I listened with great interest to the “Beg to Differ” presentation with Ted Johnson with great interest. As someone who was part of the “colorblind” Civil Rights Revolution of the 1960’s, I was deeply disappointed.
There are two points that I wish to make:
1. \The condition of the current African-American community nationally…
I listened with great interest to the “Beg to Differ” presentation with Ted Johnson with great interest. As someone who was part of the “colorblind” Civil Rights Revolution of the 1960’s, I was deeply disappointed.
There are two points that I wish to make:
1. \The condition of the current African-American community nationally is much worse than it was under the more oppressive conditions of segregation (in the South) and racial discrimination (outside the South). Most of this, in my opinion, is due to social disintegration due to internal rather than external factors. To cite but one example, the contemporary out-of-wedlock birth rate of 70% almost destroys any attempt to build a sound and functioning society. Choosing to focus on continuing senses of victimhood rather than choosing to address problems with a sense of agency will only deepen and strengthen the problems. This includes education, crime, economic underperformance, and others. (Fors examples of educational success, look only at the Cristo El Rey-Christ the King- and KIPP schools, which do emphasize and build on agency and have significantly greater success than public schools.
2. The emphasis on looking to population-based proportionality as the basis to assess the success or failure of outcomes flies in the face of the massive, international research conducted over decades by Thomas Sowell, which shows that such expectations are not just false, but foolish. I would refer you to, among his many works, the recently revised and expanded version of his Disparities and Discrimination.
Dear Bulwark,
I listened with great interest to the “Beg to Differ” presentation with Ted Johnson with great interest. As someone who was part of the “colorblind” Civil Rights Revolution of the 1960’s, I was deeply disappointed.
There are two points that I wish to make:
1. \The condition of the current African-American community nationally is much worse than it was under the more oppressive conditions of segregation (in the South) and racial discrimination (outside the South). Most of this, in my opinion, is due to social disintegration due to internal rather than external factors. To cite but one example, the contemporary out-of-wedlock birth rate of 70% almost destroys any attempt to build a sound and functioning society. Choosing to focus on continuing senses of victimhood rather than choosing to address problems with a sense of agency will only deepen and strengthen the problems. This includes education, crime, economic underperformance, and others. (Fors examples of educational success, look only at the Cristo El Rey-Christ the King- and KIPP schools, which do emphasize and build on agency and have significantly greater success than public schools.
2. The emphasis on looking to population-based proportionality as the basis to assess the success or failure of outcomes flies in the face of the massive, international research conducted over decades by Thomas Sowell, which shows that such expectations are not just false, but foolish. I would refer you to, among his many works, the recently revised and expanded version of his Disparities and Discrimination.
Rabbi Chaim Frazer