Mr. Scalabrine

Some smart guys are really dumb if that makes any sense.  Your actions are more important than how you put a sentence together or your thoughts.  Some smart people are lazy and get nowhere in life.  Could it be cockiness?  Maybe.  Many times they stop learning since they think they know too much. 

Actions speaks louder than words.  I've met my fair share of sharp tougue losers.

Sam Walton used to say "I'd rather hire a stock boy with a goal than a guy with an MBA."

I consider most if not all my acquaintences smarter than me.  2 became drug dealers, 2 are laid off and lazy, a couple are doing good for themselves, and the others are doing average. 

I work my butt off, self employed, and make over 6 digits easily.  Like I said, smarts has nothing to do with what you can and can't do.  Actions speaks louder than words.  Most work in life is just tedious- has nothing to do with smarts.

Where am I trying to get at- Scal might be smart but if it doesn't translate over to real life then it was wasted talent- it means nothing at all.

You've hit the nail on the head.

Since Headhunting is a high turnover business, and I am always hiring, I have seen more smart people fail and more "average people" succeed. The reason? Elbow grease. If you don't apply yourself, you'll get in return what you've put out. Once, an ex Domino's delivery boy came to work for us. He wasn't a rocket scientist, but he had a great work ethic and a great attitude. In his first year, he made $138K.. and that was 1999.

I love stories like that!

Scallop is a moderate.........................in intellect

Certainly blacks have gone through some tough times in this country and elsewhere, but so have many other people(s), notably the person, and American Indians in this land. I know for a fact in the first case and believe in the latter case that neither of these groups carries the same sense of entitlement as blacks.

It's sad that 'they' collectively have been in this country for many generations and still struggle to achieve, in fact in many quarters they have segregated themselves. Conversely there are immigrants coming to this country with limited English and within a generation making a big success for themselves, ie living the American dream.

I think at the crux of the matter is a perception discrepancy. I believe that everyone should have a fair shot, and no one should be discriminated against, yet I am not in favor of handouts. I think if blacks had similar education and work ethic as the rest of the population, then they should hold close to the percentage of responsible positions suggested by their percentage in the population, somewhere around 12-13%. I am not sure that these desired qualities are equally represented in this population group however. The problem I believe is that there perception of equality is that they hold HALF or more of these positions, which in my opinion is unjustified on many many levels.

Blacks have been in America as long as any race.  They got into fights with person, mexicans, asians, italians, irish, etc.  You know why?  Cuz they never left the slums and ghettos.  While all the other races arrived in the States and had to live in the ghettos, they worked their butts off so their kids don't have to live in the same living conditions as they did.  Thats the way it is- you are an immigrant/refuge, go to America, its a given you will have to live in the poorest and most affordable neighborhoods.  Thats just the way it is.  Work your way up.  Many blacks forgot didn't bother doing that.

   I had a handful of black child hood friends.  We all grew up in the suburbs of Orange County, CA- if you have been here, its not bad at all.  I've seen their moms and guess what- their moms were hard working- dads not sure about them.  Their moms were smart enough to ship them to OC from LA  to provide a good living for them.  Guess what?  One is in jail for life for murder and the other two are drug dealers.  One specifically said he wanted to be an L.A. drug dealer when he was in high school.  Those guys grew up the same way I was.  Who's fault was it?  Not the systems- it was their decision and fault.  Their mom's took care of them- they were not from broken homes.

If the plight of Africans in America is a by-product of racism, then why isn't there a single predominantly black country in the world that is able to govern themselves effectively ?

Botswana has been relatively stable:

See hereAlso see here

"And as a philosophical segue, what is crime? The drug trade is largely demonized because blacks are the final distributors. The government doesn't seek out the provider (whites through south american outlets for the most part), the wholesaler (again, whites) but go after the person who makes the final transaction....the young black male on a street corner or project corridor in an inner city."

The DEA doesn't go after street dealers, Scal. I think you know that. They want the big boys. Ask some of the dudes in Columbia, they'll vehemently disagree with you that the government doesn't seek out the providers or the wholesalers. Are more lower level dudes arrested? Sure, but like you said above, it's cause there are more of them in numbers then there are producers and wholesalers.

Scal, I'm too busy right now to be reading a volume- maybe later.

Like my mother always said, you shouldn't be scared of the cops if you didn't do anything. 

 

Scal makes some excellent points.

There has been long term societal discrimination against blacks that only ended a short time ago (in terms of historical perspective). That being said, I think the issue people have with Scal, and so-called black "community leaders", is that they stay focused on the past and use that as an explanation for why the situation of the black community is poor today. There's a lot of truth in that, but the problem in my mind is that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If someone at a young, impressionable age continually hears over and over again that their ethnicity has been victimized and discriminated against for centuries (a true fact), and that this is the reason they are in such dire straits, then that person will look and think that making effort to better improve themselves is going to be a futile exercise at best because they have been in the past and will in the future be relegated to second class citizen status (the so-called institutional racism that Scal talks about).

What I would love to see is a "black leader" that could come out and tell members of the black community that they can do better than their fathers, grandfather, and great grandfathers. That they do not have to be stuck in the same cycle of poverty if they believe they can do better. Psychologically I feel like something like that would make a huge difference for the "black community." Instead, they have leaders telling them that because they have explanations for their bad situations, explanations that span generations, they come to accept it as the way things are supposed to be and the way things have always been.

Ultimately the key is education, and not necessarily education from the government. Parental involvement is key, and it certainly seems to be lacking to all individuals of all races who are in the lower economic rungs. I don't necessarily know how to change that or even if it could be changed though.

I'm not sure if the people you are backing up understand a damn word you say.  As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure the people you are defending even believe what you say.  They might like your excuses but not sure if they feel the way you see it. 

  I don't care about history and this and that.  Its real simple- you are just trying to complicate matters.

   You know why certain people can't get loans?  Cuz they don't qualify.  As a matter of fact, I'm trying to get a loan and I make well over 6 digits and getting $400k loan is like pulling teeth.  You can't imagine how much a headache and how much paperwork has to be faxed over for review. 

  Let me ask you something- do you know everything you say cuz you experienced it or did you read it out of a book or law school argument?

Lets not forget that they are easier to catch also- they stick out like sore thumbs.  Arresting someone from a different country obviously isn't that easy. 

 

Anyone that blames the 'establishment' for their own problems when there is clearly opportunities is an idiot. 

It goes like this- you are an idiot first, complain second.

Um, I'm a minority- I have no issues with anything.  Just don't act like someone owes you something and you will be fine. 

Many blacks in my area- they had the same opportunities as me- matter of fact, they were popular in school and people liked them so they weren't discrimanated. 

If you ask me, its their own fault- when you listen to rap music and they are telling you to screw the ladies and sell dope, dysfunctional families, and people yelling racism and discrimination all the time- it probably affects them more than what society has done to them.  If you ask me, they are their own worst enemy.

I made a point to Scalabrine that too many black youths think they are going to be the next 50 cent, T.I., Will Smith, Beyonce etc. And the fact is for everyone one of them there are 100,000 or more who don't make it. But they think that is their only way to make it in life, and they make getting an education not very popular. In my dealings with many black people (scalabrine thinks I run away from black people lol) when someone is going to school and getting an education, at times many black people will belittle that person by making fun of them getting an education. I have worked with quite a few people who were good people, but they didn't want to work and do a good job, they wanted to be rap stars and said they were only working the job until their record contracts came through. Not that these type of things don't happen with white people, but most of the time when our dreams are dashed, we don't turn to robbing people, stealing and selling drugs.

References made to inner city living are amusing to me.  I've lived in Iowa, Missouri, Seattle, Arizona, Philly, and now Fort Lauderdale.  All these places I've lived for 18 months or longer.  Im not referencing a 4 month stint.  I'm taking the experience of an extended look.

5 million people live in Philadelphia.  Yet the city only has 3 million jobs.  So why not move outside the city?  Why not take to a location that offers a better employment ratio?  Racial employment is what it is....skewed.   But from what I have seen in life, employment is driven by a desire to find work.

Other than Mexicans, every other demographic (Irish, African, Jewish, etc...) came past lady liberty.  The 3 demographics listed (among others unlisted) were forced into ghettos, used as slaves, and put in situations where overcoming adversity was necessary. 

Those that chose to live in a city, because they're "down for their set" are the ones that are geographically inclined to live in areas without a sufficient employment ratio.

Why do pro-athletes (predominately black) choose to live in the subs when raising families?  Why do they stay in the inner city penthouses when single?      Solely based on the opportunities for family members to find a successful job, even as a teenager.

LOL.  I don't give a sht about this color and that color.  If you gonna be lazy then thats what you deserve.  If you think you are the next person to hit the lottery or grandma Alive is gonna leave you her estate or your brother willy is gonna go pro and hook you up, thats your f'in problem.  You get what you deserve in America.  You are allowed life and liberty- everything else is up to you.  I don't care if you are green or blue in color- you can cry foul all you want, thats your problem, not mine.  This history and that history- get with the program- stop living in the past.  Like I said, losers lose and winners find ways to win. 

 

Are you a black man?  Are you a minority?  Do you live in a low income area?

tj go read the thread I posted. He thinks he knows black people better then black people know themselves. He knows because he talks to black people and reads. Don't you think that qualifies him more then you being a minority yourself?