- chezhead
- Aug 13, 2013
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screech
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In light of the BLM movement, I have translated 11.7: The Black Challenge. There were some hard parts to translate correctly to English, so let me know if something is translated incorrectly or doesn't make sense.
quote:
When talking about the “Black Challenge” or “Black Storm”, I am referring to black people problems. The social and political problems caused by black people have become a headache and are a serious challenge to society. Some people consider the black problem as the largest societal problem, and say that it will become a fatal problem. In the US, it can be deeply felt that there is some truth to this statement.
The Martin Luther King Center is located in Atlanta. I went to visit this center. Compared to the Carter Center, the MLK Center is small and shabby, likely because of its early establishment. Martin Luther King is a famous black civil rights leader. In the 1960s, black people’s problems and racial discrimination against them were still very serious. At that time, there were schools only for white people, vehicles that only whites could ride in, hotels only for white people, areas with only white people, and black people had no status or money. In that era, in order to break this kind of apartheid, there were large riots and violent actions, and the federal government had to send out troops to protect black students and white schools. Even though the court ruled that racial segregation is unconstitutional, it still persists in real life. It has been 20 years since then, and although black people’s living conditions have improved, their problems have grown more and more serious.
A Chinese student at Emory University told me that “In the south, black liberation after the civil war, the status of black people in society is still very low.” The cause of the civil war was the abolition or preservation of slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin depicts the status of black people in society at this time. One of President Lincoln’s achievements was to liberate black slaves. More than 100 years later, black people still aren’t slaves, but they do not have the same social status that white people enjoy.
He said there was a county near Atlanta where racial discrimination was especially serious -- the county is still opposed to black people living there. Any black person that lives there will be squeezed out. Anti-racist groups have repeatedly supported brave black residents and have been beaten. Last year, a anti-racist group organized a march in the county against this attitude, only to be beaten up by the residents. Later a newspaper reported this story, which aroused the anger of people all around the country, and people from all corners of the US to support the organization and participate in the parade which made the police station very nervous. People in this county saw these people opposing them, but did not dare to fight as they were outnumbered. But in the end, the anti-racist groups just marched around and didn’t get any long-lasting results. To this day, the county still discriminates against black people. Today, most places don’t have a clear policy of discrimination against black people. It’s actually the opposite -- Government agencies must hire black people. Some white people think this is reverse discrimination, because sometimes white people are more qualified for a job, but because of these rules requiring the hiring of black people, white people are in an unfair competitive position.
However, it’s only a surface phenomenon. In the minds of many white people, they really hate black people. For example in some white residential areas, if black people move in, many white people will move out. When black people live somewhere, housing prices will fall because white people don’t want to live there. The result of this is that white and black people live in different areas. Every big city has black areas, which are usually dirty, messy, and have fallen behind other areas. Some black people with millions of dollars can’t make it into the white upper class. On the surface, America is very beautiful and there isn’t racial discrimination, but in reality it is a deeply-rooted problem.
Black people have a lower social status, lower level of education, and worse economic situation. On the street, people will meet many poor people who want money, most of them black. Cities like Washington DC have an astonishing amount, which is not in harmony with such a bustling city. In city squares, you can see a lot of entertainers, mostly black. You can see a line stretching from employment and relief offices, most of them black. Most of the homeless on the street are black, and most of the most people with shabby and torn clothes are black. Of course, white people also have these kinds of people, but the number is comparatively small. Tourists seeing this would be frightened.
The black community is a reflection of the black struggle. I’ve been to black neighborhoods in San Francisco, New York, New Haven, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Atlanta, and it left a terrible impression. It’s generally worse than the areas where white people live, and you can see at a glance it is a poor area. In front of many houses, there are some idle black people. Young people stand in small groups around the street, causing one’s heart to race. New York’s black neighborhoods are particularly bad, with a high crime rate. A friend told me that an American took him to visit a black area in New York. Halfway there, a police car stopped him. They thought they had broken traffic rules, but the police asked them if they knew what was ahead, and they said they knew. The policeman told them to be careful. The two of them only dared to drive through the ghetto quickly and didn’t dare to leave the car. He said if the car broke down, he would not know what he would have done.
The living conditions of black people are very poor, and many take the road of crime after they have no way out. The crime situation in America can be ranked among the top in the world, especially among black people. I have heard a lot of stories about black people robbing Chinese people. A friend once said he went with a colleague to a restaurant and happened across two black people on the stairs with knives, asking for money. A Chinese student told me crime was rampant on 42nd street in New York City, which was the same street as the Chinese Consulate, and that thieves specifically targeted Chinese people to steal their money. The New York police department had to station mounted police in front of the consulate. The general police were not enough (I didn’t see any cavalry police in front of the consulate in New York. This is all in broad daylight.
Prominent black people constantly frequently emerge, and have become idols of social worship: Track and field athletes, personalities, basketball players, softball players,boxers, and football players. But the overall status of black people has not changed.
The problems of black people have become a cycle which is hard to solve. The overall culture of black people is low, economic status is poor, and there is no control over fertility. The welfare system stipulates that children can receive government relief. Black people have a higher fertility rate than white people. Black children do not get a good living environment and education. Because the previous education never received a good education, they do not receive a sense of worth, and children naturally do not get education and nurturing. Growing up in the environment of a black area unconsciously influences character and causes psychological imbalance. Generations of black people have grown up without good skills and education, so they can’t hold positions with high technical requirements.
Many children have no parents or only one parent, often just a mother. Many children’s mothers are “child mothers,” who are pregnant at 14 or 15 and have children. How can such children get good education? This situation is not uncommon in black society. When they grow up, they can only get a lower-level job and not achieve a high level of compensation. A small number of people escape this through struggle, but it is difficult to be accepted by white society. This has been passed down for generations, making the snowball of black problems get larger and larger.
The challenges of black people are threatening society and institutions. So far, the system is weak and powerless to this problem. Because of the inaction of this system, anti-black thinking is rising and the neoconservative idea of “reverse discrimination” is taking on this meaning. Racial segregation has already become history, but challenges for black people continue to grow. The era of the Ku Klux Klan’s rampage has passed, but it is not gone yet. If society cannot find how to fundamentally improve the situation of black people, the final outcome is likely to be more violent anti-black actions. This is the humanity’s weakness - when a problem cannot be solved, the easiest choice is to strongly oppose it.
Almost every society has similar problems and has people regarded as inferior. But there may be different reasons for these kinds of problems, such as arising from cultural differences, historical origins, customs, and institutions. In the case of the United States, the main reason lies within the system, so the black problem is a challenge to the social system.
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Jun 10, 2020 08:49
