The Long Suffering of White America

It Must Be Said

When giving the commencement speech at Howard University in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson said on the plight of black Americans:

Family breakdown, perhaps most important--its influence radiating to every part of life--is the breakdown of the Negro family structure. For this, most of all, white America must accept responsibility. It flows from centuries of oppression and persecution of the Negro man. It flows from the long years of degradation and discrimination, which have attacked his dignity and assaulted his ability to produce for his family.

This, too, is not pleasant to look upon. But it must be faced by those whose serious intent is to improve the life of all Americans.

Johnson argued that despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act, black Americans could still not gain a foothold in America because of two centuries of discrimination. Compared with whites, they had lower healthcare, economic, and educational standards, and that inequity could only be blamed on the government and civic action.

Imagine if Johnson’s words are true, that a man who could not provide for his family or even have a family or had deteriorating health standards and poor economic conditions than their fellow Americans had only society and the government to blame, then who is at fault for the long suffering of white working-class Americans?