and actually do so as it is hard to argue with talent and success breeds success. The day that there is equal societal support for members of all races we will finally find proportional numbers of equally qualified candidates of every race, whether it be for law school or anything else. Only then will racial disparities disappear and we will finally realize True Racial Reconciliation.
Other responses:
Dagney's Rant
A Physicist's Perspective
Bunker Mulligan
Weapon of Mass Distraction
Ogre
Slarrow
Paulie World
Major Dad 1984
|
What do you believe is necessarry for true racial reconciliation to take place in American society? Does your solution involve coercive governmental remedies? Do you believe that Churches have an important role to play in this process?I think that the answer is simple in principle, but extremely difficult to implement in practice. Simply put, in order for there to be true racial reconciliation in this country we must remove the impediments to equality that current exist.
We have come a long way from the days of Martin Luther King Jr. and the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement...although not necessarily in the right direction. In what may be the most well known but least appreciated quote of all time, Dr. King said the following:
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.As our society attempts to level the playing field to allow minorities to excel, are we truly reaching for that lofty goal? In short, no. We (by which I mean the Left and associated good-doers) have set up many systems in this country that have attempted to address some very real disparities in black/white representation in various realms of life. Unfortunately, many of those efforts are either misguided or downright subversive. Probably the most instructive example was recently exposed in a study done by Rick Sander on the subject of racial considerations in law school admissions (the study is here and he blogged about it for the 'rest of us' here). The short story is that many (dare I say, all) of the racial preference programs end up hurting the very group they purport to help in the long run.
The only way to have true racial reconciliation is to address the true underlying problems that lead to disparities among the races. There are two fundamental aspects of life that need to be fixed. Probably the most commonly cited is quality of education. It is a well-known fact that schools in the inner city provide, on average, lower quality education than those elsewhere. However, the blame for this does not rest squarely on the shoulders of school officials, teachers or even The Man.
Although improving education in the inner city would obviously help, there is a more fundamental problem. Namely, the moral fabric of under-represented minorities. While this is not necessarily a popular (and certainly not PC) stance to take, it's hard to argue with. Considering this...
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, unmarried women accounted for 68 percent of black births in 2002 compared to 43.4 percent for Hispanics and 22.9 percent for whites. In 1965, the out-of-wedlock birth rate for blacks stood at 25 percent....it's not hard to understand how paying attention and learning might be more difficult for black children than for others.
Only when we have found a way to address the basic, underlying problem, of family structure (or lack thereof) can we truly reach racial reconciliation. Without equal opportunities early in life we end up with individuals who have failed to succeed and are surrounded by people who continue to blame The Man or anyone but themselves. In my opinion, the Chruch certainly has a huge role to play in this process. However, no one (not even the Church) can force anyone to change. As for the government, I would give them the same advice I always do: Get out of our way! Fortunately, I think they're heeding that advice in at least some respects. All we can do is provide what assistance we are capable of and try to encourage people in these tough situations to grab life by the proverbial horns and take responsibility for themselves.
I do not subscribe to The White Man's Burden sort of crap. I am more than willing to accept people based on their abilities and qualities regardless of their skin color. Certainly there are still racists among us who will never give minorities a fair shake...but those racists will be made irrelevant when minorities have the opportunity to excel and actually do so as it is hard to argue with talent and success breeds success. The day that there is equal societal support for members of all races we will finally find proportional numbers of equally qualified candidates of every race, whether it be for law school or anything else. Only then will racial disparities disappear and we will finally realize True Racial Reconciliation.
Other responses:
Dagney's Rant
A Physicist's Perspective
Bunker Mulligan
Weapon of Mass Distraction
Ogre
Slarrow
Paulie World
Major Dad 1984
|
