otherwise, he did a very good job documenting the way American society pushes black people to the margins and continues to blame them for their lack of upward mobility.
PushED, not pushes. Though he made an effort to pretend the past and present were the same thing, these are not current practices, the instances cited being generations old.
and hence my preference for more detail into the way these same phenomena are being played out in the modern day. for instance, arrest rates and convictions for blacks compared to whites. the racial profiling that continues to this day, especially when blacks buy homes in predominantly white areas -- see Doug Glanville for the most recent example.
Present day problems include a "black community" that has forfeited all moral authority with its embrace of degenerate behavior simply due to the color of perpetrators' skin, and often, of their victims. When self-appointed, media-confirmed, leaders of the black community are gangsters like Louis Farrakan and swindlers and extortion artists like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, how is anyone supposed to accept any legitimacy to demands for reparation, to see it as anything other than an attempt by those slimeballs to once again line their pockets? The author cites the NAACP as endorsing reparations, but they also endorsed Donald Sterling, and were on the verge of giving him his second award when the recent scandal broke.
and the NAACP has not only retracted that award, but replaced the president of that chapter as well. you are of Italian descent, are you not? there was a time in US history when being Italian put you on the same footing blacks face today, but unlike blacks, your group was considered "white enough" when it came time to be accepted as "real" Americans. we see the same thing played out for the Irish, the Russians, Jews, even Catholics throughout our history. by and large, all of these groups have come to be accepted as OK because they are primarily made up of NOT black people.
i could easily say "when Italians have gangsters like John Gotti and Lucky Luciano, they have no moral authority to speak of treating Italians with the respect they deserve". but yet Italian culture is seen as something positive to be celebrated, while black culture is still seen by the majority of America as something to be looked down upon and treated with disdain. all Mr. Coates has asked for is for blacks to be given the same respect and opportunities all the other groups that were marginalized in American history have been granted. if you actually disagree with this, then you are part of the problem.
"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman
