Quote Originally Posted by Yossarian View Post

What are the differences in subcultures that make one a success and another failures. Why do they call the highest level math classes at our school "asian math"? Genetics, or culture? Why do jews have 0.2% of the world population but 20% of the Nobel prize winners? Why do african immigrants do so much better than native african-americans?
I really like these questions, because they are so provocative. As for your last example, my own theory (maybe a crackpot one--who knows) has something to do with some hypotheses on the generational impact of addiction, as it's explained by Gabor Mate. Gabor Mate says that there have been studies to prove that if a pregnant mother experiences extraordinary stress in her life, that stress gets imprinted on the fetus at a cellular level. The child is then born with cortisol levels that are all askew and is vulnerable to addictive coping mechanisms as a result.

My belief is that because we stole native African Americans from their homeland and exploited them mercilessly, they are still working that out at the cellular level. I don't think that takes one generation--I think that takes many. Does that absolve them from personal responsibility? Absolutely not. But it helps to explain why sometimes their behavior is reactive and suggests total disenfranchisement. Hello… they are disenfranchised, because the white colonialists disenfranchised them right out their own homes.

This is a general comment--I'm not commenting on Baltimore per se. Just responding to Yossarian's interesting questions.


BTW, bae, I love Jonathan Kozol--haven't read that book, but I'll look it up.