Can we blame our ancestors for our own shortcomings?

by undercover 443 Replies latest jw friends

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  beksbks

  Keyser!
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  snowbird

  White people is the devil I say!

  Wait...I'm white.

  Never mind.

  Please continue ... Sylvia
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  OUTLAW

  Hey Sylvia!!

  I know!..LOL!!

  I think Farkel has a point..You have to lay some of the blame on the people who sold their own into slavery..It all starts right there..

  And

  You gotta cut the younger ones some slack..They never saw what you did..They were born into a much different world than you and I..

  ...........................OUTLAW
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  Mastodon

  I had refrianed form commenting on this issue on another topic. But I was discussing it with Beks and here it is...

  I'm from Puerto Rico. Back home I'm considered 'white', but not here in the states. Back home we don't have race issues like we do here. I can call my black friend whatever I want, and talk to any 'black' person (by PR's standards) without being afraid of them being offended or getting violent by any little thing.
  
  I want to clarify, I'm not a 'racists' but like everyone else, I have my prejudices. One of the things I loved the most about moving to the States was meeting all sorts of different people. I have met a few black people and even though it's all good, I feel very apprehensive around them, like I have to walk on eggshells, because normally I don't hold back on anything.
  
  I understand that slavery was a horrible thing, my ancestors were both slaves and owners of slaves, how's that for conflicted.
  
  But I feel that sometimes black people themselves are responsible for the stereotypes or prejudices that they accuse others of. Basically they have built barriers around them. I call my neighbor 'cracker' or 'honkey' goofing around, you think I could do that with a black person? I doubt it. There's a lot of things that bug me, like the phrase 'African-American', I mean, you were born in America, you pay taxes in America. You don't comprise any part of the African continent at this point in history, you don't pay African taxes, and you don't get to pay half of your taxes here. How do you want America to see you if you only see yourself as half an American. Plus, they forget 2 things, 1) Africans in general hate black americans. 2) who do you think sold africans to the Europeans as slaves? Yeah, black africans.
  
  I do believe that racism is alive and kicking in this country, there's no doubt in my mind and I don't like it. But I think black people could help themselves if they tried to be more open instead of bulding walls around them. They have come a long way, we even have a black president (or half anyway), walking around with the attitude of 'the world owes us something', belittle those achievements, IMO.
  
  That's the gist of it.

  Oh yeah, and rap 'music' sucks ass!
• 

  BurnTheShips

  I know that, Burn, but the subject is centered around African-Americans.

  I am African-American.

  Snow, you have a lot to be proud of in African American progress in this country. No reasonable person can deny that. It sticks in the mind more than others because it is still recent and geographically near to us. But people have been rising up from difficult circumstances from all over.

  BTS
• 

  snowbird

  You're right, Outlaw.

  As usual.

  Thanks.

  Sylvia
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  The Berean

  Learn from the Garden. We plant seeds in spring with a pretty good idea of when they will sprout, how they will look, and what type of fruit they will yeild. It's all preprogramed within it's own nucleus. So to humans start with a seed, more complex to be sure, yet with it's own DNA that seperates it from all others in the species. Tendencies both good and bad are manefest at some point. (homosexuality, for example, also dominant left or right handed dexterity) Therefore, all one can do is manage tour predispositions. So I guess if I am unhappy with who I am, I could start to kick tombstones ...
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  BurnTheShips

  Are you an African who just happens to be an American? Or are you an American who just happens to be African?

  I am an American who just happens to have British ancestors. My ancestors came to this Country in 1856, a mere 160 years or so ago, yet I don't identify myself as a "British" American. Your ancestors came to this Country in the 1500's, a whopping 500 years ago, yet you still identify with "African?" What is so freaking special about your ancestor's culture that makes you still want to identify with it after half a millennia? I mean, after all, it was YOUR culture who sold your ancestors out, by capturing them and offering them into slavery, you know. Who would want to identify with creeps like that after 500 years?

  I don't get it.

  Farkel

  I am going to coin a neologism: Farkel's Razor!!!

  BTS
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  snowbird

  Mastodon Please see my post #8976.

  Snow, you have a lot to be proud of in African American progress in this country. No reasonable person can deny that.

  Burn, thank you for that.

  Sylvia
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  minimus

  Sylvia, that's your comment on Farkel's point? You know, we're not all dumb here. His point hits you square between the eyes. You need to see the reason why blacks were put into slavery in the first place. Your black ancestors did that. Not whites. So be a proud "African American".