by Frannie Banannie 46 Replies latest social current
Jesse, Al, Peterson etc - none of these people were "elected" by blacks to speak on our behalf. I think most of them are total idiots, and they embarras the hell out of me and a lot of other black people that I know. In my opinion, it's mostly the media that gives these people a soap box
Ain't THAT the truth!
D.E.
To applaud this type of biased material is sad. A few weeks ago someone on the board asked if people thought most blacks thought whites were racist. Well, I don’t pretend to speak for “most blacks”, but seeing someone admire these types of views, and others join in should surely help to explain why SOME blacks think all whites are prejudiced. Happyout ( really not happy right now)
I totally agree with what Happyout said.. as well as her other comments..
no wonder blacks think the world is against them with people talking like the article first posted..
I'm not making any kind of judgements as to why this is the case, nor arguing for or against the article posted at the start...
One thing I will say, in pure admiration: nobody heard about the numerous Vietnamese refugees who later became evacuees from Katrina, and that's b/c organizations like Boat People SOS did such an amazing job absorbing their fellow Vietnamese into homes in unaffected areas.
Before you brand me a racist for any of the above comments, I grew up in a black neighborhood, was practically raised by my best-friend's mom (also black) and work at a group home for young men of color. Oh and my aunt and cousins are black.
CADY, I think moral poverty did contribute to the situation in NO, but I also believe that due to Media's hyping of the situation, Peterson and others are putting their spin on the dilemma for their own agendas. BTW, I posted what I recv'd in an email, including the first question which wasn't part of the article. None of the words in that post came from me.
Bravo for the Vietnamese! Other people, including all races, could learn from this.
I'm not a racist either, Cady, and never have been. I almost gave my older sister a heart attack when I marched to the back of the bus we were riding downtown to the library....and took a seat BEHIND the back door...beside an elderly black man. Also, I have two sets of bi-racial g/kids. One set is African-American/Italian/English-Scots-Irish. The other set is Korean/English-Scots-Irish.
Is it really a "black" thing? Personally, I'm tired of how blacks are portrayed in the media. The only time my 14 year old son sees African Americans on tv is either on COPS or some sporting event.Why not point out the "black" General who took charge of the situation an probably saved a lot of lives while the "white" President let a situation go from bad to worse.
Not necessarily, ROYBATTY, though some people seem to want to make it a black "thing." Which particular media are you referring to, Roybatty? The news? All races make the news. A person doesn't make the local or national news at prime time without having done something newsworthy, however I don't like the media giving so much attention to bad news about anyone. There are other African-American TV shows your son can watch besides COPS and sporting events, yanno. Besides, COPS shows criminals and they're not all black. And you'll probably catch the story about that General that saved a lot of lives on the history channel before too long.
The problem was not "moral poverty" of blacks or any other racially defined group. The official NO evacuation plan was "everyone will drive out of here". Since that excluded the poor - white, black, and other - THAT was THE problem. I agree with this completely. Articles like this perpetutate many of the myths and prejudices that prevail concerning Hurricane Katrina and those unfortunate enough to be left inside NOLA. There were whites and other races left inside NOLA as well. One lady I saw interviewed on Dateline was vacationing there and was from Ireland. She had no way out of the city.Bill Cosby: since when does his opinion on NOLA amount to a hill of beans? Bill did not grow up there. He has no clue what everyday life is like for the poor in NOLA. Most posters on this forum do not have any clue either. I do believe that the harshness with which we judge the unfortunate will always come back to bite us in the a$$es in some way, someday.
I'm deeply disappointed in the attitude toward the NOLA Katrina victims. It so reminds me of the attitude toward the sick and the weak in the congregations of JWs. If people are down and out, it must be their fault.
I don't recall people being so harsh about the tsunami victims. But then there was the genocide in Rawanda. Nobody stepped in, not even Bill Clinton or the UN to help those victims. Simply scrambling the radio signals could have saved thousands of lives. But this was a country in Africa full of people with black skin and nobody who could have helped gave a damn.
One more point, those blacks left behind in NOLA weren't all young gangstas. There were families with children and elderly people. The mayor and police chief tried very hard to get into the thick skulls of the media and American public that those causing the worst and most violent problems were 2-3% of the people left behind. They were criminals. All cities have those and guess what, they aren't all black.
(((FLYINGHIGHNOW))) I believe that the whole NOLA situation occurred because of a SERIES of problems, not just one or two. The problems I believe contributed to the NOLA evacuation bad press were (1) NOLA mayor failed to follow the cities evacuation plan, evidenced by news film clips of no less than 200 buses standing idle and unmanned in a huge flooded parking lot. (2) The prison/jail system failed the public by setting inmates FREE, instead of evacuating them to safety behind more bars. (3) Moral poverty on the part of the younger generations. Yes, IMO. This wouldn't have happened 35 yrs ago. I also believe Peterson is taking advantage of that bad press and putting his own spin on it for his own agenda.
As for Bill Cosby: He didn't give that speech to his peers during or after Katrina. It was at the graduation ceremony for a university to a group of peers....probably in May or June of this year. It was one of those "if you wanna be somebody....you better sit up and pay attention" speeches that made a lot of the same or similar points as the article on Peterson did.
It's the way of the world to "peck to death" those who are weaker. I've been on the receiving end of being "pecked to death" when I've been down and out and I hate it, but I can only individually do my part to see that I'm not guilty of it, just as everyone else can. It can change.....one person at a time.
Farrakhan says horrible things. I work in the inner-city and it feels just lovely to see people distributing The Monitor (I think that's the name) which preaches Farrakhan's doctrine: hate the evil white race. I'm sorry, but I work with young black men who I care for deeply. I've spent many sleepless nights worrying about them; I've spent more than I've made some shifts to buy them things; I've cried many tears. But does it help for them to read articles that pour out hatred of "the evil white man"? Hate is hate, whatever group or individual it's directed towards. The difference is if you choose to hate an individual's actions, that's based on choices that individual made and how you've chosen to react to such. But to hate a whole racial/ethnic group is just stupidity, unless you believe every person in that group fully supports the behavior of every other individual in that group (and if you believe that I don't have any idea how to help you).Next, what I saw in the Astrodome:
Beautiful, amazing people working their a**es off, two men who came to me needing transportation to the job interview they'd arranged. They'd done so by researching via the internet available jobs, calling the guy from a phone in the Astrodome, then realizing that the bus wouldn't take them to the interview location. They didn't actually own a change of clothes but already had interviews that were basically a sure thing. Btw, the jobs they were getting sucked: hard, manual labor. Stuff that would turn most of us into whiny infants before two hours were through. So the bs garbage about blacks lacking in morality is just that.
What else I saw: people who weren't leaving the Astrodome till the gvmnt handed them an apartment and monthly checks. They'd lived this way for a long time and were choosing to continue this. A white guy (one of the few I saw) who stole a credit card etc. from the home of the family who opened up their home to him. A young man who yelled at me b/c I asked him to fill out a form (the form consisted of four lines of info) b/c he was a victim of the hurricane and I'd better give him what he deserved and NOW.
What else: A black preacher from Washington DC who came down to help with a passion unlike any I've seen.
The stupidity in all of this is that you just can't start grouping ppl and judging them that way! There are wonderful/horrible people of every race.
Btw, sorry if the anger in this is obvious. But I've been called a white-trash f** b** by kids I work with (and at 7 you didn't think up those words on your own) and at the same time been loved and adored by them. A white kid I work with told me "well you know how Mexicans are." And the worst part is I don't have a solution, hence the frustration just grows and grows.
CADY, about Farrakhan and his vitriol in the Monitor: The NAACP is doing the same thing in my home town. Only it's in non-publicized meetings and passed on by word-of-mouth. I've been treated to the results of their hate-filled agenda.....in public places. I think it's sad. I no longer live there.
I don't believe that two men making their best effort to acquire tough, dirty jobs and transportation can blanket their entire group of peers with morality, just the SAME as two or a few bad-*sses hell-bent to destroy or harm others cannot blanket their whole group of peers with a total lack of it. There is morality and a lack of it in ALL races. Wouldn't it be a big step forward if people would quit defining each other by the color of their skin? Just the fact that the news media films those making the news is a big impediment to this happening.
Cady, what you saw at the Astrodome about people waiting for govt handouts and thieving from those that were helping is something that we've been discussing on an xdub email list. I think it's the "welfare state dillemma. I've posted some interesting observations from other xdubs on the list in the second post on this page, if you're interested.
You're right, Cady. There ARE wonderful and horrible people of every race. While solutions are hard to come by, I believe it's a step in the right direction if we can begin to all communicate on these touchy subjects and perhaps discuss possibilities for success where there has been failure for so long......on everyone's part.
Why in the world would it be great? It's as extreme as Jesse Jackson is, only in the opposite direction. He would do far more harm in encouraging prejudice against poor black people. Isn't there someone unbiased, rather than either of these Jesse s or Bill Cosby? Someone who will give an accurate picture of what it is like to be black and poor in the USA would help, not someone who will hinder the truth. For him to paint all the poor blacks in NOLA as immoral, should discredit him immediately.
FLYINGHIGHNOW, the entire first post on this thread was forwarded to my daughter (in total), which she in turn forwarded to me "as is." I did not contribute my words in any amount to the first post on this thread. BTW, my daughter is the mother of two of my bi-racial g/children....African-American/Italian/English-Irish. Also, to me.....Peterson's rhetoric on the NOLA situation does discredit him.
In my opinion, it's mostly the media that gives these people a soap box
I totally agree, DoubleEdge. That's bad news.
To applaud this type of biased material is sad. A few weeks ago someone on the board asked if people thought most blacks thought whites were racist. Well, I don’t pretend to speak for “most blacks”, but seeing someone admire these types of views, and others join in should surely help to explain why SOME blacks think all whites are prejudiced. Happyout ( really not happy right now)I totally agree with what Happyout said.. as well as her other comments.. no wonder blacks think the world is against them with people talking like the article first posted..
FLYINGHIGHNOW, by posting the article, I was not necessarily applauding it. I was merely giving it some limelight publicly on this forum to generate some discussion on this topic. It worked. I also think that while some people do, indeed, think all whites are prejudiced, there are also probably just as many that think all blacks are prejudiced. Some of both races are partially correct in their thinking. Wouldn't it be wonderful if simply EVERYONE QUIT BEING PREJUDICED ABOUT OTHER RACES?????
Frannie
FLYINGHIGHNOW, by posting the article, I was not necessarily applauding it. I was merely giving it some limelight publicly on this forum to generate some discussion on this topic. It worked. I also think that while some people do, indeed, think all whites are prejudiced, there are also probably just as many that think all blacks are prejudiced. Some of both races are partially correct in their thinking. Wouldn't it be wonderful if simply EVERYONE QUIT BEING PREJUDICED ABOUT OTHER RACES?????
Amen to that, Frannie. And I am glad you PMed me. Thank you.
We do need to be able to talk about this stuff. You know, we have intense discussions about all sorts
of topics in classes at the school I go to, and it's that rapid-fire, high-paced sort of discussion that seems
to bring out great ideas and solutions. It's a combo of brain-storming mixed with a slightly adversarial
process that culls things down very quickly. But we don't have that with race b/c we're constantly
censoring ourselves for fear of moral judgements by others.
Interestingly, a prof at UW did a great study that basically showed that everyone has the tendency
to group ppl by race. Even most people of color had a difficult time disassociating negative images
from their own racial group. This does not speak about the moral quality of a group (which I've already
stated that I think is a ridiculous and stupid thing to even attempt to do and the very concept is invalid)
but that we have absorbed the history of this country from long ago. Perhaps the reason we still
carry around this baggage is b/c we haven't been brave enough to face up to it, to hold it up to the light and
see it for what it is.
I don't know - is it possible for us to have an intense, heated discussion with the understanding that we are all good people dedicated to figuring out how best to live our lives; to allow each other to truly examine the things we have been indoctrinated with via our culture etc.; and then to not hate each other for those things? We say we're beyond what the Witnesses teach - but if we still hate each those
who disagree w/us, we haven't come very far. Which makes me think about my negative attitudes towards
Farrakhan and Jesse Jackson.
YESSSSSSSS!!! FHN and Cady, I think racial baggage is the elephant sitting in everyone's living room and it's time for everyone to quit avoiding it and start discussing it and working towards a viable universal resolution.....two people at a time, if need be.
Frannie
I have heard many of Farrakhan's speeches, and I have never heard him say we should "hate the evil white race".
Farrakhan quotes.
Refers to whites as animals.
White people are potential humans - they haven't evolved yet."
Philadelphia Inquirer, March 2000
Anti-semitic quotes.
Louis Farrakhan Quotes The Jews don't like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that's a good name. Hitler was a very great man.
Louis Farrakhan
Many of the Jews who owned the homes, the apartments in the black community, we considered them bloodsuckers because they took from our community and built their community but didn't offer anything back to our community.
Louis Farrakhan
- Farrakhan: "Is the Federal Reserve owned by the government?"
- Audience: "No."
- Farrakhan: "Who owns the federal reserve?"
- Audience: "Jews."
- Farrakhan: "The same year they set up the IRS, they set up the FBI. And the same year they set up the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith … It could be a coincidence… [I want] to see black intellectuals free… I want to see them not controlled by members of the Jewish community." (Source: Dallas Observer on-line, August 10, 2000)
We are not giving them {Jews} power by getting into the debate, they already have power. They control Black intellectuals, they control Black politicians, Black preachers, Black artists – they control Black life. I’m not against Jews, I’m against control by any group, of us… I don’t know how you can talk about Black liberation without confronting that and not talk about those who stifle Black thought, freedom of Black liberation. (Source: Daily Challenge, 10/12/00)
- And you do with me as is written, but remember that I have warned you that Allah will punish you. You are wicked deceivers of the American people. You have sucked their blood. You are not real Jews, those of you that are not real Jews. You are the synagogue of Satan, and you have wrapped your tentacles around the U.S. government, and you are deceiving and sending this nation to hell. But I warn you in the name of Allah, you would be wise to leave me alone. But if you choose to crucify me, know that Allah will crucify you."
- I called them [Jews] bloodsuckers. I'm not going to change that. Our lessons talk about the bloodsuckers of the poor in the supreme wisdom of the Nation of Islam. It's that old no-good Jew, that old imposter Jew, that old hooked-nose, bagel-eating, lox-eating, Johnny-come-lately perpetrating a fraud, just crawled out of the caves and hills of Europe, so-called damn Jew. . . and I feel everything I'm saying up here is kosher." (Speech in Baltimore, MD, February 19, 1994)
You see, everybody always talk about Hitler exterminating 6 million Jews. . . . But don't nobody ever asked what did they do to Hitler? What did they do to them folks? They went in there, in Germany, the way they do everywhere they go, and they supplanted, they usurped, they turned around and a German, in his own country, would almost have to go to a Jew to get money. They had undermined the very fabric of the society. (Speech at Kean College, NJ, November 29, 1993)
Farakkan is a bigot, plain and simple, you hear the same bullshit outta his mout as you would hear from a nazi skinhead.
nice discussion...good pts.
u/d
Is it really a "black" thing? Personally, I'm tired of how blacks are portrayed in the media. The only time my 14 year old son sees African Americans on tv is either on COPS or some sporting event.Not necessarily, ROYBATTY, though some people seem to want to make it a black "thing." Which particular media are you referring to, Roybatty? The news? All races make the news. A person doesn't make the local or national news at prime time without having done something newsworthy, however I don't like the media giving so much attention to bad news about anyone. There are other African-American TV shows your son can watch besides COPS and sporting events, yanno. Besides, COPS shows criminals and they're not all black. And you'll probably catch the story about that General that saved a lot of lives on the history channel before too long.Why not point out the "black" General who took charge of the situation an probably saved a lot of lives while the "white" President let a situation go from bad to worse.
Fannie -
How many "All American" black family, tv shows have you seen over the last 25 years? I can name a few that my kids love to watch - The Cosby Show, Fresh Prince and That's So Raven. BTW - two of those shows ended years ago. Now flip through the channels. You see MTV "ganstas", you see young blacks on COPS getting busted, you see rich, black football players spounting off, black comedians saying "n*gger" over and over again. What about having a show or news story about a middle-class black family? Now, I'm not syaing "oh, the media is racists...blah blah blah." All I'm saying is that today the media is bombarding America with negative images of blacks and it does subconsiously re-enforce negative sterotypes. When CNN shows over and over again a small minority of black people in New Orleans stealing or report stories over and over again of shots being fired I could almost feel people across the country going "wow, look at THOSE people." Yes, the news has to be reported but these news channels need to ask themselves if they are going more harm then good when they replay stories like these 24/7.
Personally, I don't know what does more harm - the media or the Jesse Jacksons of the world.
the media or the Jesse Jacksons of the world.
a difference without distinction...
Jesse Jackson is a racist....there I said it.
Blood sucking parasite that feeds off of discontent...and creates a problem if one isn't there...to keep the flames fanned.
He's done more harm, and stole more of "his people's" money...than ANYONE.
u/d(of the shoot the bastard class)
p.s.- Have you ever seen where poor Rev. Jesse Jackson lives?...hypocrite!
