I would definitely recommend the book “Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make it Harder for Blacks to Succeed” by Jason L. Riley if you have interest in whether the ideology behind Critical Race Theory actually helps Black people.
Considerable research has been done over many decades on what really works to improve the state of affairs of the Black community. These same measures would also serve to improve race relations in America - which as we all know are at a low point. And most of what our country is doing right now is exactly the opposite of what needs to be done.
Riley, who is a Black man, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, states, “Upward mobility depends on work and family. Social programs that undermine the work ethic and displace fathers keep poor people poor, and perverse incentives put in place by people trying to help are manifested in black attitudes, habits, and skills. Why study hard in school if you will be held to lower academic standards? Why change antisocial behavior when people are willing to reward it, make excuses for it, or even change the law to accommodate it?”
Riley explains that “The political left which has long embraced identity politics encourages racial and ethnic loyalty” and that “These kinds of measures are used to foster an ‘us-versus-them’ mentality among blacks and then exploit such thinking for partisan political gain.”
He continues, “Liberals like to complain that, the twice-elected President Obama notwithstanding, we are not a ‘post-racial’ society. The reality is that they wouldn’t have it any other way. Race consciousness helps cohere the political left… That’s why, for example, much more common black-on-black crimes take a back seat to much less common white-on-black crimes. The last thing that organizations like the NAACP want is for America to get ‘beyond’ race.”
Riley summarizes by saying, “The black underclass continues to face many challenges, but they have to do with values and habits, not oppression from a manifestly unjust society. Blacks have become their own worst enemy, and liberal leaders do not help matters by blaming self-inflicted wounds on whites or ‘society’. The notion that racism is holding back blacks as a group, or that better black outcomes cannot be expected until racism has been vanquished, is a dodge. And encouraging blacks to look to politicians to solve their problems does them a disservice.”
There is so much more information in this book that I cannot cover it all here. But in it we see how those in power who claim that their goal is to help Black Americans, are actually engaging in behaviors totally opposite of those that would improve the wellbeing of Blacks in our country. These federal leaders are also able to completely control the narrative about race so that they can cover up what they are really doing and the effects their actions have.
If we are going to improve race relations in our country and truly help the Black community and the country as a whole, we need to remove these federal leaders who have been in office for decades by limiting the length of their terms.
The only way to do this is through a Convention of States in which the states would propose and discuss three potential amendments to the Constitution.
The first would require fiscal responsibility from our federal government, the second involves limiting the power and scope of the federal government, and the last one, which is especially crucial when considering the issue of race, is limiting the terms of those in the federal government and replacing them with people who will do what is truly good for Black Americans and thus for all Americans.
To read my full summary of the book “Please Stop Helping Us” you can go to Deep Thoughts with Dr. Tanya.
