Less race, more class (a 4th of July post)

Marcellus Andrews says that African Americans' economic plight is less caused by racism, and more by modern-capitalism. And in capitalism, "poor men of all colors and conditions are economically disposable."

For Andrews, Blacks face a tough condition because:

the end of the American segregation system a half century ago put black people onto the blue-collar road to the middle class just when the on-ramp shut down. In the mid-1970s, the country de-industrialized. American companies off-shored steel, stopped building ships and, gradually, autos too.

OK, this is a bit exaggerating. But the point is: at that time there was not as much need for cheap, unskilled labor as before. The whites have already passed through the blue-collar road and became the middle class. The blacks are left in the hole.

Children from modest circumstance faced either low-wage work or no work at all. Just look at the fate of poorly educated immigrants today. Their influx is simply changing the color of surplus males from black to brown. The sad fact remains that America doesn't seen to care about giving these people the tools and fighting chance to help themselves.

Happy 4th of July, United States of America!