Friday, April 13, 2007

So It's The Blacks Who Are At Fault?

So Tony Blair thinks "black culture" is a problematic one.
"We need to stop thinking of this as a society that has gone wrong – it has not – but of specific groups that for specific reasons have gone outside of the proper lines of respect and good conduct towards others and need specific measures to be brought back into the fold."

That's a bit rich coming from someone who has caused the death of tens of thousands with an illegal war, but let's focus on this ridiculous notion of blaming "black culture". The remarks were made in a Guardian article.

Many a times I have been told this by some right leaning person: "See, it's not you guys that are a problem. You guys are good immigrants. Asians (Indians, desis, Chinese), the Europeans - you guys assimilate and integrate and are successful. It's the blacks that are a problem."

So we have Good Immigrants and Bad Immigrants. It should be noted that most blacks are not immigrants.

Herein lies the crux of the problem. Most immigrants today are the 'cream of the crop'. To come into Canada, we had to be educated, medically sound, have some wealth and be industrious and hard working. Therefore it's very unlikely for us to be of the criminal bent and therefore crime rates amongst such immigrant communities are low.

Black people, on the other hand, have been in Canada for ages. They are mostly from the lower end of the economic scale, having been enslaved for centuries, then systematically discriminated against even up until 30 years ago. So it's a little bit premature to expect all of a sudden that the black community will pull itself up without any help.
The problem is children "being brought up in a setting that has no rules, no discipline, no proper framework".
In other words - no father figure.

In my opinion, rather than blaming a certain culture for being marginalized, the government should try and make sure they are not. These are the following ways to go about it:

  • Actively fight racism and discrimination.
  • Do not allow ghettos to be built up.
  • Increase funding to safe-sex and sex education and awareness classes in schools, as well as visits by reformed convicts and former drug addicts. Rather than slashing funding to these so-called leftist programs, the conservatives should remember that 'prevention is better than cure'.
  • The black community needs role models. I thought it was a brilliant idea for the NBA to require their players to wear suits if they are not playing.
  • Legislate against violence in rap lyrics and videos.
  • Very strict, long term prison sentences for crimes - make the punishment not worth the risk for the reward.
  • Track down truant fathers and make then pay for the kid's upbringing. It's not right that you should have a kid and then not shoulder a burden for the child's raising.
  • Bring the church in as part of the solution. I would wager that one of the many reasons why there is a distinct lack of single mothers in the South Asian community (or even pre-marital sex) is due to strong religious and cultural taboos.
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