I agree with Paul Ryan, there’s a culture problem, but it’s his, not ours.
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I have a solid idea for solving the country’s debt crisis. Similar to a swear jar, where’d you put change in it every time you used profanity, America should institute a “dumb shit” jar and require politicians to allocate a dollar for every loose-lipped, offensive comment they spew out of their pie hole. The jar would quickly overflow by the hands of the usual suspects, but if Paul Ryan continues on his self-destructive path to eradicate poverty while alienating those who would be his assets, then, well, dammit, we just may have to name a wing after him in the “dumb shit” jar.
I usually wouldn’t give Paul Ryan the second look, as I find him to be dull at best, moronic at worst. But today I saw an article where he implied that there’s a culture among inner city men that makes them all lazy and that poor people are born lazy and, well, he’s going to get more than a second look from me today.
Implying that all poor people are born lazy is not only a mis-characterization and a stereotype, its slander, its offensive and it’s a lie. But to Paul Ryan’s defense, it was probably something he heard during AmeriKKKa’s “Hoodie Up,” rally, held daily wherever government is sold. To me, implying that all poor people are born lazy is similar to attempting to kill every snake before it kills you, when in actuality there’s over 3,000 species of snakes and only about 375 are poisonous. To me, implying that all poor people are born lazy is similar to the California private school last month serving fried chicken and watermelon to celebrate Black History Month – because of course all black people love fried chicken – where in actuality, and historically, Scottish immigrants had a tradition of frying chicken in fat, and because of the cost of the ingredients, fried chicken was a rare and special dish for blacks. The reason I made those comparison is because implying that all poor people and inner city men are lazy is among the greatest mis-perception.
Poor people and inner city men are, believe it or not, some of the hardest working people in communities – and just to be clear, when Paul Ryan says “inner city men,” he means: black. Paul Ryan says we have a “real culture problem,” but the truth is we, in America, have a real perception problem. Not only do we perceive black men to be dangerous, we don’t perceive them as assets – and we should.
Despite Paul Ryan’s racist ragtime ramblings where he did everything but call for coon control, the culture in inner cities – again, where most black people live – is actually something to marvel and be proud of. Furthermore, the work of black men – and women – in those inner cities are unprecedented. For example – as affirmed by BMe Community Founder Trabian Shorters in the foreword of The Black His-Story Book: A Collection of Narratives from Black Male Mentors – from 2002-2007, blacks created businesses at three times the national average. The percentage of black people who create business is growing at more than twice the national average, and 60% of those black entrepreneurs are men. A key stakeholder in the President’s new My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, Shorters, in a piece entitled “What Do You Believe about Black Men?” notes “that twenty-five percent of black men in America is already a military veteran – no other group serves their country in as high a population.” A culture of giving also exist among blacks, as Shorters, who until June of 2013 was the Vice President of Communities at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, confirms “black households give 25% more of their incomes to charities than do white households.”
What Paul Ryan gets wrong about inner city men is that they’re lazy. Even the inner city men I see who don’t work regular jobs hustle more than the stiff shirts in Congress. The BMe network I’m apart of is populated with black men who everyday are working to build caring and prosperous communities. So I agree Paul, there’s a culture problem, but it’s your problem, not ours.
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Photo: AP/File