The Unintended Consequences of Integration
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Maximus Rex
Members Posts: 6,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
What of the game was letting our neighborhoods and schools go to hell and mostly importantly, letting our economic structure disappear after those "good white folks" decided and (were sometimes "dragged kicking and screaming,") into letting us enjoy the rights that were given to us in the Constitution?
One of the weird things about segregation was that (mainly through necessity,) we were forced to have our own businesses, taxi services, grocery and hardware stores, even hotels, but once integration became a reality, it seems that black people lost their entrepreneurial spirit. We went from wanting to own business, to being content with "good jobs with benefits with large private companies and in the public sector and wanting to join "Mr. Charlie'em" as soon as possible. I understand that the riots that took place in America during that era had a lot to do with this, but it seems that if we applied the tenacity and focus that was used to get the Civil Rights Act passed, we could have gotten the funds necessary to rebuild our communities by forcing insurance companies to cash out to the owners of those business.
Also, I want y'all to think about your grandparents for a minute. Why Rex? What's does my Granny and Pa Pa have to do with this? Well, let me personalized this. My grandparents were always "ahead of the curve," so to speak in terms of seeing where the neighborhood was going. When my grandparents saw that the Southside of Richmond was becoming ? up and not a good place to raise children, they moved to what was then an all white subdivision in San Pablo. I guess you can say that my maternal grandparents were the "Jackie Robinson," of the neighborhood.
The thing is, what my grandparents did was replicated all over America in during the 50's, 60's, and 70's by other working and middle class blacks. At the one hand you want your kids to grow up in a positive and safe environment with all of the positives of suburban living, but were our grandparents were in their choice and being selfish by not staying in historically black neighborhoods to maintain a balance. Did they owe it the community to stay in the neighborhood and show youngsters (i.e. our parents,) positive relationships, kids going to schools, people going to work, home ownership and things of that nature?
One of the weird things about segregation was that (mainly through necessity,) we were forced to have our own businesses, taxi services, grocery and hardware stores, even hotels, but once integration became a reality, it seems that black people lost their entrepreneurial spirit. We went from wanting to own business, to being content with "good jobs with benefits with large private companies and in the public sector and wanting to join "Mr. Charlie'em" as soon as possible. I understand that the riots that took place in America during that era had a lot to do with this, but it seems that if we applied the tenacity and focus that was used to get the Civil Rights Act passed, we could have gotten the funds necessary to rebuild our communities by forcing insurance companies to cash out to the owners of those business.
Also, I want y'all to think about your grandparents for a minute. Why Rex? What's does my Granny and Pa Pa have to do with this? Well, let me personalized this. My grandparents were always "ahead of the curve," so to speak in terms of seeing where the neighborhood was going. When my grandparents saw that the Southside of Richmond was becoming ? up and not a good place to raise children, they moved to what was then an all white subdivision in San Pablo. I guess you can say that my maternal grandparents were the "Jackie Robinson," of the neighborhood.
The thing is, what my grandparents did was replicated all over America in during the 50's, 60's, and 70's by other working and middle class blacks. At the one hand you want your kids to grow up in a positive and safe environment with all of the positives of suburban living, but were our grandparents were in their choice and being selfish by not staying in historically black neighborhoods to maintain a balance. Did they owe it the community to stay in the neighborhood and show youngsters (i.e. our parents,) positive relationships, kids going to schools, people going to work, home ownership and things of that nature?
Comments
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Integration and the welfare state.
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? gentrification............
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Integration led to consolidation.
However you have to question why Black businesses crumbled and white didn't.
I think a lot of our elders held the perception, it honestly could have been a reality, that White stores and companies had better products, they had better teachers in their schools and the like so they preferred to frequent white establishments.
Black folks forever have had this high ideal that White = better. A white neighborhood is better than a black one, a white school is better than a black one so on and so forth.
Fred wants a white dentist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=KX6UpXnEmd0
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Black peoples mentality is all ? up. White people will disrespect us by discriminating against us at their establishments and instead of starting our own ? some of us will go and protest and march just to try to force a racist to accept our hard earned money that just seems strange to me
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if reptilians/lyceans are filling you up with gas that turns into a fiberglass skeleton inside of you, would that be considered cruel and unusual punishment?
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professor x wrote: »if reptilians/lyceans are filling you up with gas that turns into a fiberglass skeleton inside of you, would that be considered cruel and unusual punishment?
The "WTF?!" Post of the Week. -
Integration led to consolidation.
However you have to question why Black businesses crumbled and white didn't.
I think a lot of our elders held the perception, it honestly could have been a reality, that White stores and companies had better products, they had better teachers in their schools and the like so they preferred to frequent white establishments.
Black folks forever have had this high ideal that White = better. A white neighborhood is better than a black one, a white school is better than a black one so on and so forth.
Fred wants a white dentist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=KX6UpXnEmd0
I agree with your assessment
unfortunately it's unfair to blame elders when in a lot of cases their perception of white stores being better were correct in their day
back in the day white folks had exclusive resources that black folks didn't have access to.....so it makes sense that the standard of what was best was subscribed to whatever whites folks made and consumed
and basically black generations were raised with that as a benchmark but no one ever taught us that we could make our own comparable products and services now that we have access to the same resources
and honestly black businesses and black neighborhoods tend to value their own people/customers less which is why so many aspiring black folks still see white as the better standard
I've honestly been susceptible to the same logic when I 1st started buying ? , like preferring to buying a house in a white neighborhood vs. a black one
but that's foolishness because black vs. white really has nothing to do with your property values after being a homeowner for a while
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People think the white man's ice is colder
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Other cultures don't seem to have an issue with not integrating even though it is now legal. Koreans, Africans, Jews, Arabs, Chinese, Italians. They all create their own community and businesses and do just fine while still supporting other businesses from other cultures. The bigger issue is the lasting impact of racial discrimination and slavery that has many of our people reliving the past. Still, our people have more of a street hustle mentality and we don't do business honestly or at least within reasonable levels of shadiness, nor do we pool our resources. We can't blame integration for that, but the reason why we wanted integration in the first place is because our communities were artificially held back. Whites did a lot to make sure we weren't equal while we remained separate.
Taking a public bus to work shouldn't require you to create your own bus company. Also, you can't create Ivy league schools overnight (even though we did). Entering distinguished fields should be allowed by all and you can't do that with segregation. Asians have no issue taking advantage of our elite schools and using that knowledge to support their people. Still, this is mainly an "African American" issue because West Indians in NYC run their own communities. There are many AA business though, but let's not act like these greedy companies like Walmart aren't worldwide putting mom and pops out of business. -
So basically... instead of fixing the problems... everyone who could decided to move out of these struggling areas into nice suburban neighborhoods?
It's that "every man for themselves" attitude that makes it hard for these issues to be properly dealt with imo. They do not owe it to anyone to help them, but if they really do not like the problem moving out of reach does not seem like a decision that will help them fix it -
In Dade county in late 70' early 80's the did a desegregation plan in the school system. There was always some racially driven fight going down each day. I lived in a predominantly ethnic area, I guess you could say I grew up poor white trash.
