Forums / Discussion / Serious Debate

David Banner

…is critical of his our black brethren.
 
In a recent interview with Essence Live, he says a few things, but he ends it by directing blacks to "blame yourself" for systematic racism.

"So instead of blaming an external source, blame yourself. Because until we blame ourselves, we will never change the things that are going on with our women, with our own lives, and with our communities. We are the problem."

Prior to this, he says white supremacy isn't going to be concerned with anything until it affects life or money.
 
Now I don't know much about Banner, but this isn't the first time he's been critical of the current state of blacks in America (NSFW for language.)

Now this bit is obviously less scripted, but he's making a similar point.
 
Now I don't agree with all of what he's saying. I believe that systematic oppression is a cold, uncaring system. It's hard to point out one thing that's wrong with it, because it's a system of attributes. And it's hard to blame, because it's a system that is established. Most people in the world or who may perpetuate that do not hold ill-will towards racial minorities of any sort. I believe that 95% of people on most sides of social issues would love a world where all matters regarding race were equal. I think the arguments come up, because we can't agree how to get to "equal."

But that's a different argument. I saw this trending on Facebook, and my own training in sociology and experience as a black man came to mind:

• Sociology states that systematic oppression is a thing. But until you're bucking the system in some way, the system isn't going to be a concern to you.
• My experience as a black man says something similar, but if you can tightrope walk and adjust to the mainstream, you can be alright (I haven't hit any glass ceilings yet. I may in time, but I won't complain about that for my own self until I see it for myself.)

My experience also says that (and given some of the voices here, I'm afraid to say it) a lot of black people fuck up stuff for themselves.

These things aren't specific to black people. Drugs use (although the choice of drugs might vary) and having kids before you can take care of them happen to your "redneck" whites and your "ghetto" blacks.

But if there is racism out there, those mistakes are going to end up hounding blacks more than whites.

So I'm of the opinion that if the odds are stacked against you but you can't do much to change a system of racism right then and there, then you just best not fuck up, because the effects will hit harder for you and will be harder to overcome for you.

That's how I was raised. There's a lot of pressure in that thinking, but 28 years into life, I think it's starting to pay off. Despite being as poor as anyone else and getting profiled on a few occasions, I was taught how to manage those situations that other people might not ever see. And along the way, I had to be excellent when it came to social interactions, building relationships, academics and extracurriculars, and the like. There may come a time where I see some overt racism and feel the effects of giving my all but not getting anywhere. But for now, I have a job that I like that pays the bills, and I could probably get another job that paid a lot more if I wanted.
 
But a lot of my black friends ended up making decisions that either seemed to affect them in ways that it didn't affect others or there are cultural things that they did that just isn't a part of a lot of white people's lives.

• One of my older friends in high school (black) dated a freshman (white). She was 15, and he was 18. They were found out, the father pressed charges, and the guy is now a convicted sex offender. Technically, he is.

Of course, you can probably think of many other instances where some senior was dating a freshman or fooling around with one, the parents probably knew or suspected it, but just never said anything (or didn't go to the cops about it.)

• Or the power dynamics seen in romantic relationships but varies among races but affects life decisions. A book I read states that black women tend to not date outside of their race. The book actually says that because of this, black women (who are statistically not as predisposed to dating within their race) often feel pressure to be involved in relationships in ways they are not comfortable with. That often includes risky sex practices which…can lead to the spread of STI's or having children out of wedlock (because the man may prefer to not wear a condom, and the woman may not have access to.
• Or perhaps black people tend to be more religious or raised in more religious backgrounds, which may tend to have the opinion that teaching safe sex practices is endorsing sex (when most forward-thinking people know that if the pussy or dick presents itself to a hormonal person with limited impulse control, it will be taken whether or not a condom or a pill is taken along with it.)

• You can even throw in safety nets. Yes, there are government safety nets, but what about ones that come from families?
  • Let's say that your parents never talked about retirement, investments, inheritances, or any sources of money. My parents certainly never did. But I've been around the dinner table for white families' dinners, and that's stuff they do bring up. Now with the Internet, I don't have any excuse for not knowing about all that, but I didn't get it from my parents. I wasn't raised with it. That's something I'm learning about now, because my parents didn't know.
    • But since my parents and various other parents probably don't know the first thing about alternate sources of money, if someone goofs up in my family and gets someone pregnant/gets pregnant, there might not be money to pay for an abortion (and again, with the religious thing, it might not be allowed by the parents, especially since so many other single/teen parents raise children in their day.) But the white family who did know about those things might have some stray money to use ("This is coming out of your college fund, young man.")

You've heard of "new money." It's not just about wealth vs. income. It's about the knowledge of how to protect that wealth and promote that income. My parents were far, far from lazy. I worry that they'll have to work the rest of their lives, because they never had enough income to save/invest for retirement. Other families might have that. It tends to come from "old money" and old money techniques.

That's no fault of white people today, but that's the sort of thing that affects families. Mistakes that everyone makes, but it's harder for some people to recover from based on stuff that happened 2 or 3 generations ago.

A bit of a tangent, but the simple version is that a white teen and a black teen may both be having sex, but the white teen may have more resources and be in a better position to have sex and deal with an accidental pregnancy and not wreck their lives. Just circumstances.

So the tl;dr and the point of the debate:

I think a lot of the situations for blacks are, ultimately, self-imposed. Yes, I know from personal experience and from my majors that blacks deal with some things that whites do not, and they are unavoidable (i.e., being raised in a religious home in a conservative school system that may not teach or promote decent sex education) that may make it harder on them than it does for other people.

But I was exposed to those same matters, and I don't think I'm some great white black hope that did anything extraordinary.

The debate itself though:

Do you think that blacks are to blame for most of the plight of blacks? All of it? Some of it?
 
Me? I've seen it, lived it, and seen others in both situations, and I think that blacks have to be better at everything to be at the same level as whites.

So they're/we're responsible for a ton of it. But I don't think we're making a lot of mistakes that whites don't. We just don't have insulation against it (like my older, black friend from high school.)

Edit: Meant to add more to the title, but I forgot. Oh, well.

Unrelated.

I think they have some situations they are to blame but I think that things are what they are now because of years and years of mistreatment of the establishment (Racist people in position of power) after the end of slavery in America.But keep blaming the whites won't change anything.
Education could help but is necessary to make all the community to get involved.

My opinion about these kinds of issues have always been that, even considering (historical, sociological) context, even considering privilege and every kind of gap separating ci-hetero white men from minorities, one should never, ever, dismiss or tone down personnal responsibilities to even a slight degree.
I think being a minority isn't a get-out-of-troube card if you do something questionable, from online harassment to any kind of assault and that's also a great misunderstanding that rules a lot of online interactions and arguments when it comes to gender/racial issues.
You must've witnessed at least once. I mean, for instance, there is the ongoing Mizzou event which contains pretty blatant examples on social media. On one side, more "right-wing" commenters who don't seem to understand what the fuss is all about, and then the fishy #FuckParis hashtag trending which has officially been claimed to be a fake trend by Mizzou. There are still people thinking that those people are trying to get away from their reponsibilities in posting rude comments about Paris.
It was the same thing with the Bernie Sanders interruption by BLM activists event. Because the person responded with a "white tear mug sipping" photo, many thought that she didn't care about her rude attitude, because she was black and then she was considered to have done "nothing wrong" because of context/racial background. A lot of criticm use the word "hypocrisy" in all this, pretty much everytime. They dont seem to get that they may be at fault/that what is happening to others is not "petty".

On the other side, minoritiesthat that are vocal on social media are always reacting with a perceive arrogance and downright condescension (because trolls, because tired of repeating the same thing over and over, because context, because they are, sometimes, douchebags too).
Case in point, the "White tears" mug photograph.

I guess it all comes down to the fact that it's always easier to see flaws in others than to use self-reflection.