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Notes -
In fairness, I admit that the exact phrasing of "treated as a slave race" is too extreme. Still, any real measures to address black dysfunction would necessarily entail the solidification of disproportionate outcomes between whites and blacks, which would inevitably fuel the resentment towards whites that has burned in the heart of the black man since 1619.
Aww, you ruined the surprise - I was building up to that. But yes, the widespread acceptance of HBD among whites is an existential threat to blacks, and in varying degrees to all non-whites.
Blacks already resent whites. If blacks insist on equality of result as a condition for ending their resentment, they (and white people) are just going to have to deal with the resentment.
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No, it isn't. Widespread acceptance of HBD among whites is unlikely to lead to genocide of blacks, and certainly not of East Asians.
They have not, and will not, simply "just deal with the resentment", as evidenced by all of American race relations since Reconstruction.
You're right writ. East Asians, hence my qualifier "in varying degrees". But towards other non-whites, and especially towards blacks, the argument put forth by Teddy Roosevelt (and in my linked comment above) is simply correct, and by extension blacks are correct in doing everything in their power to hold back the day when acceptance of HBD reaches critical mass among whites.
They're not going to have a choice. Because the alternative simply doesn't work.
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