Robert Vance: As I stated in my e-mail communication to you directly, I think your article was insightful and despite the responses, I do not believe that you should shy away from directing potential teachers to your post. I don’t think anyone is going to assume that the posters on this board represent a fair “sample” of the Chinese or any other type of population. Readers can decide to take from these comments what they will. Overall, the site is well maintained and I thank you for your effort.

Rather than address anyone by name, which I think distracts from the overall discussion (not that, that hasn’t already happened) I am going to address several themes, assumptions and generalizations that I found to be common (and disconcerting) among the above posters:

Re: Blacks commit the most crime, have the highest percentage of crime, etc.– I think that everyone needs to re-evaluate their arguments on the level of violence committed by particular racial groups and/or ethnicity. On face, most of the arguments are pitifully informed and specious, completely failing to consider even the not so distant histories of the United States and other Western “civilized” countries. For example, when confronting the “violence” of the Middle East, Western Christians are extremely forgetful of the Crusades, Inquisitions and witch trials. The real difference between the acts of violence committed by “races” or “ethnicity” throughout history has been the act of “sanctioning.” As long as a group has the power and ability to “sanction” their acts, then their acts will never be deemed “violent.” We see this same ability to “sanction” in many other aspects of our society. Lower income Americans and Americans of color who need financial assistance receive “welfare” and are “welfare King and Queens,” whereas large banks, corporations and firms who need assistance receive “bailouts.” This same ability to “sanction” acts extends to any “nation” or “State.” Despite the fact that the “One Child Policy” has been a colossal failure, resulting in an entire generation of “only children” unaccustomed to work, increased abortions, female infanticide and an increase in the trafficking of women from other East Asian countries, the Chinese have not failed. Japanese textbooks play down Japanese wartime aggression and despite health impacts to the contrary, Japanese children still grow up believing they won the war. Blacks occupy a borderless nation. They do not have the ability to sanction acts of violence between groups or “tax” others. However, and I say this only partially in jest, I do believe their ability to do so would result in an overall decrease in Black “violent” crime. I mean, why have a small drug fight on the street when you can have an entire Opium War?

On face:

A) The biggest problem I have with this is the source that most of the posters site. The FBI Unform Crime Statistics are unreliable for several reasons. 1) Data submission is voluntary and incomplete. States, cities and counties are not compelled to submit data on crime statistics. This gives an incentive to smaller cities and towns, who have difficulty maintaining affluent populations, to under report their crime statistic in an effort to appear safer. Thus, a state like Utah would have an incentive to under report crime statistics to increase tourism and migration. States like Utah also have lower minority percentages. Thus under reporting crime reduces the number of overall crimes (violent and non-violent) committed by non-Blacks. 2) The data is skewed disproportionately towards major U.S. cities. Which is problematic when making inferences about race as Blacks are found disproportionately in cities throughout the U.S. 3) The FBI’s definition of “violent crimes” remains unclear. Does this include domestic abuse? Does it only include “random acts of violence?” 4) Despite general under reporting by the various police departments by state, the FBI fully reports cases in which it is involved, skewing the data towards federal crimes. There are many other reasons why this source is very unreliable. For a better analysis and interpretation you should read: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/bgpcd.pdf B) Another problem with this statement is that it fails to take into consideration the way laws are disproportionately applied in the U.S. The obvious examples would be the disproportionate nature of sentences with respects to powder cocaine and crack cocaine. This has an even larger impact on crime statistics in a state like New York, home to the draconian Rockefellar Drug Laws, New York City and the largest percentage of Blacks in the United States. http://www.usnews.com/news/national/articles/2007/10/01/crack-vs-powder-cocaine-a-gulf-in-penalties.html Not a great article but it’s a start.

Re: Blacks blame everything on “Whitey.”– Ugh. This argument is so boring and oversimplified. Completely misunderstood and misinterpreted by both Blacks and Whites…and everyone else who cares to have an opinion. Whites generally fail to understand that the impacts of colonization (this goes beyond slavery and exist in other places outside of the United States) were much more significant than just a “head start.” This isn’t just about forty acres and mule. The impacts of colonialism were systemic and have impacted not only the histories of different people and nations but how those very people and nations see themselves. This includes State “nations” (i.e. China, Egypt, or Cuba) and borderless “nations” (i.e. Black Americans, gays, Women). It would be impossible to do justice to the impact of colonization in this one post and I can not readily think of a book that does the subject justice. Colonialism is rooted as firmly in the quadroons of the South as it does in perceptions of Asian men as weak, unmasculine and unattractive. Blacks fail to understand the complexity of the system and the power dynamic and instead attempt to respond only to systemic triggers. This is messy and ineffective and the results (i.e. Affirmative Action) are band-aid solutions at best that have no real impact on the overall system.

I challenge anyone who disagrees with me to look at the sales rates for skin bleaching creams around the world. Physically there is no benefit to having lower levels melanin in ones skin. The melanin levels in the skin tones of most of the worlds people are a result of natural adaptations to the level of sun present and other environmental factors. The melanin in the skin of dark skinned individuals protects them from higher rates of exposure to the sun. Despite this, most (if not all) “developed” societies show marked preferences for those with paler skin complexions. How interesting. Where does this come from? What’s even more interesting is that this preference does not exist in societies not impacted by colonialism. In societies in which colonialism existed there were material and non-material benefits to being “whiter.” It is what it is. It is not the fault of present day White Americans or Europeans that the system exist as it does. However, Whites can not blame frustrated people of color who are upset with the refusal of some Whites to even admit that a system exist or much less that they receive benefits from it. (i.e. No one should be mad at Robert. He does benefit from the system. He understands and acknowledges this and can’t be held accountable for anything else.) It is the responsibility of non-Whites (i.e. Black Americans, the Chinese, etc.) to break the mental bondages of colonialism and move forward.

Re: Chinese preferences for all that is “White” or “Western.”–See my above response. You can’t blame the Chinese. They are as much apart of the “system” as anyone else.

Re: Physical Differences Among Races– See my thoughts below on intelligence. As to strength…slavery as it was practiced in the United States was hyperDarwinian and it may account for difference in strength between African Americans and others that is not so apparent in Africans. However, what is important to note, is that this was not “natural selection” and was the result of an outside interference.

Re: Intelligence– Most measures of intelligence are not measures of intelligence but education. (@Chinaman) Measuring the intelligence of Asians in “developed” or “First World” countries like the United States would not produce a representative sample. You would need to include all Asians…including the poor and uneducated Chinese that exists in much of China’s countryside. You would also have to include the 66% of illiterate Indians. Blacks are not stupid or unintelligent and neither are the other groups that I have mentioned. They are undereducated.

“Are the Chinese ready for Obama?” The Chinese will act in their own apparent best interest…whatever that may happen to be.

Candice

lol I’ve noticed that several times during news events and not just in China. When he first got elected into office he looked a lot lighter and almost white. At other times he looks more black. He switches back and forth depending on the media outlet where he’s shown. Makes me wonder what Obama’s been doing in his own wardrobe.

It shouldn’t, but SOMEthing’s up with it. He appeared at the meeting in China this month, and his skin was far lighter than it was previously. He was almost looking like an albino. I think something’s up…

>>”Why is it so difficult for them to conceive of a black man in charge of America? The answer is quite simple.”<<

You bet it is. Just present a list of US government statistics on black crimes rates compared to other races. Here’s for starters:

“Among murder arrests, blacks accounted for 64.9%, Hispanics 27.2%, whites 7.3% and Asians less than 1%.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/09/18/2008-09-18_blacks_latinos_lead_crime_stats__nypd-2.html

Blacks account for highest murder rates and welfare per capita than not only other races but whites. And blacks are still only a minority, so the disparity if actually VERY high.
Those stereotypes about blacks? Well, they certainly have more facts to support them than not. Oh there’s a more, so much more. Just go onto the USA govt sites. The most dangerous cities in the USA number more a dozen and all have majority of blacks/Hispanics.

Finally, how come blacks are not stereotyped of being hardworking and honest workers? How come blacks are not stereotyped as being achievers? Are you liberals going to blame the media or something?

OR….how come blacks are not stereotyped as being smart??? Could it because of evidence of low IQ?
http://www.slate.com/id/2178122/entry/2178123/

There’s a lot of facts out there, and too bad an overwhelming amount of it is negative. So who’s to blame for the perceptions out there? The blacks themselves or Chinese ignorance?

http://www.greenpeace.org/china/en/news/ailun-obama

It may shed some light as to what extent China, as well as Chinese people are ‘ready’ for Barack Obama.