Do black people have a victim mentality? Ben Shapiro says they do, as does Carl Benjamin (aka Sargon of Akkad) and Thomas Sowell, among others. The belief that black people have a victim complex, and that this victim complex is sabotaging black people’s socioeconomic success, is a common view among conservatives and even centrists.
According to this view, the reason black Americans, on average, do less well than white Americans, is because black people see themselves as victims of racism and this belief thwarts their work ethic. This theory asserts that if you see yourself as a victim you won’t make much effort to succeed, and if you blame others for your problems you won’t make much effort to overcome them.
In this video essay I present evidence to show that, no, a “victim mentality” is not responsible for the socioeconomic disparities between black and white Americans. I draw upon various research studies to make my case.
Debunking this “black victim mentality” theory is important because it’s an ideological obstacle to addressing institutional racism and other systemic causes of racial socioeconomic disparity.
Edit due to a few comments: Radiohead = racist was a joke!
0:00 Intro
1:25 Part 1: Some Facts & A Theory
4:13 Part 2: A Survey
5:57 Part 3: The Post-Civil Rights Era
11:28 Part 4: Is Racial Oppression Real?
13:03 Part 5: Doing the “Right Things”
20:05 Quick side-note on white privilege
20:42 Summary
21:54 Outro
This video is the fourth in my Radical Responsibility series. You can watch the rest of the series here:
Some black leftist youtubers can be found in this video (I especially recommend Alki and Saint Andrewism )
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SOURCES
Part 1
Table P-4
Table 13
Part 2
Part 3
William Julius Wilson The Truly Disadvantaged (1987)
Part 4
Part 5
-Education
-Employment
-Marriage
VIDEO CLIPS
• Black Women Need to Take Responsibility (Sargon of Akkad)
• Thomas Sowell on The Effects of Victimology
• Dear Black America (SomeBlackGuy)
• Ben Shapiro sings WAP (Grandayy)
• Other Ben Shapiro clips
MUSIC CREDITS
• Saving the World (Aaron Kenny)
• Just (Radiohead)
• Faster Does It (Kevin MacLeod) Creative Commons 4.0
• Entry of the Gladiators (Julius Fucik)
• Piano Sonata No. 11 in A, 3rd movement (Mozart, performed by Adrás Schiff)
• Sweet Lord (TW$)
• Overcome (Ugonna Onyekwe)
• Boardroom Theme (Unicorn Heads)
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Usually my main creative inspiration is ContraPoints but here I’m going for a style more similar to Some More News or Last Week Tonight.
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