Charles Barkley and the Black Community...

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Great Analysis from MadameNoire

http://madamenoire.com/482890/lie-charles-barkley-told-black-people/

From my own personal experience (since it is okay for Barkley to offer his as fact), it is a rarity to come across a Black household in this country (hell in the entire Black Diaspora including the continent), which does not teach the value of education as a way “out” and “up.” And according to the numbers, Black women specifically are the most likely to enroll in college than all other ethnic and gender groups in the entire country. We are also the most likely to read a book. Likewise the idea that there are more Black men in prison than in college has been largely debunked and actually determined to be the other way around.

^Reference in this snippet^ http://www.npr.org/2013/04/23/178601467/are-there-really-more-black-men-in-prison-than-college
Are There Really More Black Men In Prison Than College?

Quote: MARTIN: Now, that's a powerful image, but is that really true? Something our next guest has taken a look at. Ivory Toldson is an associate professor at Howard University School of Education. He wrote about this for TheRoot.com, and he says...

IVORY TOLDSON: It's wrong. There are 1.4 million black men in college right now, and there are about 840,000 black men in prison.

Interesting - on education - since yesterday we had the good old 'beat up black people because they don't care about their childrens' education around here at DU. This is also in the Madame Noire rebuttal:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr08/vol65/num07/The-Myth-of-the-Culture-of-Poverty.aspx

MYTH: Poor parents are uninvolved in their children's learning, largely because they do not value education.

The Reality: Low-income parents hold the same attitudes about education that wealthy parents do (Compton-Lilly, 2003; Lareau & Horvat, 1999; Leichter, 1978). Low-income parents are less likely to attend school functions or volunteer in their children's classrooms (National Center for Education Statistics, 2005)—not because they care less about education, but because they have less access to school involvement than their wealthier peers. They are more likely to work multiple jobs, to work evenings, to have jobs without paid leave, and to be unable to afford child care and public transportation. It might be said more accurately that schools that fail to take these considerations into account do not value the involvement of poor families as much as they value the involvement of other families.

More from the Madame Noire article - which kind of points out what I was trying to say in my original response to the OP:

In fact, I hear more Black people being chastised by other Black people for sounding and being stereotypically Black and not possessing all the markers of successful and educated than I have ever seen over the smart Black kid. In fact, I don’t ever recall hearing a single joke or seeing a single meme on the internet about those with good jobs, grades and dictions. I’ve never recalled anyone making fun of doctors or lawyers or teachers even. It just does not happen.

However, I have seen memes and jokes about all the ghetto and ratchet Black folks though. And that includes: the thugs and welfare queens; those who can’t spell well; those who dress and look cheap; those with multiple children; those with missing teeth…Basically the lowly and down-trodden.

Again, I don’t deny that at times, Black folks give each other a hard time. But there’s also racism and the more detrimental and pervasive idea that Black people are inferior to White people. That belief system, right there, is the root of our angst, inequality, injustice and struggle in this country. What that means is that no amount of pulling the pants up and college degrees will shield us from the harsh realities of discrimination – I don’t care if you are a trash man, trying to be the first (or only one of a very few) Black supervisors at a waste management facility or the president of the United States trying to pass laws in the White House.

I just think Barkley is using 'all' when he should not be.

I'm not giving a guy who who excuses Zimmerman's behavior a free pass just because he's black.

If I think another black person is wrong or being a jackass - I have just as much a right to take jabs at that person - as Barkley did. If he can't stand the heat - then he should focus on his little orange ball. <---- That's the snobbish elitism Madame Noire was pointing out working right there.




Psssst - one more thing - bravenak caught it for using 'ebonics' on Friday from a white member at DU. She was catching hell for her grammar from a few folks here.

So before someone says it's not right that black folks do this (make fun of those who speak Ebonics) let it be known . . . both sides do it.