I was watching a special about black athletes this past weekend…
About how far they’d come since Martin Luther King Jr was killed. The answer was odd.
"Do you know that there are more black males in prison, than in college today," Spike Lee said. Nearly 70% of all male inmates are black with nearly 5 million men in prison today.
While black athletes are well paid – averaging well over $1 million a year in the NBA and NFL – most are bankrupt or broke two to five years after their careers end. That’s 80% in NFL and 65% in the NBA.
Not good.
This made me think, "What did King really accomplish for black people?"
If you asked who the greatest leaders of this nation were during the last century, most would say King for blacks and John F. Kennedy for whites.
Am I right?
They both had alot in common. Both had many lady friends (girls they slept with) while married. Both were assassinated, likely by insiders. Kennedy did illegal drugs, cocaine, weed and so on and had mob connections. All of this was documented by the FBI. King was connected to many anti-white groups.
Both called for non-violence, yet violence was all around them.
John Kennedy’s best moment was the Cuban Missile Crisis. However 50 years later the Russians cried foul. Their leadership says at the time they were only trying to balance the nuclear power as we had many more missiles off the shore of Russia at that time. Never was there intent to use them. You decide. They say Kennedy was grandstanding, that there was no real threat.
Who really knows?
What did King get done? He asked blacks to come together and take the options given them by the President – better education and better jobs. But not much of this really ever amounted to much.
Violence by blacks has increased, as has crime.
Today there still are no truly major business owned by Black Americans on a national scale. Almost none anyway. No Apples, no Googles, no Fords and so on.
In Kansas City we have a few black doctors and lawyers that matter. But our black population for the most part is below middle class with jobs that pay by the hour.
Not impressive.
So the answer is, no, things are not better.
Hip Hop is dying out, thats a good thing. Jason Whitlock is toast. Oprah is about to retire.
And I believe the concept of the "gangsta" hurt young blacks. It gave them an "out card" to education and an excuse to blame White America for their woes.
It’s true that we need to work together to solve this huge problem. Having a black president has done little to solve anything. Blacks don’t really relate to President Obama; they see him as more of a white guy.
And by the way there is no John F. Kennedy Day.
Shame on you, Craig Glazer. Imagine if he hadn’t lived.
I’m disappointed in you and your impetuous piffle.
uh oh
Very complex problem… It is like your 40 year old alcoholic son that you still love… but can’t put the hammer down. So you throw them another 100 bucks…. next week another 100 bucks…. next week…..
Look to the schools
Remember how much money was thrown at KCMO schools. Those idiots put it into bricks and mortar and not into the kids. Results, closed buildings and more decades of black kids with a crappy education thanks to a school district that is still not certified.
Money should have been spent on getting the kids to go to class, spent on teachers that taught, on policies that threw out thugs, on policies and programs that supported girls who kept their legs together, on programs that went straight to the families to get parents to support their kids staying in school.
How about learning to speak English! As a small business owner I will not hire a kid who is not in school or who cannot greet my customers with out saying “Like” every other word (JoCo kids) or who “axe” me questions.
You want to see Dr Kings dream come to life? Change the school board to people who are not invested in the welfare state, throw out the students who only seek to disrupt, and refuse welfare to kids/adults who do not graduate (or GED) high school. Start investing in the kids who have a chance. Let’s value the geniuses and not the thugs. Throw money at the kids who attend school and not the lazy ones who want to live off of the system.
Dr King talked about pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and how hard it was to do that when you have no boots. We have spent millions, how come our kids have no boots? Dr King talked about character not color. After years and years of politically correct teaching, how come our kids do not value character and are blaming the white man for the problem? A dollar bill does not know if the person earning it is black, brown, yellow, or white.
Stop killing our kids with PC crap and start growing them with knowledge and a strong foundation.
Well done Mr. Lewellyn
.
GLAZER…ANOTHER RIDICULOUS STORY
i warned you glazer. I warned you and told you not to stray from stories you know about. I warned you not to
try and come up with b.s. about anything other than what you know about. but this story is about as
bad as you’ve had in the last year.
1. since 1970 black incomes have risen at a faster % rate than comparable white incomes taking into account
the fact that many black households have one earner compared to two earners in white households.
2.”Blacks don’t relate to barak obama”. Where did you get this fucking stupid stat. Obamas approval rating
is over 92% with blacks right now…..almost doulbe his approval rate among all americans. What are you talking
about.
3. “things are not better for blacks”…this is another comment that is absolutly assenine. Alzheimers is seeping in.
Prior to king blacks couldnt eat at the same restaurants as whites…ride public transportation….vote….
couldn’t use public facilities…..now if you’d look beyond the hoodlums you catered to westport you’d see that
blacks hasve made incredible strides in almost every industry. Take into account the incredible discrimination they
have faced in every aspect of american life and you’ll see successful blacks business people in postions throughout
major industries. Blacks are only about 17% of the general population…its not like they are a majority.
4. Not better jobs or educaytion…black colleges are putting out some of the top graduates in test scores.
Have you any research besides your customers at the black hangout you had in westport. Where did you get
this.
The problem is not what MLK didnt do for blacks…its the discrimination that they’ve had to fight and the
breakdown of the black society. sure lets blame that on one man. In the last 20 years a higher percentage of
blacks entered the middle class than whites (pew study). Come out to Johnson county….and more and more
black families are now living in middle class neighborhoods.
King wasn’t a politician…he was a preacher…a leader…never involved in the legislative process. Black have made
incredible inroads in every industry and in every income category. Your bullshit is wrong.
I do not apoligize for any actions from any group of people but white priviledge and discrimination has made
if so impossible for them to achieve even greater mobility. Those reasons are more prevelant than the fact taht
martin luther king hasn’t done anything to help blacks.
Obvioulsy your reading has been limited to few if any history books. Just because your “black barbie” lost her
stripper job and now has no job doesn’t mean that applies to all blacks.
Read some of MLK’s writings…they don’t just apply to blacks. Read what his speeches were about…
they pertained to anyone at the bottom of society. Few references were made to single out black in his
speeches except when he mentioned the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners.
Violence by blakcs has not increased…actually has gone down….and once this nation realizes that most of the
prison population is there forvdrugs…and we realize the billions we’rewasting on this problem and that
we can change those laws (which i’m sure you have personal experience) the numbers would probably go
down 60%!
Go to atlanta/miami/new york/chicago/go to some other cities and you’ll see many more black professionals.
More doctors and lawyers. Get out of the those bars and read and travel…and see what the world is all about.
For years those schools discriminated against black enrollment…thats the real reason. And even the
race qoutas that were set up never worked.
And right now thev entire middle class is sliding downhill. Black or white it doesnt matter. The middle class
is disappearing.
What has king done….no one man can change the world. The special interests won’t let it happen.
A poor black preacher from the south showed the world that change can come…without war or violence…
without weapons and death….that change and hope are not relegated to just a few…but to all.
Read the declaration of independence glazer….read what the founding fathers wrote…
and a poor black preacher from the south showed not only this nation but the world…that god creates
all men equal. Read a bible or a torah or the koran….read something besides the pitch looking for
whores…and see what this man talked about. He was the inspiration to change not only in america
but also in the world.
When you were in your 20’s in the 60’s the anti war movement used his writings to further their
non violent campaign to end the war. And they accomplished that.
The man preached change without violence. Had we all listened to what he spoke…this nation might
not be in the terrible shape it now is. Not just in the black communities but everywhere.
Again…your articles continue to show total lack of factual writing. Why make comments without any
facts or stats to back them up? I understand your background…working in bars and comedy clubs
and impressing people with the young women you hustle…but please next time have some
information or facts to back up your writings
see?
We need ‘like’ buttons- Maria & Mike Lewellyn
& ‘dislike’- blowhard, irrelevant & meandering Harley
Harley
Has to be the first time I agree with Harley, very well put.
robertoe anderson…come on….
did you read my analysis…say you did and i will not hassle you.
Say you didnt and i will fault you.
Say you read and failed to comment why i am wrong and i will say
you are less than you think.
lets exchange ideas…
I agree with Harley. Glazer, you need to stay in your pond.
Harley, well reasoned and passionate. Kudos. You are an important contributor to this dialogue.
Glazer, the “pond” reference is from the Piers Morgan Tonight interview with Oprah last night.
Calm Down People
My God, all Glazer is saying here is kinda true. Blacks and whites don’t get along. The man never said King or Kennedy were worthless. Just overrated. They may have been, though they meant well. One can’t deny his comments on the lack of education by black Amercia or the crime they lead the way in always. I think thats his point. Glazer I also get the drugs and women stuff does that mean you and Stan aren’t so bad? Funny. True.
guilty!
Harley,
Guilty as charged. Didn’t and won’t read until you do lots more editing and lots less sniping and self-aggrandizing. Troll away!
Harley and Glaze are at oposite ends of the bell curve,
which does not negate either commentary.
Both comments are generalizations, partially based on emotion, and subjective opinion, partially based on some nebulous stats (Harley), which I am ok with.
You can watch TV and agree with Op-Eds from Fox, or agree with Op-Eds from CNN in diametrical dissagreement and not really be wrong. IMO, I don’t think Harley or Glaze is really “Wrong” (I do think Glaze could have picked a more influential president to make his point, JFK, was only in office for 2 years, and his administration’s performance during the Cuban Missle Crisis, isn’t IMO, a crowning achievment.).
Racial issues in America, are front and center 24/7.
Nixon is the president that signed in sweeping civil rights reforms. More than Johnson and Kennedy. Irony, that.
Looking directly at serious crime, the US Dept of Justice shows Black on White Crime is 50 to 1. That is NOT per capita. Black on White rape is 565 to 1, once again, that is NOT per capita. Black on Black crime vis a vis White on White crime is 10 to 1. The crimes themselves are obviously horrific.
Here in Kansas City, Mo., the smell of cordite wafts over Westport, blood stained streets in midtown reveal almost daily, another violent exsanguination and the local newspaper trembles at the thought of revealing the race of the perpetrators. This necrosis, this 5th column of hate, mysogyny, violence, murder, rape and theft are part and parcel of a subculture, that mainstream America refuses to acknowledge, and in fact promotes in the media.
The universal lubricant of this abberation, is a Hip/Hop/Rap lifestyle that excuses abhorant behaviour and promotes the culture of complaint by way of “The Narrative”.
The “Narrative” excuses criminal behaviour, bad grades, poor parenting, lack of ambition and achievement, by second partying and asigning ALL of the heretofore mentioned to crimes committed by people dead, 50 to 500 years ago, on people dead 50 to 500 years ago. An undefeatable straw man granting carte blanche to those folks who exsitentially draw every living breath through their identity as a black person, first and formost.
The “Narrative” is the easy way out. A built in explanation for any failure. The gears have worn smooth on that machine, and that is, imo, the crux of Glaze’s premise. The tranny is gone, and that bus, no matter where you are sitting on it, is stopped dead in the road.
In Kansas City, the continuing African American faceplant is apparent on the streets every day. I am glad things are so perfect over in Perfect Village. They won’t be for long. What has metastasisized here in Missouri, is coming your way.
The way to end this stupidity, is for African Amercan leaders to admit the real time problems and focus on jpersonal resposibility. I relaize I will be called a racist for saying these things out loud, but, the folks who are hurt the most, by this American conspiracy, which we all participate in, are black people. When we DON’T print the color of the perpetrators in the newpapaper, de facto permission for the same behaviour is effected.
I am not calling for murder, war and hate here, I am calling for dialogue. I am calling for constant conversation with people of all colors to keep the wounds fresh and bleeding so we will heal the problem. Sweeping uncomfortable racial conversations under the table, only creates the opportunity to continue with the same old approach.
That fuckin dog ain’t huntin no more.
Blind pig (Glazer) finds acorn!
Dim-witted article by Glazer sparks best debate yet on KCC. Now …. if Hearne will let us know how all of this is the Star’s fault …