When I want to feel my hearbeat accelerate, I read Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She’s got that knack for raising my blood pressure. In a related aside, one of my daddy’s hobbies is shooting her angry e-mails to which she rarely answers.
Today while going through a few papers, I wound up on this column about lazy, shiftless black men. Try this one on.
After a contractor walked off the job, I was assigned the task of helping my mother find laborers to help complete her new house in my hometown, Monroeville, Ala., a small place with a declining textiles industry. The assignment led me into an alternative universe of black men without jobs or prospects or enthusiasm for hard labor.
My younger sister, an architect, appointed her Mexican-born father-in-law, an experienced carpenter (and American citizen), the new general contractor. I was to find men willing to help him paint, lift, scrape, fill, dig. The pay was hardly exorbitant — $6 an hour. But it seemed reasonable for unskilled labor. So I looked among unemployed high school classmates, members of my mother’s church and men standing on nearby street corners.
The experience brought me face to face with every unappealing behavior that I’d heard attributed to idle black men but dismissed as stereotype. One man worked a couple of days and never came back. One young man worked 30 minutes before he deserted. Others promised to come to work but never did.
Really, Cynthia? You mean to tell me that people aren’t amped up about doing backbreaking labor for less than I made working at The Gap seven years ago? You don’t say?
I have no idea what the going rate for that sort of work is, but I know I’ve got a quite a few friends that perform unskilled labor. They make more than six bones an hour, and a few of those folks do so without a high school diploma.
But that, friends, was her anecdotal evidence that there are more lazy black men than ever. Is that really the best she could come up with?
She later intimates that her mother wouldn’t pay more for the labor because she couldn’t afford to pay more. That sounds to me like she couldn’t afford to have a home built. But that’s just me.
I just want to know how in the world this was enough to use as an example of the ineptitude of black men. Is there anyone here down to do that stuff for six bucks an hour? Am I just being sensitive here?
Here are questions I wanna ask.
1. Isn’t it a bit simple to chastise these “idle” men rather than considering why they’re idle? Economists account for labor market disillusionment and actually see it as rational behavior. I’d be more curious why these cats she discusses are disillusioned rather than automatically doggin’ ’em for being disillusioned.
2. Would anyone think to write such a thing about any other group? Got a secret for you…there’s a lot of white men sitting on their asses, too.
22 Comments
by Tim
This woman Cynthia is absurd. That’s exactly what black America needs, a headline to open the door for “others” to nod their head and say, “See! I was right! Even a black woman agrees with me!” Thanks a bunch, Cynth!
(1) It must be nice to have parents rich enough to build a house. (2) With the way her article reads, it would seem she approached offering the job like she’s committing a huge charitable action that should line her up for a Nobel Peace Prize. I’d put money on her using degradating and condescending tones in her job offer pitch. “Six WHOLE dollars! I’ll just go ahead and sign you poor, unfortunate souls up!”
All reasons they declined up in the air, six dollars isn’t enough to put up with that type of attitude that comes from someone who’s an apparent and quite possibly habitual “conclusion jumper.” How… republican. Or, wait, is that a conclusion jump…?
by aquababie
house construction for $6 a hour? this chic must be sick! i have cousins who do construction. that was a laughable wage. her mom essentially paid illegal folk to build her home. and i bet the sister’s father-in-law kept most of the dough.
by eauhellzgnaw
This woman and her type are increasingly populating public race discourse. These middle-upper class black women have immense antagonism toward black men (I would say it’s a psychological thing more than it is a matter of personal experience). To be fair, black men in a similar socioeconomic station have expressed hostility toward (usually professional) black women, but they don’t receive the same kind of forum–the media loves diatribes against black men (but only ones that come from other black people, at least as far as the explicit ones are concerned).
To your 1.) The “we should understand why they act irresponsibly/recklessly/etc.” response is unproductive. Sure, it makes sense when people are seriously trying to root out a problem, but its primary function is usually to deflect criticism.
To your 2.) Point taken. But this response—“white people do it too”—is also used to deflect criticism.
They need to be criticized…HARSHLY!
Let’s move beyond this woman’s insane “these shiftless negroes refused to paint my mama’s house for some corn muffins” rant. The real issue is the sense of entitlement (I wouldn’t call it pride) that Americans from all backgrounds and all income levels display. If you’re broke, uneducated, and unemployed, you need to dead the notion that you’re too good for certain kinds of labor; anything is better than nothing, even if that anything pays beans.
by eauhellzgnaw
“That’s exactly what black America needs, a headline to open the door for “others” to nod their head and say, “See! I was right! Even a black woman agrees with me!” Thanks a bunch, Cynth!”
But this kind of logic is exactly what black America doesn’t need. Instead of fostering necessary critique, more well-off black folks (because of their own insecurities or because of an obsolete notion of absolute racial solidarity before whites) break their necks to PUBLICLY defend black folks, especially the “black underclass.” I emphasize “publicly” because, in private, they are just as critical of the (self)destructive behavior as the conservatives and/or whites from whom they seek to distinguish themselves. They are consumed with white folks’ opinions of blacks. I understand double consciousness and all, but damn! Allowing fear of conservative white folks’ reactions to dictate public intra-racial discourse is one of the major problems with the popular segment of “liberal” black America. (hell, conservatives use MLK to justify eliminating Affirmative-Action!)
by eauhellzgnaw
“That’s exactly what black America needs, a headline to open the door for “others” to nod their head and say, “See! I was right! Even a black woman agrees with me!” Thanks a bunch, Cynth!”
But this kind of logic is exactly what black America doesn’t need. Instead of fostering necessary critique, more well-off black folks (because of their own insecurities or because of an obsolete notion of absolute racial solidarity before whites) break their necks to PUBLICLY defend black folks, especially the “black underclass.” I emphasize “publicly” because, in private, they are just as critical of the (self)destructive behavior as the conservatives and/or whites from whom they seek to distinguish themselves. They are consumed with white folks’ opinions of blacks. I understand double consciousness and all, but damn! Allowing fear of conservative white folks’ reactions to dictate public intra-racial discourse is one of the major problems with the popular segment of “liberal” black America. (hell, conservatives use MLK to justify eliminating Affirmative-Action!)
by Left Coast Vic
Two things: either this lady knows something I dont, or she needs to pick up a fucking shovel. When I was in middle and high school, my folks bought a house that needed maaad improvements. We couldnt afford to hire no one, so we did that shit ourselves. We did a lot of the work that the cats in the article did. $6 an hour for damn near anything aint shit, even to a snot-nosed middle schooler.
Unfortunately, there are people (my people), that wake up every day not knowing if there is gonna be work for them. For these people, $6 an hour is shitty, but slow motion better than no dough.
I give props to those Black dudes that told Cyn Tucker to kiss their ass. I wish more migrant laborers would take a similar stand and fight for better wages. Bo is right, who are you to get hot when you cant hire Black folk to build house a for $6 hr? Thats like me getting hot because the BMW dealer wont let me get that 750li for $100 a month.
Stuff like this really gets me HOT!! People like her exploit migrant labor and then shit on poor Americans for not being as “industrious” or “hard-working.” In my opinion, when folks say that migrant laborers are “hard-working” or “industrious”, you might as well call them “ignorant” and “poor.” I dont care who you are, if you had the knowledge and the ability to improve yourself economically, wouldnt no one work for $6 an hour.
If I ever met up with good ol Cyn I would have to get my little niece to give her a swift kick to the shin … with church shoes on.
by Left Coast Vic
Two things: either this lady knows something I dont, or she needs to pick up a fucking shovel. When I was in middle and high school, my folks bought a house that needed maaad improvements. We couldnt afford to hire no one, so we did that shit ourselves. We did a lot of the work that the cats in the article did. $6 an hour for damn near anything aint shit, even to a snot-nosed middle schooler.
Unfortunately, there are people (my people), that wake up every day not knowing if there is gonna be work for them. For these people, $6 an hour is shitty, but slow motion better than no dough.
I give props to those Black dudes that told Cyn Tucker to kiss their ass. I wish more migrant laborers would take a similar stand and fight for better wages. Bo is right, who are you to get hot when you cant hire Black folk to build house a for $6 hr? Thats like me getting hot because the BMW dealer wont let me get that 750li for $100 a month.
Stuff like this really gets me HOT!! People like her exploit migrant labor and then shit on poor Americans for not being as “industrious” or “hard-working.” In my opinion, when folks say that migrant laborers are “hard-working” or “industrious”, you might as well call them “ignorant” and “poor.” I dont care who you are, if you had the knowledge and the ability to improve yourself economically, wouldnt no one work for $6 an hour.
If I ever met up with good ol Cyn I would have to get my little niece to give her a swift kick to the shin … with church shoes on.
by Cobb
There exists a non-trivial population of lazy, shiftless negroes. BFD.
I buy the economic argument, which is really the only interesting one considering all of us are just middle-class people whining about which other middle-class people we want to be associated with. Or we’re just middle-class people hating poor people or irrationally loving them (because that impresses certain other middle class people). If people are disincented to work for peanuts, then they shouldn’t. The country has plenty of space for such loafers, and I bet some poor sap somewhere is putting food into those lazy shiftless black bellies. My guess is it’s some desparate woman, who is probably black too.
All this nonsense about intra-racial discourse is just that. People do what they see is in their best interest. Tucker is an observer, and she did the right thing by calling it as she actually saw it, rather than dismissing the criticism like she did the whole rest of her life.
If certain middle class people finally got the notion that they’re not impressing anybody with their bleeding heart notions about what poor black men ought to be doing or how they ought to be percieved or paid then we’d have a bit more honest politics. Altruism is one of the things that separates us from the insects, but this sounds more like collective bargaining to me.
by Fred Batiste, A Weapon of Mass Destruction
Bo,
My brother did construction work before his current job and my father was a railroad man…so I know hard labor when I see it…
and I can tell you this….$6/hour is piss poor. Shid my brother was laying down cement commercially for at least triple that…and if you ever seen poeple lay cement..you know it’s hard ass work.
Tell Cyn Tucker’s highsidin’ ass to holla at me and i can put her in touch with my unionized labor brother.
Hell, I’m adverse to hard labor if it’s $6/hour. So Cyn Tucker’s lil sis father in law gets some illegals to work like some damned fools. Hell what’s next? Cyn Tucker gonna recommend outsourcing her syndication to India because the Indian folk can work for cheaper than American labor?
by Fred Batiste, A Weapon of Mass Destruction
Bo,
My brother did construction work before his current job and my father was a railroad man…so I know hard labor when I see it…
and I can tell you this….$6/hour is piss poor. Shid my brother was laying down cement commercially for at least triple that…and if you ever seen poeple lay cement..you know it’s hard ass work.
Tell Cyn Tucker’s highsidin’ ass to holla at me and i can put her in touch with my unionized labor brother.
Hell, I’m adverse to hard labor if it’s $6/hour. So Cyn Tucker’s lil sis father in law gets some illegals to work like some damned fools. Hell what’s next? Cyn Tucker gonna recommend outsourcing her syndication to India because the Indian folk can work for cheaper than American labor?
by williethepimp
Illegal aliens can be difficult and unreliable as well when they have to hide for a minute or get deported.
by williethepimp
Illegal aliens can be difficult and unreliable as well when they have to hide for a minute or get deported.
by **RPM**
I paid a twelve year old 8 bucks a visit to feed, let my dog out into my yard twice a day. TWELVE years old. So…to an adult, with a host of issues and gripes, 6 dollars is hardly enough to blink at, let alone show up for.
Sounds like Cynthia has a theory, that she’s willing to turn any event into supporting evidence for.
by aden
che got any cards left?
by Rex
Yeah, six bucks… not good. But it is her perception of the workmanship required that is wrong as well. “Unskilled” labor? As an architect I can tell you anyone working construction who’s worth his salt would be considered “skilled.” You get what you pay for, as well as get the quality of workmanship you seek.
She, or ol’ moms, is out to build a deathtrap it seems.
by Shot Clock
There’s a difference in the world between race and class.
This seems like an issue of class, although the author unfairly attributed it to race.
$6 wasn’t good enough, so they didn’t want to work. Plus, we don’t know how difficult the work was or all the factors that caused some men not to return.
It’s a poor article. If you want to say that there were plenty of Mexican men willing to work but not Black men, then one needs to consider the outside factors. Such as the fact that it’s possible that the Mexican men were willing to work because they were in America illegally. It’s not a stereotype of Mexicans, just a possibility. In this country, a work permit is required to work, even at a place like McDonald’s. I can almost guarantee that the author’s mother was not checking for valid work permits upon hiring.
The premise that black men are shiftless and lazy based on that one experience is irresponsible writing, and a terrible conclusion. Whether it’s her opinion or not.
That simply isn’t true. How could it be? Stereotypes are easy to find, but impossible to justify across the board. There are many lazy black men in this country. There are also many lazy white men. And lazy Asian men. Etc, etc.
It’s a moot point. And doesn’t hold any water, whatsoever.
And this coming from a non-black male.
by jaedalaurez
One, she is not telling a complete story- what made the first contractor walk off the job? The fact that somebody who was (presumably) being paid an adequate amount for the job didn’t want to do it is suspicious in itself and lends me to believe there was a reason the second set of people didn’t last a whole day either.
Two, she thought 6 bucks was “reasonable”? I feel the same amount of ire for people who want to pay writers in “exposure” and not “MONEY” for consistent work. You can’t find somebody to answer your phone for 6 an hour, much less break their back building your HOUSE.
Two, what woman would have “unskilled” workers (her term, not mine- I worked at a carpenter’s union- that work is not easy or simple; I don’t care HOW they make it look on Trading Spaces)fix her mama’s house for 6 bucks a hour? You use cheap materials and labor, you get cheap results. How much “care” for your spot are you willing to buy?
Using this example as justification for “exposing” the “shiftless Negro problem” is completely irresponsible to me, and says to ME that she was biased from jump.
by big grip
We want to drive the Bentley, but want to have it serviced at Jiffy Lube. Then we will complain because there is no one who will give the Bentley a quality oil and lube job for $19.95.
You have to pay to be a baller in this society.
by Gary Dauphin
bomani, bomani, bomani. Don’t you know Cynthia Tucker was the NABJ’s 2006 Journalist of the Year? Everything she says is not only completely 1000% true but is also much needed strong medicine for the race. I think if you went to church more often or perhaps spent more time studying the lively and ingenious comedy-dramas of Tyler Perry you might learn to see these things more clearly.
The image of Tucker cruising “unemployed high school classmates” for people to work on her home blows my mind in a bunch of ways. I once stood several people behind her on a line and I can attest that she is a not unnattractive woman in a Type-A, corporate kind of way. Although I make a decent living slinging bullshit myself, were Cynthia Tucker to drive up all slow in a late model sedan, we she tp roll down her window and suggest I get up off my lazy ass and come get some of the REAL GRINGO US LEGAL DOLLAR she had waiting for me at home, well, I’m just saying I’d have to check the calendar on the Treo before answering is what I’m saying. (Don’t judge; being one of those upstanding negro men who has no “desparate woman, who is probably black too” to keep my belly full, I am forced to make do as best I can.)
Typical of the talking android op-ed columnist, Tucker lives a fact free existence: except for recounting what she did on her weekend, she does no reporting in this piece and makes no effort to document prevailing day labor wages in her areas. (US average wage hourly wage for construction last month was 19.62.) For some reason, though, she’s nonetheless sure that whatever she feels like paying is “reasonable” by definition. Perhaps there were other incentives offered that were not detailed in the column. Lemonade, for example? Or iced tea? Or perhaps that most hybrid-vigorous of day-laborer beverages, the Arnold Palmer, as invented and popularized by golfer and patriot Arnold Palmer?
by Think
Why so much focus on the SIX BUCKS???
I am not surprised you all missed the point… but I will tell you: the point is, the workers agreed to the six bucks yet did not follow through on their agreement. This is considered UNRELIABLE behavior!!! Let me see you argue that. If six bucks was so bad… why did they agree? Please exlain that. I am very curious to know what you think.
Picture this: You make an agreement with someone – and that someone does not follow through on the agreement? Please tell me how you would view that situation. I am very insterested to know.
There is a reason they were standing on the corner with nothing to do… THINK!
by Sassafras
Look — $6.00 an hour is better than nothing, certainly better than hanging out on street corners going nowhere in life. And with a commitment to improve oneself as an employee, learning skills while demonstrating reliablity, that low-level, low-paying job would inevitably lead to higher-level, higher-paying positions. That’s how every respected person, regardless of race, gets ahead — by starting at the bottom and moving up. When opportunity knocks, open the door, or accept being a degraded stereotype.
by Mary Heather O'Brien
.
THIS is a perfect EXAMPLE of why it is *not*
a moral wrong to STERILIZE BLACK MALES
(while still others should be castrated) – and then
then move on to also sterilize the black females.
They are the ONLY group in history to contribute
nearly NOTHING to society — other than violence,
low brain-functioning offspring (who they, in their
arrogance and ignorance, then force society to raise),
leeching off of others, disease, sexual irresponsibility
demands for preferential-treatment; constant-whining;
and (as evidenced in case-after-case) double-standards.
Even though there is the occasional, anomalous black
who has honestly ‘bootstrapped their way to the success’
— everyone know that 99% of all of the black people, in
general and all over the world, should simply be sterilized
If our society considers itself to be “moral” then we all know
that sterilization (and often castration) of the black male is
the most decent, most moral choice we can make for them.
The procedure is cheap and painless AND it helps prevent
the arrival of innocent offspring being brought into a world
where those who sired them care nothing about them and
where they are forced to live as mental and moral inferiors.
As a society it is TRULY our MORAL DUTY to do this for them.
It’s a win-win for everyone involved and also for the entire planet.
.