I had the pleasure of attending a fundraiser for President Obama at the Apollo Theater in New York City last night. The above tape of the President singing a bit of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” is making the Internet rounds. The moment occurred while the President was thanking the evening’s performers, Rev. Green and India Arie. It gave the audience a glimpse of the President’s personality and sense of humor.
As for his speech? It seemed the President was testing out some of the arguments he will be using on the campaign trail to strike back at some of the GOP’s claims about his presidency and to assuage progressives who feel some of Obama’s change initiatives haven’t gone far enough. The President’s most effective statements came in response to GOP claims that he is seeking to change the American economy to an “entitlement system.” He bristled at the entitlement/wealth redistribution charge, pointing out that investments are needed in the country’s infrastructure, educational systems and industry in order to maintain America’s competitive advantage, put Americans back to work, and keep our roads, bridges and waterways safe. The President also reframed the notion of “American exceptionalism” as a vision in which we all stand or fall together. Using the subtle language of inclusiveness, the President clearly sought to distinguish his policies from the race-based rhetoric being tossed around on the GOP campaign trail. It will be interesting to see how he sharpens these responses, depending on which candidate is the ultimate GOP nominee in the 2012 election.
Sometimes, you think and think, but the words don’t come. That was the position I found myself in yesterday – blog posts to write, but no words. I invited my followers on Twitter to ask questions on whatever topics they chose. Although some feared I was setting a “creep trap,” fortunately, people – for the most part – kept it both respectful and respectable. I agreed to answer some of the questions on my blog today, so here goes:
Q. How can women rebuild our sisterhood and not see each other as competition?
A. First, I think we women need to focus more on our similarities than our differences. Some issues transcend race, economic status, class, national identity, sexual orientation, and culture. The more we learn about other cultures, other races, and even how people live within class structures different from our own, the more we are able to see each other’s similarities and not focus on our differences. Second, we women should learn to be a bit less judgmental of each other’s choices. Women will never agree on everything, nor should we be expected to, but some battles – like the so-called “Mommy Wars” between moms who work in the home and moms who work outside the home – are just silly. It’s fine to disagree, but let’s not belittle each other when we do.
Q. Why are some white people so offended by the “Shit White People Say to ____ People” videos?
A. Franchesca Ramsey touched a nerve with her “Shit White Girls Say…to Black Girls” videos.
(There’s one for Brown (Desi/Indian) girls that’s just as funny.)
Watching these videos force white people to examine how they interact and relate with people of different races. As Ramsey said during her appearance on the Anderson Cooper show, I don’t think of the videos, or the people who say the types of things said in the videos, as racist. The videos exemplify a certain level of racial cluelessness – a cluelessness that endures even in spite of the many ways that “black culture” has become part of mainstream American culture. We see white people rapping to sell everything from T-Mobile phones to you name it, the phrase “Oh no, he di-int!” has become a staple of shows on the Disney network, yet dumb stereotypes about black people persist. When I was in college nearly two decades ago, I heard the same type of “shit” that Ramsey illustrated in her videos. And while most of us want to be seen as individuals, not as the cultural ambassador or spokesperson of our race for white people, if questions about our race or culture come from a good-hearted place, they’ll usually be received in kind. Humorous videos like these promote awareness and spark conversation. As Martha Stewart would say – it’s a good thing.
Q. What are your thoughts on the Australian Open so far?
A. I haven’t watched much of the Australian Open this year – most of the matches are shown during the late night/early morning hours, when most Americans are sleeping. Judging from what I’ve seen so far, Novak Djokovic looks unstoppable. Andy Roddick should consider retirement. Serena Williams’ movement isn’t what it used to be – she looks to be concerned, at times, with avoiding injury rather than returning a shot. And given the pulmonary embolism she survived so recently, her heavy breathing between points is worrisome. Both Williams Sisters have been so plagued with injury and illness lately, it may be time for them to consider exiting the stage soon as well.
Q. Law school – yes or no?
A. Yes, if you actually want to practice law. If you’re not sure, it may not be worth the investment.
Q. What do you miss about Detroit?
A. My mom. And watching the city transform. Detroit has a long climb up, but there are so many encouraging signs of life and recovery.
Q. Why are you so awesome?
A. (Yes, someone actually did ask that – thanks @losangelista!) I had an awesome(r) mother. In addition to the link above, you can also read about my mom here and here.
I received a question about mentoring, but that deserves a separate post. I will also answer questions in the comments. Ask Carolyn could become a regular feature, if there’s sufficient interest. I will ignore, delete and mark as spam any questions that are lewd, disgusting or offensive – as I decide, in my sole judgment. Thanks for playing!
January 22nd, 2012
I wish Obama would focus on those issues that directly affect average Americans. The biggest issue facing average Americans is immigration. With 8.5% of Americans unemployed according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (11% if one includes those who have stopped looking for work or are under-employed. 15% for blacks), why do we need additional immigrants? I wish he would focus on decreasing competition for jobs. I guess the welfare of average Americans isn’t among his top priorities. Getting reelected is his top priority. The sad part is that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have the best interests of Americans at heart.
Carolyn wrote:
The more we learn about other cultures, other races, and even how people live within class structures different from our own, the more we are able to see each other’s similarities and not focus on our differences.
I don’t know about that. Sometimes learning about other people and cultures has a tendency to heighten awareness of differences. Sometimes, after learning about or experiencing other cultures, people conclude:
Wow! I thought those people were just like us. But they are radically different. Many of them practice X and most of them believe in Y. They sure are different from us. Let’s be glad we aren’t them.
Watching these videos force white people to examine how they interact and relate with people of different races.
Ramsey’s videos are cute. They highlight comments made by whites that are interpreted as insulting to blacks (Rasmey looks great a blonde. Oops! Was that racist?). No harm done. There are other videos and blogs whose sole purpose is to antagonize whites. Similarly, the blog “Stuff Black People Don’t Like” is designed to antagonize blacks. That said, both blacks and whites can observe things about whites and blacks that are true and not very flattering to the group in question. The problem is that many of us aren’t able to separate insulting commentary from the true such commentary may hold.
Law school – yes or no?
If you go to a top flight law school and REALLY want to be successful, then the investment of time and money will probably pay off. If you go to a mediocre law school, be prepared to earn peanuts initially and be prepared to distinguish yourself in some way from the millions of other young lawyers with little experience. This article was interesting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?src=me&ref=general
Why are you so awesome?
I agree that you are awesome. I would love to see “Ask Carolyn” become a regular feature. I would just hope that you allow for dissenting commentary.
January 23rd, 2012
Apparently you missed the part of my post where I mentioned the President’s remarks on issues facing average Americans. I disagree that immigration is the number-one issue facing Americans. This country was built on immigration, both voluntary and forced (i.e., slavery). I also disagree that the President isn’t focusing on jobs. This is an election year, so both parties are focused on the upcoming elections. Perhaps when the President is re-elected, Congress can stop trying to ensure his failure and work on actually getting something done to benefit the country.
Perhaps it’s naive of me, but I think people of different cultures learning more about one another is generally a good thing. In most cases, you learn that other people aren’t that different from you. Even if you decide you don’t like something about a culture, it’s better when it comes from knowledge, as opposed to fear and stereotyping.
A person who goes to a second or third tier law school can succeed so long as they go in with a clear idea of what they want to do when they graduate. Too many people go to law school because they can’t figure out what else they want to do with their lives. The downside of going to a top tier law school is being saddled down with debt at a time when high-paying law firm jobs are far less available than they once were.
As for the “Ask Carolyn” feature: the jury is still out as to whether or not I’ll keep it going. I do allow for dissenting commentary on my blog, so long as it’s respectful. But having the same person spout anti-feminist and/or conservative rhetoric in the comments on nearly every post on my blog – which you’ve been doing recently – isn’t the type of dissenting commentary I’m interested in. At some point, it gets abusive, and abusive behavior will not be tolerated. Thanks.
January 23rd, 2012
Carolyn,
You included a single sentence regarding Obama “putting Americans back to work”, which I gather from your perspective is supposed to include average Americans and not just Wall St financiers. I am rather dubious. Creating make-work projects will not generate the kind of sustained wealth stream needed to reduce unemployment. Not only that, where are we going to get the money to pay for these mega-projects? Aren’t we already steeped in debt? The politically easiest and most economically feasible initiative the president could support to reduce the unemployment rate would be to enforce our immigration laws. But Obama doesn’t want to do that. He wants to go in the other direction, to the detriment of black Americans. I have quite a lot to say about the negative effects of immigration but so as not to derail this thread, I will limit my remarks to what I have said thus far. Perhaps you could dedicate a post to immigration and we could discuss it there.
In general, there is no downside to increasing one’s range of knowledge. Learning about other people and cultures is interesting but it isn’t necessarily conducive to inter-ethnic harmony. People are interested in different cultures precisely because other cultures are different than their own. This is why people travel. They find novelty in difference. And as we know from information theory, genetics and heterosexuality, differences, rather than similarities, contain the most useful information.
Even if you decide you don’t like something about a culture, it’s better when it comes from knowledge, as opposed to fear and stereotyping.
You are inadvertently making my case for me. This is exactly my point. Oftentimes knowledge of a people leads directly to fear and stereotyping. Stereotypes just don’t pop out of thin air. Long held stereotypes are usually based on consistent observation. As a consequence, most stereotypes contain large nuggets of truth.
Too many people go to law school because they can’t figure out what else they want to do with their lives.
Hmm. I don’t know about that. What you say is probably true of HLS. After all, a JD from Harvard is a high status credential. It certifies one as a member in good standing of the high IQ overclass. One could do a lot with a law degree from Harvard other than practice law. The people who go to lower tier universities are, generally speaking, focused on making the practice of law their vocation. They are in trouble not because they don’t know what they want to do, but because there aren’t very many jobs in the field of law for them. The following is a choice snip from the article I referenced previously:
Today, countless J.D.’s are paying their bills with jobs that have nothing do with the law, and they are losing ground on their debt every day. Stories are legion of young lawyers enlisting in the Army or folding pants at Lululemon. Or baby-sitting, like Carly Rosenberg, of the Brooklyn Law School class of 2009.
With respect to the type of commentary you are interested in on your blog, I didn’t know that you actively seek to limit the range of remarks to Liberal/pro-feminist entries. Being that you are a lawyer, I thought you wanted dissent. And how is it that you think conservative/anti-feminist commentary, a priori, leads to abusive rhetoric? Where have I been abusive? Where have I not been respectful? I’ve not used foul language or engaged in ad hominem attacks. It seems to me that Liberals are much more inclined to use bad language and engage in personal attacks than are conservatives.
January 23rd, 2012
Public works projects to fix the nation’s crumbling infrastructure are not “make work” projects. They are projects that teach the value of work, impart skills, and rebuild the economy. I hear lots of complaints and criticism from conservatives, but very few ideas behind cut debt and cut taxes. Those two things done together make no sense. Focusing on immigration is a red herring. Immigration didn’t cause the current recession and immigrants aren’t taking jobs from out of work Americans. Immigrants come to America and either take high-paying jobs with skills American workers don’t have; low-end jobs American workers don’t want; or they open businesses providing goods and services that benefit Americans. They raise their kids with American values and enrich this country. Perhaps that sounds naive to you, but that’s been my experience with immigrants. The economy is in the state it’s in because American companies moved jobs offshore to maximize profits. You can’t just say, bring those jobs back. New business models have to be created where domestic production once again makes sense. And other types of industry needs to be created here. Green technology is a perfect example.
There have been many articles about the oversaturated legal market – another area where traditional business models are changing, albeit slowly. Law firms can’t afford to hire all the people graduating from law school – which is why I said people should only go if they really want to practice. Those who have a passion for the law will ultimately find their passions fulfilled. The rest can open yoga studios, I guess.
And you misunderstood what I was saying about discourse and debate. We can debate the economy. We can debate about education. But I hold some beliefs – such as my views on human female sexuality – deeply, and there’s no point debating me about them. As an example, if I knew someone to be an atheist, I would not proselytize to them about Christianity. Preaching to me about the dangers of promiscuity for black women, as you have on several occasions, is like that. I hear you, but I don’t agree, and that needs to just be that.
January 23rd, 2012
I meant “besides,” not behind.
January 24th, 2012
I can understand and respect your views on female sexuality. I whole-heartedly support a woman’s right to express her sexuality in any way she sees fit (assuming said woman is willing to accept the consequences of her sexual choices, which is often not the case). The problem is that sexuality impacts lots of other issues. Take education for example. We blacks know we have an education problem. Many believe that some of the problems related to black educational underachievement are directly related to black family structure. Family structure is directly related to female (and male) sexuality. So, if one is inclined to discuss problems like black educational failure, one has to at least consider issues of sexuality. Your dogmatism regarding female sexuality is analogous to a student who complains about getting bad grades, but refuses to take into account his study habits. If my remarks on female sexuality offend you, I will cease and desist. But you must be aware that your indignation is blinding you to the elephant in the room.
You acknowledge the poor job market for lawyers currently, but you don’t seem to be cognizant of the practical effects of such a market. There are too few jobs for an ever increasing number of lawyers. Even highly motivated and dedicated new lawyers are finding themselves unemployed. I guess a young lawyer can do pro bono work for the Legal Aid Society and such. Many do precisely this, but how long should they be expected to work for free. You suggest that those lawyers who find themselves odd-man-out in the job market could open yoga studios (Yeah! That’s the ticket! Let ‘em eat cake! Are you sure you aren’t a closet Republican). But do you realistically expect them to take out loans to start their own businesses on top of the loans they probably took out to go to law school? You are starting to sound like Lloyd Blankfein or Charles Prince now. Maybe you can suggest to Richard Banks that he sponsor an initiative to reduce law school class sizes so that the supply of lawyers has some relationship to the demand for lawyers.
Wealth cannot be willed into existence. Obama’s infrastructure initiative is intended to do just that. Granted, we do have grave infrastructural problems in many states. Our power grid needs a complete overhaul. Bridges need to be reinforced etc. These problems, which are made much worse by immigration, need to be addressed. But to believe that this initiative will lower the unemployment is unrealistic. Remember the “American Reinvestment and Recovery Act”? Did that prevent the unemployment rate from reaching 10.5%. The result of an infrastructure initiative will be a measurable increase in the quality of our infrastructure, massive debilitating debt, widespread graft, and sustained levels of unemployment. The Republican solution to the problem of unemployment, cut spending and lower taxes, is actually the appropriate response. When one is in a hole, one must STOP DIGGING. The Republicans seem to be aware that there is a lot of unavoidable pain coming our way. This awareness is a good thing. The problem with the Republican proposal is that they are not very serious about cutting spending. They want to cut spending on the programs they loathe and maintain or increase spending on the programs they like. Just listening to Mitt Romney attack the president for his proposed defense spending cuts makes my blood boil. Defense spending could easily be cut by at least 50% without decreasing our military prepardedness, but the GOP wants none of that. They are hypocrites, just like the Democrats. We are in a pickle, and immigration just makes it worse. We are in a deep hole with a large amount of pain coming. The Democrats pretend the pain can be just wished away through government spending. The Republicans just want to shift the pain away from their wealthy supporters. Both parties will end up passing legislation that is both evil and stupid. Here’s David Stockman’s take on our economic situation:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/01/crony-capitalism-and-entitled-class-of.html
I take it that you are interested in an at length discussion of the issue. I’m happy about that because I feel very strongly about the topic. You raise some common shibboleths of the pro-immigration lobby. I will address each:
Immigration didn’t cause the current recession
You are correct in stating that the current depression was not caused by immigration. The current depression was due to a massive expansion of credit, just like the last depression. That said, immigration greatly magnified the housing bubble which led to the current depression:
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/article_78d9f7e6-82d3-11e0-be22-001cc4c002e0.html
http://www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/research-analysis/foreclosures-by-race-and-ethnicity.pdf
Immigrants come to America and either take high-paying jobs with skills American workers don’t have
This is an oldie but a goodie. This line has been parroted by the likes of Bill Gates and other titans of the tech industry since the early 1990s. The goal was and is to beat down the wages of technologists. There is no skill shortage in the US. There is a shortage of American technologists who are willing to work for a pittance. Economic theory tells us that if there really was a shortage of high-skill workers, the wages in those fields would rise in response to demand, thus attracting more people to the field until the shortage was over. We know that wages in technology fields did not rise much through the 1990s to the present. Of course, the wages were nonetheless higher than average, but if there really was a shortage, engineering wages should have jumped through the roof. Norm Matloff has done yeoman work in the study of the impact of H1-B on high-tech employment:
http://www.vdare.com/posts/dr-norm-matloff-labor-shortage-what-shortage
http://www.vdare.com/posts/matloff-on-greenspan-on-deliberately-lowering-american-tech-workers-earnings
http://www.vdare.com/search/node/norm%20matloff%20wages
low-end jobs American workers don’t want
There is no job that an American, regardless of race, won’t do at the right wage. Blacks used to work those low-skilled labor jobs before the advent of unrestricted immigration. And blacks (and many whites) worked those jobs because they paid relatively well. Immigration lowers wages. To take one example, blacks used to constitute a disproportionately large percentage of meat processing workers. It is hard dirty work, but the wages were good and benefits were included. The link below contains an excellent summary of the meat packing situation:
http://www.cis.org/node/1577
Here is a choice snip:
Time is limited, so I have just a few words about our second report, about the world’s largest pork processing plant, owned by Smithfield, in Tar Heel, North Carolina. In the early 1990s, most workers there were African Americans. But this changed during that decade, when foreign born Hispanics became the majority. There is strong evidence that the company had a preference for illegal immigrants because they were more likely to accept low wages and poor conditions and they were vulnerable to what a federal court called the company’s “intense and widespread coercion” aimed at defeating the union’s organizing efforts.
The 2007 raids at Tar Heel removed many illegal workers. Vacancies were soon filled by blacks, who were less subject to intimidation by the company and more likely to favor affiliation with the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which the company fought for years. As local newspapers noted, the demographic shift in the workforce after the raids was a key factor in the 2008 victory of the union in a vote at the plant. The Charlotte Observer wrote that the “raids may have finally sealed the union’s victory.” The Fayetteville Observer reported that “the new black majority proved to be the difference.”
they open businesses providing goods and services that benefit Americans
This is a highly dubious claim. Most immigrants, when they do start businesses (and most immigrants don’t start businesses), tend to create businesses that cater to other immigrants (bodegas, wire transfer operations, travel offices etc) and only hire other immigrants (they don’t pay much, you know).
They raise their kids with American values and enrich this country
You are right about this. I guess this is the reason the OOW birth rate for Hispanics is 45%:
http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_4_hispanic_family_values.html
Is illegitimacy an American value? What about gangsterism?
http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_3_immigrant_gang.html
And we can’t forget about the ever present American value of hating blacks:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2007/220107mexicangangs.htm
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/newark_schoolyard_slaying_case.html
http://thelastgringo.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/16-LATINOS-ETHNIC-CLEANSING-IN-L.A..html
Perhaps that sounds naive to you, but that’s been my experience with immigrants.
I understand. I have immigrant friends and relatives. Despite our own positive personal interactions with immigrants, we have to look at the aggregate effect their presence has on the lives of average Americans. That effect is distinctly negative, especially for black Americans.
The economy is in the state it’s in because American companies moved jobs offshore to maximize profits. You can’t just say, bring those jobs back.
I agree with you here, but you are missing the point. Outsourcing is a major problem. We should do what we can to minimize or reverse our decline in manufacturing. My point is that addressing immigration is more important, although the issues are not mutually exclusive. We can address immigration and outsourcing, although immigration is significantly easier to address. Addressing outsourcing means addressing the natures of both capitalism and nationalism themselves, which of course needs to be done, but immigration is much more pressing and will free up jobs for Americans, especially black Americans, immediately. Over 7 million illegal immigrants are currently employed in the US. Almost 2 million working age blacks are unemployed. Getting illegals to leave the country would free up 7 million jobs that will be open to Americans, especially blacks. Of course, some of those jobs cater to immigrants themselves (bodegas etc.) and would not exist if not for the existence of immigrants, but the bulk of those jobs would be open to blacks. Note, this is with outsourcing holding steady.
The problem of immigration is neither a Republican nor Democratic issue, as opposed to a Liberal/Conservative issue. Republicans love immigration because it lowers wages. Democrats love immigration because immigrants overwhelmingly vote Democratic. Both parties love immigration because it gives them a chance to import what they perceive to be new and improved blacks, i.e. downtrodden folks who are very grateful for the opportunity to serve their great white masters. Liberals and Conservatives have different but complementary reasons for opposing immigration. Liberals can oppose immigration on environmental grounds: more people mean more resource depletion and environmental degradation. Conservatives can oppose immigration on the grounds that increased numbers of people expands the reach of government in addition to undermining the cultural ties that bind citizens together.
January 24th, 2012
I think we’ve exhausted this discussion. A few comments:
1) Female sexuality: you say poverty, poor education, etc. can be attributed to women exercising sexual freedom without restraint. I say it’s the result of restricted access to birth control, poor or nonexistent sex ed, a decimated economy, lack of jobs and adequate child care, high incarceration rates for minority men and the criminalization of poverty. Ultimately, we’re both right. Should women – and men, for that matter- be more selective in their choices of sexual partners and more careful about using birth control? Yes. Should the poor (voluntary) limit their childbearing to the number of children they’re able to support? Yes, and they should be encouraged to do so. Should we work on bringing jobs back, both skilled and unskilled labor? Definitely. Should we reduce government spending? Yes – but we also need to raise revenues. Should we improve our educational system? Urgently. And spending measures aimed at fixing some of the ills identified above (poor education, for example) is necessary. We also need to focus on creating jobs and wealth through entrepreneurship. No need to debate the causes any further; let’s work together on the solutions.
2) I don’t know what I’m failing to understand about law school and the oversaturated legal market. As a lawyer, I understand it all too well. As I read your comments, we’re saying the same thing.
3) Immigration: I’m not an expert. I’m only speaking from personal experience. There are good immigrants and bad immigrants, there is good immigration and bad immigration. No need to discuss further here. This is a topic for a separate future post.
January 25th, 2012
Carolyn,
I do believe that the sexual liberation movement is partly responsible for the rise in illegitimacy. If what you believe (illegitimacy, poverty, high incarceration rates are caused by lack of birth control, lack of sex ed, bad economy etc) is accurate, how do you explain the low levels of illegitimacy among blacks during the Great Depression? People had extremely limited access to birth control and formal sex education didn’t exist. In addition to having to deal with extreme poverty, blacks also had to live with Jim Crow. So, how was it that the illegitimacy rate was so much lower then as compared to now?
I’m all for working together to find solutions to the problems out nation faces. We agree that the federal budget must be cut but disagree on revenue generation. I don’t see a need for increased revenue generation. We need to cut our spending to meet current revenue projections. This will be a painful process. Increasing taxes will effectively maintain the status quo and delay our day of reckoning.
January 26th, 2012
I await your immigration post with bated breath. Immigration is the most important issue facing our country at the moment.