Comments for Justin Dawkins

Comment on Black People Don't Read! – Sad but true? :-( by Abdul Malik Rasheed

Abdul Malik Rasheed — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 06:44:06 +0000

I completely DISAGREE. This is a piece of ignorant BS. Anybody reading this garbage should know that it is false. I am sure that all of us know someone who doesn’t like to read and who might be a bit excessive and lavish in their personal appetites. But I am also sure that all of us know people who are successful college educated or business professional that are very productive and active within their families and their communities. All of the people in my social circle are successful, educated African Americans men and women who are making a difference.

What we don’t need to do is to take a microscopic portion of our people who are uneducated and paint a broad picture of that group as being the majority of African American. We also need to quit apologizing for and making excuses for our ignorant brothers and sisters as ALL RACES, ALL NATIONALITIES, and ALL CULTURES have a percentage of people who are ignorant including African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian American and White Americans. There are no groups who are exempted. Other groups do not have to justify, rationalize, or apologize for those in their ranks that are ignorant and neither should we. African Americans need to quit being wimps and quit letting others determine our cultural values and our cultural rights and wrongs. Stand up for yourselves and extol your virtues and stop buying into the media and Hollywood’s stereotypical portrayals of our culture as an inferior subculture. Be Black, Be Proud!

Comment on Black People Don't Read! – Sad but true? :-( by Ayodeji Babaniyi

Ayodeji Babaniyi — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:56:38 +0000

I agree with some of Juan’s analysis: some points the writer made were not backed up with good arguments; however, you are making the same mistake as the writer if you dismiss all her assertions based on the bad ones. The only truth she presented, (as I see it) with good statistical support, is that black people are very materialistic. This fact is very true, even not just for Americans, but for people of African decent in general. We are a very consumer centric race that often live beyond our means. If we are to progress, we need to start producing and taking great pride in our products. Not buying Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, and Mercedes in-order to feel like you made it.

Comment on Black People Don't Read! – Sad but true? :-( by Juan Nieves

Juan Nieves — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:55:08 +0000

This article is an attention getter, eye catching for real, but I must question the general message. First of all, where is the information coming from? The writer of the article does not offer proof or statistics that support the idea that “blacks don’t read.” Not only blacks, but most younger people in America do not read, regardless of ethnic background. So, does white people in United States read more than any other race or ethnic group? Not so true. It has been argued that Germans and South Koreans are the most voracious readers of the world. I can only find one true in this article: Black people behave different than other ethnic groups. This is common sense, every ethnic group behave different from each other. This is not a matter of what race reads the most, it is a matter of a nation that does not place value on reading anymore, and this include all races, not only blacks. See, our main vehicle of communication is verbal; we place value on the word of people. We no longer deems necessary writing and reading as a way of communication, although it would help all individuals greatly, from all races. When I say we, I mean all Americans (blacks, white, Hispanic, Asians, Natives, etc.).

So, in view that the writer cannot support the idea that “blacks don’t read,” we must conclude that this article is biased and does not offer any constructive suggestion to make America a better place. Instead of focusing on an ethnic group specifically, the writer should have focused on America’s education problem; we don’t even rank on the top 20s any more when it comes to education quality. Now, this is not a problem of race; this is a problem of priority, and the political agenda is to be blamed for it.

Comment on Black People Don't Read! – Sad but true? :-( by Ael

Ael — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:18:47 +0000

We all are slaves of our society, in rights we are equal, so it’s about you how to play with your cards. SELFISHNESS, GREED, IGNORANCE… It’s personal. So if you black pals get through this lame critics you will be above this things.

Comment on The couple of the hour! by Charma

Charma — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 03:48:03 +0000

Whoa! This is my first time seeing this! That is definitely a cute couple! Hehehe!

Comment on Funny… but what if! by Justin

Justin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 02:14:52 +0000

Exactly!

Comment on Funny… but what if! by Celia Dyer

Celia Dyer — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:41:38 +0000

That’s too funny! It is rather a thankless job, being President.

Comment on Black People Don't Read! – Sad but true? :-( by Shannon

Shannon — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 04:01:32 +0000

Hey I am 16 my mom was the one that originally told me about this article. My first reaction was anger and I wanted to find out where this person lived and I wanted to hurt them, but then I thought about all the kids at my high school who say they don’t like reading. They won’t even read a book that effects their grade is saddens me that we, as young people, have become so dumb. We look up to people who didn’t finish high school, don’t read, talk about sex, talk about having money. We don’t look up to people that have a respect to do something more to go to college, to reach a goal in life, to be better than our parents were. You don’t’ find many kids who look up to people like that and it’s a shame. Not even our own community or government believes in us. For my education has been decreased because of money problems that our community and state government put in to play. What is happening to my school will affect me for life I will not be going to a good college like I want but as a person who reads and as a person who believe in herself, my friends, and the kids at my school. I believe that change can happen when you put words to action. When you take the first step you began a process that if you work hard and continue to step you will come to a change and you will better your life and future lives.

Comment on Funny… but what if! by Christina

Christina — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:44:30 +0000

2010 The Year of Nothing! :

Comment on Black People Don't Read! – Sad but true? :-( by Brittaney

Brittaney — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:19:41 +0000

This article is great. It expresses someone’s opinion, and as a democratic state, we are all granted the right to free speech (verbally, literarily, or via other means). Unfortunately, an opinion is just that. This is awe-inspiring way to generalize and stereotype many African American/Blacks. What was more awe-inspiring is that many of you all have allowed someone to tell you that this is the reality of the situation and side with this opinion. I am extremely saddened that you all feed into this notion that blacks are undereducated(if at all), unsuccessful, uninspired, lazy, avaricious, and not interested in making a decent life for themselves.

The portion of this article that suggest certain Blacks look down on other Blacks is simply not true. We are not a segregated community. We all come from a long line of united people. It took unity to bring about change in this country (USA), it took unity to allow blacks to vote, it took unity to allow blacks to go to schools hand in hand with non-black children, and it took unity to elect a Black man leader of the free world. So this notion that Blacks are not unified and certain blacks look down on other not so well to do Blacks is simply a generalization, that is certainly FALSE.

The section of this article that address the notion that Blacks are ignorant and don’t read is too false. Perhaps if he/she would have said something along the lines of “Blacks don’t read books penned by White Authors” then maybe that would have been more believable. All across the nation there are book clubs geared to only BLACK MEMBERS. Throughout the country there are also many black owned book stores with a predominance of black customers.

It would not surprise me that the person who wrote this is from some Podunk, Iowa town where they have not been exposed to the richness of the black culture. A Black culture that includes Leaders, Readers, Teachers, Politicians, Brokers, Attorneys, Judges, Mentors, Doctors, Engineers, among other successful figureheads.