Michelle Obama Tells Black Grads That White People Make Life Tough

a reply to: windword

You know, the main gripe I have with Michelle's comments is they don't agree with my experience growing up in low income areas. I had a few black buddies who were cool with whites, but generally as they got older, they for whatever reason wanted to distance themselves from whites. I can understand - our cultures were very different. They got into a lot of trouble. Some of it innocent merriment, but some of it was pretty heavy. I've thought about it quite a bit, and wonder how I did well for myself and so many of them did not. What I've concluded is it is primarily a lack of good parenting. My parents loved the hell out of me but rode my ass hard when I slipped in school or broke the law. They worked hard and had only one kid because they couldn't afford more. Looking at my black buddy's families, the situation was totally different. Lots of kids per household and I don't think I ever met any dad, just mothers and grandmothers. They tried their best I suppose, but there's only so much one human being can do when you've got 5 kids and a part-time parent. Too many kids and not enough parenting to go around. The inevitable result is kids raising kids and getting into a #load of trouble, and unfortunately having more kids. Then guess what, the only interaction they have with cops are extremely negative, and enemies are made for life.

To be fair, I had a similar experience with a crazy white family while living out in the sticks in the South. Same deal - too many kids and no parents around (drugs). Their kids threatened my mother's life and they ended up getting a gun for protection.

What I'm driving at is, perhaps these people, whatever their race, should consider the possibility that it is their life choices (and their parents' choices) which are the problem, not the choices others make.

Nice to see that some of you are living up, or is it down, to Ms. Obama's dire predictions...

Could be she's not as far off as I'd like to believe...

Really is a shame.

originally posted by: beezzer

originally posted by: Specimen
So when is there gonna be a woman president so we can forget finger pointing?

The only way we can ever go beyond finger pointing is to remove everyone's fingers.

Just saying.

I say we need more women candidates, more black candidates, Native American candidates, Jewish candidates, Hispanic candidates.

Why do we think we need a two party system?

originally posted by: WarminIndy

originally posted by: beezzer

originally posted by: Specimen
So when is there gonna be a woman president so we can forget finger pointing?

The only way we can ever go beyond finger pointing is to remove everyone's fingers.

Just saying.

I say we need more women candidates, more black candidates, Native American candidates, Jewish candidates, Hispanic candidates.

Why do we think we need a two party system?

Because a two party system, ensures a split right down the middle. It puts left against right, blacks against whites, children again parents, wives against husbands, women against men.....in summation Americans against Americans in any form. Whomever may not believe in Jesus, but at least heed his words...." A house divided against itself, shall not stand". These politicians, sell their souls for money, and the International Bankers are their gods. The International Bankers will put a woman or Native or any other color in as President...if the people beg for it enough..they will then ind your flavor,...train it fo their cause, make it richer than ever.....she will then claim to represent you...because she makes lots of money doing so. Yep...Hillary for president...someone who just recently got caught keeping over 80% of the Clinton Foundation. Only sent 10% to the charity andkept the rest.....imagine what she would do to you?

originally posted by: IlluminatiTechnician

originally posted by: WarminIndy

originally posted by: beezzer

originally posted by: Specimen
So when is there gonna be a woman president so we can forget finger pointing?

The only way we can ever go beyond finger pointing is to remove everyone's fingers.

Just saying.

I say we need more women candidates, more black candidates, Native American candidates, Jewish candidates, Hispanic candidates.

Why do we think we need a two party system?

Because a two party system, ensures a split right down the middle. It puts left against right, blacks against whites, children again parents, wives against husbands, women against men.....in summation Americans against Americans in any form. Whomever may not believe in Jesus, but at least heed his words...." A house divided against itself, shall not stand". These politicians, sell their souls for money, and the International Bankers are their gods.

Democracy and majority rules kind of sucks then, doesn't it?

What to do then?

The racism/paranoia/fear/denial is stromg with the OP.

a reply to: wanderingconfusion

Are people still complaining about something she never said, facts people, learn them.

originally posted by: beezzer

originally posted by: Specimen
So when is there gonna be a woman president so we can forget finger pointing?

The only way we can ever go beyond finger pointing is to remove everyone's fingers.

Just saying.

Am I the only one that remembers the lucky rabbit paw keychain craze of the 70's? I still remember the conflicted feelings of me as little boy...I sure needed the luck and the rabbit paw was cool...but damn I felt bad for the rabbit.

originally posted by: Asktheanimals
a reply to: buster2010

I was referring to race relations - not the economy when I said things have improved over the last 50 years.
Now we all have equal opportunity to become penurious.
I don't think there was ever a time when a single or dual parent household could easily afford to send their kid to college.
It was never cheap but costs have far exceeded inflation, I won't challenge that idea.

I see it as a historical economic mobility race. Parents working hard to send their kids to college and have a better life than themselves. The cliché story of "I was the first in family to go to college"...kids launching from the lower-middle-class from hard working blue collar families.

That trend was common and then began to decline through the seventies and early eighties....the manufacturing jobs went away reducing the economic backing for those next generation ladder climbers. Two parents had to work to make the same real income as what was previously a single income household and college became more expensive.

The thing is..on the multi-generational long view of economic mobility...African Americans got a really late start and then still dealt with residual bias/prejudice/racism.

So...right now the middle class is screwed and sliding backwards...both parents working their butts off just to hold onto their middle-class status and keep from backsliding into poverty...but for Black communities, they largely missed the good years for mobility altogether.

So it sucks for everyone...most of America is kind of in a frozen state of economic mobility..but African Americans got frozen in a worse off position than Whites cuz they didn't have the same timeline to progress.

I think the solution is more economic opportunity for everyone. A return to economic mobility...aka..the American dream of opportunity to get ahead if you work hard. Then time will take care of the inequality. Until then, until we fix the Macro-Economics and Opportunity problem all anyone can do in the African American community to escape the cycle of poverty is work twice as hard as everyone else. Hard truth of it..

And of course stopping the racist nonsense helps...and stop locking up poor people for minor drug offenses.

originally posted by: GoalPoster
From where I'm sitting, experiences I've had, thininst s I've witness and general information provided through media outlets both main and not-so-much stream . . . Mrs. Obama isn't all that far off the mark.

What about Asians? They werent exactly off the mayflower either they will ever be recognizable as asians we had 3 major wars against asian countries yet they seem to do just fine in america.

a reply to: MoreBeer

Everything you said was what the government wants you to feel towards blacks I must say for a conspiracy site there is a lot of bigotry and hate enforced by the status quo. You guys are like puppets parroting what the master says but then you claim to be a conspiracy theorist it's hilarious. You guys don't seem to understand the inner workings of the system. The blacklivesmatter movement was started as controlled dissent to seperate whites from the movement of protesting a police state which is in full swing and you seem to be supporting. Then you say all blacks hate white people like that isn't true at all in your privilege you are desperate to find anything credible to make it seem white people are being oppressed and it simply Isnt happening. Until you experience life as an outsider of the status quo you will never understand how different races feel and assuming to understand makes it even worse because you can't in reality understand. My girlfriend is black and I can make a list of the the psychological ticks,insecurities,triggers she has all because society has treated her like utter #. The things she has told me just shows how much less she thinks of herself and it's not her fault. I honestly couldn't even live what she went through. They used to call her names like Harriet Tubman as a little girl and you guys want to act blind to these atrocities. She had the double edged sword of being a woman and of color and was treated like # I always thought to myself if I were in her shoes I would have lashed out and been violent but then that's what they wanted out of her to confirm their bias prejudices. Whoever cannot listen and empathize when people say they are being unfairly treated deserves to burn in hell because your ego is keeping you from connecting with your fellow human.

a reply to: Merinda

you know why Asians strive in America because they held on to their culture and traditions and actually know who they are. They also don't try to fit in they know exactly who they are. The system was also not built on their blood sweat and tears. They were oppressed all the way up to the 1970s so what your implying is wrong as well they just recently started the social mobility upwards.

originally posted by: christophoros
a reply to: Merinda

you know why Asians strive in America because they held on to their culture and traditions and actually know who they are. They also don't try to fit in they know exactly who they are. The system was also not built on their blood sweat and tears. They were oppressed all the way up to the 1970s so what your implying is wrong as well they just recently started the social mobility upwards.

When was the last time an asian robbed a black owned store?

a reply to: Merinda

I don't know what does that have to do with the conversation you seem to be trying to tie criminality with The color of ones skin and by doing this you are trying to justify the system we live under. People commit crimes you cannot justify the police state or any of these unarmed killings by saying what about black crime? What about all crime? What about the banksters who threw millions into poverty and unemployment? none of this has anything to do with the murder and deaths of unarmed men or the classism and victim blaming Americans love to cite.

We must stop seeing all these problems seprraerate from ourselves. One thing the CIA didn't take note of when they flooded ghettos with drugs in an attempt to weaken minorities was the after effects. They thought they could contain the drugs to destroy only urban communities but it spilled into the suburbs and it is silently destroying white people who are most susceptible to drug use. You see it's an all out war on all of us but you guys rather victim blame instead of helping.

originally posted by: Merinda

originally posted by: christophoros
a reply to: Merinda

you know why Asians strive in America because they held on to their culture and traditions and actually know who they are. They also don't try to fit in they know exactly who they are. The system was also not built on their blood sweat and tears. They were oppressed all the way up to the 1970s so what your implying is wrong as well they just recently started the social mobility upwards.

When was the last time an asian robbed a black owned store?

Thats a ridiculous question steeped in ignorance. Do you think there are no Asians in prison, on probation? Asian Criminals? Have you not heard of the Triads? Yakuza? Remind me if I am wrong, but these are organised crime Asian syndicates.

On the common criminal level, Asians make up significant crime statistics, simply due to misunderstanding of what constitutes the Asian experience. Dependent on what part of Asia, people hail, their experiences and criminality and fortunes vary. Anyone familiar in even a basic level of Asian cultures would understand this. The Asian model minority myth is just that; a myth. It also does a massive disservice to many Asian communities who are struggling and don't fit the stereotype. They often don't get the support that they need due to widespread ignorance that they don't need it.

We also know that crime is committed mostly within communities. Most robbers of Asian stores within Asian communities will be Asian, likewise whites in white communities and blacks in black ones. On Native American reservations, the majority of criminals will be..... native Americans. Its not rocket science: people tend to commit crimes where they live and toward whom they know.

This thread is an embarrassment to ATS.

originally posted by: Merinda

originally posted by: GoalPoster
From where I'm sitting, experiences I've had, thininst s I've witness and general information provided through media outlets both main and not-so-much stream . . . Mrs. Obama isn't all that far off the mark.

What about Asians? They werent exactly off the mayflower either they will ever be recognizable as asians we had 3 major wars against asian countries yet they seem to do just fine in america.

Plus the Irish, Germans, Italians..all suffered discrimination in the USA. JFK getting elected was a minor scandal and tons of anti-Catholic Irish fliers and rhetoric around that election. At the end of the day...enslaving a population for a couple hundred years has deep cultural consequences that differ from the typical immigration story.

So people are still making stuff up to explain there irrational point wow, she never said what the tittle implies.