While Cornel West has some brilliant points, this is a horrible example of why racism still exists.

Who cares where the money is coming from? “State of Black America” I wasn’t aware America was split between races.

Its disgusting. Until everyone can think things with disregard to color, racism will exist. And these “preventative/counter-racism” ideals are fueled by the same sort of hatred that causes racism.

travis,

recognizing that systematic structural and cultural racism still exist and working to combat them by empowering the people who are victimized by them does NOT make you a racist, it makes you effective. you’ve apparently fundamentally misunderstood the nature of racism in america because anyone who’s seriously looked at crime and incarceration statistics knows darn well that there are indeed at LEAST two americas.

Black folks use drugs and alcohol at about the same rate as white folks but are FAR FAR more likely to end up in prison for it. A minor drug offense that would land a white kid a warning will land a black kid a mandatory minimum prison sentence. Meanwhile ongoing racial segregation in housing combined with the fact that education is funded by property taxes means that Black children as a group go to worse schools with older books, less challenging classes, and astronomically higher dropout rates. The lack of opportunity, lack of education, and systematic bias against them by law enforcement combine to create a situation where by the age of 30 black men in America are statistically more likely to be DEAD or incarcerated then to have a college degree. And once in prison, often privatized corporate-run prisons at that, they work for slave wages to make products for corporate america. What we’re looking at here is not a “failure” of the system, it is a success of the system – The old south slave plantations and chain gangs have been reborn right in front of us, all under the cloak of “fighting crime” when in fact crime has very little to do with it at all. America has the largest prison population in the entire history of the WORLD, more then Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany, or Maoist China – the majority of the inmates are people of color, and over half of those people are there for nonviolent drug offenses like smoking Pot that would have been far less likely to result in a conviction if the “criminal” had been wealthier, whiter, or both.

and you think people should just close their eyes and pretend that these problems don’t exist and that that will make them go away? you’re either delusional or ignorant or both. next time do some research before putting your ignorance on display.

travis I understand what you’re saying and in a beautiful peaceful world we could say that but as lynx stated.. the truth of the matter is that this racism still exists.. that there is A DIFFERENCE because of the past that has been sown into the world and is still very much so alive.

we must inform others about this, inform ourselves about this, and create action to eliminate the racism that is still here.

so that one day perhaps we can work from our point of view.