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Oct. 10, 2005 There is a good piece elsewhere on this page by “Jennifer Stelly,” who is, I assume, a real person even though “her” e-mail address is the same as her father’s, which seems bizarre for a young adult independent woman. But assuming she is real, there are some points in her well-written essay which are interesting to me. She appears to believe that people have told her she should ignore history regarding slavery. I do not find that anyone ever said to forget history. I think we should all be better of if more people had a clear and correct understanding of history. The point people were making is that it is not reasonable to base one’s current actions upon a grudge against long-dead slave owners. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed by Republicans, one might add, did not change hearts and minds. It was, however, an indication that a considerable number of hearts and minds had already changed! And prejudice and bigotry have, since then, declined even further among white folks. It is not entirely gone; perhaps it never will be entirely gone. But then prejudice and bigotry is not gone among black folk either. I am personally incensed by “It’s a Black Thing—You Wouldn’t Understand It” T-shirts. I think I could understand anything presented clearly and calmly. Assuming some separate black understanding seems indicative of prejudice and bigotry to me. I deplore that any non-white has had to work harder than white people to achieve as much. It may be true. On the other hand, it may be more than skin color holding people back. Miss Stelly indicates that she clings to “talking black” with some pride—misplaced pride, I would say. Perhaps it is not being black, but “talking black” which has caused her to be overlooked for promotion. As Bill Cosby has said, such speech is a handicap. It is not, however, like skin color, which can’t be changed unless you are Michael Jackson. It is a handicap, which can be easily overcome. It is, therefore, a risk factor like smoking, which can be stopped, rather than a risk factor such as a hereditary high cholesterol, which is inborn. It seems a rather foolish and misplaced pride, which causes one to speak incorrectly and handicap oneself in the business world. Having come from West Virginia stock myself, I can speak Hillbilly pretty well, but I don’t use it every day or in my occupation. Interestingly, there are lots of white folk who haven’t received what they rightfully earned, either. It’s best not to become bitter about it. Life isn’t fair. The book, “Freakonomics,” the citing of which began Bill Bennett’s difficulties, indicates that black and white children, in poor schools, do equally poorly. On standardized IQ tests, Asians do a little better than whites, who do a little better than blacks. Whatever racial IQ differences there are are likely much less important than individual variations and other factors such as family stability, family encouragement of hard work and education, family and cultural valuation of education, etc. I think Bill Cosby was making that point, also. Besides, in this country, especially, we have had so much integration that few, if anyone could claim racial purity. We are all mostly mongrels, considering all factors, including the Mongol Hordes and the Moors in Spain and the considerable mingling since all our ancestors got here to the big Melting Pot of America. “Maybe that is what you should start thinking about instead of telling others how they can be better.” If one refuses to give advice because one is not perfect, then, gee, nobody would ever give advice, we would have no counselors, no teachers, no mentors, etc. NOBODY’S perfect. Refusing to take advice from less than perfect people just becomes an excuse for disparaging all advice, even very good advice. There is no constitutional right to not be offended. And sometimes the proper and necessary words to say do offend someone. Yet some offensive things need to be said because they ae true and facing truth is better, mostly, than believing in myths and falsehoods. One way to never get into higher positions of leadership is to avoid offending anyone. A leader must be able to say what is required whether it offends someone or not. Sloppy dressers and sloppy speakers don’t get the best jobs. Guys and gals with piercings and tattoos don’t get the best jobs. People, white or black, who wear their pants around their thighs and show up for their work interview showing their underwear don’t get the job. It doesn’t seem to matter whether you have a whitebread name like Jennifer or are named Shanika, but if you SOUND uneducated, you probably won’t get the job or be promoted as fast. And that’s just the truth. ------------ About the author Brooks A. Mick: 63-yr-old physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre. Email: brooks15@cox.net ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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