Musings of the 4th of July from 1 Black Man's perspective

Education doesn’t have to = college. Just being literate (being able to read) makes or breaks one’s ability and success in the job market. Or just graduating from high school.

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My understanding is that, very recently, US AG Merrick Garland clearly announced he would be challenging the mischief by certain states via the Justice Department. The wildcard would be the courts, and particularly SCOTUS.

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Yes, but Congress first, with the current voting rights legislation it is, or isn’t, willing to consider.

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Exactly. Garland will do what he can with his limited tools, but needs new federal law to ensure black (and all )votes matter

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What the founding fathers did was a first step to making things better. There have been many failings along the way but there has been good progress as well. Would that we all did the right things and could get these issues behind us but many won’t do the right thing even if they know what it is. I don’t have the answers but I can certainly help improve things within my own circle of influence. One thing I do know, those who are promoting the nonsense that some are inferior because of their skin color and others are guilty because of theirs are not helping a bit.

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Refusing to allow an examination of the past in a manner that admits mistakes is the problem. Cloaking it in the myth that to do so is tantamount to calling all white people racist makes no sense to me. Nonsense like that keeps us from understanding how the sins of the past still resonate today.

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It depends upon whether you are trying to make a statement, or trying to get something actually accomplished. Different strategies depending upon your goal.

Totally agree. We can have mentors from the trades as well.

Courts aren’t “wildcards” they are the arbiter of justice in the U.S. The fact is, 370 MILLION people are not going to agree on many things. However the system is what works, we vote, legislatures then legislate, courts then interpret the laws using the constitution as its basis for doing so. No dictators, no junta’s, freedom as best we can do with a diverse nation.

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That’s true, I would go further and say that part of the issue is the assumption that “education” (training) needs to be delivered in a school/college setting.

Credentialism is a huge problem, as is the elitist attitude of some that “everyone” should go to college (as exemplified in the thread a month or so ago by a college professor who insisted that free college was critically important and that almost every job, including daycare workers, should require a college degree). The debate on the current “trades vs college” thread is a pleasant counterweight to that.

But how do you ensure kids have hope when they are told they’ve “failed” at the age of 18 because they aren’t going to college? And how do you preserve and grow a community when the most talented students leave and never come back after going away to college? The message given to many is that education is how you “escape” from your community - what does that say about how those communities are viewed by society? (I grew up in a poor post-industrial city that had once been the “workshop of the world” and did exactly that - I knew from an early age that I would never return after college).

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Are you suggesting that slavery in NYC was an ecomonic driver for the U.S.??? :roll_eyes:

it was definitely a gear.

Slavery in the US was a major economic driver for NYC.

Can you show that empirically? I can also make random statements that have no basis in fact.

I could show it with a bunch of links to historical information, but this is insulting, so I won’t waste my time engaging further.

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Is this a serious question?

NY Historical Society did an exhibit on it: Slavery in New York

The BBC covered it: The hidden links between slavery and Wall Street - BBC News

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Absolutly ,the hypothesis is that slavery in NYC was a MAJOR contributor to the U.S. economy at the time. I would disagree, it was certainly a part of the economy, but to say NYC wouldn’t be the city (or the U.S. for that matter) it is today without slavery in NYC is a fallacy.

In 1860, there were 27 million people in the U. S. 4 million were slaves, so around 15%.

Pretty sure that a hypothetical alternative history of the US where there was no slavery would have resulted in a very different US today compared to the actual. How different and in what ways? Probably everyone can come up with different theoretical scenarios…

I will leave to y’all the intellectual debate over what did or did not happen in NYC three hundred years ago; whichever way it is resolved won’t help improve the lives of any citizens today much.