More like self preservation, they come here knowing damn well no one is giving them anything, and no one is holding them back, i have yet to meet a black immigrant who comes to the states and bitches about how segregation/slavery from 40+ years ago is holding them back.
That's very impressive. But you cannot assume that everyone is as capable. What you report hardly qualifies as average and is not particularly relevant to the specifics of this discussion. Generally speaking, I couldn't agree with you more. However, if at any time I had been regarded as less than anyone else solely because of my skin color, or if someone had regarded my parents in that manner, or if there were in-you-face racist assholes who derived pleasure from mocking people solely because they looked like me, then you can be sure that I would be affected in some way or other. Yes, you get on with your life and you make what you can of yourself and for yourself, but that shit still rankles. And to the extent that racism still exists to some extent in one form or another, you can be sure it also limits opportunity at some level in one way or another. Because wherever racism exists, it finds expression. Perhaps not as overtly as it once did, but nevertheless.
I dont know what circles you hang out in, but 90% of my friends are people of color, and i can assure you none of them felt inferior. Granted not many of them were black, and most were brown or asian, but you cant tell me a 20 year old black guy today suffers from constant racism, Id imagine if most guys my age went to the bar they would be scared shitless to hurl a deregatory remark against a black person knowing full well that if they were to let an N bomb go the reprecussions would be every single black person kicking their ass...... There is a huge disconnect here, asians are proud of their culture as are most brown people, even with recent events you have to go into pretty deep back country for people to single out brown people exlusively, we do not live in the world you assume we live in anymore.
I was merely pointing out the fact that anyone can make a life for themselves should they choose to/be motivated to do so, im no Hero by any stretch, anyone could have done what i did at first had they been motivated.
Bullshit, most immigrants come here with nothing, or no business/income to start anyways....and they have alot of advantages given to them to start businesses from the government, i wasnt given a dime when i came to the u.s.
Ok gabfly, i will give you an even better example, im assuming you live in ontario or out east, i think i read that somewhere though i might be wrong. So here is a shining example of how the liberal pitty party kills ambition. How many native americans do you now in Ontario??? Most of them are successful, why dont you go down to manitoba or saskatchewan, and see just how poorly they do in either of those provinces, inevitably it comes back to the same thing, in both those provinces Natives are made out as victims. Victims of stolen land, victims of white imperialist systems, victims of racists, etc, etc. Why is it the majority of Natives out east make a killing for themselves while the majority of natives in central canada are a complete detriment to society? The government in both the central provinces have convinced them of the same thing, which is that they are victims. The natives i have met in ontario are some of the hardest working people i have met, why is it that their population fails tremendously in manitoba/saskatchewan, even though they are given tons of handouts in these provinces.....
It's not a question of feeling inferior but being regarded as inferior by certain elements, some of which may have at least an indirect influence or bearing over their lives. In any event, this discussion has gotten off course. I'm not defending people who have decided upon lifelong careers of victimhood. We are not talking about all-or-nothing arguments here. Or at least I'm not. We probably agree on a number of issues but articulate them differently. However, what we evidently do not agree on is the extent of the undercurrent of racism in the Tea Party movement, which, for reasons unbeknownst to me, only saw fit to emerge during Obama's administration. There was never a peep from any such "patriotic" elements during the fiscally irresponsible and anything-but-transparent Bush years. In fact, to even question Bush was considered unpatriotic by some of these very same people. And yet, here they are, coalescing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am saying Obama understand the root of anger from Rev Wright, and root of anger from white American people too. And Obama can see this is counterproductive. Obama can see the welfare policy is counterproductive too sometimes. This is from his speech: "Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding." and this: A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened.