Mayor Michael Nutter to black youths: “You have damaged your own race.” August 18, 2011

It’s about darn time that somebody said this.  As a community college instructor, the majority of students I have had in my business and general education classes have been African American.  Many are single mothers.  Many, regardless of sex, have tattoos (a fine example they are setting for their children!).  The college where I teach has had to enact new classroom regulations over the years to bring some semblence of civility, such as the banning of wearing of hats in class, as well as the banning of clothing that is, er, too revealing, or too unprofessional in general.  The wearing of hoods is also banned.  I applaud these regulations, as they promote civility, but also set the expectations for what it takes to provide a more professional appearance, something important if the students wish to get a job once they graduate.  Some students get it without having to be told, and much to their credit.  Others quickly get it once they see the importance of what these rules are trying to instill.  Others need to be reminded several times, as nobody has ever shown them before the basic tennants of civility.

Much has been said about the difficulty many African Americans, particularly the youth, have had in finding work.  Over the past several months, black unemployment has been almost twice the national average, around 16 percent.  While those who prefer to deal in hysteria are quick to cite ‘racism’ as the reason behind this statistic of great concern, the real reasons, from my own personal observations, are more basic.  Many young black people are not attractive candidates for hire because of their unprofessional appearance and demeanor, something that Nutter tried to bring to their collective attention in a recent speech.  Given that Mayor Nutter himself is African American, he can say these things with impunity without retribution from the self-appointed, politically correct thought police.

The point of mentioning this is, if the hyper-degeneracy within the black community is to be erradicated, ultimately such needed erradication will have to come from within.  That approach always works the best, as it is ultimately the most self-reliant solution, in perfect accord with the “little platoons” that Alexis de Tocqueville observed was secret to America’s strength.  Kudos to Democrat Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia for saying what desperately needs to be said.

Here is a clip that covers the high points of his speech:

Leave it to the brilliant Dr. Thomas Sowell, however, to broaden the scope of the problem and put it into a context that ordinary people can readily understand.  His angle of attack is the different behavioral patterns will lead to different degrees of success, or degeneracy, depending on how constructive or destructive that behavior may be.  If you’re new to columns by Dr. Thomas Sowell, he often follows up with subsequent articles on the same subject, such as this fine example, which reminds us that racism is a two-way street, contrary to the politcally-correct mantra that it goes only one way.