Four shootings in north Tulsa may be connected; three dead, two hurt

[ObamaFTW2012]

68. I don't feel the financial disparity is race-based

I am not rich, but I would say I have climbed from poverty to being a "have". I own a business, I live in a gated community, and I have several nice cars and a truck.

I grew up without a father, just as millions of black kids do. I ate government cheese (literally), Spam sandwiches and water for lunches, and usually didn't get breakfast. Our apartment was always cold in the winter and hot in the summer because we couldn't afford to heat it and didn't have AC.

I saw the "haves" when I was a "have not" kid, and decided I wanted to be one. Yeah, they were mostly white folks, but I never saw my family's financial situation being the result of white peoples' efforts to keep us down. We were poor because my mom made bad decisions, which she learned from my grandmother.

While the white man kept black people down for generations after Lincoln freed the slaves, today the only thing keeping black people down is black people. Many don't want to work because they feel white people owe them a free ride. They would rather game the system by having "babymommas" than wives, so their kids will be paid for by the taxpayer. They swipe their EBT's for basic foods and then do a cash transaction to buy beer, cigarettes, steaks, etc.

We have government programs that throw college money at anybody with brown skin, but they don't mean much when young black girls get pregnant and drop out of high school so often that it's surprising when they don't.

The opportunity to succeed is there. Did you know that Disney includes in it's construction contracts a certification that the contractor will use a minimum percentage of MWBE (Minority & Women Business Enterprises) owned trades and services? They expect the contractor to share the wealth with black people.

White people just aren't to blame anymore for the widespread poverty amongst black people.