Correlation vs. Causation

Black people often get the short end of the stick. It seems that almost every other minority is given the benefit of the doubt, but Blacks are usually expected to fail, have lower expectations thrust upon them, and are often sabotaged in order to fulfill the prophesy of inferiority. Not to mention that Blacks as a group are viewed under the shadow of those Blacks who engage in the most destructive practices while successful blacks are consistently seen as the exception.

There seems to be this lingering assumption among the public that black folks are stupid, inferior, and recent descendants of apes while white folks are better, smarter, and were created by God, directly from the dust and given dominion over all creatures, great and small, including black folks. Laws have changed, but peoples’ minds have not. Furthermore, after centuries of being told that we are inferior, many black people have incorporated this belief into their own self concepts. As a result they have the same negative expectations of themselves as their own society has of them.

I am black. I am hurt when I walk into a room and people expect me to be the weak link. I do not like to walk into a store and be followed. I do not like to be seen as inferior and expected to change my appearance so that it is consistent with mainstream. People say, “You may not be a problem, but the majority of black people I run into cause problems.” What those people forget is that, among closer examination of history, we find that black people were never the problem. Oppressive Whites and, ultimately, oppressive White social infrastructures took away the rights of people through violence and shifty “laws.” Blacks were forced into neighborhoods, educational systems, jobs, homes, and livelihoods with little funding and protection under law. Ghettos were and are places where poor people will systematically self destruct.

In St. Louis, the schools are segregated. Not by law, of course. That would be too obvious. City schools are nearly 100% black and county schools are nearly 100% white. Here’s why: city schools are poorly funded and have fewer resources than county schools. Furthermore, because of the governmental structure of St. Louis, county tax dollars stay in the county and city tax dollars stay in the city, so wealth is never dissipated from the county into the city. Families from the city, who can afford to do so (mostly white), bus their students to private schools and county schools. Those who cannot afford tuition (mostly black) are stuck in the decaying city schools (The St. Louis Public School District lost accreditation June 15, 2007, by the way. This means students graduating from city high schools who want to go to college may have to take additional years of school before even being considered by a 4-year university. For more info, see this article). So in the end, we have a class of black students who have graduated from high school but can’t go to college, regardless of their abilities. Moreover, it is not their fault. So we look at the information published on the decline in black enrollment at 4-year universities and we point the finger at the students and say: “Those black kids are so lazy. They don’t want to work for anything; want everything handed to them. Why don’t those Blacks ever learn. That’s the problem with black people today.”

This is getting ridiculous. I’m not asking anyone to change their political affiliation. I’m just asking people to think. Stop judging people based on a partial, biased lack of information. No child should have to fight for a future. No family should have to choose between eating and education. Stop looking at black people as “those people.” We are human just like you are. Poverty affects us just like it would affect you. Just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean you’re right. It’s quite the contrary, in fact.

Note: Some of the city schools may be regaining accreditation soon, if not already. Black enrollment in 4-year universities is still volatile.