Dear editor,
Editor’s note: This is a response to this published column. The writer cites the U.S. Census; 2015 FBI table 43, Crime in the United States; US News: Race and Homicide in America, by the Numbers; and CNN's Don Lemon, Unwed Mothers.
Dear black Americans,
Please allow me my drumbeat of hopeful unity. As a person of 90 percent non-color I have endured the rhetoric of universal bigotry without self-examination in a one-sided bid for political correctness for far too long.
I accept the fact that due to my whiteness I have had an easy life. I made $1.65 an hour at my first job while waiting on my number to come up on the draft. Got married and had $22 of wealth. Served six-and-a-half years in the U.S. Army, where the government jetted me halfway around the world.
I hold no apologies for my patriotism or respect for this country. Warts and all.
I have no regrets about my faith in God. Calvary holds no shame. FYI, Jesus was a Jew and savior for the whole world, not just the U.S. Oh, yes, I don't know about the blue eyes.
I try my best to treat all men fairly, judging them by what they bring to the table in character and work ethic, not their color.
I understand you think I am the son of Satan because of my whiteness and that I should burn in hell for all eternity because life has not been as good to you as you wanted it to be. Get used to it — life is a bank and you'll never get more out of it than you put in.
You represent 13.2 percent of the population of this nation yet you have twice the percentage (28 percent) below the poverty line as whites in this country. Outside of winning the job lottery — i.e. professional athletics, music industry, the Powerball. Most accumulated wealth is built inside family units by generations of family members working together.
Single-parent households will always on average be poorer than families with two sources of income working together. Seventeen percent of Asian children, 29 percent of white children, 53 percent of Hispanic children and 70-plus percent of black children are born out of wedlock.
Shame.
This is a contributing factor to overall poverty in any society. It also directly relates to average annual income statics.
You represent 26.6 percent of all crimes in this country (twice your population); 36.4 percent of all violent crime; [and] that includes 51.1 percent of all murders/homicide.
2015 saw 500 whites killed by blacks with 200 blacks killed by whites — all other blacks murdered, 6839, were by other blacks.
If black lives matter, quit killing yourselves by the thousands and pointing the finger at us.
Black-on-black crime explains the high rate of black men in prison, which also contributes to the poverty level. Felony equals limited job opportunities.
I apologize that, in all my whiteness, I have no answers for the failures in the black community or lack of leadership therein to resolve these problems.
There are good people in all communities; they might have their biases, but still try their best to treat people fairly. And everybody should give a hand up to those who need it.
But if you're not willing to invest in yourself through education and hard work, you're not looking for a hand up but a handout.
That's a poor investment.
CHARLES CHANDLER
Milton
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This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Response to ‘Wake up, white America’