Honest letter to David

No, illegitimacy started going up as Blacks became enmeshed in the Welfare system. That's the enormous elephant in the room he is studiously refusing to address. I'm a Black woman. I simply cannot believe that the main problems confronting Blacks today is the apparently very long acting "post traumatic stress disorder" from slavery, or the lack of a connection to a "homeland." I am an American. This is my homeland. Her history is my history. I love her, warts and all. The reason those other ethnic groups mentioned found the success that has eluded many Blacks is because they for the most part did not depend to any great extent on welfare (this is changing for some Latinos, at least here in Arizona, with predictable results). They maintained a work ethic and respect for learning that the Black community once had during Jim Crow days but somehow lost. I'm not condemning all those who've ever needed welfare. My mother, who was a single parent because my father couldn't be bothered to be a father, was on welfare for about two years when I was a toddler, because she'd gotten laid off from her job (thank Jimmy Carter's malaise for that). During that time she got job training and got a job, demanded to get taken off the welfare rolls, and has never needed welfare again. The battle she had with her case worker, who just couldn't believe anyone would want to get off the government dole, is a story for another day. Over the years she had continued to educate herself (yes, through some government education programs), has a bachelor's and master's degree, and is making nearly $100,000 a year. I am a graduate engineering student. We cannot in any sense of the word be called victims or oppressed. The slavery post traumatic stress syndrome somehow missed us. The problem is not welfare per se; it's the values that somehow got lost along the way. The victimhood that people cling to, the belief that someone owes you something just for being Black. This is not only a Black problem. Look throughout Europe and see that the same sort of problems that plague many in the Black community here occur anywhere you have a group of people who are kept at subsistence level by government programs, who give up industriousness, self-sacrifice, and pride for a monthly check. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but harsh words sometimes have to be said.

To: blahdeblah

When will blacks shed their racial bias in favor of their own and begin to OBJECTIVELY view the actions of some of their own?

Maybe when they feel they are not a powerless minority always second best to the dominant white majority.

Blacks are very critical of their own, but often circle the wagons in these situations.