The difference here is that they moved to Texas, they chose their paths. I am not convinced that there is some inherent thing about Native American genetics that causes the cycles of poverty to continue. I think it is more reasonable to believe that being moved to reservations in areas with low natural resources, not very much industry, or infrastructure is more to blame.
I think a good parallel can be drawn with the African Americans in the US. They started in a terrible position, faced a tough labor market, and eventually ended up mostly in densely populated urban areas.
I donāt think either of these groups of people are less successful on average due to genetics, but due to circumstance. What can be done to help is another question. I donāt believe using racist policies like reparations, or equal employment are good ideas. IMO, helping all poor people makes the most sense, and doesnāt use race as a qualifier (which I think is racist).
Okay, then is the culture due to circumstance, or is it come from who they are as a people? IMO, it is circumstance. I think there is a high probability that if roles were reversed, that white culture would be looked down upon.
Culture and genetics reflect each other to an extent. You are wrong to think genetics are meaningless to the situation. Although genetics is one of those topics that, even with the best intentions, seems to be unmalleable so discussion (if it were permissible) doesnāt look look like it could ever be fruitful.
I agree wholeheartedly with this. My wife is also Vietnamese and she migrated here with almost nothing (she at least had a place to stay, but she paid rent), from nothing. Her family (7 siblings total) grew up in a house with a dirt floor; she didnāt have shoes until age 8.
Within a few months of living here she had saved enough to get a car and within 6 months was living in her own apartment. She started school 6 months later and got a bachelorās degree with no outside help. It takes hard work, but it can be done.
Success leaves clues. If you look at successful Americans, white or black, and compare them to successful immigrant groups, you would probably see some things they all have in common. White (non anglo) immigrants in this country faced obstacles, such as racism, that white (anglo) Americans didnāt for example. Nigerians that come here have been more successful than African-Americans even though whatever racism still exists would affect them as well. So immigrants who face or faced racism, were able to succeed in spite of it but African-Americans cannot. The point is, if you look at so-called privileged people in this country, youāll see that they have a certain mindset and values that help them succeed. If you look at the immigrants who have come here and been successful, they also have a mindset and values that is similar to successful people of āprivilege.ā This can only mean that this mindset and those values are not present in poor black society. We can argue about why itās like that, I believe that slavery and systemic racism in the past helped foster a culture that is almost deliberately designed to seek failure in a society structured as ours, but the task should be to overcome the mindset that we are faced with, not point fingers at statues or like BLM, blame white supremacy, capitalism and the patriarchy.
The cycle of poverty in 3rd world countries seems dependent on strictly a lack of opportunity for the poverty, where-as the cycle of poverty in 1st world countries seems to be dependent on bad decisions.
In the 3rd world people in poverty had to rely on stable family dynamics, and work their ass off and skrimp and save just to survive. In 1st world countries, folks have poor family dynamics, addiction, and role models that continuously make terrible personal, professional and financial decisions.
You also have to remember that the folks from poverty in 3rd world countries that made it to the USA are the cream of the crop usually: hard working, smart people that have ambition. They were only poor because of lack of opportunity in their home country, not because of a toxic culture that is embedded generations deep- as is the situation in many cases here in america.
I think your error here is that it hasnāt always been that way with black Americans. Black culture actually had more in common with āwhiteā āsuccessā culture 50, 60, 70 years ago when racism was far worse. Black culture back then was about Christian values, hard work, nuclear family and the statistical disparity back then reflected it.
Let me edit that a bit. White supremacist racism has gotten far better in that time. If you want to talk about the ever increasing racism of lower expectations, I could buy that.
But, they didnāt have access to the same opportunities as whites. Schools were segregated. Communities were segregated. There were race riots in cities like Chicago. Interracial marriage was illegal in some sates. So even if they had these values, and their religious upbringing also has a dark side to it as it fostered a belief in the need for Jesus to help you succeed rather than rely on your own ability and an aptitude to fall for empty rhetoric from preacher types (itās not what you say but how itās said), they still did not profit as much from those values. Is it any surprise that a people who had to depend on the benevolence of whites for their freedom, access to education, civil rights and now welfare and housing, would now look to the government to solve all of their problems as it has always done in the past? Is it any wonder they would live as though they have no agency in their lives?
I mostly agree with what you are saying, but youāre making some assumptions. She did not come from a stable family (addiction and abuse were big issues), and the area in which she grew up was not a poor (relatively speaking) area; her family was though, because of her father. She had no good role models but she still managed to overcome her horrible upbringing.
Vietnam is also not a third world country. It is developing quickly despite the issues with their government.
All of her siblings migrated over here (minus 1 who wanted to stay) and became successful. I would certainly not call them the cream of the crop, but they are hard-working and dedicated.
Of course. If this were a white supremacist nation, we would never have had a black president.
However, BLM is has changed what white supremacy is, for the useful idiots who fall for it. What that means is, those values you mention are considered manifestations of white supremacy designed to keep blacks from succeeding.
Thatās nonsense. They might have benefited more from those values than whites did. They faced all those obstacles, all white racism and were (adjusted) more successful than today. Income, unemployment, faithlessness, abortions, etc were much closer to whites then than now.
I dont doubt any of that, she sounds like the kind of person that makes this society better, and we need more of her.
I was just speaking in generalities as to the difference in cultural poverty here in america vs other countries (especially ones with lower standards of living).
Because they were unprepared for the poverty that hit the cities and neighborhoods they were confined to. They were unprepared for the influx of drugs. They were unprepared for the destruction of the nuclear family brought about by the incarceration of large numbers of men brought about by the effects of poverty on criminality. White people could leave the cities for the suburbs, blacks could not. They were stuck there when the jobs left and poverty moved in, bringing with it crime and drugs.
Thatās chicken and the egg. Iām not convinced poverty directly causes all those things, but even then why did poverty hit the cities? For example the destruction of the nuclear family causes incarceration more than the other way around. A kid raised be a single parent is 20 times more likely to end up incarcerated. Most of the racial disparity in incarceration can be accounted for by higher rates of fatherless families. What caused the current poor state of inner cities? Your answer is the poor state of inner cities did? Not only why did black inner cities degrade, but why did it happen as the US got less racist?