Why Race Relations Got Worse
The racial conversation we’re having today is tribalistic.
By J. D. Vance — August 29, 2016
The United States has never been entirely sure what to do about race. Alone among the countries in the world, it has attempted to construct not just a state of different tribes, but a nation of them — white and black, Christian and Muslim, and many others, too. Its sense of nationalism has evolved unevenly, slowly incorporating an ever growing chunk of the people within its borders, and it has made steady progress.
Yet 2016 offers reasons for unique alarm. The progress of recent decades, both political and social, appears to have evaporated in the past few years. And the problems, as so often, are focused on the two oldest classes of our poor.
These two underclasses pre-date the United States as a political union. The black underclass, brought here in chains, toiled for centuries in the hopes of earning freedom — first physical, then political. They found themselves concentrated in the South — the home of King Cotton. The white underclass, many of whom descended from Scots-Irish peasants of the motherland, came here freely. They tended to concentrate in the rural parts of the eastern United States, especially along the Appalachian Mountains.
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http://www.nationalreview.com/node/439431/print
I come from an area in Southern Maryland that is about 50% black, and was when I lived there. Clean and well groomed black kids used to go to the 'black' school, which was equally well kept, and closer than the school the white kids were bused to by half. There were separate drinking establishments for blacks and whites, but not separate water fountains. There were also stag bars. The black nightclubs were owned by blacks who prospered off of that well enough to live in nice houses with a white jockey holding the lantern in the drive, wore nice suits by any measure, and drove a Cadillac, a car we could not afford. And that's the way it was. Successful local white businessmen drove large cars (Lincolns or Caddys), and lived in nice houses and the one example of the very wealthy lived in a mansion on the hill. There were a few less ostentatious folk around, and some very old families, who often were land rich and cash poor. People farmed, hired out as farm hands or worked on the water oystering, fishing or crabbing (in season) for a living, or had a trade for the most part. Blacks and whites commonly worked together in tobacco fields, baling hay, picking produce, doing construction, or as watermen. Everyone pretty much got along reasonably well.
When the schools were integrated, by gov't decree, us white kids went to the (formerly) black school. We were read the riot act for being unruly, and toned it down. The school was spotless, the teachers quite good. About the same time, agitators from Washington D.C. were moving amongst the black population. As was overheard being related to one of my elders by an older black gentleman, "Miz B____ we had to send them people back to Washington. They were down here trying to make trouble between us and our white folks, and we ain't never had a problem with out white folks."
Looking back, the racial agitation industry, then, I am now convinced, a part of The New Left (Communists, for all practical purposes), was just getting its legs, but much of the trouble stemmed from that time period and the presence of outside agitators trying to stir up trouble where none existed. I have little doubt it was much the same elsewhere. The 'Great Society' followed, the riots of the late 60s and even early 70s, the grievance culture, and all we know since.
Are blacks better off? Then, the goal wasn't an advanced degree in 'black history' or African-American Studies, but to be a Doctor, Lawyer, Scientist, teacher, or other professional and the ticket to that was hard work, perhaps a sports scholarship, perhaps even an academic one, but to go on to college and become a success. Those same race riots derailed the progress many made toward those goals as peer pressure mounted to not be an "uncle Tom", to not "act white".
Welfare made being a provider moot, and marriage, the fundamental unit of society, became passe, then disdained.
Liberals made that mess. Not all blacks came here in chains. Some were owners. Many of the whites who came were indentured servants, for all practical purposes slaves until the time of their indenture was worked off (often seven years). It was an abundance of immigrant whites which threatened slavery, as they were cheaper to hire, required no initial investment, not did they require the employer to provide housing, medical care, food, or clothing. Pay them and let them fend for themselves. Those immigrants were already doing the jobs no one wanted to risk a slave doing, which is why so many Irish became teamsters and longshoremen. There was far less at risk to put an Irishman working for wages in the hold as you were hoisting cargo aboard at dockside than a slave you had paid for.
Although the first slaves (of the 13 colonies) arrived in Virginia in 1619, slavery was first codified in Massachusetts, not in the South.
http://www.mythdebunk.com/first-slave-owner-african-american/. There is some debate about whether the first slaveowner in the Jamestown colony was black, himself.
