Sunday, May 15, 2011

Most People Don't Care

Even FreeMan writes about getting money,
SeeNew goes into more detail on current events or scientific ideas than even post-grad courses require,
Reggie is comical and conversational - while each point of view comes from someone Black, the focus is not on being Black.
Most people don't care about race to the point where everything revolves around race.
Most people just do what they do and sometimes ones race plays a role in determining his ability to perform such duties.
"Race" is not everything.

Most people agree that having an education helps when it comes to getting ahead.
But what is it to be 'educated' - and when is it just having a group of people able to repeat establishment approved memes?
(Hint; If you're not always learning or thinking, you're probably being left behind.)
If every Black person had a PhD in African American Studies from the current system of HBCU's - would every Black person be educated to the point of full employment?

I have no problem with HBCU's but IMOHO they may limit ones pool of resources.
If a kid grew up in the hood, always lived in the hood, always went to hood schools and then went to an HBCU - how well would that kid be prepared to compete for jobs or contracts on a national or global level?
(If a Black kid grew up in the suburbs, an HBCU would be a good place for him to learn that he is nothing special. That there are thousands more like him. An HBCU would enable him to understand that there is no fault in being Black.)

People associate with those which they have the most in common.
Many people complain of cronyism, but this happens on all levels of society.
People tend to favor those they know.
If the only people that know you are people from the hood - all of your cultural, social and financial benefits will come only from the hood.
This is fine.... if you want to stay in the hood.
Many people complain that they didn't get this contract or that job because they are Black.
This might be true... to a point.

Back in the day, I had a job interview at which I spoke of little more than correcting the slice on my golf swing.
The guy had a Pebble Beach hat tossed on an office chair which signaled to me that he may enjoy an occasional day out on the links.
"My girl lives at Spyglass.", I said to the guy.
"Really? Do you get out much?", he asked.
"About once a week... but I suck"., I answered.
"Dude, my slice is so bad that I end up at Spanish Bay.", I continued.
"I'm alright in tennis, I swam on a swim team for about eight years, but I can't seem to get a decent golf swing.", I said.
We then went on to talk about Hawaii, Hip Hop v. Alternative music, architecture, clothing designers..., everything but the job.
When employees and other applicants walked past the office and asked "You're thinking about getting John?", the big boss came down for a personal interview.
"Did you grow up in an affluent area?", the guy doing the interview asked.
"Sometimes.", I said as I gave a quick run down on my upbringing.
"Interesting. Cool.Okay.", the big boss said as the interview went on for about an hour an a half. (The interviews were scheduled for fifteen minutes each.)
He asked simple questions to which I gave clever but concise answers.
I knew that I could have this job just because these guys could see me being around them without having to make excuses for any social faux pas an Affirmative-Action hire might make.
These guys saw me as being one of them just because I had enough in common with them.

If you're Black and all of your education is in the field of "How to Be Black", you're probably not a viable candidate for many things other than being Black. (And there are 39 million other people in America who can do that.

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