Quote:
Originally Posted by shanm
You're right! You and your Klan Brethren have the intellectual acuity of five year olds! 
I guess Obama being Muslim is a "fact" when you look at it that way! |
I'll make you an offer right now. I will give you my next six months of earning if you can ever find ANY quote by me claiming that Obama is a Muslim, or that he was born in Kenya. (The two seem to go hand in hand, so I'm offering a two'fer on either one of them).
Quote:
Originally Posted by WombRaider
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Lets take a look at these "facts" shall we?
1. You are less likely to be arrested if you are white
She throws a whole lot of unsupported mumbo jumbo at this claim, including the "school to prison pipeline" and lots of "more likely to" statements just have no support behind them whatsoever.
The simple fact is, those who commit crimes are those who get arrested most often, and the FBI's own stats on crime rates make it quite clear. Across a broad category of crimes - property crimes, violent crime, drug crimes - blacks commit a far higher rate of crime than whites. So it stands to reason that they are arrested at higher rates.
The author does have one very valid point here though. Sentencing guidelines for drug offenses are wildly out of proportion, and on this one point, I do agree, the sentencing guidelines are unabashedly racist. I would be more specific about the disparities, but I don't think I can be with ECCIE's rules against mentioning illicit substances.
2. You are more likely to get INTO college
Her choice of "GET INTO" college rather than "You are more likely to go to college" is interesting. She claims that white students are overrepresented at "elite institutions". Then she quotes a Georgetown study that claims "The higher education system is more and more complicit as a passive agent in the systematic reproduction of white racial privilege across generations." - and that's it. No support, no facts, no substance to back up this claim. I guess since it came from Georgetown we should just buy it without analyzing it.
Now, here are some other statistics conveniently ignored. High school drop out rates among blacks has always been higher than the drop out rate among whites. Over the past 20 years, the rate of high school drop outs has decreased significantly among all races. The most current figures put drop out rates among whites at around 5%, and drop out rates among blacks at around 8%. For black males, the figure remains close to 10%
For college attendance, the numbers are even lower. Only about 10% of black high school graduates go on to complete a Bachelor's degree, compared to about 15% of white high school graduates.
This blogger would like us to believe that there is some scheme afoot to keep blacks out of college. She offers no evidence to support this, and completely ignores the array of programs available to make college affordable - Pell Grants, SGLI grants, student loans (subsidized and unsubsidized), tons of scholarships available only to minorities, and as a last resort, there is always the GI Bill to count on. In short, ANYONE in this country - ANYONE - who wants a college degree can get one.
3. You are more like to "fit in" and get called back for a job interview.
I will quote you on this one. Anecdotal evidence just doesn't cut it. I forget which show it was, it might have been either Dateline or 20/20 who aired a story several years ago. They intended to do a piece on lingering stereotypes and discrimination in hiring practices. So they sent in two applicants, one white, one black with resumes that were more or less identical. Same qualifications, same experience, etc. They expected to find that the white applicant was more likely to be called back for a second interview. To their chagrin, they found no notable differences in the interview process, and found that the black job applicant was just as likely to be offered a job as the white applicant. So rather than a piece demonstrating that racism still quietly exists, their investigative reporting found that employers are more color blind today.
So, so much for your theory.
4. You are less likely to be perceived as a thug
Yeah, I agree with this one. The word "thug" has come to be the new code word for the N-word. You can't use the N-word without the world crashing down on your head, but you can call a black person a thug, and no one bats an eye.
Although, after seeing Sherman's screaming fit, the word that came to my mind was simply 'asshole', which is more or less universal.
5. Less likely to be labelled "angry"
Seriously? Now this piece is really grasping at straws. This one is just ridiculous. The article quotes Michelle Obama's experience while her husband was campaigning. This one is simple. If she didn't want to be vilified, maybe she should re-consider the idea that the only thing worth being proud of about her country is nominating her husband. She was even given the opportunity to walk back her statement that she is finally, just now, proud of her country. Rather than walking it back, she doubled down on her statement. That doesn't make her an "angry black woman" it just makes her ignorant, arrogant, and for those of us who are proud of our country, it makes her repugnant.
6. More likely to make headlines if you are white.
Yup. The media likes to focus on stories where the victim is more photogenic. A fat, ugly white girl is just as likely to be buried on page 3, as a black person is. This isn't so much about color, as it is about the media's willingness to put dollars ahead of news, and pander to what the public chooses to care about. Its sad, but I don't think this one has as much to do with race as it does with out obsession with 'beautiful people' of any color.
7. More likely to find adequate housing
She uses an example of a racist - Donald Sterling - to indict all landlords. What was that about anecdotal evidence again?
