I'm not picking on commenter Nate, but I wanted to draw this out. Nate is referring to a piece I did on Cosby in the Atlantic.
Yeah, I read the article when the magazine came out. I remember being a bit confused by it, because it seems to me this embrace of a culture of personal responsibility should be more widely known, and yet it's not. You might perhaps attribute that to the ignorance of mainstream media, but my thought was that this is because black folks would rather whites not be privy to this difficult self-examination. Consequently, the conversation goes on over kitchen tables and on front porches, but not in any public forum. (Note the absences of press at the Cosby event you attended. You cited a different motivation, but perhaps this sense of the subject being a private affair is more of a driving force?)
I realize this is a difficult issue, since it involved black people airing their dirty laundry in the presence of white people. And on a visceral level, that is very hard to stomach for many blacks, due to the fact that whites were the authors of the past injustice that put them in this predicament. But look at the upside.
I have a notion that if black America were to expose this internal debate they are having to a wider realm of people, and risk exposing themselves to shame, they might be surprised at the level of support they would get. If defensive whites got a sense that blacks are trying to deal with these issues in a way other than complaining about grievances and injustice, and whites got a good look at this side of the black community that is not about anger, I think they would have more sympathy, and be less racist, and more open to supporting the kinds of social and economic programs the black community desires.
I mean, even if one feels anger is justifiable, there is the larger question of whether it is useful. I'm postulating that it isn't, and that a focus on problems other races can relate to would bear more fruit. I'm open to dissenters, since after all, I'm speaking as an outsider here.
One of the reasons many of us did not believe Obama could win in states where the population of black people dipped into the single percentage digits. We basically accepted that in states like that, there would be an immediate rejection of anyone black. That theory has been proven false, and its worth noting that most--OK I--drew those conclusions having never so much as visited Iowa, for instance.
With that in mind, here is what I suggest: Go see some actual black people in their own environments. There's nothing private about a black church, a black barbershop, or a black bar. If you've got money, they'll cut your hair. If you've got money they'll pour you a shot. Bring a friend, and just sit back and take it in. As soon as the subject turns to race--and at some point it will--I promise you will witness a vigorous debate, and it won't be censored because you're there. No BS, the day before Obama's big fatherhood speech, I was getting my own fresh Caesar and a young barber was arguing with an older one. The young dude was saying that if Obama wins, it's over, no more excuses that begin with the word "white." The old head took a different perspective.
No doubt some of us black folk need to do the same. Can't talk about Wyoming if you've never been there.
I am not saying that there is nothing to this diry laundry thing, but it gets overplayed. The one place where Cosby was doing a call-out did indeed ban reporters, but that had to do with the specific issue of fathers in child-support arrears. I saw Cosby give an incredible speech--with much the same themes--at a Connecticut prison, and the audience was totally mixed. The Million Man March targeted black men, but there wasn't much private about it. Anyway, my point is this--the truth is knowable. It's out there if we want it. Some funny looks may come with the deal, but it's out there.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
A hypothesis (go ahead and show me where the holes are):
Blacks face a bit of a conundrum in voicing their very human diversity of thought. Since blacks are a minority in a Republic, their political leverage is greatest when their voice is unified.
The Civil Rights Era had a natural unifying theme to it, and much was accomplished by that unity. When contemporary citizens stray into issues that don’t affect all blacks equally, it becomes harder to maintain a uniform voice. Even on issues that affect everyone, it is to be expected that there will be a diversity of opinion on how best to resolve the problem. However, it is inescapable that if blacks begin to manifestly voice (and vote) in a way that is diverse, there will be a corresponding decrease in political clout for that disparate grouping called African-Americans. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Civil rights “Old Guard” resents dissenting opinions as disloyal because (perhaps) they see that political clout as something they created. There has to be a tipping point where there is more to be gained by the group by manifesting a diversity of thought than is lost in political clout. Has that tipping point arrived?
It also should come as no surprise that after a few decades of whites hearing a unified African-American voice that those whites are behind the learning curve in perceiving that there is a wide diversity of African-American opinion. And, yes, a bit of cross-cultural exposure (the barber shop, etc.) would certainly speed things along. Keep in mind, though, that there are huge swathes of land and population in this country where there are no black barber shops, etc. A personal example: The 12 years I lived in rural Indiana. You might even argue that a black raised there would be equally out of touch with his counterparts raised in urban ghettos. Before going on to college, my son’s best friend in our lily-white high school was a second-generation Ghanian. Other than his very dark complexion you couldn’t pick him out culturally from any of the other white students. He didn’t “act black,” (I don’t like that phrase, but it suffices here.)
There is also the problem of cultural identity, and cultural evolution. No matter how much naturally occurring diversity of thought there is within any culture, there must be some unifying characteristics with which that culture identifies itself, or else you don’t have a distinct culture. There is no belonging. It is fine for multiple African-American cultures to emerge (or, more accurately, to manifest differences that have been there all along), but all those involved need to feel comfortable in whatever culture they are in and let others do likewise. It should also be acceptable for an individual to choose to adopt themselves into another culture without their former culture seeing that action as disloyal.
I couldn't disagree more with the idea of Black people "airing their dirty laundry" in front of white people. When Bill Cosby comes on Meet the Press and tells a white audience that black people need to get their shit together, he is telling white people "it's okay that you don't do anything to help poor people in this country, go right on doing what you're doing." This was made obvious when Mitt Romney said "thank god Bill Cosby told it like it is" in a GOP debate earlier in the election process. Cosby is being used by the right to absolve them of their potential sins against the black community.
This all seems a bit one sided to me. The debate or conversation always seems to put Black men in a position that is continuously defensive. The fact is that we always air our laundry. We as a community discuss our problems out loud and in public. The problem is that this is a two way street. There are to my mind problems in the White community. Now when this is pointed out then of course the word angry is used as a means of silencing discussion. White does not represent normal and I would suggest that white folks look at their houses and start to ask themselves what they can do to make the world a better place for everybody else. Since historically they've spent a lot of time messing up and messing in the "other's" home. Yes there are black men that are shirking their responsibilities. We aren't the only ones. The problems in the Black community are reflections of problems in the nation as a whole. And that needs to be addressed in everybody's house. Think there's a drug problem only in the Black community? I suggest you check again and see who is buying said drugs. I read a news article about a gun that was used for a murder by a Black man and the gun was traced back to a former white police officer who had an arsenal in his home. It's about being and acknowledging connectedness at every level. We do not live apart but as a part of a greater whole. We all have a house to get in order.
Obama's Father's Day speech left me cold too. And I'm freezing because I get tired of talking about the Black community and not holding sisters responsible as well. I know they end up raising the kids but like my Mama told me lay down with dogs don't complain when you scratching cause of fleas. Everybody needs to be taken to task. I also believe that Father's Day is a day of celebration and since we can see and hear about what a poor job we are doing twenty four seven, on this day we might take some time to actually honor the great things that Black father's do. It doesn't mean that there aren't problems but hey, can't a a brother catch a break on one damn day of the year? I'm not so sure that white father's are doing such a bang up job anyway. If you look at the mess the Republicans have been making for the past eight years I'd be hard pressed to pat any of those parents on the back for the bullshit that is this country right now.
Thank you my brother for nicely telling Neal that instead of sitting back and arrogantly being asked to be shown who we are that he find it in himself to get up off that high horse and take his ass out there and experience the world he wishes to see.
Peace.
Michael in Toronto
Nate 'Kipling' says:
"I have a notion that if black America were to expose this internal debate they are having to a wider realm of people, and risk exposing themselves to shame, they might be surprised at the level of support they would get. If defensive whites got a sense that blacks are trying to deal with these issues in a way other than complaining about grievances and injustice, and whites got a good look at this side of the black community that is not about anger, I think they would have more sympathy, and be less racist, and more open to supporting the kinds of social and economic programs the black community desires."
Wow. Welcome to the White Man's Burden, New Millennium Edition.
I would actually advise you not to follow Ta-Nehisi's suggestion. Because the level of arrogance about Black folk written in your response is such that it probably seeps through your pores. And those Black folk that you would be trying to 'observe in their natural habitat' will pick up your scent a mile away.
Matthew:
I see two problems with the "whites don't care about poor blacks" stance.
First, not caring about "others" is a problem that knows no color. When my house was foreclosed on six years ago during the last fiscal downturn, I didn't hear any blacks saying, "We've got to do something about all these white folks getting their houses foreclosed on." It is hard to get people focused on problems that are not hitting their very own wallets. That's human nature.
Second, how about if all the races in this country treat poverty as the multi-racial problem that it is? There is a greater percentage of blacks in poverty than whites, but there is numerically a far, far larger number of whites in poverty than blacks. Blacks don't own the concession on poverty, nor on the problems that poverty brings. It is an irony for both sides to treat poverty like it is a black-only problem. Whites who are not in poverty don't care much at all about the problems facing whites who are in poverty, so how surprising should it be if whites don't care about blacks in poverty? The not caring isn't racially based. It is cultural. Whites believe that most in poverty can get themselves out of it if they really want to, or at the very least get their children on a path out of poverty. That attitude is a bit shortsighted, but it is also partly justifiable. I grew up in poverty and I got out of it. Remember that foreclosure I mentioned above? I didn't have two nickels to rub togather afterwards. I was flat busted broke. It took me five years, but I rebounded.
Sweet Jones:
Don't confuse arrogance with ignorance. Ignorance can be cured with knowledge. Curing arrogance requires a 2x4 across the head, and even that won't work all of the time. If someone with sincerity takes Ta-Nehisi's suggestion, the path to understanding may be filled with a lot of awkward missteps, but perhaps it is worth it?
Are you suggesting that blacks don't want whites to understand them? Is being misunderstood somehow an inseparable part of the black identity? If so, then it is irrational to complain that whites don't understand blacks.
Lance_K,
I'm not against 'understanding'. I am against patronizing efforts to pawn White indifference/resentment off on how Black folk are not presenting their 'internal debate' as anything other than 'complaining about grievances and injustice'.
Anyone holding such a thought is not interested in any real 'understanding'.
Lance_K:
My response was short, and therefore didn't convey my full opinion... I mostly agree with what you say about poverty being a non-racial issue, though I think it is a lot more complicated than that. Certainly a higher percentage of black people are poor in this country because of this nation's history of racism.
What I was saying is that Cosby's approach is essentially a "cultural disease" issue, that there is an infection in black culture that needs to be washed away. Placing that in the hands of mainstream ie white america is very dangerous, because it serves as a means of ignoring the very real issues that people face in this country. What I'm saying is that black people (and all people who have a culture that is marginalized and misunderstood in the mainstream) should be careful about how they present themselves to the rest of the country, because they are most likely going to be misunderstood and exploited by people for their own gains. I absolutely think personal responsibility should be preached by white and black people alike, but someone like Cosby is being used as a tool not to tell black people they are hurting themselves, but to tell white people it is not their fault. The thing is, I think Cosby knows this and simply doesn't care. I happen to think he should.
Sweet Jones:
I see your point. I can’t disagree.
I think, too, that both sides have been practicing this dance for so long that we can do it blindfolded. Both sides have developed automatic responses that short-circuit thoughtful discussion. It may at times be difficult to discern between patronizing versus a sincere effort to understand because the initial steps towards rudimentary understanding may be awkward. A universal human delusion is that we each feel that we are personally excellent judges of character.
Perhaps, too, a full understanding of one group by another is an unrealistic goal. It sounds like what we’re all after is just a sufficient amount of understanding to respect each others’ differences. We don’t need to know each other thoroughly, but what little we know about each other needs to be accurate.
Ta-Nehisi's point, which I'd paraphrase as "we all need to get out more", is a good one. I've never been around African Americans all that much. Native Americans, Mexicans, Chinese Americans, and even maybe more Moslem Americans, or at least, more face time with fewer Moslem-Americans. But Black Americans, not so much. I don't quite know why. I lived in Tidewater, VA years ago, so I had plenty of opportunity then, but it didn't happen. I didn't go. I offer no real excuse, I was even curious about it. I drove by the churches.
Thinking about it, I would love to hear such a spirited discussion as you describe in the barbershop. Not that there's one nearby.
It seems to me that the problem with the Cosby speech is that it's basically one-sided. There's no back and forth, there's no struggle, there's just an answer, and an Authority On Black Americans giving it. And maybe that's the problem with the Obama Father's Day speech, too.
The whole reason I"m theorizing that blacks should be open about their internal debate is precisely because white people aren't going to visit their barbershops, churches, etc. I might visit, but most of the people I know who harbor skepticism about black culture are definitely not. The Vietnamese lady who cuts my hair talks to me in her broken English about how appalling many urban black kids act in public, and she's the one who would benefit from seeing that blacks are indeed addressing this issue. I get the sense she thinks black parents don't care that their kids act this way, and that they look to blame others for their own failings.
The problem with the Million Man March and the church sermons is that they are just speeches and marches, and have limited real-world effects. When Barack Obama talks about turning off the TV once in awhile- well, how about a movement in the black community to get rid of the TV? Obama talked about getting a desk in the house, or making space on the kitchen table. How about a 7-9 PM study hall every weeknight in the black community?
This gets back the issue I was taking heat for on another comments thread. If blacks want to address some of the problems in their community, they're going to have to change their behavior in a way that makes them imitate mainstream society more, thus reducing the powerful sense of black identity felt among the black urban lower-class. It's a tough sell. I don't think Obama can do it himself, but he could certainly do worse than get the effort started, and let the rest of America know that they are going beyond speeches and sermons.
Nate,
I was trying to understand you but you made it worse for yourself. You are very arrogant and until you approach a group of people with humility then I dont think that they should take you seriously.
"When Barack Obama talks about turning off the TV once in awhile- well, how about a movement in the black community to get rid of the TV? Obama talked about getting a desk in the house, or making space on the kitchen table. How about a 7-9 PM study hall every weeknight in the black community?"
Are you joking? Are you kidding me?
"The black community" as if we are an idiotic, pathological monolith.
Obama is far from an authority on the lives of blacks. Why don't whites go sweep up there house before telling others all what they should be doing.
You obviously know little about black people and you do not care not one bit.
Nate "Kipling" is the right definition for Nate.
Sweet Jones you said this:
"Wow. Welcome to the White Man's Burden, New Millennium Edition.
I would actually advise you not to follow Ta-Nehisi's suggestion. Because the level of arrogance about Black folk written in your response is such that it probably seeps through your pores. And those Black folk that you would be trying to 'observe in their natural habitat' will pick up your scent a mile away."
I am smelling it with his last comment especially. He is the authority! The whites need to know what we are doing so that they can civilze us.
So Nate, you think Obama invented everything..hmmm. If it werent't for him we would be lost. Nobody has ever addressed these issues?
Here is my suggestion for your white arrogance, come down from your white horse of white privillege.
There are books about this, programs, listen to black radio, there are black magazines and publications about it, academic journals written by blacks in regards to a whole array of issues.
Truthfully, Obama is far from any form of authority. I do not even think he really understands some of the issues.
You come here to remind us blacks that, as you forefathers did in slavery, that we are not allowed to speak amongst ourselves unless a master in present.
Sit back and listen if you care! Don't come with your condescension!
Ta-Nehisi,
Now Nate is wanting you to be concerned about what White folks think. He wants you/us to try to get sympathy points from Whites by showing our shame. Damn that Shelby Steele!
Anyway... Too funny and too predictable.
As far as Nate's remarks about anger... Please post links to remarks where White anger/resentment is talked about is not useful even if it is justified. Obama didn't do it. He tried to legitimate White anger/resentment. No. People are much more receptive of White anger be it Angry White Men or Angry White Women.
In society we get two different pictures. White anger is often accommodated, assumed justified without the need for proof. Black anger, as Nate (and Obama) intimate, is not to be accepted. Who cares if it's justified? The goalposts move. Now we have to past the "usefulness" threshhold -- a standard Whites and their anger aren't held to.
Thanks, Nate for that excellent illustration. According to you, not only should African-Americans avoid being anger (What's the use? I mean, we all know that it's all about gaining sympathy from Whites) but we should do our best not to make those good White folk feel so racist something they apparently can't avoid especially when Black anger is justified.
Amazing...
This touchiness is exactly what inhibits frank racial discussion. It's hard to extract the serious criticism from the personal insults.
Nate, your "notion" is frankly ridiculous and bankrupt on it's face. It's not my fault your "notion" doesn't withstand "frank" scrutiny.
Feel free to discuss why you feel Black folks should audition for sympathy from Whites. That's your notion. I'm open to having a discussion on why you feel that's important and why you readily want to dismiss even justified Black anger with loaded terms.
When you say "useful"? Useful to WHOM? Anger is a human emotion. It's an expression of a feeling. As long as that feeling is expressed that's all the anger need be "useful" for. Please explain your loaded (and, yes, problematic) language.
You can explain that "touchiness" stuff too. That characterization doesn't fit a single response here. Stop projecting.
It's hard for you to "extract the serious criticism from personal insults" because you're "touchy." You seriously can't expect anyone to take your "notion" seriously. And, to be frank, when you have "notions" like that, you simply cannot contribute to any fruitful discussion on race.
I mean, the idea that Black people should ever care what "defensive Whites" think when they can't be bothered with all that "complaining about INJUSTICE"... as if complaining about INJUSTICE is a bad thing. As if Black people should just, how do they say, "get over it" and don't "complain" about INJUSTICE.
I mean, seriously... You must be out your gottdamn mind. You might think the world revolves around White folk but before you ever try to engage in a "racial" discussion... you better get a freakin' clue.
Seriously, why do you both suppose and propose that Black people behave in a manner to possibly get sympathy from Whites and particularly Whites who apparently have a problem with Blacks "complaining about INJUSTICES"??
Oh the horror!!! What is the world coming to when people actually complain about INJUSTICES vs. what? Putting up with them?
"The whole reason I"m theorizing that blacks should be open about their internal debate is precisely because white people aren't going to visit their barbershops, churches, etc. I might visit, but most of the people I know who harbor skepticism about black culture are definitely not. The Vietnamese lady who cuts my hair talks to me in her broken English about how appalling many urban black kids act in public, and she's the one who would benefit from seeing that blacks are indeed addressing this issue. I get the sense she thinks black parents don't care that their kids act this way', and that they look to blame others for their own failings"
There is a real simple principle at work here. If you want to speak with any authority on life in Dallas, Texas, you probably should spend some time in Dallas, Texas. If you want to speak about what it's like growing up in the Cuban neighborhoods in Miami, you probably should go there. If you want to be able to have an informed conversation on jazz, you probably should listen to some records, read a few books, and maybe even go to a couple concerts.
If you're detecting some degree of hostility from the posters here, if they sound a bit disturbed to you, if you think they sound touchy, it's because they are listening to a guy play doctor who's never taken a biology class. It really is that simple. You don't need a PhD in African-American studies. You just need a little empathy, and some time.
I'm just trippin' because Nate has this hidden in plain view thing going on. I'll come out and say it: "personal responsibility" is a phrase that's seems to be White in origin. And it's not "personal responsibility" that Whites like Nate want to see embraced. If that were so then they would recognize it when they see it in the Nation of Islam/Farrakhan and with Rev. Wright.
Unwittingly or not, Nate expressed what this White interest in Blacks taking "personal responsibility" is all about: getting Black people to shut up and stop "complaining" about INJUSTICE.
There's a long history of self-help and self-reliance in the Black community and White folks like Nate won't recognize it because it doesn't come with the bargain of "letting White folks off the hook." By his own words, that's his primary interest here and for some reason he feels African-Americans should jump at the chance to gain sympathy from Whites, particularly "defensive" White folk, I guess, because what Whites think is so important to us or, in his mind, should be which is part of the reason why he's sharing his "notion" with us.
Mr. Coates,
Given that I've stated from the start that non-black people form views of black people based on what they see from the outside, and that these perhaps ill-informed views nonetheless influence the lives of the black underclass, I don't see the problem here.
Denying my view on this issue is like denying my view on abortion because I'm not a physician.
You know, I really feel to accuse me of a lack of empathy is off the mark. I'm here on this blog posting, trying to come up with some solutions. If I were like most white liberals I'd be off posting on Kos, with the assumption that more liberals in political power will mean more money for schools, reform of the criminal justice systems, etc., and that will solve the problems of the black underclass. But I don't think that's nearly enough to accomplish this task.
I honestly think the impetus to raise the black underclass has to come from themselves. And I'm interested in ways this can occur, and I think it requires a change in mindset, or at least a realigning of priorities within the given mindset.
Does this sound patronizing? I think it's empowering, since most white liberals people don't think the black underclass has got it in them to do anything by themselves, and don't even bother engaging on this issue.
If it's my tone that grates in this whole discussion, well, then you folks really need to get a thicker skin. It's much better to hear what people like me think on comments threads like this, because when you meet me in real life, I'll just smile and nod at whatever you say.
And since we're all getting a little more comfortable in here, let me recognize:
a) The black community has a tradition of self-help (an astonishing, almost superhuman one at that, if one wants to go back into the history of this country)
b) The black community has a legitimate sense of anger
c) White people have a massive amount of their/our own failings
But my response to these truths if we are to make some progress here is:
a) The current state of black self-help/self-examination strikes me as wholly inadequate to addressing the severity of the problems of the black underclass. Part of the problem is that a desire to change behavior simply isn't enough. Due to a loss of social capital over the generations, many black parents simply don't know how to re-orient themselves and their children towards things like fiscal discipline, academic success. Hence my proposal of a more deliberate set of community goals, like getting rid of the TV.
b) Anger may be legitimate, but I question it's usefulness to the task at hand. If one of the goals for the black underclass is to reintegrate into the larger mainstream community, then that anger will be a barrier.
c) I'm happy to discuss how white people suck, or could be improved. But that probably deserves it's own thread, or blog. Consider the following addendum and mentally attach it to everything I say: "Keep in mind, white people have major problems too."
Lastly, I've not brought this up because I was accused of beating my chest on another thread, but I do deal with kids in the black underclass through my job. I've got a perspective from this, since I see a variety of attitudes and behavior in the classroom and the lunchyard. It may be incomplete, but it's something. And if you want to deny that I've got anything to add to the discussion, and that I need to spend more time getting real before I say anything at all, I think that's your loss. Better to have someone's uninformed views than nothing at all.
Nate, I recognize that you're proposing/promoting White Supremacy by any other name. You claim you recognize this and that but none of it changes your aim or input which is steeped in White Supremacy.
You talk about the outside, perhaps even "ill-formed" views Whites possess and the impact they have on Black people lives a form of oppression, for sure, but you're here on this blog coming up with notions where the audience is definitely not the very Whites with the oppressive, outside, ill-formed views.
Frankly, that doesn't make sense.
Ultimately, it's White people even you "recognize" who must change but instead of directing your efforts where the problem lies, going by your own analysis, you're here. THAT JUST DOES NOT MAKE SENSE.
You claim you're here trying to come up with a solution when the problem as you have identified does not lie here. The problem doesn't even lie in the so-called Black underclass. Unless you're not being honest and really have come here to say, "no matter how white people suck, Black people are really the problem." That's what obvious from what you've had to say along with your idea that no matter how White people and their ill-formed views are, indeed, the problem that White people entitled to rule.
In fact, your insistence that you have something to add even when uninformed is based on the presumption of White Supremacy that you, even your ignorance, have something "better" to offer. After all, let you tell it it's "better to have someone's uninformed [White] views than "nothing" at all." And, of course, you have all kinds of suggestions for what Black people need to do because, of course, you would know best. Such is White Supremacy.
Such is your philosophy - White people are entitled to rule. That's your mindset. Even when wrong, by your "notions", White people are right or have the right to rule and to dictate how Black people are supposed to act. That's why you're here and not on White blogs addressing the very people with whom the problem lies.
When you recognize how Black people have a long history of self-help and self-reliance and you believe White people need to see it then it's a not-so-subtle act of White Supremacy for your position to be that Black people take a subservient role and that they act in service to White people. You want Black people to educate White people about something that you admit has a long history.
That just doesn't make sense. Something with a long history is something that anybody who wants to see it can see it.
You also support White Supremacy outright with that "anger isn't helpful" bs. Again, anger his a human emotion and it has not goal per se other than to express the emotion. So, repeating the idiot-line about some "task at hand" that's all about Blacks acting in subservience to Whites just doesn't cut it.
The "anger is a barrier" because in your White Supremacy scheme, dealing INJUSTICE is off the table. I don't know if you called yourself a White Liberal but however you see yourself is totally at odds with what you've presented here. The task at hand is dealing with the INJUSTICE and when you and other Whites have an issue with Blacks "complaining about INJUSTICE" then you're showing your true colors and showing how you have nothing to add to the discussion because you're talking about something else entirely.
You want White Supremacy both practiced and preserved and that, my friend, leaves us with nothing to talk about.
I'll leave you with this (your contradiction), however. You say: "black self-help/self-examination strikes me as wholly inadequate to addressing the severity of the problems of the black underclass." That doesn't square with your idea as it relates to how "most white liberals don't think the black underclass has got it in them to do anything by themselves."
You simply haven't left it up to the Black "underclass" to do things "by themselves." You feel like your input is needed. Valuable. A loss if not heard/used.
Now what kind of liberal or white person are you?
I stopped reading after your first sentence.
Why? You're a little... touchy?
You know, if it's my tone that grates, then you really need to get a thicker skin. It's much better to hear what people like me think, Nate.
I know what it is: you're here on this blog coming up with notions when the audience is definitely not the very Whites with the oppressive, outside, ill-formed views that are problem per your own analysis & identification AND the very fact that you do along with the other things you added clearly show that yours is an act of presumed White Supremacy.
Nothing else explains your mindset and your desperate to be heard when this is the wrong audience. Again, per your own analysis & identification.
END OF STORY
CORRECTIONS:
"the audience is definitely not the very Whites with the oppressive, outside, ill-formed views that are [the] problem per your own analysis & identification"
"White Supremacy... Nothing else explains your mindset and your desperate desire to be heard..."