re: #347 researchok

I agree with that.

Moynihan was probably more guilty of ‘paternalism’ than anything else.

That said, today criticism of that type by an ‘outsider’ would be considered racism today.

I don’t really think you understand what he was saying. He wasn’t criticizing black culture or the black community for this state of affairs, he was saying this was a result of the economic injustices that the black community had suffered under; that this was a sociological phenomenon.

Do you get that?

I can say the exact same thing as him. Hell, I can even one-up it: the number of single-parent, especially single-mother households in the black community is a huge hobbling problem for blacks in many ways, from education to gaining political power to gaining financial stability. It’s a gigantic problem. The main causes of it are the economic 8-ball that blacks are behind in this country, combined with the high incarceration rates of blacks vs whites (even in areas where the actual rate of commission of crimes is the same).

I think you’re confusing the anger at the patronizing way that Moniyhan presented the views with the actual merit of the ideas.

Any time you make a blanket statement like “This would be considered racism today” about a subject with any sort of nuance to it, you’re being a bit of a fool. The black community is not monolithic and does not respond monolithically. Nor is the US community at large.

And especially when I’m directly telling you I don’t consider his point of view racist, I have no idea what you’re talking about.

It’s really, really weird that you’re using an example of a man who fought hard for the rights of blacks to gain employment and education to make your point. It’s very self-defeating.