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This film, directed by Edo Bertoglio, written by Glenn O’Brien and produced by O’Brien and Maripol, is a rare real-life snapshot of..

What are your solutions?

Where exactly am I going with this??? Well, arguing for education (especially equal representation in that education) is a noble effort, but in how many families, white or black, do you see education as the primary and sole focus for children??? How many expect achievement and success??? Many of my schoolmates received incentives and rewards for good grades, yet I received only a knowing nod. Should there be rewards and incentives for what is expected of you??? It is easy to argue that there should be a comprehensive history taught in classes, but much more difficult to get our children to attend, pay attention, and excel in such an environment. What use is there to have the classes if no one pays attention??? What use is there to trumpet education as the solution when so very few seem to value it???

A troubling situation indeed…

I agree with JONESONTHENBA in that education for EVERYONE could have a huge impact. Black children suffer from lack of identity stemming from their lack of history of themselves. White children (and many their parents) are somewhat apathetic because they never learned the true history either. If I look back on my education I remember the quick lesson on Malcolm, Martin and the famous photo of the slave with severe scarring on his back from the whip. That was it. There is no way to sympathize or even understand another race’s plight without learning more that three stories about their history.

We need some more positive examples to be promoted and pushed to mainstream so that young black boys and girls can have something to look up to besides the ridiculousness that is shoved down their throats. When a 16 year old, publicly educated young Black Man has never heard of W.E.B DuBois, but can tell you every detail of the Game/50 Cent Beef, there is an obvious imbalance on what information is made available to him.

I think a lot of these problems we speak of can be solved through education. In terms of helping white people understand the black experience, I think the educational system does a very, very poor job of this. I mean, there are kids that I’ve gone to college with that think racism can be summed up with a blurb about Slavery and Jim Crow. They have no idea about restrictive housing covenants, the crack epidemic, institutional racism, etc. I know for myself, I make an effort to teach my white friends the black experience, just like I make an effort to learn the experience of the variety of friends that I have. It’s about making the effort to both teach and to learn.

In terms of fixing the problems in the black community, a lot of the problems can be solved through education. Think about the black folks you know that come from poor backgrounds but are now actually living successful productive lives. Outside of the stereotypical rapper, actor, athletes, it’s almost guaranteed that education was the key to that person’s upward mobility. The problem is that most don’t have access to a good education because our education system is sub par. Seriously, if my mom didn’t figure out a way for me to attend school in Beverly Hills, I probably wouldn’t be attending a top law school in the fall.

Maybe Scoop can get some of those big time basketball players that he knows together and figure out a way to put some money into our inner city schools and neighborhoods and help improve black education. I’ve always wanted to see a black professional society that worked to do that. Once I get in a position to contribute in that fashion, I hope I’ll be able to start something like that. But with all of the successful blacks that we have in the country, how come we don’t already have something like that? I mean, if no one else is going to do it, we need to be the ones going back and contributing and fixing things. I see this all the time in the Jewish, Latin, and Korean communities in L.A. Yet, I hardly ever see it in the black community. Most successful blacks in this city give all of their money to the church. And all the churches do is build these massive campuses and make sure their pastors drive nice cars. I know the black church was the catalyst of change in the 50s and 60, but that time has come and gone. Black folks: Get organized and give your money to inner city education, not the church! I get so mad when I pass by West Angeles Church in Los Angeles and see that massive stadium like building in the middle of all of that poverty. If we can pool all of your money together and build those massive churches, why can’t we pool money and resources together to help educate are youth and rehabilitate some of our adults?

And to Scoop: The only thing I have ever really been critical to you about is always defending black no matter what. I’ve seen you glorify guys like Wes Wesley. From what I know about him, I don’t think he’s a guy that should be glorified. You’re in a position to call black folks out when they’re wrong and glorify them when they’re right. But I don’t think you ever really take the position of knocking a black person when they are wrong. I can understand why you don’t do that. I mean, there are already enough folks knocking black people as it is. But I think you’ve been pigeon holed because it’s obvious what your position is going to be before I even read one of your columns. Same could be said of some of the ignorance that Bill Simmons has spilled over at PG 2. Maybe you too should come together on a joint column? You guys could give your perspectives on different issues and then give reasons for your perspectives. Maybe that would give his readers a better understanding of the black experience and give your readers a better understanding of the white experience?

There’s a balance between the black can do no wrong and the blacks are lazy and need to get their shit together notions that seem to always be floating out there. And I for one would like to see more of that.

Off topic a bit, but I’m really interested in knowing the Assimilated Negro’s socio-economic background. I read him from time to time, but haven’t really picked up on that. I have made assumptions about his background, but would like to know what he comes from before I pass judgment.

In terms of fixing the problems in the black community, a lot of the problems can be solved through education. Think about the black folks you know that come from poor backgrounds but are now actually living successful productive lives. Outside of the stereotypical rapper, actor, athletes, it’s almost gauranteed that education was the key to that persons upward mobility. The problem is that most don’t have access to a good education because our education system sucks. Seriously, if my mom didn’t figure out a way for me to attend school in Beverly Hills, I probably wouldn’t be attending school in the fall.

Maybe Scoop can get some of those big time basketball players that he knows together and figure out a way to put some money into our inner city schools and neighborhoods and help improve black education.

Off topic a bit, but I’m really interested in knowing the Assimilated Negros socio-economic background. I read him from time to time, but haven’t really picked up on that. I have made assumptions about his background, but would like to know what he comes from before I pass judgement.

And to Scoop, the only thing I have ever really been critical to you about is always defending black no matter what. I’ve seen you glorify guys like Wes Wesley. From what I know about him I don’t think he’s a guy that should be glorified. You’re in a position to call black folks out when their wrong and glorify them when their right. But I don’t think you ever really take the position of knocking a black person when they are wrong. I can understand why you don’t do that. I mean, there are already enough folks knocking black people as it is. But I think you’ve been pigeon holed because it’s obvious what your position is going to be before I evern read one of your columns. Same could be said of some of the ignorance that Bill Simmons has spilled over at PG 2. Maybe you too should come together on a joint column? You guys could give your perspectives on different columns and then give reasons for your perspectives. Maybe that would give his readers a better understanding of the black experience and give your readers a better understanding of the white experience?

There’s a balance between the black can do no wrong and the blacks are lazy and need to get their shit together notions that seem to always be floating out there. And I for one would like to see more of that.

I just want to thank you for publishing this dialogue. I found it refreshing and enlightening. Of course, I don’t necessarily agree with everything that was said (just as I can’t have a black man’s vantagepoint, the black man can’t have mine–and it’s dangerous for you to presume you can, or that “the white man’s vantagepoint” is homogeneous), but on the whole, I take it at face value as useful insight to expand my horizons and influence how I look at the world.

1. I am sick and tired of hearing the word “brutha”. That’s just me. You may call it verbal creativity, I call it abuse of the English Language. It’s almost as if the black community WANTS to separate itself.

2. Skin color betrays no natural tendencies to act differenty. There IS no difference between blacks and white. Blacks, however, are actively trying define themselves as not white. “white’ blacks are looked down upon.

3. You may want to talk about the racism in the media (only 1.1% of sports editors are black…I don’t care. You may wonder why I don’t care? I’m looking for the most qualified people. Why does this matter? Because if the majority of black journalists are going to be speaking in a form of English that encourages abuse of the language…), government, etc. Fix your communities before you come and scream to the “white” people. Stop letting your kids get into gangs, stop trying to feed into the desperation. Bill Cosby was/is right.

4. Perhaps my biggest problem is the foreign policy mistakes = racist. I’m sorry. That kind of attitude, that kind of intellectual falsehood is what make me favor a white journalist. Because at least he or she isn’t revising history. I want to see Scoop or somebody call out Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson. I don’t care if there were racist statments made by the Duke players, I care that Al Sharpton demonized them and led a witchhunt against them that has devalued their lives tremondously. But it’s all equal, right? Until George Bush apologizes for a war that isn’t racist?

History is the tradition of old white men. The revisionist movement in our schools to teach about “minority” influence in schools is ridiculous. As much as we hate it, old white men were the foundation of much of history. To deny this is to be ignorant.

I’m out. I am not white.

There’s an episode of South Park, that, as silly as it sounds, makes a good point on this issue, and I’ll try to link to it tomorrow if I can.

Peace

Matt: what you just described is “white privilege.” The majority has the luxury not to think of itself in terms of what makes it the majority; the minority doesn’t have that luxury. I was once in a seminar of about 60 people, and almost all of us were white. The speaker was going through a series of questions, and at one point asked “Stand up if you identify yourself by your race before you identify yourself by your gender,” or some similar question. The only person who stood was an Asian-American woman–which made a certain sense, since the rest of us had the luxury of not even thinking about our race. The solution to this? I have no idea, and I’m not sure there is one. It seems to be a trend consistent around the world when there is a minority group living amongst a majority group. It might also be related to what Deborah Tannen calls the “marked woman”: women are always required to mark themselves in society, whether they try to or not, while men are allowed not to be marked. Another problem without a clear solution in the near future, one that will require massive changes in social thought that will likely require a long time.

I do still believe education is the bedrock of progress, but education is also directed toward long-term progress. It’s directed toward changing minds rather than policy. When a white student is required to read literature written by minorities, to study the brutal honest truths of history, to examine the problems still prevalent today, the harder it is for that white student to deny that racism is a problem.

Incidentally, that was part of the initial conference call that was came out inaudible. We were saddened by this unfortunate mishap as Scoop provided us with invaluable personal background material…

The point that lots of people often miss is this: It’s Scoop’s choice to work at ESPN because he becomes one more eexample to black youth that you can do that if you want to but you don’t have to. He stays in Chicago very near the neighborhood he grew up in and he is visible in his community ready to spark up a conversation about any topic. He makes enough money to move where he wants but he has chosen to stay where his presence is most needed and felt. It’s not about foundations for him. Scoop makes the block better by showing that you can have a graduate degree, work for a national sports voice and not have to run from your hood because you have some perceptual semblance of having made it. It’s not about “keeping it real” it’s about being real.