CardinalBacker

What about the descendants of white people who lost their lives fighting to free your ancestors? Should they receive reparations, too? What about the people who legally purchased and bred slaves, only to have them freed without compensation? Should those families receive reparations? What about the people whose property and fortunes were destroyed in the war to free the slaves… shouldn’t you be obligated to make their descendants whole today? Reparations are a good idea only to the simple minded and those who want the votes of the simple minded. The problem with reparations is this… the federal government can’t give anything to anybody without first taking it from someone else. So what you are really arguing is that your neighbors deserve to have things taken from them and given to you… that you never earned and therefore don’t deserve. And if your neighbor doesn’t agree with you, it’s because he’s white, uneducated, and disenfranchised. You’ve been lied lied to your whole life. Nobody owes any of us anything… never has, never will.

Yes, ma’am. BBA ‘98. Why are you so willing to point out discrepancies between the rates of incarceration as a bad thing, but then gloss over discrepancies between the races on dropout rates with “white people drop out, too.” Anytime somebody talks about systemic racism, they are talking about an insignificant problem after glossing over the fact that most of the problems facing the black community are self-inflicted… it just feels better to blame them on Whitey.

UT alum argues that if we made college free for black kids, they’d stop dropping out of high school and get college degrees.

You’re just plainly wrong. The article you posted (which is based on being pro-criminal Justice reform) keeps pointing at different) rates of incarceration and arrest between the races as “proof” of racism. It’s not. As I stated earlier… the fact is that black people (13% of the population) commit 50% of all murders in the U.S. This articles implies that since more black people are arrested and incarcerated for “the same crime,” (murder) the system is racist. That is a complete twisting of the truth into an outright lie. You keep pointing to the fact that more black are arrested/jailed for committing “the same crime” without admitting that black men are committing many, many more of those crimes than others. I’ll happily admit that some punishments more harshly affected the black community. Crack cocaine possession (typically blacks were charged in the 90s) resulted in longer sentences than powder cocaine charges (typically whites were charged) for the same amount of the drug. That’s since been fixed. But harsher sentences DID exist and could be considered a form of systemic racism in my opinion.

That’s not racial… we moved to an area outside of our district when I was a freshman and my mom HAD to drop me off… i ended up in ISS over tardies.

Ok…. I’ll agree with being prejudiced. Just because 49% of black males have been arrested by the age of 23 is immaterial. But you just proved my point that racism isn’t holding black kids back. You’ve got example after example of black kids who’ve excelled. Last question. Why are only SOME black kids held back by systemic racism?

Yes… the fact that he is black makes him unique. Most of his black peers are not similarly situated. Your son is unique. In a community that believes that “the only way out” is via a 🔥mixtape or becoming a professional athlete, and academics are largely ignored by kids and parents alike… they are both unique. But instead of celebrating the efforts and accomplishments made by the unique young people (and their parents who did a great job) you stand back and say “well, it was in spite of being ____…. The system failed everybody else.” When OJ Simpson was found not guilty in the 1990s, black people celebrated widely… “finally… a black man got a fair trial in America” was the thought. I was like “no, finally a black man had enough money to afford a top notch defense…. His race is irrelevant, but the fact that he is black makes his success unique.” Here’s the thing… you are walking, talking proof that success in America is possible for anybody. You’re not wrong… you probably are doing better than a lot of the people on this board. But you stand around and recite all of the mantras that absolve the black community of any responsibility for their own shortcomings instead of recognizing that what you’ve done isn’t hard, it’s common sense, good parenting, hard work and sound decisions. It has to be tough for you because it flies in the face of what you’ve been taught and I’m certain that your community as a whole doesn’t want to hear it… that’s something that I don’t experience.

You’re not doing good in spite of, and I’m not doing good because of… you’re doing good because you’ve busted your tail and made good decisions. I wish more people like you would recognize that fact and spread that message instead of telling black kids that the deck is stacked against them. There’s a young black man that I know…. He’s really close with my nephew and actually works work for one of my best friend. 26 years old, lives with his fiancé, two small kids. Has a blue collar job that allows him to be home every night, gets as much overtime as he wants and will easily make $150k this year. He’s got a boat, ATV, and a diesel pickup. He and his DAD are raising a few cows together. He is just like a lot of other kids I know… what makes him unique is that he’s black. In a few years he’ll be applying for supervisory roles that he’ll be qualified for, and he’ll receive special consideration because of his race-his employer WANTS to see their ranks become more diversified. But you still seem to be convinced that the deck is stacked against this kid. It’s not…

Those are all real problems… none of which have occurred in my 50 years on earth, with the exception of the last, and I argue that it’s a shame, but not racism IMO. I dabble in real estate. If it’s obvious that a home has been flipped, it tends to hurt the value of a house. Savvy buyers assume that corners were cut AND the buyer is looking to sell in a hurry… the market will offer less for that house. The fact is this… everybody involved in the sale of a house wants a higher price except for the buyer himself. The seller gets more $$$, the realtors’ commissions are higher, the title company makes more money, the bank makes more interest, the insurance company gets higher premiums, the taxing entities make more money if the value is higher. But you want me to believe that all of those people and organizations are willing to make less money out of racial animus? That’s bull… a black owned house isn’t worth what a white owned house is…. Why is that? Is it a fear that the home hasn’t been maintained? Is it a fear that the neighborhood’s demographics are changing? Are potential buyers thinking to themselves “oh, my… even the decent blacks people don’t want to live here?” You have to admit that generations worth of being crappy neighbors has no doubt had an effect on property values in minority neighborhoods. Everything from crappy decisions at the governing body level (BISD, Port Arthur City Council, etc..) and bad schools also play into those decisions. But to pretend that the entire housing industry is leaving money on the table out of racial animus is just…dumb.

Here's the problem... .those are a lot of theories about "racism,' but not actual policies that negatively affect black people. For example... "the fact that there are more blacks in prison than whites PROVES that the criminal justice system is racist." Except it doesn't. Over 50% of the murders in the US are committed by black people... who only make up 13% of the population. So the fact that more black people are in prison for murder does NOT reflect "systemic racism." It's no secret that black people like to spend their money differently than white people as a general rule. Flashy clothes, expensive cars... You've heard the term- they called it living _______ rich. You know, you've heard it. But if I chose to blow my money on clothes, cars, hairdos, nails, chains, and live in a shack, it's hard to come back later and say "racism" is the reason that I don't have a house/personal wealth. How many times have you been through the McDonald's drive thru and been proud to see a young black woman standing there doing a job that I wouldn't want? Good for her! I'm freaking proud- but then you realize that she's having trouble pushing the keys because of her salon nails and that hairdo wasn't cheap. It's deflating to me personally. She can't afford to do those things, practically speaking... She's not going to get ahead with that McJob, and she dang sure can't if she's blowing her cash on stuff like that. I don't know how much tattoos cost in the hood, but I can't afford that kind of work over here at Flippers, but most black kids somehow find a way to get tatted up. That's cool, but you can't complain if my kid has more cash (but less tattoos) than you. In the 90s the federal government made it possible for disadvantaged people to buy homes with little or no money down... it was a focused effort to increase the rates of home ownership in the black community. However, these were non-traditional loans made to people who wouldn't have normally qualified for a home loan because of a lack of credit, down payment etc... when things went as they were easily predicted and these new homeowners started losing their homes, the program(s) were suddenly referred to as "predatory lending." And the whole argument about "redlining" is a dog whistle. Did it happen? Of course. Did it happen much? Heck, no... The fact that some people were wrongfully turned away from new developments in the cities has nothing to do with the fact that so many black families abandoned their homes for Section 8 housing or just left small town east texas for the city. But you have to be honest... homes in black neighborhoods won't sell for what similar homes will sell for in white neighborhoods. And that's not a racism, that's a reflection on higher crime rates, booming stereos, drug use, etc... Why should I expect to pay the same amount for a house in Groves that was built in the 1940s than I'd pay for one in Port Arthur that was built in the 1940s... except the one in PA has burglar bars installed. It costs the same amount of money to build in BC or PA... your new home in BC is just gonna be worth a whole lot more. That's a fact. That's the truth. That might hurt feelings... But it's reality. Is the East side of Port Arthur underserved by pharmacies? Absolutely. But they used to have pharmacies and most of them shut down (Gulfway/Savannah) because they couldn't stay open because of all of the shoplifting. But the fact that they are no longer serving the community is somehow proof of racism? Not at all. I'll give an example of where the system is blind. Race isn't taken into account when it comes time to get retail credit. This is pure speculation, for the sake of a story. Let's say that statistically speaking, black people are three times more likely to have their car repossessed than white people. Pure math... 10 blacks, three repos. 10 whites, one repo. The numbers don't lie. A statistician would start to say "wait.... we need to look a little closer at these black borrowers... their loans go bad at 3x the rate of white borrowers... shouldn't those riskier loans justify a higher interest rate?" Yet our federal government (correctly) disallows the use of racial data in the purchase of homes/cars/credit cards. But you'd look at that situation and say that the fact that three times as many blacks get their cars repossessed is proof of racism.... when the truth of the matter is that more owners of that color just happened to not pay their car notes. That's the fallacy of your arguments. My honest opinion is that without any proof from you of an actual racist policy that can be corrected today, I'll still agree that there are some biases built into our systems.... Some biases that negatively affect black people. But I also think that they account for about 2% of the reasons why the black community has struggled, yet that bias is blamed for 100% of the problems facing your community and that disingenuous and not helpful at all to mislead your community.

That’s partly true. Do you remember Strom Thurmond? He was a Democrat turned Dixiecrat from South Carolina who eventually turned Republican. He was a long-term Senator who served in the Senate from 1954 to 2003. He spent his later years apologizing for his previous stances on segregation and his opposition to the Civil Rights Act. He eventually died and you’ll never guess who was the main speaker at his funeral. A young senator from Delaware named Joseph Biden. Apparently Thurmond was Biden’s hero. Apparently race hustlers respect each others’ games. You literally can’t make this stuff up. [Hidden Content]

Can you point at a racist policy that exists today that we can fight?

Sure. It was in German occupied territories during WWII. Y’all then appropriated their culture, lol. So how were you successful with all of the racism that exists here? I don’t know you, but I’ll bet that you: 1. Finished high school 2. Got married 3. Got a degree or at least a tech school 4. Attend church 5. Didn’t have kids before you could support them 6. Were raised in a home with a mom and dad. If not all, at least five of those things. Your success or lack thereof has nothing to with your skin color. EDIT… And based on your description of your son, I’ll bet he had most, if not all, of those things working in his benefit, too.

My contention is that they didn’t. The Democrats have always been the party of racial politics. When it got the point that being anti-black wouldn’t earn the Dems any votes, they tapped into the OTHER races’ anger towards whites. Now being a dem means being anti-white for the most part. The republicans have literally been on the moral side of every argument from slavery to abortion for the last 180 years.

Closer to home… look at Port Arthur. I was born in Port Arthur. I left for good in 1999. What was a diverse area in the ‘60s has been decimated in my lifetime with no help from the Klan. The Klan wasn’t a force in Chicago, Detroit, East St Louis, the Bronx, the fifth ward in Houston, etc… those urban areas were destroyed by their inhabitants in my lifetime. So why are we still talking about things that occurred to your community 100 years ago by long dead whites when y’all are doing it to yourselves in 2022?

That’s an interesting article… it’s just a little misleading in my opinion on a few issues. While it’s true that black farmers’ are shrinking, the number of white farmers has shrunk by comparable numbers. Corporations hold the vast majority of farmland, not whites… something that the article doesn’t present. One absolute fact that the article presented is that black people almost NEVER do any type of estate planning. There almost never wills probated, so the land is considered “heirship property.” That’s a term that is almost never heard regarding white-held properties. My grandparents weren’t wealthy, but all four had their estates handled… my parents are still alive, but their arrangements are already set. That’s just not something you see in the black community and it’s led to a lot of property being lost to the tax man. There are a lot of different reasons for that… I don’t imagine that I’d be comfortable around the county courthouse in East Texas if I were a black man in the 1950s. But neglecting to handle ownership issues and pay property taxes has definitely hurt the black community.

That’s never been proven.

Do you really think that slave owners (many of whom bred livestock) weren’t doing the same thing with their slaves? Those people were literally treated like cattle. Just property. Bred to be sold in many cases…. It created an unintended benefit for the descendants of slave owners… many of whom have made fortunes based on genetics that were refined by old racist slavers. Kinda ironic, wouldn’t you say?

UT is going to be really sad when he realizes that he owes the white man a big debt of gratitude for the husbandry programs that nurtured the bloodlines that we see in professional sports today. 😂🤣😂

The articles that I’ve read indicates that the newspapers printed inflammatory articles about a lynching being scheduled. I guess they’ve been stirring both sides up for a while, huh? The fact remains that neither side was blameless. You are so upset about this riot, but not about all of the other ones that your side “won.” Are you busy protesting the fact that blacks destroyed Korean businesses in LA in your lifetime? Nope. Not a bit. We’d all be in a lot better place if we could live in a post-racial society, but nobody wants to let go of the past.

He’s a rarity, and will spend his life trying to prove to himself and others that he earned it…. That’s a very real and unfortunate side affect of giving people something that they didn’t earn… except because of their race.

To be honest, they’ve tried your solutions and they don’t work. Black kids drop out of college at much higher rates than their white counterparts. Your solution is to make an education that they don’t want free to them, as if it isn’t already? The kids who are motivated enough to go to school now will still be motivated. Public high schools are free and you can’t get black kids to stay enrolled. Free college won’t make a difference. My buddy owns a shipyard in Orange and they can’t get guys to show up for work every day. Ownership proposed a weekly bonus of $150 for hands that made it to work all five days. He said it was a waste because the guys who previously came to work all week started getting a bonus… but the guys that called in just kept on calling in and never got the bonus: the problem wasn’t compensation, it’s individuals’ lack of work ethic.

Ok, I like that answer. Kirby and the railroad. So why wasn’t the “other side” of town similarly affected? But it’s not just true of Silsbee…. It’s every town in SETX that has a heavily minority population. I just have a hard time accepting that “racism” is why black home ownership (and the accompanying personal wealth) is low, when we could literally drive to one part of any town and find dozens of abandoned homesites with unpaid taxes and deceased owners. This is simply not true of the other part of town. But then an “educated” black person would turn around and tell me that it’s my fault that they didn’t handle their business.

So that’s your solution? Confiscate private land and give it to other people? How has that worked in Africa? You know “repatriation without compensation?” I’ll give you a hint… famines. But seriously… black families owned property all over East Texas and abandoned it. Why is the west side of Silsbee full of old home places that have been abandoned by their owners? Or any other city, for that matter… it’s just abandoned homesites everywhere.

Who is general sherman? Please point me to any sort of legal reasoning that would support some random dude from the Military's opinion as law, lol.