Reply to This American Life about desegregation in schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My grandmother was a single mom of 6 kids in rural India. Farming was the only source of income and it was modest income , hard labor, not many resources, no school in the village, no college within 10 miles. All 6 of her kids graduated from college (3 also finished masters). She instilled in them that they must study if they have to break this cycle, this was drilled into them everyday ( back in the 70s). Trust me when I say this, If she and her kids could do this, all AAs in this country can do this , you guys don't know what's it like to not have resources. It's time for personal responsibility people, lift your families, lift your communities on your own shoulders. Barack Obama became president because of the whites in this country, this country is ready for you, it's time to stop blaming the whites.[/quote]

That's an inspirational story.  However, I must point out, as the African immigrant PP and others more eloquently put it--this is apples and oranges we're talking about.  The experience of an immigrant coming to this country in the late 20th or 21st century is different from that of people who have lived here for generations under the enduring effects of institutionalized racism.

My dad is Indian, and I could also tell a similar story about how he made it out of his tiny rural town.  However, the experience of your grandmother and my father are notable because *they made it out of poverty,* or their kids made it out.  This is not necessarily the experience of the many they left behind.

Also, what about the history of the caste system in India, which was propagated during the British colonial regime?  Even today with the caste system officially outlawed, are lower castes all given the same opportunities as those in higher castes?  This is the closest--although still imperfect--analogy I can get to the experience of AAs here, and the systematic disenfranchisement that they've faced over the years.[/quote]

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