How has integration helped the Black community when statistics show the opposite? We're still more likely to go to jail more than any other race, paid less than other races, have worse health issues than any other race....
It's not so much that integration has helped, it's having options that has helped. More choices to suit you: places you can live, people (ie connections) you can associate with, careers you can have, etc.
Mobility in general. Economic, social and otherwise.
The reason it seems to not have helped is because of pressures on the outside and
some fucked up values within. The latter even more so.
If you have the right system of cultural values, you will deal with the outside hate better. If you have the right cultural values, your culture is a refuge.
But there's not a lot you can do if your cultural values are self-undermining.
We have progressed under integration, but nothing like we could if we had more heart, more fighting spirit... held ourselves to higher standards (STANDARDS HAVING NOTHING TO DO WITH OUTSIDERS, MIND YOU -- It is about self-challenge)... shared values among ourselves, made certain shit (like pigfat & sloth and the health crisis) TABOO.... collectively kept the women in check (damn right)... drop the STUPID "jeezus" shit (unless you plan to emulate him)... made hollywood and TV worship TABOO.... made stuff like financial conservatism, individual and community economic INDEPENDENCE exalted values.... made simple shit like reading and writing and lifelong learning exalted values... HELD THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE OUR MUSIC TO HIGHER STANDARDS (our music is our cultural lifeblood & a song is a sign)... learned to live with less... learned to put down roots and defend your community against scumbags inside and out... and passed on a system of values to the next generations (instead of letting them make it up for themselves, or letting the VANITY WORSHIPING females do their WEAK-ASS job on it)... etc. etc.
It is ALL about values. Change the values & change the culture. Here's an infamous example: there are black men who think going to jail makes you a real man -- and will happily live in a cell, squat, spread'em and cough (with another man looking up your butt), live without pussy, etc., because their VALUES make those things VALUABLE to their psyche.
There are people who think being "down for whateva" is a good thing. :mrgreen:
People work hard and sacrifice a lot for their values. Some sacrifice their whole lives, like the "gangstas" I mention above, or suicide bombers, let's say.
If you swap out the VALUES for more productive ones -- via art, music, stories, early guidance, repetition, repetition, repetition, positive reinforcement, DIET, comradery, taboo, in-groups and out-groups, healthy paranoia, and example... the positive feedback loop takes over and you'll have a better outcome. People will work hard for that better outcome,
without even knowing it.
(You think asian-americans are so smart? Not to knock them, but most of the ones I've met seem rather simple minded. But they're focused and determined, because of the VALUES in their culture. And those values are nothing lofty -- more like dogged competition, abject materialism, authoritarianism, taboos and others that could be even seen as negative -- but taken in total they WORK, like a well-oiled machine. And success reinforces success.
It is VALUES that make people successful -- even if you're coming from a legacy of underclass so deep, your kids are bought and sold and it's illegal to teach you to read.)
Values -- personal and cultural --are magical. But they can't work unless you have a wide range of options to apply them to... And examples of success to reinforce them. Integration gives you those options.
Integration means the option to integrate, and the option to not integrate. That's why integration is good.
tl&dr: Our music has huge potential to work for us, but it's failing us and needs a punch in the nose.
aww lol
