We're blacks doing better before integration

[onthereal]

I can actually speak on this. I talked to my Grandma a few weeks back and we were talking about this. She's from Mississippi and grew up in the 40s and 50s. She said black people in the South didn't resent white people. She said black people were just "following the rules". They were supposed to use the black only stuff and stay away from the white only stuff and that was that. It wasn't that "life was better" it was that this was all they knew. They knew where they were allowed to go and where they weren't. She said there were no protest and riots in her town. Blacks just kept their heads down and white people left them alone for the most part. She said some white families were very friendly and they would bring them food and clothes for no reason. So in turn they chose not to fight back.

Maybe not what some people want to hear but those words come from someone who lived it. I was asking her about the protest in this country and she said old heads aren't about that.

 

[Danktoker94]

I can actually speak on this. I talked to my Grandma a few weeks back and we were talking about this. She's from Mississippi and grew up in the 40s and 50s. She said black people in the South didn't resent white people. She said black people were just "following the rules". They were supposed to use the black only stuff and stay away from the white only stuff and that was that. It wasn't that "life was better" it was that this was all they knew. They knew where they were allowed to go and where they weren't. She said there were no protest and riots in her town. Blacks just kept their heads down and white people left them alone for the most part. She said some white families were very friendly and they would bring them food and clothes for no reason. So in turn they chose not to fight back.

Maybe not what some people want to hear but those words come from someone who lived it. I was asking her about the protest in this country and she said old heads aren't about that.

I smell Bullshyt........... Cacs would mercilessy kill blacks at that time for just looking at them the wrong way or even whistling. At they woman can't agree at all with you

 

[JackRoss]

You're not black... You're doing a horrible job of trying to convince the internet that you are... Just stop please​

 

[onthereal]

I smell Bullshyt........... Cacs would mercilessy kill blacks at that time for just looking at them the wrong way or even whistling. At they woman can't agree at all with you

Which is why I said "this may not be the answer you want to hear". And I didn't like it either. You can call bullshyt all you want. What my 80-year old grandma got to lie about?

Would white people murder black people senselessly? Of course they would. But keep in mind the word didn't spread like it does now. If riots were happening in one town that didn't mean they were happening everywhere.

 

[Wild self]

I think it divided the black community but i still dont buy the "it was better during integration" part.

People tend to bond and unite when under extreme duress. I'm sure blacks were even closer during slavery. Once that ended they were still close since they were segregated from whites but not as close as before. Now that segregation is gone (perceived) those that wanted to get away from the community have options to do so.

Look at it this way: When you see immigrants in the U.S. you think they all stick together, right? And they do. But some of those same immigrants wouldn't even talk to each other in their own countries because they belong to different social classes and circles.
Example im Haitian and in the Haitian community here you may see a Haitian doctor speaking to a Haitian waitress here like they're friends. Why? We're on a foreign land but have a common language and culture and interests when it comes to our home land. But take those same two individuals and drop them back home. One will be living up in the hills in their luxury home with their other rich friends and the other will be in the slums with no reason to address each other, EVER.

Similar logic but in reverse because of the oppression factor.

Exactly. Imagine if you put a bunch of Black Americans in a foreign land like....Ukraine. we would unite and build like none other. Basically, we got complacent with America being our only home.

 

[cam>]

The thing about segregation is it forced blacks into self-reliance, and in the day-to-day context kept them from the intensity of white racism.

You were forced to buy Black. Produce Black. Work with Blacks. Employ Blacks. Depend on other Blacks. Center Blackness in your life. All of your examples, and role models were Black. There's was no out for you, because the world around your black community was hostile.

When the US racially desegregated, it did not fundamentally change its racist institutions. Desegregation just meant that blacks now had to assimilate into the wider racist society around them. Those community-level support networks broke down over time. Blacks became increasingly dependent on non-blacks for survival.

For example, in segregated schools, Black teachers taught Black students curriculums that challenged white hegemony. Their body of knowledge was actually relevant, and it didn't center whiteness. When the schools integrated however, white school curriculums remained the same. There were no immediately changes to purge racist rhetoric and lessons, the all white teaching staff didn't care about providing a safe and fair learning environment for Black students - in facts, they intentionally under educated and miseducated Black students, creating roadblocks to upward social mobility; African American Studies weren't prioritized. You now depended on people who hate you to educate you, whereas before your knowledge came from your own.



This video makes great points:

 

[Blackout]

Nah we werent doing better. We were in a bubble like a science experiment with a low roof which kept us from progressing past a certain point.

What fukked us up was our people not being community focused after integration.

 

[ignorethis]

Depends on what you're looking at, as far as family structure and community, maybe yea.

Economically and financially, I wouldn't say blacks were doing better back then, but the bigger issue is blacks in 2017, once you adjust for inflation aren't doing any better from an economic standpoint than blacks in 1964.

Black household incomes stagnated around integration, when they were skyrocketing from 1930-1960. And the income gap between blacks and white had widened, when the income gap was closing pre-integration.

 

[intruder]

Exactly. Imagine if you put a bunch of Black Americans in a foreign land like....Ukraine. we would unite and build like none other. Basically, we got complacent with America being our only home.

It happens right now. Go to Costa Rica and you'll see black and white american expats living together in harmony. WHy? They are ina foreign land and have far more in common with their black/white american counterparts than they do with the Ticos. Common language. Common foods. Common customs. All the sudden it's "we're all americans lets stick together". White america wont truely embrace black americans until they are in a crisis where they need someone who reminds them of home and only person that does that for them happens to be black

 

[Larry Lambo]

Hard question to answer. I believe most of us are financially better off than our grand and great grandparents. However, society as a whole has advanced and goods/services are much cheaper than they were 60-70 years ago.

I think integration has given us the opportunity to operate in the mainstream society, which should help us get access to resources that the majority controls. Where we are slipping is that we aren't taking advantage of those resources while building our own. We get complacent instead of utilizing the connections, technology, and business acumen we have developed.

 

[Wild self]

The thing about segregation is it forced blacks into self-reliance, and in the day-to-day context kept them from the intensity of white racism.

You were forced to buy Black. Produce Black. Work with Blacks. Employ Blacks. Depend on other Blacks. Center Blackness in your life. All of your examples, and role models were Black. There's was no out for you, because the world around your black community was hostile.

When the US racially desegregated, it did not fundamentally change its racist institutions. Desegregation just meant that blacks now had to assimilate into the wider racist society around them. Those community-level support networks broke down over time. Blacks became increasingly dependent on non-blacks for survival.

For example, in segregated schools, Black teachers taught Black students curriculums that challenged white hegemony. Their body of knowledge was actually relevant, and it didn't center whiteness. When the schools integrated however, white school curriculums remained the same. There were no immediately changes to purge racist rhetoric and lessons, the all white teaching staff didn't care about providing a safe and fair learning environment for Black students - in facts, they intentionally under educated and miseducated Black students, creating roadblocks to upward social mobility; African American Studies weren't prioritized. You now depended on people who hate you to educate you, whereas before your knowledge came from your own.



This video makes great points:

I mean, if the only way for us to build is through FORCED segregation, we weren't really united to begin with. We just cooperated with each other and only tolerated one another. Not really loved one another.

Think about that. We have to go to THAT just to build?

 

[MWinn]

As a whole, black people haven't been able to let go of that "white is right" mentality. I think that it would take an entire generation having cognitive behavioral therapy techniques taught at home and school in order to change our thinking as a group. We have to take back our minds.