"Why are you so negative about African-Americans?"

Freedom of individual conscience:   I have issues with hypocrisy and will denounce racism in any form, even if it is by African-Americans.  Unlike some white liberals who intentionally either ignore/deny or minimize destructive behaviors, I believe that only by honest, frank,  open, and free discussion of racial conflicts can real, lasting social harmony prevail.

I am critical of certain attitudes and behaviors prevalent among the African-American community.  

The incident in which former Mayor Schell with a megaphone was not an anomaly.  Nor were the murders of the four Lakewood cops.  Or the murders of James Paroline, Tuba Man, etc.  The assailants were acting out of a cultural matrix.

The high rate of violence among African-Americans (not African immigrants) can only partially explained by poverty.  A culture that tacitly accepts violence as a way of proving manhood and of settling disputes as well as a larger cultural framework which glosses over this, I believe, goes far in explaining this fact.

I think blacks are as capable of confronting a little honesty as any other group.

If Italian Americans or Japanese Americans or Ethiopian immigrants also behaved in the same ways,
I would be equally if not more critical.   African-Americans form the majority in many of the largest cities in the country as well as in sports and popular music and are over-represented in others, such as the movies. The President of the United States is black, as is the highest law enforcement official of the land.

African-Americans are the most passionately admired and loved racial or ethnic group in America today.

The America of 2014 is NOT the America of  "A Raisin in the Sun" and "To Kill a Mockingbird."  Someone needs to say this.

(The young white Americans who blindly place African-Americans on a pedestal make me equally uncomfortable)..

And no one else will dare to voice such opinions.   I, as a person of color, will have a somewhat easier time of saying these things.  But not much.

How can there be growth if we refuse to have a genuinely self-critical faculty?

On a different plane, crowing over one's prowess and shrieking in public are not exactly my cup of tea.


There is a climate of fear and repression in the United States which hinders an open discussion of race and cultural/racial/ethnic/social/economic differences.  Cultural differences are not necessarily racial ones.   

"You are either for us (one of us) or against us (a racist)" has become a widespread attitude among liberals.