I appreciate your thoughts.
There are a few important issues I have with some of your premises...
First of all...the idea that opportunities are equal is not even close to true. Many blacks are still stuck in low income, low education environments as a result of the lasting legacy of racist public policies and racist social structures.
I appreciate your comparison to Appalachian poverty but you just can't deny the affect Jim Crow, red lining, lack of job opportunities have specifically targeted black communities. Yes...even since 1964. Obviously a written law did not stop racism.
To say inequality of opportunity is virtually eliminated is not even close to true.
I'm not sure who those names are but I'll guess they are white people killed by black people.
May some black people kill white people because they are racist? Sure...some black people are racist.
So now what? Now that that fact is established what do we do? Nothing because there are bad folks on " both sides"?
Its not about black vs white. It's about racists vs not racist.
Can we agree that all racism is wrong? I'm on board!
What bothers me is folks that look at the whole history of the country and somehow still think that white America is the victim somehow.
That to me is mind boggling.
Let's take this point by point.
Your point about blacks stuck in low income and low education environments we both agree with. That it is because of some Jim Crow law from 1953 isn't close to being correct. If it was, then blacks in the Southern inner cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, New Orleans or Houston would have it much worse than those in the Northern cities like New York, Chicago, LA, or Detroit where Jim Crow didn't exist. Can you justify that with any facts or figures? I don't think so but I'll leave that ball in your court.
But, let's look at what COULD be the cause of low income and low education. First, nearly 80% of black children are born illegitimately. Being raised, primarily by a single mother, on public assistance, with multiple other children in the household, wouldn't that play a part. The government has essentially taken over the role of the black male. Growing up without a proper male authority figure and role model, how would that affect the young black male? When a young black girl sees her mother constantly seeking a male to assume that role, bearing children and watching them leave, what effect does that play on how the black girl sees herself? On how the black man sees the black girl?
Education comes from your values. Often societal values. Middle and upper class people see education as a way to improve your life and make connections you will utilize later on. With the lower class, they tend to see their lives as hopeless so education becomes something you have to put up with until you can get out. A pseudo prison per se.
If you can point out specific spots of unequal opportunities, I'll jump right in there and help you fight it. But, you can't just say what happened 60 years ago still happens today but not back it up. It's purely anecdotal. Its akin to saying Jiff peanut butter tastes better than Peter Pan because I say so.
Yes, those were names of white people killed by blacks. You've never heard their names because their names aren't important to the narrative that must be fostered. A narrative that has become politicized based on isolated examples being described as the norm.
What does "its not about black versus white; its about racists versus non racists" mean? Racist in thought or racist in deed? What definition is being used? Can there be one without the other? Can you eliminate both? Now, you're getting into motive.
The prevalence in education today in dealing with the Civil Rights Movement is extremely misleading because it overgeneralizes white people as racists while overlooking the positives and overgeneralizes black people by putting them on pedestals while overlooking their foibles. You can't judge people of the day by today's beliefs and opinions. Times were different and beliefs were different.