Bill's Take on Racism

[Wayne Goodwin]

Like it or not here's Bill O'Reilly take on Racism .....

Open For Discussion .....

http://www.billoreilly.com/video?chartID=556&vid=88031002096952...

[dwalt]

Good.

[Lifesighs]

The media has played up the idea that it's people on welfare that are robbing the country, however the CEO's and Insurance companies are the real culprits. I'm sure there are some welfare cheats but not nearly as many as the media is trying to convince you of. There are more rich and middle class that cheat on taxes than the few who are getting some help when they are down. If you live in an area where lots of folks are getting hand outs you might want to examine how the area got that way, corporations sending jobs overseas? When I was in my 20's I thought also that people were getting handouts causing my taxes to be higher, I did some research and found how untrue it was and still is.

[crestofwaves]

I also don't believe in Reagan's welfare queen.  That's not what I'm talking about.  I know the welfare we give to corps is disgusting.  I am talking about personal responsibility.  Don't have kids if you can't take care of them. This is a BIG problem in dysfunctional cultures.  The Duggers, UGH, take care of their 19 kids, but personally I find very very weird--to each his own, though. 

I think it's abusive to have babies and not be able to feed them.  It brings them into a situation from which they cannot escape.

There is an ad on MSNBC.  One of the young black female commentators asks what do you think about when you are hungry?  Of course, for me the answer is food--ONLY.  Then she says how can we expect a hungry seven year old to concentrate on what a teacher is saying?  How do we expect them to learn?  I think this is one of the biggest problems of poverty--too many children.  And there are so many reasons why people may want to have kids, but I think it is impractical and irresponsible. And it may be the first thing to target to help corral the problems of poverty.

[frenchy]

i agree .. its not the handouts we give them that upsets me as much as what do you do next ?? you have 4 kids and no job and now they're in school and you can't help em with their homework cause you can't read past a 6th grade level or do math past a 4th grade level .. so the kid gets stuck on fractions where does he go ?? some schools want to leave the kids back but then the parents get all upset cause they think thats a bad reflection on their learnin abilities so we're again bein racist so we pass them along .. and they finally get to the 10th grade and quit anyway .. or if they actually do get thru school they couldn't pass a basic ged high school equivilency test .. because we just passed them along weather they merit the diploma or not .. and once thrown out in the world they're not ready .. and this don't apply to black kids only .. there are white girls too who fall into this same trap . and its a way of life that repeats itself .. and again it comes back to the family .. does that mean you have to stay together if you can't get along ?? no .. but you should take some kind of part in the rasin of that child .. don't just make em and run away to make more .. because we all have to find some place we can belong .. be a productive member of society .. and without the tools to do that , well you're screwed ..

 

[blithe spirit]

I think its impossible to have a conversation or a discussion about race or poverty unless you have some background and some facts to know what some of the real problems are. It's not enough to talk about how sick you feel you are about women birthing babies and how they oughtta get some education and pull themselves out of poverty like you you did. Push away from the TV and the internet and find out what the state of affairs actually is. Do some reading look at the government statistics from the different states you live in and find out. Look at the stuff that these pundits say they look at to base their feeling that they write about....little if any of it is based on fact...its all about feelings....and if they seem to agree with your feelings then it must be the way it is.
I see lots and lots and lots of minorities and others who live in poverty who are doing all of the things several of you have mentioned. But its doesn't get the airplay and we can't get all riled up and send the same descriptions about this woman who has birthed 9, 19, or 20 children that has been held up as all these folks are ripping us off and birthing all these babies...and they are lazy and sucking of the teat of the government.
I have never assumed that everyone has the same advantages I have had...or that I was born into the same circumstances as they have....and I have never assumed that they subscribe to some victim
mentality that prevents them from rising above their circumstances.
The fact is it takes years and years of doing all the right things to make a difference in one families circumstances. Its been approx 150 years since slavery was abolished...60 years or less that the voting rights and integration became the law of the land and not just for the Southern states. There are no quick fixes..but ya what you don't do is keep beating people down when they are already there.
I can tell you a lot of things that work pretty good and lots of things that don't and others that will never get done untill a whole generation dies off.
Just know that the media can no longer be trusted to present a fair representation of the way things are...don't rely on them to get a clear picture.

[frenchy]

well vicki thats what i'm askin here .. black people want to have a discussion about racism in america because they feel somethin is wrong .. ok , i'm listenin .. what is it they want somebody like me to do .. i only said that oriley has a point .. i didn't say he was the last word .. or the only word .. but he made some valid points .. i'm sure there are others from the black perspective but i haven't heard them yet .. i know there are problems .. i'm not denyin that .. sometimes when we go into a recession like we did its a lot like musical chairs , when the music stops you better have a chair , but in order to have access to a chair you have to have some kinda skill to qualify .. so blacks got hit harder by this recession than the rest of the population as a whole .. as a human being i want to help other human beings regardless of color but sometimes i feel like i'm bein blamed for a system i never designed nor took any part of .. about 30 years ago i was a warehouse manager out on long island and we had about 10 guys there who were there when i got there .. and they were used to doin things the way they always did em , change can be so hard sometimes .. so when i tried to implement new procedures that would save time and make orders more accurate i got shit all the way down the line .. we never did it like this before .. whaaaaaaa.. well you're gonna do it like this now .. get used to it .. so i hired 3 guys .. 2 of em black and the other was a short guy .. maybe not short enough to be an official midget but pretty close .. the owner flipped .. he had me in the office and chewed me a new ass .. went up one side and down the other .. so i told him give me a few weeks and lets see ok . you either believe in me or you don't .. you hired me cause you wanted a change ( and believe me this place was really a shithole and it was all his own doin due to a lack of organizational skills ) so do you or don't you ? so he said ok .. well we cleaned that warehouse up .. you wouldn't believe it was the same place and everything was hummin along like a greased wheel .. so the owner thought well , this is how its done , now i know how its done ..so he said i'm gonna have to let you go which was fine with me cause i hated that job .. for too many reasons to even mention here .. but he also fired the 3 guys i hired .. the 2 black guys and the midget .. and they were his best workers so all that was left were the guys who fucked the place up to begin with and to make a long story short they fucked it right back up again .. i moved back to jersey and called him about 6 months later for my w2 forms for my taxes and the guy had the gall to offer me my job back .. i told him are you kiddin me ?? i'm back in jersey and have a better job makin a lot more money .. so he asked what are you makin ?? i'll pay you more and pay your movin expenses , and , you can hire who you want i won't ever interfere again .. i said no thank you .. now i had a lot of guys come in for the jobs but i chose the 2 black guys over a lot of the other guys cause i thought they were the better choice .. and not cause they were black .. they just had that somethin .. a spark that i saw in them that most of the other people didn't have .. they wanted the job and they spoke well and they worked hard .. and they were my go to guys when i needed somethin done right .. and i think it made them kinda proud because they knew i stuck my neck out to hire them and got an ass chewin for it .. and i'm sure i got called a nigger lover behind my back .. never to my face tho .. but if they had i'd say yeah i am , if you were half the man these guys are i'd love you too .. so my point is yes with the right attitude anybody can be a good employee .. i know that .. i agree that not everyone shares my belief and thats sad .. another sad thing is a lot of those kind of jobs are gone now .. so whats the answer ?? i think its education .. and parents who care if their kids get that education .. cause not gettin an education nowadays is like throwin your kids in the deep end and not teachin em to swim first .. because i think all this boils down to simple economics .. i think a big part of the fractured families in the black community is due to economics .. if they had good jobs i think some couples would stay together and be better influences on their kids . and you can't say thats a bad thing .. is it the complete answer ?? no .. but the longest journey starts with the first step .. so whats your solution vickie ?? what do you think they want ?? 

[crestofwaves]

The recession hit black people the hardest because they don't have the necessary education, not because they are black.  It hit anyone without the proper education hard.  It hit my daughter  hard too BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T HAVE THE EDUCATION necessary to move out of a low wage job--partly her choice because of the path she chose and partly because she really has lots and lots of neurological and physical issues.  I have the education.  It didn't hit me, so I help my daughter. Poor people can't help their kids because they don't have the money and it has little to do with being black.

I just do not believe that people are holding the black or Hispanic or Native American or any impoverished community down.  Bad choices, poverty, sleazy companies looking for bigger and bigger profits hold black people and ALL people down. 

My solution is mobilize!!!!  Clean up the communities, educate the young girls and boys about sex and birth control and make it readily available.   The community leaders should help their own neighborhoods. There are lots of good people who are terrorized in their own neighborhoods.  Instead of staying quiet when there is violence, call the police, talk to the police.  I think the cure has to start internally in the communities.  Once people have established their gravitas, then they will have the self confidence to mobilize.  BTW, this was Malcolm X's message to his people back in the day.  He taught pride and honor and kick ass if necessary.

PS:  I don't know where this will show up, but T2's "well said" was for Frenchy.

[Marianne Kiendl]

I have to agree with crest, it's all about education.  I worked in a NYC High School that had a very high black population as well as many immigrant students.  Who were the students taking full advantage of the free education? The immigrant students.  Who were the ones roaming the halls, hanging outside? The black students. I watched a program recently on PBS which followed two families, one black, one white, over a period of 20 years in a town in Ohio, hard hit when the main employer moved out.  The black family were strong supporters of education for their 7 children and worked and scrimped to send their children to college, the oldest was the first in the family to graduate High School.  20 years later, all their children were doing well and had good jobs.  The white family, where both parents, with no skills, had to work at minimum pay jobs and had little time to spend with their kids.  Their three kids all dropped out of school, one to support the kid he had when he was 16 and was working a minimum wage job, the other two were unemployed.  It's not the color of the skin, as Frenchy said, it's the attitude.

[crestofwaves]

I watched that same documentary. And I agree with you, Marianne. To point out this problem is not to be a racist because it's not about color.  It's a real problem, and it is the crux of what keeps people poor, more than what "the man" may do.

What really opened my eyes was the series The Wire.  And yes, I know it was fiction, but it was also based on life. I never even thought about the insulation from normal things like etiquette in a restaurant that some people never learn because they've never been to a restaurant. Simple things that those of us who are not poor can never even wrap our heads around.

[Shadowman]

Most welfare goes to corporations. The F-35 program alone will draw $1.4 million dollars AN HOUR out of the taxpayer's pockets. And recently Congress voted 232 to 194 to NOT require companies responsible for spills to pay all cleanup costs, so guess who pays. The Koch brothers strut about with $40 Billion a piece in their back pockets while others in the same society are trying to get the maximum of $29 a week in food stamps. When you have this sort of disparity and vast differences in access to the resources of the nation you are going to have discontent.