tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343317959180128028.post5487019838854966652..comments2016-09-27T12:30:01.477-07:00Comments on Aint Studying You: Remembering a Conservative Call for Reparationsaintstudyingyouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04822700387084584850noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343317959180128028.post-81416920364066549832011-03-27T08:41:34.881-07:002011-03-27T08:41:34.881-07:00A related story regarding so-called 'black fli...A related story regarding so-called 'black flight' in Detroit: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/opinion/27Sugrue.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212aintstudyingyouhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04822700387084584850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343317959180128028.post-30286090627239093412011-02-21T21:50:22.543-08:002011-02-21T21:50:22.543-08:00Thank you for your comment, Justin. You make an ex...Thank you for your comment, Justin. You make an excellent point about the capacity to Anglicize, and your noting of Wilkerson's excellent book is right on time.<br /><br />Regarding your support of equal educational systems, I would hesitate to say that education alone opens the doorway to the middle class. Even white skin has never, by itself, guaranteed access to property or middle-classness. <br /><br />The point of my piece is that it has always taken a full-scale social commitment from a variety of institutions to turn people with nothing to people with something. So, whether we call them reparations, the Great Society, or a new-New Deal, or what-have-you -- this is the only thing that will create a black middle class. <br /><br />I think we might be in agreement about this, as even the necessary investment in education would require a massive commitment from government, business, taxpayers, churches, parents... -- again, a full-scale commitment.aintstudyingyouhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04822700387084584850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343317959180128028.post-21116229523720860682011-02-21T20:32:50.903-08:002011-02-21T20:32:50.903-08:00You said, "At this point, many would begin to...You said, "At this point, many would begin to talk about an immigrant grandfather who 'came to this country with nothing' but, through a disciplined work ethic and frugality, moved the family into the middle class." <br /><br />It may very, very well be true, but what so many people forget is that many immigrants were able to anglicanize their surname and the first generation born here were often as (white) American as apple pie. However, black Americans, unless they were extremely fair skinned, had no chance at this and therefore were confined to the deepest depths of the American caste system well into the 20th century.<br /><br />If you've not read The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, I highly recommend.<br /><br />That being said, I do not believe in reparations. However, I do not believe in separate and unequal educational systems for blacks and whites in this country either, and yet, that is more or less what we have. If we treated education like we treat war, we'd have the most educated children in the world.Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00758402399119056483noreply@blogger.com