Why don't most whites realize that they had affirmative action?

Question

The 1790 Naturalization Act permitted only "free white persons" to become naturalized citizens, thus opening the doors to European immigrants but not others. Only citizens could vote, serve on juries, hold office, and in some cases, even hold property. In this century, Alien Land Laws passed in California and other states, reserved farm land for white growers by preventing Asian immigrants, ineligible to become citizens, from owning or leasing land.

Like Social Security, the 1935 Wagner Act helped establish an important new right for white people. By granting unions the power of collective bargaining, it helped millions of white workers gain entry into the middle class over the next 30 years.

But it was another racialized New Deal program, the Federal Housing Administration, that helped generate much of the wealth that so many white families enjoy today.
Even when families of the same income are compared, white families have more than twice the wealth of Black families.

Here's the link!
ISN'T IT RACIST FOR PEOPLE TO GET STUFF BECAUSE THEY'RE WHITE?


http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-03-02.htm

But the problem with that rationale is it ignores the fact that we're all interconnected and we're all inheritors of the past.

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE PAST INFLUENCES THE FUTURE!

Answer 1

Here is your problem.

People refuse to acknowledge that the past has a substantial impact on someone's future.

If you were not allowed to own land, go to school, vote, create an income for yourself and your family in the past it becomes a slippery slope.

Women and Blacks do not make as much as White men. Women and Blacks do not own as much as White men. Is someone trying to say Women and Blacks are not smart enough, or responsible enough?

As a country we denied the rights to Women and Blacks for centuries. Maybe that is why they haven't worked their way to achieving the same level of success in the same numbers as White Men. We enslaved Blacks and kept women subservient for centuries and we think the time since the Women's Rights Movement and the Civil Rights movements is enough time to overcome centuries of subjugation? 40 years is not a long time when it is preceded by 250 years of slavery and subservient ideology.

It's a shame when people think about it along racial lines and ignore the gender inequalities as well. You'll see White people say that the reason Blacks don't make as much is because they are lazy or have no responsibility. I ask those people why do women not make as much? Even White women? Are White women lazy and not responsible?

This country is not equal. It's a paternalistic White Man's utopia. Everyone else must work twice as hard to achieve what comes easier for them. That is the truth of it. Plain and simple.

Answer 2

Well, I'll give you points for stopping short of suggesting blacks should receive "reparations".

I've gone down that road with Yahoo! readers before. Eventually they realize that every nation would have to keep working backwards, paying reparations to everyone who came before. It's ludicrous.

Also, ask any black person if they are better off here, or in Africa. Enough said.

We now have black senators, black Mayors (OK, Ray Nagin of New Orleans is a disgrace, but there are good ones, too), black Supreme Court Justices, and a black Secretary of State, who may well become the first black President (and first woman President).

What troubles me about your question is that it uses that same, tired old victim mentality. Some of my ancestors were Irish, and back then, the Irish were the absolute bottom of the social scale. They were supposed to live in white society, but no one would even give them jobs. They had signs that said, "No dogs or Irish need apply". However, through hard work, persistence, and doing whatever they could to improve their reputation, the Irish rose above their stigmatized image.

Could it possibly be that Bill Cosby's words should be heeded? Maybe some blacks just aren't trying hard enough. The playing field is more than just level now. It's decidedly tilted in favor of blacks. Just ask people in any major company; blacks get preferential treatment when it comes to layoffs. No company wants to even give the appearance of racial discrimination, so they inevitably go way overboard in the opposite direction.

Rent the movie, "The Boys of Baraka". While I was quite sympathetic to the plight of these boys, I fault the parents. The one scene that really irritated me was when the parents discover that the Kenya school won't be operating the following year. One mother starts acting distraught, and in an overacted, maudlinly way, says she doesn't want her son to return to the Baltimore school because she knows he'll start failing again.

My question is, what prevents her and the other parents from helping their own kids with homework? There are so many organizations out there that offer free tutoring, why don't they take advantage of them? Why don't they start going to PTA meetings and holding the teachers accountable? Is it because they're really too lazy to do any of this? Could it be that playing the victim is a lot easier than taking accountability and trying to solve their own problems?

How can it be that Asian students come to these same schools, without much knowledge of English, and EXCEL? They thrive. C'mon, you know the answer.

Answer 3

Okay yeah I bet you I have the same amout of income if not less than most black families. And you know what is a shame????? These dayum immigrants come over here and can start a business tax free for some number of years. Black and mexicans can go to SS and get welfare. I know black people who are on welfare and I know white people MAKING LESS money that they do and they do not qualify bc they are white. They are jobs that discriminate and hire people that aren't white just so no one screams that they are discriminating. Immigrants and blacks have it so much better these days and they are still whining. There is nothing but reverse racism now. Blacks can openly hate whites but white people better not even say the world black. I cannot believe the nerve of some folks. African american scholarships and all that crap. The gov't gives everyone advantages EXCEPT white people. Isn't is racist for people to get stuff bc they are black......cuz they sure get a lot more than white people but people are too busy whining that they aren't getting treated equally to see the truth.

Answer 4

1) You may find this hard to believe, but I was not around in 1790. I also was not around in 1935.
2) Blacks are not the only group to face discrimination in this country. Chinese, Jews, Italians, Poles & many other ethnic minorities have been victims of prejudice. Should there be afirmative action for every group that has suffered? If not, why is 1 group that nuch more deserving?

Answer 5

Free white MEN. Not white people. Check yourself how long white women have had the right to vote, own property or get a divorce. Personal Responsibility please and can I get an AMEN.... If families of the SAME INCOME are compared and white families have twice the wealth that you say black people have then I'm wondering Who is spending more wisely,investing and saving. Personal Responsibility.

Answer 6

yes, that would be racist.

isn't it racist for black people to get stuff because they're black? why are you stirring up stuff like this? yeah black people were treated horribly. however, i and a lot of white people i know had zero to do with it as WE WERE NOT ALIVE. and what you said about when they're compared white families make more? that's not true. i heard it the other way around. black families in the suburbs make more than white ones do. unless you're counting the inner city ghetto, or something.

like MLK, i'd rather judge people on the content of their characters and not on their skin color, no matter who they are.

i'm not saying we should ignore history. after all, we would be doomed to repeat it if we should. i'm just suggesting, racism against white people is just as bad as racism against anyone else. i'm sorry that people were abused and oppressed the world over in the past, (and today) but as i wasn't alive i cannot change that. however, i can try to treat people well today, and try to set a standard for my kids and other kids to emulate. it would be just as wrong of me to teach my kids to hate white people as it would be to teach them to hate black people. so far, my kids haven't even seemed to notice that me and their dad are different colors. i'd like to keep it that way.

Answer 7

Nice try.....the racism you describe is as wrong today as it was in 1790. Affirmative Action and related social programs perpetuate racist think and the use of racial quotas in hiring practices. Lowering the bar is racist and the implications of the need to lower the bar is also inherently racist.

Answer 8

Oh I get it. Just because my great grandfather might have gotten some help 50 years before I was born, means I should have money or opportunities stolen from me. That makes perfect sense. NOT!

Lots of bad things happened in the past. However, nobody alive today had anything to do with it, so why punish us? That's called spite and revenge. Get over it. If you spent your time trying to improve yourself instead of playing a victim, you'd be much more success full in life.

Answer 9

Yes, and that system was racist and wrong. That is why we now have laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 14th Amendment, 15th Amendment, 19th Amendment and ADA of 1990. Isn't any system that gives racial preference racist? This would include modern affirmative action.

Answer 10

I suppose that next you are going to say that the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights laws passed in the 1960s are all completely irrelevant and ineffective.

Equality means equality. And what it means is equality of opportunity -- NOT equal economic results.