Whites Who Say Blacks Are Racist Are Onto Something
In America, we don't have a ritual for healing
We just hope for the best
So when Mr. Gates came home, the door was locked
And when Mr. Obama came home, the door was open
And I said, Wow look at that who would've thought:
Sometimes you have to force the door
Thanks for bringing this to my attention
I'll keep that in mind for next time!
Like my super who taught me how to use a credit card
When I got locked out of my old place once
I remember thinking, do it quick because this'll look bad
Or worse, someone'll see how easy it is to break in
We kids knew which window to climb through if we came home late
Not like people didn't know we were the only black family who lived there
Maybe Mr. Gates should've had a special window
He's an old man sure but he could have tumbled in nicely
I can't say though that the Gates' case is about breaking and entering
And it's not a matter of misunderstandings either
In some places, a man can shoot someone on his property
On what grounds would a black man ever dare to do that?
No, this is more about how black men kowtow to white men
And how this makes white men and black men feel
Some white men might like it, maybe others feel guilty -
C'mon, tell me how you really feel
Or, I know you hate me inside, just admit it
Then I'll trust you
What can a black man say to that?
So, I think the whites who say blacks are racist are onto something
Mr. Glenn Beck, for example, is really showing us
That he cannot understand how black men can take it
In his mind it doesn't add up
How can it be that people who are treated badly are not filled with hate?
Why do you not hate, like me
Mr. Beck wants to know
But he does not understand how suffering can change people
Besides, many blacks are not raised to be so cavalier with their emotions
There are outlets for these things
I hate to get all Franz Fanon on you, but Fanon had a kind of answer
A line about how some blacks escape through activity
For me, I run
I run because this is my idea of what it is like to be free
I can go fast
When I run I am not thinking
In order to go fast, I have to put all my energy into it
I don't have any more space then for
How I was hurt or what I want
And this feels good
To be free of it
So people can do individual work on themselves
But collectively, this is a murkier problem
Obama was smart; he got elected by ejecting from this discussion
This is an unsolvable problem if you look at it directly
He's humoring us by saying I can teach you how to be nice
(Stupid, you should already know that after all)
The problem gets muddier still because I can't say
That I often feel sorry for black men
You see, they can turn on their own
And not just in the Shelby Steele kind of way
I am thinking smaller, I am walking through my neighborhood
And a middle-aged black man is telling me he's looking at my crotch
Another says he thinks my ass looks like this or that
His eyes wanting to be heard but he's turned downwards
His cigarette dribbling onto the pavement
Is this how men behave?
These creatures are overcome by what they want to inflict
Empowered when they think they see someone weaker
They didn't start out this way
A boy hands me a quarter I've dropped out of my wallet
He's running pauses to give it to me - Here, Miss
And then he's off like a bird
Before I can really see him clearly
What kind of man will he grow up to be?
He does not have to let the rage which will probably visit him
Curl up inside his body like a spider and when it comes out
All eight legs hitting his kids or wife or girlfriend
Or cellmate or coworker, always on guard and watchful
Drinking, snorting, toking himself
To ease the pain, ready to hurt or be hurt
We kill ourselves more easily than we will step on toes
But it's not so complicated
It is however hard to regain your dignity
Especially when you look for it from others
[The Fanon line is on pg. 52, where he's talking about dreams of activity,
and I've extended his idea to awake-time.]
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This issue had me look at the media and I saw something that I'm not sure if it's real yet.
I realized the media would talk about any issue except the police doing wrong.
But then I thought some more and I can only remember when the media is showing a bad cop it's only about race.
Is the media trying it's best to keep a wedge between blacks and whites?
Will they intentionally try to start riots?
I can't think of any other bad cop story that doesn't involve race.
Help me here.
Maybe they are onto something in that respect. But not when they say anything else.
Many Americans tend to be very naive when it comes to persecution, slavery and racism. The one thing they each have in common is that they are all learned traits. American began the the annihilation of the Native Americans. Then came the denigration and humiliation of slavery. Some still believe that the holocaust never happened. Yet some are just too ignorant to tell the difference between fact or fiction. In only rare occasions are there people that fit into all three categories. It is here Officer Barrett resides. He will find it (street) a lonely place to live. He might also find out the wives tend to leave their husbands under such scrutiny. He will also find Humanity 101, 201 and 301 are more expensive now days.
As I grow older, I am beginning to believe that racism is just like any other sickness such as alcoholism, drug addiction and pedophilia, it is never healed, is always in recovery.
First off, the Halocaust was a ghastly and awful period which lasted from 1941 to 1945 in GERMANY. Not the United States. Slavery IN THIS COUNTRY lasted for TWO HUNDRED YEARS. There is a huge difference. Suffering and persecution are one in the same but the Holocaust and Slavery are not.
To the people who write that the US is not as bad off racially as other countries... Really? Wow, I had never heard of such an excuse. I will remember that when people complain of gas prices again, the economy or job losses. Remember - its worse in China (or what did you say - Asia?) okay - well the next time you have an issue remember its worse in Asia! LOL!
We need to hold ourselves accountable for race relations. All people could learn and grow from each others differences and experiences. We are more alike than we would like to think. When a sick person is given a blood transfusion; do they ask "well, what color was the person donating it?"
AA people are some of the most genuine loving incredibly talented and intelligent people and if it is important to those reading this that statment is coming from a white woman - born in the south, disowned by her family for having a child with a black man. I have since been married that black man and live in a predominately working class AA neighborhood where I have always been welcomed with open arms...
so how are we going to hold ourselves accountable for race relations?
and have you ever Wiki'd the "Black Holocaust?"
The question of how are we going to hold ourselves accountable for race relations from you is so out of touch that I'm seething just to realize your obtuseness... and because a internet website follows theUs tendency for understatement of what has happened, you use that as proof that it's all a bunch of sorry indivivduals whose feelings have no merit. I don't know that I can even explain to you the rage that I and othersfeel at both white and black in this country - whites for what has happened and the victimology of blacks playing into stereotypes... For nearly 52 years, I've held back, mostly to not burden people like you who could not possible understand
If you are sincere in your beliefs, read the Virgina Papers by Thomas Jefferson - as one of the founders of this nation - he did so with slaves in his possession. He died terrified on his death bed begging for redemption he was not sure was ever coming. Because he knew what he'd done. I'm going to continue this on another post.
Since this was not the Jewish holocaust, it couldn't have been all that bad? In his last days - nearly penniless from poor farms business management, he sold nearly all of his slaves to keep his home. it didn't matter that husbands and wives were separated for the rest of their lives. It didn't matter that children lost a parent for life. They were sold as cattle. He gave each males slave a shiny new dime and thanked them for 30-40 years of faithful service.
Every war America was in, including the Civil War, black were there to fight for freedoms they knew they couldn't have. In the Virginia papers, Jefferson favored cane beatings of unruly slaves, amputations of feet for runways and burning at the stake of those who could not be kept from escaping. This is the birth of our nation, the legacy that blacks were born under in this country. More on the next post.
The thievery in this nation began in 1492 with Columbus and went into factory like big business with the Middle Passge by 1542. Not a holocaust; imagine having your name, birthday, loved one, even you dreams and hopes taken away forever. And that was only possible when you became the one of 2 people who survived the beginning of the crossing. You say, all that was160 years ago? Yeah, well by that reckoning there has been slavery and subjugation in this nation longer that we've been without. Need more reading? Read Alexander Stephens - senator and eventually the Vice President of the Confederacy at the Civl War - his letter to POTUS -elect Lincoln. In it, he claims that slavery is the Negroe's natural state and that God wanted it that way. This Christian nation asked the cherished blood of those who - oh, you have my dander up now- next post
Take the charge up San Juan hill in Cuba (actually Kettle Hill) by Theo Roosevelt with the vital help from the accompanying black regiment and the soldiers who couldn't even vote in their own country writing a new chapter. From 1865 to 1965 over 5000 Negroes were (read www.without.sanctuary.com) hanged by the neck and/or burned at the stake by whites. Look for pictures of a crowd of blacks grinning to the camera while they string some white up guy for something as innocuous and knowing how to count his farm market earnings and discovering he's been cheated.
I believe racism, hate, bigotry etc. is the only way people can live with their behaviour and as look as we're talking about that horrible abomination - the Holocaust, Hitler took years to beat it into the heads of the German people that Jews where the cause of all their problems. And if Blacks play the 'race card' too much for you liking... (the closing)
I'll do us all a favor and close.. The race card: People bring it up because you live each day reminded by outside forces that are considered a second class citizen. It's hard to know when you're being played because it's all around you all the time. Consequently, I relate to machines better than people; I flew my own planes and loved being up there all alone with no ambiguity and then I'd have to return to Earth. I sailed my 45' boat offshore alone and loved my independence from anybody... And I walk the southwestern outback to hunt my own food - armed and unafraid... Ever heard of James Baldwin - read him sometime... it might give you some enlightenment but I reading your foolish comments from before.. I imagine you don't have the guts... I've read Shakespeare, Benjamen Franklin, JFK... and many others... do you have the guts to do the same?
I've known enough older Black American men to have any amount of hope for that small fleet of foot bairn.
Right enough I don't know how they do it as were they from my ethnic background the vast majority would be a seething mass of hate and resentment ready to explode at the slightest provocation which is why I have a vast amount of understanding for any that do... because on past experience I probably would.
Has anyone ever noticed the GOP hypocrisy? Look at Michelle Malkin one of their key media speakers for issues on everything from Hispanic immigration to health care, but on illegal immigration especially she is often ranting about "anchor babies" and how horrible this is, even though its under the 14th amendment, ironic if one does some research and sees her parents were in the USA on work visas, when she was born and this made her a US citizen by anchor baby status, and also insured her parents ability to move from work visa to resident visas! I wonder if any of her fan base or non fan base has ever written her about this, her contact page is:
http://michellemalkin.com/contact/
When I see her name, it makes me see red (anger like a bull). I can't stand her. Absolutely cannot. She's just another rethug tool who thinks she's "accepted."
I didn't know about this 'til now... Michele Malkin makes my skin crawl...
Racism exists in every country in the world, every race has racism to one degree or another, as a exmarine I remember in the Philippines, Olongapo city many years ago how black service men often had a certain part of town called the Jungle where they felt welcome and us white service men were not, the ladies of the evening catered to them, and if one was drunk and foolish enough to go to that part of town one might come back unharmed if one with a buddy whom happened to be black, but same prejudice existed on main drag of city called magsaysay drive, blacks were feared, mistreated, not always since there is always exceptions to anything! In my personal experience the most fervent racist in any culture is Asians, its more a culture thing of family and marrying outside their race is often a serious issue. But this is not exclusive to any race, culture, to say whites or only race with racists is a myth, I am white, have a two sons, one white one bi-racial black/white! If one wishes to see a nightly example of racism at work just watch Michelle Malkin a woman whose parents entered the USA via a work visa, she being born here in USA might be deemed by many a "anchor baby" listen to racist rhetoric against Hispanics and anchor babies, read her writings on how it was justified to intern the Japanese Americans during world war II!
Think about,
Racism, ethnic rivalries are common. They occur everywhere. The US primary problem was not racism - it was White Supremacy, and along with Britain, practiced it at home and exported it abroad. It is a part of our social fabric. Most are unaware of its subtle effects, because it is our default setting. That is why Glen Beck can glibly call the first Black president a racist. Only a white supremacist would have the gall to say that. Unfortunately, that is precisely how it works.
In regard to African-American attitudes, I once read that nowhere has a despised minority adopted the values of the dominant majority more fully than is the case in America. Think about it.
I think you are right. But It must be remembered that unlike other places where you have a despised minority. Up until a few decades ago, the country depended heavily on that despised group for its labor and economic prosperity. Blacks were ecomically intergrated into every aspect of american life, while socially and culturally being exploited. I dare say nothing like it has ever ocurred in the world - on that scale and for hundreds of years. No group has ever been so instrumental in the creation and development of a counry and reap so few of the rewards associated with that development.
Hear! Hear!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/opinion/01herbert.html?_r=2
It is obvious the Dem party don't think AA's issues are serious. AA's need to wake up.
luckygeorgiabrown - Obama's "radical" policies? To be radical is to be out of the mainstream and the man got elected president by a strong majority and polls since have shown his policies are consistently mainstream - supported by the majority. Those who call Obama radical are themselves radical - out of the mainstream.
I'm a white American male and I have lived in many different countries with most of them being non-white. I can say with certainty that some people in those countries have treated me better because i was white and some have treated me worse because i was white. One country in particular had 2 different brown skinned races each with about 50% of the population and they routinely discriminated against each other openly and still do. In most countries racism is more open and accepted as a way of life particularly in Asia. There are very few countries like the US where racism is challenged and even against the law. In fact now days the younger people in the US are even less concerned about race.
It may seem grim when you live in the US but the US is light years ahead of most other countries in racial equality.
If anyone thinks hughfree is wrong, I'm here to support his view. The US is different in a positive way regarding race compared to many western countries. Can't speak for those outside that realm.
I once had a retail job in an area where affluent people would often come in. One woman asked me if I had ever been to (an "exotic" foreign country). When I said 'No', she said that I should go, because it was fantastic or whatever. All I could think about was how I was trying to survive on the little scrap of a check I got every week, and here's this lady telling me - well, she may as well have told me to go visit Venus.
I can't disagree with either hughfree's or JonasH's posts...the problem I have with them is that there are many people in America that have never left her shores - and may NEVER leave. So to say that America is better than other countries regarding race is good to know...but since I'll likely never find out for myself, I can only go by what I have to deal with at home...and it doesn't look so hot from where I'm sitting.
You talking about Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican treat Haitian immigrants much like how the US treat Mexican immigrants. In term of race relation, the US is ahead of most countries in someways but I would argue that as long as one person has a extra dollar over someone else then discrimination and predjuice are helpful tools to keep the status quo as it is.
Hugh,
You and Jonas are right. Sub Saharan Africa is the most racist place on Earth.This black on black racism is not understood by African Americans because they have never lived in the trival system. A trible is not like tho hollywood Injuns in John Wayne films, a few dozen people living in a group of teepees. Some tribles now have only a few thousand surviving members but the Yoruba in West Africa, mainly Nigeria, the Kikuyu of Kenya, The Chagga in Tanzania and the Xosha of South Africa. These tribes are distinct ethnic groups with their own tribal cultures. And often where they must coexist withing national boundaries civil war and genocide are the result as in Sudan, Congo, Rwanda and Burundi
A favorable juxtaposition does not alleiviate our resposibilities to the racial qualms in America and their reconsiliations.
Personality is more important than your ethnicity in most cases with most people. When discussing racism, it is fair to point out when many people of one ethnic group are aggressive and unjust towards another ethnic group in an organized manner in which ethnicity is the criteria for discrimination.
There will be exceptional people of the aggressive ethnic group who oppose this aggression and put personality ahead of ethnic identification. There will also be exceptional people among the ethnic group which the organized aggression (with ethnicity being the discrimination criteria) is perpetrated upon whom themselves use ethnicity as the criteria for unjustifiable aggression against others.
Usually it is best to focus on individuals who are aggressive and the criteria for whom is subject to their aggression is based on ethnicity. It is also useful to point out if the offense was a single event or a pattern of behavior. That isolates the problem rather than spreading it.
Aggression which is intended to harm should be considered separately from latent aggression based on ethnically-subjective psychological alienation. Ethnically subjective psychological states should not necessarily be condemned where sexual fetishes are concerned.
For Termgirl:
I posted yesterday that I don't want A-Americans discussing racial issues with any white people, be they the understanding, sympathetic ones or the more cruel ones. Please, I am serious about it. We Blacks must adhere to this order. I don not want any more racial discussion with white ppl, we'll just have to do what we've got to do to get fairness and justice. They can't stop us. Those days are gone. We don't have to be nice and good. Obama doesn't have to be a super president. Skrew'em!
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