Jason Riley: Blacks Ultimately Must Help Themselves

Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make it Harder for Blacks to Succeed.

The very policies designed to help black Americans are actually actively hurting them, says Wall Street Journal editorial board member Jason Riley in his new book 'Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make it Harder for Blacks to Succeed.'

Riley looks at some of the policies implemented in the past 50 years to help poor minorities — minimum wage laws, affirmative action and limiting school choice — and argues they did more harm than good. For example, he argues that minimum wage laws caused a disproportionate number of black Americans their jobs, so that black labor-participation rates are lower now than they were in the Jim Crow era.

What those policies have done is foster an excessive dependence on government in the black community, he says in the book, which the Democratic Party and opportunistic black leaders are using to further their own agenda.

Democrats have a vested interest in black dependency on government, Riley told The Daily Caller.Its one way that Democrats keep blacks loyal they present themselves as the party who gives people things.

Riley especially laments the liberal emphasis on identity politics and victimhood, because he argues there are bigger problems facing the community. ”I think black culture — attitudes toward education, work, law enforcement, etc. — is a much bigger barrier to black success today than any residual white racism,” he said.

Its hard to argue that the legacy of slavery or Jim Crow explains black outcomes today when black outcomes were better coming out of slavery and during Jim Crow,” he added, citing higher black crime rates now than 50 years ago than now, and a dramatic decrease in the number of black children raised in two-parent homes.

“Did the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow skip a few generations and then re-assert themselves? Was there less racism back then than there is today, when we have a twice-elected black president in a country that is still more than 70 percent white?”

Riley hopes his book gives voice to alternative perspectives in the black community, which have been around for decades, but mostly untapped. The press continues to run to the same people and organizations Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the NAACP to speak on behalf of black America,” he said.There still a lot of white guilt out there, and the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons and NAACPs are all too willing to not only appease it but monetize it,

“If you’re Al Sharpton and run around blaming all of black America’s problems on white people, or the legacy of this or that, NBC will give you your own TV show and the network executives there will feel less guilty,” he continued. ”And feeling less guilty is more important to NBC than whether what Sharpton is saying stands up to any scrutiny.”

The government does have a responsibility to ensure equal opportunity, Riley told TheDC, but going beyond that and trying to engineer equal outcomes is a fools errand for government.

“Blacks ultimately must help themselves by developing the same attitudes, behaviors and habits that other groups developed to rise socio-economically in the U.S., he said.



Might be interesting reading.

might be interesting, but the correlations in this description are far out of left field

first, because there is no objective explanation of what is considered 'harm'

secondly, because although AA and minimum wage and school choice are mentioned, there is also no explanation of their direct tie in to the 'harm' done to black people

thirdly, because his claim that 'assimilation' basically would do us less harm is disproven by the HISTORY of when we were most obedient and assimilated,, during jim crow and slavery, and still discriminated against and legally cast as second class citizens

fourthly, piggybacking on the third point, whatever 'black outcomes were better coming out of slavery' sounds like , there is no argument for what the reason for those outcomes were, if indeed they were 'better', and could that have been due to the COLLECTIVE reality of the combination of things happening in culture, significantly , the PROTESTING, and ACTIVISM that united people into demanding progress


and fifth, and this is the HUGE one, in a country that is 70 percent white, over the last few decades, whites have also seen an increase in crime rates, they have also seen an increase in children born to single parents, but what they HAVENT done as much as they did when outcomes were 'better' is unite with black folks to affect change in the areas of civil rights, justice, education,,etc,,,,


,,just food for thought, all my own, not pasted from any article,,

things were turning out 'better' , when there was a collective attitude that if it happens to the least of us, it happens to all of us

the past fifty years, we have instead adopted the attitude of 'that's your problem'

,

that "Collective Attitude" has been keeping you back for Ages now,and your so-called "Leaders" make sure they inculcate it in your Minds continuously!

And anyone escaping the Quagmire is titled an Uncle Tom by your "Leaders!

more vapid clich�s

Im not 'ages' old, so I take it the 'you' being referred to is the 'collective' of blacks right?

the very subject of this thread is a 'collective' black community right?

so , please retain your privilege of viewing people collectively while preaching that they should only believe they are individuals when it comes to society,,,,,

no, not ANYONE
Farrakhan isn't a tom
Sharpton isn't a tom
oprah isn't a tom
Tyler Perry isn't a Tom
Denzel Washington isn't a Tom
Michael Jordan isn't a Tom
I could go on,, but its pointless to those who are ignorant of the community and its language

or what 'tom' refers to(hint, its not a matter of how successful one is or if they 'escaped')

If they are on the Democratic Party plantation, then of course they are not toms in the eyes of Democrats.

the argument wasn't political, it was alleged that mere success and 'escaping' were reasons that people are referred to as 'toms'


much more realistic is the image people who have become successful or 'escaped' decide to promote about those who haven't,,,,,

I liked it from Bob Marley better.
- Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds!

Although I would posit that it holds true as something like "emancipate yourselves from slavery, none but ourselves can free us!"

I do believe government assistance or state dependence is little different than slavery.

believe in yourself is a very valiant piece of advise

but that alone doesn't stop slavery or jim crow or oppression without a COLLECTIVE effort to do so,,,,

Someone must be misinformed. There are no policies designed to help "black" people or "poor people." Until you become more diverse in your reading and understand how policies are institutionalized for the greater greed and control then you will stop posting stupid **** like this that displays your true lack of understanding for social economical gain and policy making. I appall how ppl try to equate things in black and white context and have no f'ing clue what they are really talking about only to copy and paste someone else propaganda ******** for the ill informed masses.

except in America, in the four hundred years since settlers landed on Plymouth Rock,, policy and oppression have MAINLY been, for 340 years of it designed and defined in 'black and white'


that certainly has had lingering effects, effects that can never be determined to only have impacted people strictly across black and white lines, but which have definitely been exacerbated because of that longstanding black and white promotion,,,,,,

mostly where black is deviant and subhuman and therefore insignificant and undeserving

and white is the gold standard of virtue and merit,,,

Only because a successful black male or female doesn't stand with the slave mentality. They stand alone and apart.

Successful, are the ones who are a contributing part of society and don't make excuses for ghetto behaviors.

There are a few successful blacks who, pursue the race-baiting agenda and promote the hate. It's they bread and butter.

no , not ONLY because of slave mentality

also because of INSTITUTIONAL bartiers, those successful blacks achieve in SPITE OF THEM, and that's all cookies and cake

but has nothing to do with whether they need to be addressed and changed,,,


there were also 'successful' blacks during jim crow, but that made separate but equal laws no less BS that needed to be changed


plenty of 'successful' stand apart while remembering where they came from and helping others who are still there in overcoming the obstacles they may have been able to overcome but shouldn't have HAD to overcome,,,

there are a few hypocrites who claim success is about NOTHING BUT personal attitude and attributes, because that feeds their ego and allows them to feel superior from all those people who ARENT SUCCESSFUL, since its obviously ONLY because of themselves


life is a personal AND collective effort,,, narcissists believe otherwise,,,,

Excuses are like bum cracks. Evahbuddy gots one.

Some are just more massive than others.