A difficult subject to talk about

The subject is Negros in America.

I am also prejudiced by my Marine Corps experience. There are many Negro Marines the other side does not want on our side. I am proud of them, and they count, too, like all the other Marines. And even in my Marine Corps time, I had a buddy (from North Dakota) who had never even seen a Negro until he joined the Marines. Plus I have been a recruiter during the 1970's in Kentucky, and anyone who made the minimum requirements (mental, physical, and moral) was good enough for me. Talk about diversity.

Later I was an officer recruiter of sorts as the Marine Officer Instructor at Naval ROTC at Georgia Tech, and Atlanta University. Back then we had a double standard, like if you were Negro you did not have to have as high an SAT score to qualify to be a Marine Officer candidate. Well that resulted in many young men totally frustrated when they got mixed with peers who were just better qualified. Later one common standard got instituted, thank goodness.

I even got a phone call once from one of my best Atlanta University grads (Morris Brown), who got frustrated during his Basic School time when he got selected to go into the transportation specialty. He took it as racial prejudice. Well to make a long story short, I chewed his rear end because (and I was proud of him) he could not write at all (his wife did most of his writing), and I had forcefully told him to take a basic course in reading and writing while at Morris Brown. He ignored me. And after he got out of the USMC he got hired by Macys in Atlanta, but even they expect performance and writing skills, too. And I have not kept up, too.

So in my experience, and prejudice I guess, I too am influenced by my experience. Plus I consider myself an OK amateur historian. Where I live today on the Cumberland Plateau suggests much of this. Right or wrong, I am sincere.

So here's a sincere idea. Negros are pretty good Americans as born. Now other cultural and tribal influences are poor. And I think most people suspect some tribes are more successful than others. Plus even as former Senator David Moynihan (now dead) suggested in our USA our best efforts to provide welfare may have unintended consequences. Families are key, and any program that takes the males out of the Family equation is just a poor idea, to me. Hence much of the horrible racial attacks, often coordinated by flash mob technicality, may reflect such a terrible situation in these days.

And I live in a kind of poor Scotch-Irish area, and the way we live is better than some of the alternatives I read about. Hence government programs do make a difference, some good, and some bad, all for our future of course.

So in my mind, America is still more a melting pot than some kind of academic idea diversity area. And we Americans living today still have to go through the process, that is the evolution of our American culture. Now just how long that will take is up for grabs, but I suggest it may be longer than most guess, like decades, and maybe a century.

But born American Negros are pretty good and smart humans, to me.