• Please Stop Helping Us

  • How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed
  • By: Jason L. Riley
  • Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
  • Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,122 ratings)

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Please Stop Helping Us  By  cover art

Please Stop Helping Us

By: Jason L. Riley
Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
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Publisher's summary

Why is it that so many efforts by liberals to lift the Black underclass not only fail, but often harm the intended beneficiaries?

In Please Stop Helping Us, Jason L. Riley examines how well-intentioned welfare programs are in fact holding Black Americans back. Minimum-wage laws may lift earnings for people who are already employed, but they price a disproportionate number of Blacks out of the labor force. Affirmative action in higher education is intended to address past discrimination, but the result is fewer Black college graduates than would otherwise exist. And so it goes with everything from soft-on-crime laws, which make Black neighborhoods more dangerous, to policies that limit school choice out of a mistaken belief that charter schools and voucher programs harm the traditional public schools that most low-income students attend.

In theory these efforts are intended to help the poor - and poor minorities in particular. In practice they become massive barriers to moving forward.

Please Stop Helping Us lays bare these counterproductive results. People of goodwill want to see more Black socioeconomic advancement, but in too many instances the current methods and approaches aren’t working. Acknowledging this is an important first step.

©2014 Jason L. Riley (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

What listeners say about Please Stop Helping Us

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Required reading

Using substantial empirical evidence, Mr. Riley's advances the thesis, that well meaning white Liberals and profiteering Black activists have harmed, not helped, Blacks starting with President Johnson and the war on poverty.

Whether one holds Liberal or conservative political views, Mr. Riley's arguments are too persuasive to ignore and the consequences of doing so are too serious.

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32 people found this helpful

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Definitely a conservative viewpoint!

If you are a conservative politically, you will love this book. If you are a liberal or somewhere in between, you will learn some interesting facts. I found it eye opening even if I didn't agree with everything he puts forth. It's filled with information and statistics that he uses to illustrate his beliefs that since the sixties, whites in our country have done harm to poor blacks in the name of helping them to get ahead.
I recommend it as a good read.

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Must read for liberals!

As a self proclaimed Liberal, this book opened my eyes to government policy that has hurt the Black community.

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23 people found this helpful

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This book clearly explains what has gone wrong...

I live in a white minority city. I also work in a high rise and our office is next door to an employment agency. I have often ridden in the elevator with young black men who are riding up or down headed to or from the agency. Nearly always they are dressed in pants around the crotch, giant t-shirts and hooded jackets. When I attempt small talk with them, their eyes rarely lift from the floor and I can barely understand their mumbled responses. They are teenagers with their entire lives ahead of them and are almost certainly already lost for good - and I suspect many of them will soon be fathers. On the other hand, my trainer at my gym for the past 7 years is black. He is from a divorced but loving, close knit family (like the author's), he is married with children and, while we come from very different worlds, it is clear that our core beliefs as to what constitutes a successful and happy life for ourselves and our families are the same. This book goes a long way to explain the difference between the teenagers in the elevator and my trainer.

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Jason Riley presents his perspective...

of why blacks lag behind in education and earnings in what is supposed to be the post-racial US. Riley is a black conservative journalist who is part of the Wall Street Journal editorial board. He explains how "help" often reinforces behaviors that feed the a viscous cycle of poverty in the Urban black community. An example is the fact that urban blacks are most often educated in failing public schools because they are denied access to charter schools and private school vouchers.

The book is well written and thoughtfully presented. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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Good read, but...

This book has several great observations. Most are and enlightening and many are undeniable. Yet, I felt the writer took such a hard stance against Obama and the left that he failed to recognize any significant contributions of both. I'm a conservative African-American; however, I don't think, nor do I ever want to convey that all things left are bad for blacks. I really enjoyed the book though and highly recommend it.

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LIBERALS! PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. Being a liberal myself, I have often thought about some of these issues. Being white, I have felt that it is strange that mostly white people make the decisions as to the "issues" of African Americans here in America. This has helped me to look from a different perspective at the race card being played so often. I was born in 1950 and today I wonder why things have not really changed. This book helped me to see why things as they were are still perpetuated as we evolve.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The author, of course.

Which scene was your favorite?

This is non-fiction, so no scenes really. The part about affirmative action was most enlightening.

If you could give Please Stop Helping Us a new subtitle, what would it be?

The title is perfect, so honest and so un-flowered. I so appreciate the honesty.

Any additional comments?

Again, liberals! Please read this book with an open mind. It's not too late for us to change and let go of the illusion that we are helping.

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Tells it like it is...

What made the experience of listening to Please Stop Helping Us the most enjoyable?

Proves the point that no one oppresses black people more than black people.

Jason Riley seems to be one of the few black journalists in America who's willing to write the truth about black culture in our society. While heavy with statistics and numbers, Riley hits home the point that whites are not the reason blacks have social issues. He reinforces the failure of LBJ's "war on poverty" and points out the misleading opinions and manipulative behavior of "civil rights" activists like Sharpton. Very well written and I appreciate his truthfulness, which so much of journalism has lost.

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Finally, somebody told the truth!!!!!!!!!

This was an excellent book! it's so refreshing to finally hear the truth about what is happened in our country and how certain groups who created certain problems tried to hide and mask those problems and blame other groups which is typically the case. James Riley is a master at uncovering this deception.

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Easy to follow, informative.

I learned so much from this book that I did not know before. Much of it should be common sense, but it looks like too many politiicans disregard it.

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