November 7, 2015

"Incanting 'Black Lives Matter' rather than 'All Lives Matter' hardly constitutes advocating 'racial justice,' in my view."

"Indeed, I see the making of such verbal concessions as a kind of cheap grace. These genuflections ask very little of the (white) politicians or their (white) voters. But endorsing universal early childhood education, scattered site public housing, massively increased spending on mental health care for the indigent, revamped criminal justice policies, a guaranteed minimum income for all American families, public jobs as employer-of-last-resort, higher per capita expenditures on the education of those from the least advantaged home environments — all of these things, and more, enacted via comprehensive legislative initiatives DO ask a great deal from politicians and WOULD be a massive step in the direction of 'social justice' in America. And, given their disproportionately beneficial impact on black communities, enacting such a comprehensive progressive agenda would constitute achieving the only kind of 'racial justice' worth fighting for in my view."

Writes Glenn Loury.

I added the boldface.

55 comments:

Vet66 said...

Getting rid of the race baiters like al sharpton, jesse jackson, and the rest of the carpet baggers beating the "white supremacy" drum for their own profit would be a better start. Empowering those already on the receiving end of government largess for decades has been marginally successful for ghetto blacks with the noteworthy exception of attacks on Ben Carson for being a conservative. Where is the racial justice for blacks and other minorities who succeed while stepping out from under the "Rainbow umbrella?" There are darker forces at work here than a few loons chanting "Black Lives Matter" while advocating the murder of law enforcement officers including blacks.

Lewis Wetzel said...

There is no empirical evidence that doing any of this would have the effect Loury says that it would. What evidence, for example, tells you that massively increasing spending on mental health for the indigent would create this mysterious thing called social justice?
Perhaps Mr. Loury could move to one of the countries he admires more than the United States? Surely they must be as welcoming to immigrants as the U.S. is.

Wince said...

He should have begun with the salutation, "Dear Hillary".

What we are witnessing is the woulda, shoulda, coulda in the waning days of the Obama administration.

Grackle said...

In my lifetime, the sum of every progressive attempt to "improve" lower class black culture has been ridiculous expenditure of funds with no "improvement". Perhaps it should be considered whether the recipients of the misguided largesse have the least interest in changing? I think they don't. And frankly, I don't give a fuck what they do, as long as I don't have to pay for it. Eliminate government-mandated charity and let the progressives spend their personal time and fortune to their hearts' content.

False Grackle.

rhhardin said...

The needed social change is get rid of appointed black leaders.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

... — all of these things, and more, enacted via comprehensive legislative initiatives DO ask a great deal from politicians...

Yes. They ask politicians to spend a great deal of other people's money. What sacrifice on the part of the politicians.

CWJ said...

Social Science professor giving avuncular advice to children and other academics in the campus newspaper. What else would you realistically expect? Totally dog bites man. Did Althouse truly find this interesting or is she trolling us?

Wince said...

CWJ. Althouse has done numerous BloggingHeads videos with Glenn Loury in the past.

iowan2 said...

The stuff Loury advocates for have no record of improving anything. Early childhood education. We have HeadStart. More than 60 years of continuous data. That data tells us after the 3rd grade no academic advantage can be found.('Early childhood education is code for 'free day care'). Public housing. Tried and a huge failure. Never helped and really made the situtation worse. Loury admits this, but not because its a bad principle, but because it wasnt done right before (scattered site is the answer). Then the twin anchors of minimum wage and govt jobs.Minumum wage, A concept that forces automation and eliminates entry level jobs for those that need them the most. And forced government gulags.

Does Loury even know that communism has failed? Every. Single, Time.

jaydub said...

Claptrap.

Paco Wové said...

That's depressing. I thought Loury had more sense.

Bruce Hayden said...

He starts with pushing for huge expenditures of money to compensate for Blacks in this country being unable to take care of themselves. And, of course, most of that can be laid at the feet of Blacks giving allegiance to the Dem party these last 50 years. Mostly, their problems were caused by progressive policies, which the blacks ultimately supported by repeatedly voting Dems into office.

Nevertheless, he makes a good point in suggesting that the BLM project is counter productive for Blacks. Twice as many whites than blacks die every year at the hands of the cops. And part of what he may be implying is that BLM, in highlighting Black/police interactions ultimately brings up the reality that the average inner city black male is far more violent than the rest of society, and BLM is essentially saying that we should ignore that violence and expect equal outcomes from the criminal justice system despite massively different input levels of criminality and violence. Trayvon Martin had been beating George Zimmerman's head into the concrete walk and then strangle him when shot in self-defense. And Big Mike Brown had engaged in a strong arm robbery, punched a cop, tried to take his gun away, etc before being shot in self defense. Etc. Most of the heroes of the BLM movement just accentuate the general impression of the rest of the country that blacks are much too violent. BLMers blame white society and the police for the deaths of violent thugs who were inevitably not properly domesticated by the disfunctional black community.

Carnifex said...

The operative word in the entire piece was "cheap". If government spending on failed policies to help black people out only were. But its not. The only cheap is the politicians themselves, because as long as you espouse the correct SJW mantra, you can DO anything you wish. As an example, I give you the entire Kennedy family.

Rusty said...

Are you ready?


Social Justice Warriors!
Assemble!

Fernandinande said...

Bruce Hayden said...
Nevertheless, he makes a good point in suggesting that the BLM project is counter productive for Blacks.


Around here all the people protesting the Bureau of Land Management's actions are whites or Indians.

virgil xenophon said...

@iowan2/

"Scattered site is the answer" , Loury is wrong here. Has he never heard of the "Memphis Effect" in which an overlay of all the high crime areas in the city was applied to a map of all the Sec 8 scatter-site "affordable housing" (i.e., heavily subsidized) project locations? They matched perfectly. Scatter-site housing is like cutting a cancer tumor into multiple pieces and transplanting them randomly throughout the body to grow anew--whether it's a living human being or the body politic, the results are always the same: disastrous and counterproductive.

iowan2 said...

Here are things that should be done, none of which require anything but self discipline.
I stole this, Its been around for a while. Its simple.....not easy, but what in life is easy.

Does the Black community care?

Go to school. everyday
Pay attention, shutup, learn to read, write, and cypher
Do not smoke, or use intoxicants of any kind
Do not create a human life.
Do not get married until you employed full time
When you and your committed for life spouse do have children, rear them. That means instilling the above values, and committing to your children full time, sacrificing your own pleasures, and wants
Repeat this for 3 generations, Problem fixed

Levi Starks said...
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Phil 314 said...

Funny how the mind sees what's not there...

At first I thought your last written line read "I added the blackface"

iowan2 said...

Virgi;

I did not know about Memphis. Intuitively, I suspected the tweak of a bad idea would not make it a good idea. Not knowing a thing about Memphis, I bet Politicians, of all stripes made a lot of graft. That intuitive thought is reinforced by all Democrat agenda items. all based on the idea that the govt is required to be the only solution.

Communism. Fails. Every. Single. Time.

Bernie and Clintons wife, Dress up the same bucket of dung, but it is still the same contents. The elite (Clinton's Wife, Bernie, etc) Knowing the cookie cutter solutions for an entire population of more the 300 million. Forcing those solutions on everyone, and taking the wealth of the productive, and, after skimming their personal take of the wealth, trickling a tiny amount back to those they deem 'need help' bribing them to vote them into office with a promise that they will increase the amount of the trickle.

CWJ said...

EDH @ 7:33,

I know that, and considered it, and that's one possible reason she posted it. But unless she makes a habit of posting Lowry just because he's Lowry, I think my question is still valid. It's hard to see where this particular piece, especially the portion Althouse quoted, stands out as postworthy other than as to get a rise out of the commentariat.

William said...

I read an interesting bit of background info during the President's recent trip to Kenya. It stated that 25% of the women in Kenya had been raped at least once and that many of the worst perpetrators were that country's security services. We're not the worst country in the world for black people to live. We're probably the best.

Bruce Hayden said...

Around here all the people protesting the Bureau of Land Management's actions are whites or Indians.

Well, up in NW MT, it is the FS. Mostly because of all the timbering that used to be allowed, but isn't any more. Town went from 3 to 1 timber mills, resulting in a lot of unemployment. And too much forest fire prevention resulted in much bigger fires, thanks to the build up of fuel in the forests.

But in this case BLM meant Black Lives Matter (which I am sure you knew, but were tweaking me/us a bit).

Fernandinande said...
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n.n said...
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Anonymous said...

...scattered site public housing...

Ah, is this the new euphemism for "section-8'ing decent neighborhoods"?

virgil xenophon: Scatter-site housing is like cutting a cancer tumor into multiple pieces and transplanting them randomly throughout the body to grow anew--whether it's a living human being or the body politic, the results are always the same: disastrous and counterproductive.

But they changed the label, virg. Every good SJW knows that if we change the words we change reality.

Sebastian said...

Every SJW use of OPM is a scam that turns into a racket.

There are a lot of fun facts about "early childhood education"--Head Start ($180B spent, no statistically measurable effects on all measures of cognitive ability by third grade), TN's voluntary prekindergarten program (participating children scoring lower by second grade than control children), etc.

If Loury tells us how to judge failure of his "comprehensive investments" and how to to eliminate them at that point, we'll talk. Otherwise, he's just one more Prog racketeer.

Fernandinande said...

Bruce Hayden said...
Well, up in NW MT,...


'Tis beautiful up there. Too much winter for me, though.

But in this case BLM meant Black Lives Matter (which I am sure you knew, but were tweaking me/us a bit).

An acronymical misappropriation if there ever was one. Those guys are just silly and worth ignoring, despite what the MSM keeps telling me.

But back to the important stuff - the racist feds arrested a county commissioner for "driving an ATV while white"!

n.n said...

Yeah, all lives matter. Whatever, right?

Scattering the problem is designed to increase party control and shift the problem of unassimilated people to local communities. Increasing public subsides while ignoring economic development increases revenue for the welfare industry. Rejecting individual dignity and denying intrinsic value is a cause for progressive corruption. And planned cannibalism, well... Who wants to live forever?

Cheap, indeed. Until you start counting blood and treasure.

It's a neat trick if they can pull it off. Let's see how Europeans cope with the social activist inspired humanitarian disaster that they scattered from their native lands.

Anonymous said...

"Indeed, I see the making of such verbal concessions as a kind of cheap grace."

OK, Loury. Can we now talk about the throwing away of billions in feel-good but ineffectual programs as a "kind of cheap grace"? (Cheap for you and the rest of the people who push 'em, that is.)

Fabi said...

Scatter site public housing has been well-deconstructed above. What's amazing to me -- in the context of BLM -- is the abject racism involved in the pretext that having them all co-located leads to crime. They freely admit that keeping blacks away from each other may prevent them from being savages.

There's no other way to read it. 'Maybe if we get them to live near whitey, they'll adapt to civilization.' Can't they even hear their own rancid bigotry?

Tank said...

Anglelyne said...

...scattered site public housing...

Ah, is this the new euphemism for "section-8'ing decent neighborhoods"?

virgil xenophon: Scatter-site housing is like cutting a cancer tumor into multiple pieces and transplanting them randomly throughout the body to grow anew--whether it's a living human being or the body politic, the results are always the same: disastrous and counterproductive.

But they changed the label, virg. Every good SJW knows that if we change the words we change reality.


What John Derbyshire and Steve Sailer are calling the Magic Dirt theory. If you could just transfer certain troubled, or low scoring, or failing, or criminal, groups so they are living "over" the Magic Dirt, then they would be transformed into fully functioning groups. An added "benefit" postulated by Sailer is that sending the "Section 8" peoples out into whitelandia leaves the inner city areas a lot nicer for the gentrifiers, real estate developers (donors) and elites.

Anonymous said...

"a guaranteed minimum income for all American families, public jobs as employer-of-last-resort, higher per capita expenditures on the education of those from the least advantaged home environments ..."

Wonder who pays that minimum income? How many employers close down?
Last resort is always the first and the best resort.
"Higher per capita expenditures"... to placate the teachers union.

Fernandinande said...

Tank said...
What John Derbyshire and Steve Sailer are calling the Magic Dirt theory.


Amusing and well-documented "Victimization Whack-a-Mole":
1) 'Black kids must be with white kids'...
but ...'Black kids must be with black kids'

2) 'White teachers must teach black students'...
but ...'Black teachers must teach black students'

3) 'Force teachers to be accountable'...
but ...'Forcing teachers to be accountable is racist'

4) 'Allow [black] kids to leave failing schools'...
but ...'Don't allow [white] kids to leave failing schools'

5) 'Imposing white standards is racist'...
but ...'Not imposing white standards is racist'

++

Plus plenty more...

Carol said...

scattered site public housing,

Oh yes, spread the wealth. Because nothing improves black lives more than being near and among those detested whites.

Michael K said...

" 'Maybe if we get them to live near whitey, they'll adapt to civilization.' Can't they even hear their own rancid bigotry?"

This is very old stuff going back to the 70s. What do you think busing was about ?

Anonymous said...

Tank: An added "benefit" postulated by Sailer is that sending the "Section 8" peoples out into whitelandia leaves the inner city areas a lot nicer for the gentrifiers, real estate developers (donors) and elites.

I wonder which emotion is more delightful for these people: the gratified greed or the gratified malice?

On the one hand, improving one's property values and quality of life is very nice. On the other, the "side effects" of deporting undesirable minorities out of one's own territory - trashing flyover neighborhoods and being able to call the inhabitants racists when they complain - are surely pretty substantial pleasures in themselves.

Kirby Olson said...

The main thing is to get gigantic institutions to impose language control of some kind or another, which will then result in massive redistribution of funds from prosperous and industrious and clued in to lazy and clueless and poverty-stricken neighborhoods. That will work! Yes we can!

Wince said...

virgil xenophon said...
Scatter-site housing is like cutting a cancer tumor into multiple pieces and transplanting them randomly throughout the body to grow anew--whether it's a living human being or the body politic, the results are always the same: disastrous and counterproductive.

"Experts" in all fields can do the darnedest things. The procedure called morcellation is currently creating a great deal of controversy in the Boston medical establishment and the FDA.

Reed, an anesthesiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at the time, underwent a hysterectomy at the Brigham to treat what she was told were probably benign fibroids. During the laparoscopic procedure, the gynecologist used a power morcellator to shred the tissue and extract it through small incisions.

Follow-up tests on the removed tissue found that Reed had uterine leiomyosarcoma, an aggressive cancer, and later imaging tests showed that the cancerous tissue had been spread throughout her abdominal cavity during the surgery, giving her stage 4, advanced cancer.


http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2015/11/04/brigham-clashes-with-doctor-who-raised-concerns/NMRViSkancYCcJKsEZjEOI/story.html

Michael K said...

I have similar concerns about laparoscopic surgery for abdominal cancer. We will wait ten years and find that it has bad consequences. Or maybe not but "progress" will go on.

Scott said...
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Scott said...
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Scott said...
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Scott said...

Loury's point, that the "Black lives matter" meme doesn't advance the social status of Black Americans as much as the notion that "all lives matter," is well taken. Black America can't function as a social island in the context of the larger society. It is necessary to raise awareness that the solution to Black social problems are something that everyone can or should have a part in. I get it and I agree with it.

What I don't agree with is Loury's blinkered view of the solution. Progressivism is a failure. Even if executed perfectly (and they never are), progressive remedies have many proven oppressive social consequences that are often far worse than the problems they were intended to solve. The saying, "When the only tool you know is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail" applies to Loury's solution set. We need broader views of the issues to effect real social change.

jr565 said...

I agree with Loury in many respects, since he is a thoughtful guy. However, as others have pointed out, he always goes to progressivism as the solution. And they are the reason we have the problem.
Black Lives Matter is the latest meme pushed by the racial merchants. OF course, saying All Lives Matter is a more valid statement. Black lives matter as well. But its not as if ONLY black lives matter.
Yet when someone like O'Malley says "All Lives Matter' its progressives that attack him on the point. That is insensitive! You are trying to hijack Black Lives Matter through white privilege.
So when then is progressivism the solution Loury? They are the ones pushing Black LIves Matter. We are in this boat because of progressives trying to push racial divisiveness. They are not then the solution. The solution would be to get them out of the way.

jr565 said...

" But endorsing universal early childhood education, scattered site public housing, massively increased spending on mental health care for the indigent, revamped criminal justice policies, a guaranteed minimum income for all American families, public jobs as employer-of-last-resort, higher per capita expenditures on the education of those from the least advantaged home environments — all of these things, and more, enacted via comprehensive legislative initiatives DO ask a great deal from politicians and WOULD be a massive step in the direction of 'social justice' in America"
Oh brother. So much wrong with this. Ok, maybe he isn't that thoughtful.
But one of his ideas does pique my interest. The idea that families have a guaranteed minimum income. NOt just individuals, but families. Really, why doesn't a democrat ever just say "lets print up enough money so that everyone can pay their bills"? Because really that's what would solve the problem, yes? Same with our debt. If you'r going to print up money just print up enough to pay everybody off. Same with the living wage. Why 15 dollars an hour? why not 50 dollars an hour? And why posit it as a wage. Is it contingent on working? So, if you dont' work, is he saying unemployment rates shoud stay the way they are? You can't live on that can you. I'd imagine then that he is REALLY saying, give families enough money so that they can survive.
Which is what I initially said. Print up enough money so that no one has to worry about debt. Would Loury suggest that?

jr565 said...

"So, if you dont' work, is he saying unemployment rates shoud stay the way they are?" By that I meant, the rate at which we pay people who are unemployed, not the number of people who are in fact unemployed.

MayBee said...

Just about everything in his list is skirting the issue- these are programs that further the government-as-family "solution" that has been increasingly creating the problem.

A 9 year old was just shot in a targeted gang hit in Chicago. He was lured into the alley and shot because of his father. His father is not cooperating with authorities. This is the second time in recent memory this has happened here.
People don't treat life so cheaply because they don't have access to preschool.

jr565 said...

"public jobs as employer-of-last-resort"


My mom volunteered as a pollster for the last election. She had to go through some training. She probably got a salary, but certainly not a living wage. IT wasn't enough to cover her bills for the month. WHY NOT?!?
At any rate, she was describing the people working there. They were told not to bring food to the place, and EVERY single person had food at their table. Half the people were sitting around snoring till 5 PM. She described a mother and daughter who were the people who opened the doors, and they would trade off taking naps.

Is this the type of job that Loury envisions paying people money to do? We have no real work for you, but you need money, so here, take this pile of papers and move it to that desk over there. Then you can take a nap for an hour. Then take that pile of papers and move it back to this desk. Then you can take a nap for an hour.

The car companies that had unions had job banks, and they would have people on salary who would literally sit at a desk and read newspapers all day. There was absolutely no work for them. But they got paid anyway. Full salary.

Surely, Loury is not saying we need more of this style of work.

MayBee said...

Presidential campaigns who promote these policies, and have a billion dollars or so should lead the way and pay all their "volunteers" a living wage, provide child care, and paid leave for all.

Quaestor said...

...public jobs as employer-of-last-resort...

Really? Really and truly?

Loury is delusional, if not totally addled. When, oh when, has any government program stayed within those bounds? Lousy should ask himself how the how the total sovereign debt of the United States doubled in less than seven years. Look around. Do you see anything anywhere that's been built or created by government (other than red ink) which is worth even the tiniest fraction of 10 trillion dollars?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

We need scattered-site housing so every child will have the opportunity to experience ghetto life.

rcocean said...

Glenn doesn't mention immigration. Immigration has hurt Blacks more than anyone - but Glenn doesn't think it matters, must be the economist in him.

Sammy Finkelman said...

These genuflections ask very little of the (white) politicians or their (white) voters.

No, they ask a lot.

They want them to tolerate crime if it takes place in black neighborhoods, and tolerate crimes committed by blacks.

That's the subtext and why it is so important to them for people NOT to say "All lives matter" but only "black lives matter" and underestand here, blacks can only be killed by police, r white civiians.

Jr. Williams said...

Where are some places Black Lives Matter SHOULD NOT protest?
Black Lives Matter