DRoZ wrote:Poor is poor is poor, my friend. Although I agree with your statement about there is no summer, I wholeheartedly disagree with the "especially that of poor black americans" part. The struggles of the poor black americans are no different than that of the poor mexican americans, poor asian americans or any other poor american. Your comment is part of what is wrong with race relations today, even when you are defending african americans, you treat them differently. Although your heart is in the right place, by seperating black poverty from any other poverty, you are seperating races from each other.
in many ways you are absolutely right.
but there is one monumental difference you didn't mention between black americans and pretty much all other immigrants -- how they came here in the first place.
i'm not suggesting that no other minority has been exploited, hell, pretty much all of em were. but there's that whole centuries of bondage thing that just can't be forgotten. and to say "aw, they should just get over it" is wrong too. i'm sure you'll agree. they need to rise above it, absolutely. W.E.B. DuBois writes about the issue much more eloquently than I ever could in The Souls of Black Folk. but they cannot, honestly, ever be expected to forget it. especially not when as a nation, we're always thumping our chests and rallying about how we'll never forget September 11, or the fact that we celebrate national holidays like Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Memorial Day, etc.
it is that monumental setback that all black americans must rise above, something we as white people can never truly understand, and why i still think it is more difficult for poor black americans. and i'm not writing this in order to proffer excuses for them as individuals, only in an attempt to provoke empathy for the struggle they face on a daily basis.
there are no easy answers. none.