Broadly speaking, I am not sure that “white America” — particularly those who call themselves allies — know how to help black people. They don’t know what to say or do — except for the things that sound good or feel good to themselves. This is nothing new, but yet a trend born out of history long ago.
In the documentary The Great American Race Game, President Lyndon B. Johnson (D) was noted as less the leader with a plan to rescue black Americans from poverty, but more with a plan to:
“Give those uppity negroes a little something. Not too much. Not enough to make a difference. I’ll have those niggers voting for the Democrats for the next 200 years”
President Lyndon B. Johnson
As the documentary sets out to explain, the welfare state created by Lyndon B. Johnson was disastrous for inner-city black Americans. The documentary goes on to interview several black moderate/conservative commentators — Professor Walter Williams, Larry Elder, Bevelyn Beatty, Professor Glenn Loury, Dr. Wilfred Reilly, Brandon Tatum, Robert Woodson, Niger Innis, Kmele Foster. If you have not seen it, it’s certainly worthy of anyone’s time. One might say the plausible moral of the story is:
“Help” does not always help. or The motive behind an initiative does not always take into account unintended consequences.
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