Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed

Good read - very informative. Jason knows with personal experience and first hand knowledge what he is talking about.

A tour de force: well researched, brilliantly presented. Most notably it conveys an immense body of information yet keeps the reader engaged. But it also feeds my confirmation bias. Needed now is an enlightened liberal response that meets the same criteria, one that might sell me on staying the course that’s been set, at least in part. Alas, I’ve learned to expect only a din comprising the picking of nits, knee-jerk outrage, whimpering and the obligatory ad hominem attack that nowadays displaces enlightened liberal thought. Yet, I have to hope, because I need to understand why it now is necessary to prove a negative to maintain innocence, as Mr Riley succinctly points out. Why are the roles of prosecutor, judge and jury, even of the appellate court system, vested in the accuser? Why does SCOTUS, insulated by the Constitution from the fray, seem only to be able to kick the can down the road, and only when it can’t ignore the can? Do these people even go home at night? Steven Carter’s experience with Harvard Law School absolutely resonated, as it would with anyone who has ever been subjected to discrimination in any sense of the word (that’s all of us). But, having found itself in a hole of its own making, this bastion of liberal thought in its infinite wisdom promptly grabbed a shovel. So did the mention of Elizabeth Warren’s “collateral damage”: to my dying day, she’ll be Fauxcahontas and I will have to deal with the immediate, unbidden thought: “Is this latest utterance of hers a lie, also?” That will be followed by another unbidden thought: “…OK. So what’s in it for her?” This is not the way I want to relate to those who would lead us. Well over a hundred years ago, Frederick Douglass pointed the way, as Mr Riley notes. But we still don’t get it, don’t see it, willfully ignore it. Meantime, the current ever-growing malignancy demands ever more time and money. And now it has legitimacy, and worse, momentum, neither of which escapes Mr Riley’s scrutiny. Yes, I very much need that reasoned, traditional liberal response. And I suspect Mr Riley would welcome it, also. Meantime, read this book; it will use your valuable time enjoyably and well.

I have always admired Jason Riley and watch him on the Wall Street Journal Review on Fox News plus any other places I might catch him. As as admirer of Thomas Sowell as well, I really enjoyed Jason's book and became even more impressed with him after reading about his family. I'm glad his father remained an influence in his life but sorry his sisters couldn't deal with their situations. He should be very proud he refused to be pulled into the "entitlement society" and, instead, chose to follow his dream to become a journalist. I have been very frustrated with the liberals' effort to hold the black down and think they are doing them a favor when in reality, they are keeping them down. This is politically motivated. As a former American History teacher, I could see these things happening especially after the passage of the Great Society programs and the Civil Rights Act (even if Johnson thought it would do good!!!). I will continue to be an even greater admirer of Jason L Riley and wish him all the luck in the world. Hope he has another issue on which he could write a book because he has great skills and writes to reach the average person and make it understandable. It's too bad that the very people who would most benefit by his book won't be the ones reading it! I wish there were some way to reach the young black youngsters before they become indoctrinated in the worthless lifestyle being sold to them. Best of luck, Jason, and I'll keep listening to you and reading your books and columns. Bobbie

Written in 2014 and even more pertinent now in today’s America. Everyone should read it and take some of the blinders off and see the manipulation that is occurring in this “racist society.” Many supporting evidence is offered as well as the author’s personal experience. A lot of the facts and arguments reinforced what I believe is true and I want my husband and young adult sons to read it.

I was rather concerned when it was suggested I read this book. Many times any book that includes the words "liberal" or "conservative" is just trashing the other side. He doesn't trash anyone. The only reason one political party is being addressed is because that's where these policies originated. He's been quite even handed and does state that these policies start out well meaning. As I read further I really wanted to question his conclusions, except his points don't just fit one group. I found a lot of his points are pretty relevant to the poor underclass (which I grew up in) no matter what color you are. I also found many of his points about these policies also are applicable to other movements. Feminism also went from a "you're strong and can do anything! Go out and show them!" to a more "you're a victim of other people..." mentality. It's something that's always bothered me because why would I identify with any group that told me I was dumber, weaker, or less capable than another group? Yet people across the nation buy into this idea. The more I read, the more I see how this applied among those I grew up with and the more I can believe of what he says. He's only echoing everything I've ever seen. I think this is really a must read and I think it's relevant across racial lines. It's funny, as I was trying to dig myself up out of that life, I frequently have told others that the biggest barrier to my efforts were NOT people telling me to "work for it", but people "helping" me. For years I would tell others who argued with me about how "helpful" these programs were to PLEASE! STOP HELPING!!! It took me at least twice as long (I had a 2 year plan that took 6 years, even accounting for youthful zeal it still shouldn't have taken me more than 3) to work my way up with "help" and had I known that I'd have stayed away from every bit of help I could. Once I saw myself in this book, I knew I was reading the right thing. He's more in touch with at least the poverty class than most I have read and than ANYONE in politics.

I love Please Stop Helping Us! I love this book so much I have purchased about a dozen to share. If you want to know the truth about race in America today, if you want Black Americans to truly be free, fully enfranchised citizens, read "Please Stop Helping Us" by Jason Riley. If everyone in the US were to read this book to the point of understanding it fully, it would finish the good work which the Civil War only started. I strongly suggest everyone that has not read it buy it and read it. It's only $11.00 and only 216 pages and it will fill your mind with truth, freedom, knowledge, and understanding. When you have all of that, you can truly find happiness and contentment in this life. Seriously! Invest $11 and one day to read it and it will change your life for the better. You will be glad that you did. This book will set all Black Americans free! And it will set the minds of white Americans free as well. Buy two, one to read and one to gift!

This book was very well researched and very well written. Mr. Riley, at least with regards to responsibility for the failure of blacks to succeed, is essentially the anti-Obama. Obama says the reason why Blacks are not doing particularly well in American society is due to the inhospitable manner in which they are treated by the White population. Obama says that is because White America does not like anyone who does not look like them. Mr. Riley refutes such a notion and points to the success of the Asian community, one which also does not look like White America, but who has excelled beyond White America in almost all intellectual endeavors and is also a group that has almost no altercations with the police. Mr. Riley argues the Obama's rhetoric is encouraging Blacks to have little regard for law and order thus increasing the crime that cripples Black communities and also that Obama's attitude encourages Blacks not to put forth the effort to educate themselves. I agree with Mr. Riley's analysis, but I do question his saying that the minimum wage does not help the poor, but rather, hurts them because it eliminates jobs. Riley displays a lot of statistics supporting this assertion, but it is difficult for me to believe that is the case. Despite my disbelief regarding this point, I think that this is a must read book for Whites as well as Blacks, but I very much doubt that anything will change Obama's mind.

Riley, an editor at the WSJ, has written an excellent book which covers all the main issues that are damaging black people in America (except perhaps for their own collectivism and belief in coercion, as exemplified by their overwhelmingly Democratic membership). These are: the inferiority of public education, the drug war (although I'm not sure that his analysis as a conservative here isn't somewhat unduly moderated), the pernicious and counterproductive effects of affirmative action, of minimum wage laws, of unions, and of gun control. Although he never says it or summarizes it in this way, the solution can be expressed in two words: more freedom. It is the lack of freedom, and the inability to experience the natural (and only the natural) consequences of their behavior that is damaging the black community. So, for example: if a) black people were free to own guns, they could protect themselves from gangs and violence in the inner-city, b) if black people weren't subject to minimum wage laws, they could work their way out of poverty, c) if blacks were free of the drug war, the normal profits of a legal market wouldn't entice their young people into gangs and drug-running, and if these lower profits still did, they wouldn't be killed, d) if black people were free from 'liberal welfare help', there would be far fewer unwed mothers and broken families, e) if blacks were free of affirmative action, their best and brightest wouldn't be stigmatized by the possibility of having received it and the others would be more motivated to study, and f) if blacks were free to choose their own schools, and not subject to the public education monopoly which drives out or makes it hard for good inexpensive schools to exist, they would have far better educational choices and thus far better outcomes.

Logical, factual, compelling. Politicians who want to look good by taking other people's money to destroy the lives of the poor should read this - however, the arrogance of the political class and the entrenched thinking means that it will take decades to sort out the idiotic thinking that has gripped the US and western governments for the last 40 years.

Pra todos aqueles que querem saber as consequências de políticas baseadas em boas intenções e ñ em fatos ou dados.

Really great book !

highly reccomend everyone read this book. very interesting points

This is a stunningly informative book. Guided by a clear eyed, non sentimental vision of black culture and history it offers real alternatives to the failed policies that show no sign of being rejected despite the abundance of empirical evidence showing they have not worked. This is a bona fide "must read".