0:00
You made some interesting points about
0:03
the crime statistics in the
0:04
African-American community. You think
0:06
crime and poverty and poverty are
0:08
intrinsically linked?
0:10
Not always, but they could be
0:11
directionally uh close to each other.
0:13
For example, poor Asians are not
0:15
necessarily more likely to commit crime
0:16
than a poor black person.
0:18
Okay. Do you think there's systematic
0:20
functions in place that prevent
0:21
African-Americans from moving upward?
0:23
Does not exist.
0:24
You don't think so?
0:25
No.
0:25
You don't think they've ever enforced
0:26
any policy for any action? maybe 40 or
0:28
50 years ago, but nothing in the last
0:30
nothing in our lifetime. Not even close.
0:32
I would say in our lifetime, right?
0:33
Within our last 20 decades, our last two
0:36
decades, right?
0:37
We've had a lot of opportunities for
0:38
upper mobility, right?
0:39
And and for whatever reason,
0:40
but at a systemic level, but a systemic
0:43
level,
0:44
there's a history of prejudice within
0:46
the American system against
0:47
African-Americans and black people.
0:49
But there's also historic systemic bias
0:50
against Asian-Americans and Jews. It it
0:52
hasn't held them back.
0:53
Yeah. But I'm not talking about them.
0:54
No, but but it's important to compare.
0:56
Why is it that it held blacks back but
0:57
not Asians or Jews?
0:58
So, I'll answer that. So, Jews,
1:01
well, let me speak about Asians as a
1:02
model minority, right? They've had more
1:04
opportunities for upper mobility.
1:05
How?
1:06
Well, in terms of getting business
1:08
loans, setting up in different
1:09
neighborhoods.
1:10
Well, there was a lot more anti-Asian uh
1:12
discrimination in California than
1:13
anti-black discrimination in the 40s and
1:15
50s.
1:15
So, you agree 100% that
1:16
African-Americans have getting the same
1:18
opportunities?
1:19
No, I'm not.
1:20
As far as redlinining goes,
1:21
groups are sometimes treated poorly.
1:23
Whether or not you're able to overcome
1:25
that is the question. Number two,
1:26
so treated poorly doesn't cover it. I
1:27
have a couple things. I have a couple
1:29
lines right here. So, we have the Tulsa
1:31
massacre of 1921, right?
1:33
Yeah.
1:34
Where African-Americans establish a
1:35
black
1:37
Well, they established a black wall
1:38
street, right?
1:39
And that was taken down. We have the
1:41
Black Panthers.
1:42
How does that impact San Francisco?
1:43
How does that impact you?
1:44
Well, I'm saying there's a history. I'm
1:45
trying to establish a link here.
1:47
No, but I think again that you're
1:48
trained to do this in the college. It
1:50
has no bearing on whether or not you can
1:51
make good decisions or not. Well,
1:54
college has no impetus on my thinking.
1:55
This is
1:56
No, I know. But I I reject the whole
1:58
premise. You are not a creature or a
2:00
victim of what happened 14 years ago.
2:02
Your own being with your own agency,
2:04
your own ability to make decisions or
2:06
right.
2:06
I agree to not subscribing to a victim
2:08
mentality and taking accountability
2:10
action.
2:10
I don't think any of that plays into
2:11
your current status.
2:13
You don't think so at all?
2:15
No.
2:15
Can you list more reasons as to why?
2:17
Yeah. The number one problem with black
2:19
America is the fact that dads are not
2:20
around, not the fact. It's enforced by
2:22
the government.
2:23
No, it's not.
2:24
Different. I would say on an individual
2:27
basis, there's different programs that
2:29
two two out of three uh black youth do
2:31
not have a dad around.
2:32
Yeah. There's a crack epidemic. CIA
2:35
moved crack into the hood. We went into
2:37
different hoods in the Los Angeles
2:39
community.
2:39
Yeah. But you have to still choose to do
2:40
drugs.
2:42
So like the point is you're a victim of
2:43
your choices, not your circumstances.
2:45
That's what makes us conservatives.
2:46
I think you're removing culpability from
2:48
people. But I agree with accountability.
2:50
We believe choices are what determine
2:52
what you're in, not what's around you.
2:55
So
2:55
yeah, your choices inform your
2:56
environment and your outcomes. I agree
2:58
with that.
2:58
Yeah. So then if people choose to do
3:00
crack cocaine and therefore your kids
3:02
don't have a dad around, that's your own
3:03
choice. If you choose to commit crimes
3:05
and you're in prison, that's your own
3:07
choice.
3:08
Yeah. But
3:08
but no other community has had this
3:10
problem. Why is black America have this
3:12
problem?
3:12
I think there's a direct link between
3:14
the prison industrial complex and
3:16
incarceration. How does one get to
3:18
prison?
3:18
And the profiling African
3:20
Hold on. It's But first of all, it's not
3:22
a profiling when it comes to that.
3:23
Blacks are far more likely to commit
3:25
crimes than any other group associated.
3:27
It's like three to four times more
3:28
likely. It's not even close. So, how is
3:30
that
3:30
Well, I'm not here to debate numbers cuz
3:31
I don't have the numbers.
3:32
It's okay. When you get home, you can
3:34
look at it there. Black Americans are
3:35
13% of the population. They commit 55%
3:38
of the violent crime.
3:40
A statistic I've heard before,
3:42
right?
3:43
I don't have the numbers to you could
3:44
independently fact check it later. I
3:46
don't anticipate you to have it off the
3:47
top of your head, but why is that?
3:51
I don't have a direct answer.
3:52
I know that's I want you to think about
3:53
it and I'm not going to put you on the
3:54
spot. Here's our answer. It's easy and
3:57
tempting to say systemic racism, red
3:58
lining, right? All the or you could say,
4:00
"Huh, maybe it's because dads aren't
4:02
around because dads being with their
4:05
with their equivalent others or spouses
4:07
is not a value in the black community
4:09
anymore. It's acceptable to have men
4:12
impregnate women and flee.
4:14
I don't
4:15
it's not a cultural expectation.
4:16
I think our cultural expectation is for
4:18
African-Americans to stand with their
4:20
families and increase because there's a
4:22
there's a lot of evidence that shows
4:24
when two parents are present in a
4:25
household, they have a higher chance of
4:27
their children succeeding.
4:28
I agree. Then why doesward so why why
4:30
why don't black dads stay around?
4:31
I think that's a I think that's a
4:32
progression in our community. I think
4:34
that's a progression now. I'm saying
4:35
that the the result the reason that
4:37
we're here
4:38
is a there's a lot of factors that led
4:40
us to this point. I I don't but like but
4:42
it's it's a decision that a black man
4:44
can make. He's impregnated a woman so
4:46
he's not in jail so he's like a free
4:48
citizen. Why not stay with that woman
4:50
and start a family?
4:52
And I'd say for the most part
4:53
66% of the time we're moving in that
4:56
direction it's getting worse not better.
4:57
Actually
4:58
the single fatherhood rate is getting
4:59
worse in black America. It was it was
5:01
25% in 1965. It was 50% in 1980. It's
5:05
75% in certain cities now. It's beyond
5:08
comprehension. It's like the worst of
5:09
the industrialized world. And there's
5:10
only one explanation. It's that it's not
5:13
a cultural value in black America right
5:14
now.
5:15
I think we have to disagree. I think it
5:16
is a cultural value moving forward. And
5:18
I think that has been a cultural value
5:20
and I think post civil rights movement,
5:22
especially during the civil right
5:24
movement, that was a major impetus. That
5:25
was a major focus of the black community
5:27
and that's how we got through that
5:29
movement through that structure and that
5:30
family.
5:31
You know, black America's actually
5:32
gotten poorer since the civil rights
5:33
act.
5:34
Well, yes, I understand that.
5:38
I don't have an answer for that.
5:39
It's okay. Think about it. And I'm not
5:41
saying it's one or the other, but the
5:42
Civil Rights Act is revered as this
5:44
amazing thing, but black America is
5:45
actually poorer, more likely to commit
5:47
crimes, more in more poverty than it was
5:49
before the Civil Rights Act. There's a
5:50
lot of explanations. Thomas Soul's
5:52
written entire books about this
5:53
and I and I've read I've read on Thomas
5:54
Soul.
5:55
Good. And I want you to keep reading
5:56
Thomas Soul because he'll he'll push
5:57
your boundaries and he's phenomenal.
5:59
Here's our belief system. The most
6:01
important thing is dads in the home. If
6:04
you do not have two parents around,
6:05
everything falls apart. It's not about
6:07
government checks or welfare. It's the
6:09
nuclear family. The nuclear family is a
6:10
guaranteor more than anything else that
6:12
a kid is going.
6:13
And I 100% agree with that.
6:14
Right. So, we have to figure out then
6:16
it's a riddle. I think I know the answer
6:18
why so many black youth do not have dads
6:21
around.
6:21
I personally think the answer is more
6:22
convoluted than that. I think it's a bit
6:24
muddled. I think going forward there's
6:26
going to be an upward uh progression in
6:29
that in that area. I have to look at the
6:31
numbers and I'll come back to you with
6:32
some better statistics.
6:33
No worries. Thank you very much. Thanks
6:34
for your good hearted uh question. Thank
6:36
you very much.
