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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
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David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
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Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
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February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
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Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Nov. 2, 2007
/ 21 Mar-Cheshvan 5768
Getting beyond race
By
Mort Zuckerman
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
During the 1968 presidential primary between Sens. Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy in California, I asked an African-American leader why blacks overwhelmingly supported Kennedy. The answer was, "Because the pain of the loss of his brother made him into a white cripple, and we identify with cripples." The words were an indictment of how we had treated blacks. I was haunted by them as we lived through decades of identity politics based on the general sense of grievance in the black community.
I'd not get that answer in similar circumstances today. Many blacks have moved from victims to victors. Bill Cosby summed up the transformation in his book Come On People. "Victim" is the enemy, he writes, and despair, defeat, despondency, and hopelessness must be rejected.
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In this, Cosby is in tune with a new generation of post-civil rights black political leaders, such as Sen. Barack Obama, Newark's Mayor Cory Booker, and former Rep. Harold Ford. While they are ready to combat racism, they choose to accentuate the positive: In the context of dramatically reduced racial resentment, they espouse the traditional American virtues of self-reliance and personal responsibility.
They represent a confident, expanding, and varied middle class that has grown up fully engaged in the mainstream. They recognize the impossibility of insisting that America remains so fundamentally racist that black efforts to pursue the American dream are hopeless. As Rep. John Lewis put it, "For some people nothing has changed since Selma. I feel like saying, 'Come walk in my shoes.'"
Striking gains. The black population, indeed, can take pride in the fact that in a single generation a disenfranchised minority helped spur an overhaul of the nation's legal system and an end to centuries of legalized discrimination. At a record pace, millions of black Americans have joined the middle class through hard work and talent, and they have a wholly different perspective from their fathers'. It was striking that in a 2006 Washington Post poll, more than half the black men interviewed said they owed their problems more to what they had failed to do themselves than "what white people have done to blacks." Even though most suspect the economic system may be stacked against them, they strongly believe in the American dream and are infused with intense ambitions for their children. They more and more reject the notion that white racism is the main obstacle to black achievement. On the contrary, they assert that the real obstacle has been the defeatist cult of victimology. Eighty percent say they are satisfied with their lives and optimistic about the next five years.
Their improved prosperity is manifest. In 1940, 58 percent of black women with jobs worked as maids; today it is only 1 percent. At the same time, the median income for black females has jumped from 36 percent of that of a white woman to about 95 percent today. As for men, that median income has gone from 41 percent to about 72 percent of white male earnings today. Blacks are now represented in the top echelons of American businessover 25,000 of them CEOs; 1.1 million blacks now earn more than $100,000 a year, and many are in the highest levels of the armed forces and the government. What is remarkable is that black success is no longer exceptional.
There is one nagging qualification. The huge gains have been unevenly distributed. There is a growing black underclass trapped in poverty by failed schools, broken families, and endemic crime.
Today, some 70 percent of black children are born to single mothers compared with about 25 percent 40 years ago. In a world where two-parent incomes have become a financial necessity, a fatherless household is in dire straits. In these underclass families, mothers must work regardless of the effect on their children, who are five times more likely to live in poverty and nine times more likely to drop out of school. The result is a lack of parental support and discipline, with young black males resorting to gangs as parental substitutes, exulting in the ghetto culture of the streets. In urban areas, more than 50 percent of black men do not complete high school. Many young men lack the skills for good jobs, it is true, but when the economy boomed in the 1990s, few young black men turned up to take the millions of new jobs at all levels. The opportunity was seized by immigrants from the Caribbean and Latin America.
Alas, there is some cold comfort in the fact that this family breakdown is less about race. Today, white families split apart at rates higher than blacks exhibited 40 years ago. Given the importance of family structures, it underscores why the federal government should make the stability of all families a central part of its social welfare and tax policies.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Mort Zuckerman is editor-in-chief and publisher of U.S. News and World Report. Send your comments to him by clicking here.
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