Really great insight by bringing this key statistic to light, and all the other insights. I do,believe whites in power are partly to blame for structuring society to force black internal immigrant from the south to live largely in “ghettos.” The redlining laws came into effect right before 3 million black American families immigrated to work in northeastern, Midwestern and West Coast munitions factories built by the government. There was not enough white labor left during WWII, and so the government, who built all these factories in direct cooperation with CEOs of industry who moved to DC to plan and operate the wartime construction and weapons fabrication , need workers, preferably a cheap source of labor. Black Americans in the South fit that bill and so were “offered” millions of government jobs in these factories. The black American migrants, that Ms to the policy of segregation, perpetrated in reality by “Sun down towns” outside the South which then began legislated into redlining laws, left black American migrants with few options but to live in designated “black areas.” After the war, the thousands of factories were turned over to private businesses, which are today’s big defense contractors.
The jobs were taken away from the black Americans and the women, and turned over to white soldiers returning from the war. “Trapped” in these new black areas, which became “ghetto” by looking by the 1980s after thirty years of no investment and neglect, and a lack of job offers as whites were chosen “first” and educated by the GI Bill that gave cheap mortgages and free education to white solders, blacks were left somewhat high and dry, landing back in the segregated position they had been in ten years before the 3 million were moved by government forces from the South. No, it wasn’t all bad, and we can find success stories of black Americans throughout the post WWII decades. But the overwhelming government forces that shaped their lives still deserves blame for perpetuating black poverty, not providing equal opportunities, and creating conditions of racial repression.
There is a distinctly false belief that the 12 year government of FDR was somehow socialist and thus good for black Americans. Nothing but the opposite is true, and he was head of the white supremacist democrat party, which didn’t become “non-racist” until 1964 when all the southern racist left and joined the Republican Party. Just look at one of the many things some of the Democrat politicians said on the floor of Congress: “we will control the mechanisms of white supremacy throughout eternity.” Does that sound like a democrat to you? These were more like 12 years a slave than 12 years of socialism for blacks. Stopping being gaslit by todays horrific new racist right MAGAs that CRT is garbage. Critical Race Theory is the first thing to study, and the laws created, enacted and enforced during this period forced mass migration of blacks and led black Americans being forced to live in black areas that would erode into ghettos from lack of school funding and lack of job funding.
Do I blame black men for black on black violence? Sure, I guess they pulled the trigger. But should I also blame how the governments created the conditions of ghetto deterioration and hopelessness by funding and education deprivation to ensure their failure? Absolutely. We can’t blame them enough.
