Wealth gap between whites, minorities widens

[CEE DOG]

One more thing, for all you educated Negroes who brag on Dave Ramsey, Sozie Orman, all these text books, you have no common sense. It does not take the white man to give you something you should have common sense for. I don't or didn't need a white man to tell me to save money, to invest and to help others. Who does that? Are you serious? Why should a white man tell you that you ought to have a savings account, invest in your 401K, have a IRA, mutual fund, invest in the stock market, have a side income, not buy material items that have no value, live with in your means, buy you a house, save for your kids and all the other things that come with common sense? Come on now, use your own brain. In other words, figure it out for yourself my lad, you have all the things the greatest of men have had, two eyes, two ears, a nose and a brain................. :idea: :lecture:

 

[Kendrick]

That is all I am trying to say bruh. Many factors play a part in why we are the way we are.

I agree. I've been saying the same thing on these boards for minute.

 

[SUJagFan]

Cee, you do know that the rebuttal will be that their parents/relatives had it much tougher during the Great Depression or in other times in history and found a way to make it with just good old fashioned hard work, ingenuity and want to.

Great Depression? I'm not THAT old. :lol:

Of course, I do have a rebuttal.

I've never denied that AAs face challenges when trying to obtain financial success in this country. Whether they are environmental, systemic or self-inflicted, the challenges are there and they are very real. I would never deny that was true.

Speaking of people who survived the Great Depression, I remember my grandfather telling me that "black men have to work twice as hard as white men to get the same credit". He would say that all the time. One day I asked him "what do we do about it?" His answer? "Work twice as hard".

See, despite the hardships we may face they do not preclude us from achieving success.

I don't know why others are interested in this topic. Before I assume their intention is to merely bash poor people, I might want to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the message is for us, the so-called Talented Tenth. Maybe some people think we should be providing an example and reaching out to those who may have more challenges than us rather than being apologists for failure. The failure to take responsibility for our own lives. The failure to strive to move past and fight through the difficulties we may face.

To me, that type of "woe-is-me" thinking is slave mentality. Isn't it about time for us to stop thinking that we're helpless and other people control our destiny? Isn't it time to stop being slaves when the people who are enslaving us is ourselves - chains on the brain?

:noidea:

Come on people. No matter how difficult it is or how difficult it has been ... "we want free". The freedom to own and control our own destinies despite how big the mountain is we may have to climb. Let's start climbing. No one ever suggested it would be easy.

 

[SUJagFan]

One more thing, for all you educated Negroes who brag on Dave Ramsey, Sozie Orman, all these text books, you have no common sense. It does not take the white man to give you something you should have common sense for. I don't or didn't need a white man to tell me to save money, to invest and to help others. Who does that? Are you serious? Why should a white man tell you that you ought to have a savings account, invest in your 401K, have a IRA, mutual fund, invest in the stock market, have a side income, not buy material items that have no value, live with in your means, buy you a house, save for your kids and all the other things that come with common sense? Come on now, use your own brain. In other words, figure it out for yourself my lad, you have all the things the greatest of men have had, two eyes, two ears, a nose and a brain................. :idea: :lecture:

Uh ... Cee ... these principles did not come from a white man. These principles have been around for a long time and just may have come from a source much wiser and more powerful than a mere white man. Black folks are not fighting the white man by making stupid decisions with their money, Cee. :lol:

And "common sense" doesn't seem to be working too well at all. There is nothing more uncommon than common sense.

 

[Kendrick]

Great Depression? I'm not THAT old. :lol:

Of course, I do have a rebuttal.

I've never denied that AAs face challenges when trying to obtain financial success in this country. Whether they are environmental, systemic or self-inflicted, the challenges are there and they are very real. I would never deny that was true.

Speaking of people who survived the Great Depression, I remember my grandfather telling me that "black men have to work twice as hard as white men to get the same credit". He would say that all the time. One day I asked him "what do we do about it?" His answer? "Work twice as hard".

See, despite the hardships we may face they do not preclude us from achieving success.

I don't know why others are interested in this topic. Before I assume their intention is to merely bash poor people, I might want to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the message is for us, the so-called Talented Tenth. Maybe some people think we should be providing an example and reaching out to those who may have more challenges than us rather than being apologists for failure. The failure to take responsibility for our own lives. The failure to strive to move past and fight through the difficulties we may face.

To me, that type of "woe-is-me" thinking is slave mentality. Isn't it about time for us to stop thinking that we're helpless and other people control our destiny? Isn't it time to stop being slaves when the people who are enslaving us is ourselves - chains on the brain?

:noidea:

Come on people. No matter how difficult it is or how difficult it has been ... "we want free". The freedom to own and control our own destinies despite how big the mountain is we may have to climb. Let's start climbing. No one ever suggested it would be easy.

Were all slaves to this system we are in, bro. It don't matter if you are poor, middle class or whatever other category you are in. As long as you live in this world, you will be controlled by someone or something.

 

[GRAM4LIFE]

Now Gram, they still have those "cheaper" rooms. The reality is those kids don't want to stay in those "cheaper rooms because the "newer" rooms are more modern, have better conveniences, etc. LIike they said abve, "keeping up with the campus Joneses" and thus taking out loans , aka balling, that they will later be bytching about.

While that may have been true in the past, that isn't true for most schools anymore. Prime example, Grambling had at one point old dorms that were cheaper while they were building the new ones in phases, but they are now all gone and replaced. There is no options anymore. While still there are cheaper dorms verses more expensive ones, cheaper is not cheaper in comparison to the past. Every other school I have worked with are the same exact way and often times worse. Our schools are just catching up with the times. We expect kids to want to attend a school in same conditions as when we went. It ain't happening. We can call them spoiled or keeping up with the Jones but the truth is when their is competition for the same services you must provide the same or better amenities or get left behind. That's a whole other subject though.

 

[SUJagFan]

Were all slaves to this system we are in, bro. It don't matter if you are poor, middle class or whatever other category you are in. As long as you live in this world, you will be controlled by someone or something.

Nope.

This is what real helplessness and slavery looks like:

That's what being controlled by someone looks like.

This right here ... is self-inflicted:

There's nobody making folks do stuff like that.

 

[Kendrick]

Nope.

This is what real helplessness and slavery looks like:

That's what being controlled by someone looks like.

This right here ... is self-inflicted:

There's nobody making folks do stuff like that.

What you have presented in the latter photos are examples of mental slavery -- brainwashing by the promotion of materialism, which in the eyes of the guy in the car and the cat with gold grill, signifies to them as being valued individuals and of higher status.

 

[SUJagFan]

What you have presented in the latter photos are examples of mental slavery -- brainwashing by the promotion of materialism, which in the eyes of the guy in the car and the cat with gold grill, signifies to them as being valued individuals and of higher status.

Who holds the key to their freedom?

They do. Not other people.

Those first two pictures should not allow any of you to make excuses for the last three pictures. And to try to equate the two sets of pictures is shameful.

:shame:

 

[Kendrick]

Who holds the key to their freedom?

They do. Not other people.

Those first two pictures should not allow any of you to make excuses for the last three pictures. And to try to equate the two sets of pictures is shameful.

:shame:

This form of slavery I'm talking about is psychological. As crazy as it might sound, it is far worse than being chained and shackled. Remember the famous quote from Harriett Tubman saying she could have freed more slaves if those people knew they were slaves? I think that quote applies to folks wearing the big chains and gold teeth.

On this planet one will never be free or what one believes free is or should be. Nobody is really free. Even people who believe they control their own lives and destinies on this planet are not free.

The late Curt Flood said it best back in the day: "A well-paid slave is still a slave."

Go without paying your bills or try to live without money. Hey, just go to an airport sometime soon. Do those union workers in Wisconsin feel free right now?

 

[CEE DOG]

Uh ... Cee ... these principles did not come from a white man. These principles have been around for a long time and just may have come from a source much wiser and more powerful than a mere white man. Black folks are not fighting the white man by making stupid decisions with their money, Cee. :lol:

And "common sense" doesn't seem to be working too well at all. There is nothing more uncommon than common sense.

Um, I didn't say those were man ideas. I said you don't need a white person like Suzie or Dave to tell you to do common sense stuff. You are right common ain't really common......

 

[chocalate_topaz]

Yep, common sense isn't but the bottom line is If you have more going out than you bring in...you'll always be playing catching up.

If you never save a dime, you'll always be the "borrower" and never the lender.

I don't get how some of y'all are just so adamant and making up excuse after excuse to stay where we are. :noidea: But do you and I'l lkeep pushing and promoting progression in our races...starting from the country cause that's where I am.

 

[SUJagFan]

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Teach, Malcolm.

:lecture:

 

[CEE DOG]

It is not makin excuses. It is living in reality. Just like you as a woman, will always tell a man he can never understand what it feels like to have baby. Guess why, a man can't deliever a baby. Common sense.

Yep, common sense isn't but the bottom line is If you have more going out than you bring in...you'll always be playing catching up.

If you never save a dime, you'll always be the "borrower" and never the lender.

I don't get how some of y'all are just so adamant and making up excuse after excuse to stay where we are. :noidea: But do you and I'l lkeep pushing and promoting progression in our races...starting from the country cause that's where I am.

 

[Kendrick]

It is not makin excuses. It is living in reality. .

I aqree.

 

[SUJagFan]

I aqree.

We all agree that people have their issues and circumstances. That's been said repeatedly. What you all don't see is there is always hope. There is always a way out.

Kendrick, don't follow Cee down this path of acceptance of misery and hopelessness. It is NOT a reflection of reality.

Mark Twain said "there's nothing sadder than a young pessimist". It's far too early for you to give up hope and stop believing that you and our people can live better lives.

 

[CEE DOG]

:lol: You just mad because what you are saying is not reality. Reality hater. :wavey: All that hate is not good for you. :lol: All you do is quote the man. Do you have any successful black folks to quote geesh......

We all agree that people have their issues and circumstances. That's been said repeatedly. What you all don't see is there is always hope. There is always a way out.

Kendrick, don't follow Cee down this path of acceptance of misery and hopelessness. It is NOT a reflection of reality.

Mark Twain said "there's nothing sadder than a young pessimist". It's far too early for you to give up hope and stop believing that you and our people can live better lives.

 

[SUJagFan]

:lol: You just mad because what you are saying is not reality. Reality hater. :wavey: All that hate is not good for you. :lol: All you do is quote the man. Do you have any successful black folks to quote geesh......

Yeah. Malcolm X. I posted a video of him saying that people like you have a slave mentality.

And that's not the first time I've called you a slave.

:wavey:

 

[Kendrick]

We all agree that people have their issues and circumstances. That's been said repeatedly. What you all don't see is there is always hope. There is always a way out.

Kendrick, don't follow Cee down this path of acceptance of misery and hopelessness. It is NOT a reflection of reality.

Mark Twain said "there's nothing sadder than a young pessimist". It's far too early for you to give up hope and stop believing that you and our people can live better lives.

I'm not saying that's fine to wallow in misery and hopelesssness. I'm just saying misery and hopelessness is a part of our lives and our society. You can't walk 100 yards without seeing it.

From the homeless folks living in cardboard boxes under lower Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago to millions of kids in Somalia who don't know where their next meal is coming from because of government corruption and conflicts within the region.

I'm pessimistic because I see, write and read about injustice more than I care to know. I mean, injustice in a land where freedom and liberty is promoted and indoctrinated into the brains of the masses. You know, like politicians trying really hard to restrict voting rights or why white ex-cons have a better shot a getting a job than college educated blacks.

I just wrote a story where I uncovered that 31 black men have been shot by Chicago cops through the first six months of year compared to 1 white person. And nobody can give me a straight answer as to why the racial disparity is so great.

So yeah, I'm a little despondent at that moment. Yeah, I get that we screw ourselves as well, but dang it, we have to acknowledge the road blocks as well.

 

[GRAM4LIFE]

So are we debating which comes first... The chicken or the egg???

 

[SUJagFan]

I'm not saying that's fine to wallow in misery and hopelesssness. I'm just saying misery and hopelessness is a part of our lives and our society. You can't walk 100 yards without seeing it.

From the homeless folks living in cardboard boxes under lower Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago to millions of kids in Somalia who don't know where their next meal is coming from because of government corruption and conflicts within the region.

I'm pessimistic because I see, write and read about injustice more than I care to know. I mean, injustice in a land where freedom and liberty is promoted and indoctrinated into the brains of the masses. You know, like politicians trying really hard to restrict voting rights or why white ex-cons have a better shot a getting a job than college educated blacks.

I just wrote a story where I uncovered that 31 black men have been shot by Chicago cops through the first six months of year compared to 1 white person. And nobody can give me a straight answer as to why the racial disparity is so great.

So yeah, I'm a little despondent at that moment. Yeah, I get that we screw ourselves as well, but dang it, we have to acknowledge the road blocks as well.

What you see should give you all the more reason to fight. Not to succumb to apathy because "the world is so bad". Fight injustice. Fight poverty. Fight corruption. Now is not the time to give in or to give up. It's time to fight.

One way to do that is to fight for your financial independence. And the financial independence of your brothers and sisters. It's possible for even for the worst off of us. Even if we do it one individual and one family at a time. You have to believe that.

 

[CEE DOG]

Yeah a drug, street criminal who ran game on folks like you. :emlaugh:

Yeah. Malcolm X. I posted a video of him saying that people like you have a slave mentality.

And that's not the first time I've called you a slave.

:wavey:

 

[Kendrick]

What you see should give you all the more reason to fight. Not to succumb to apathy because "the world is so bad". Fight injustice. Fight poverty. Fight corruption. Now is not the time to give in or to give up. It's time to fight.

One way to do that is to fight for your financial independence. And the financial independence of your brothers and sisters. It's possible for even for the worst off of us. Even if we do it one individual and one family at a time. You have to believe that.

I fight poverty. I donate every single month to two local food pantries. I fight injustice and corruption by writing about injustice and corruption. I've come to realize now that at the end of the day that won't happen. We won't win as a group of people no matter how much guys like you and I want to see things change.

Why? It's part apathy. It's part lack of knowledge. It's part those in powerful and influential positions making sure real change, freedom and liberty are stifled.

I believe that if we all stop being distracted by video games, TV, movies, music, sports or the sideshow that is the MSM, folks can turn it around. We can see real change. But we live in America, though.

 

[SUJagFan]

I fight poverty. I donate every single month to two local food pantries. I fight injustice and corruption by writing about injustice and corruption. I've come to realize now that at the end of the day that won't happen. We won't win as a group of people no matter how much guys like you and I want to see things change.

Why? It's part apathy. It's part lack of knowledge. It's part those in powerful and influential positions making sure real change, freedom and liberty are stifled.

I believe that if we all stop being distracted by video games, TV, movies, music, sports or the sideshow that is the MSM, folks can turn it around. We can see real change. But we live in America, though.

Maybe that's why folks like CT are sounding the alarm.

It's time to wake up.

 

[chocalate_topaz]

I know I think that a lot of what y'all call "living in reality" I call Loser Mentality.I guess siince my parents always took chances, their kids take chances. They opened up businesses (some I inherited. ) and kept us working when we wanted to be at games and dances. Then when my cousins were walking and driving around with the latest of every and calling me my dad's oldest "son", I hated that but kept working. Now those same cousins have killed off anyone they could mooch off of, didn't finish college cause they were so fine they had to screw anybody wanting to screw them an they are now 3 babies down... and are mad cause I wouldn't co-sign for a 100+ house..."cause you know you can."

We ALL know the problem...I just can't believe y'all would rather wallow in pity than help your own or at least promote the helping of our own. :smh: Where is the unity we all express we wish AAs had?