Cheney was right!

[Lsn2Mkt]

Originally Posted by Pineygirl

Does this mean everyone is supposed to actually treat African Americans differently from the way we treat white people?

By all standards, I had a very bad childhood. I'd have been taken away by 'child services' in today's world. I happened to get a break or two and eventually overcame it.

Part of that was because I didn't have to carry a sign around with me that said, "Caution! Potential trouble-making malcontent approaching!!"

Many whites think exactly that each time they see a minority. They do treat minorities differently, no matter how subtle it might be. And, as in the Cambridge incident, some minority individuals treat whites differently.

It'll take either a cataclysmic event, or at least another generation for that to dwindle to nothingness. Just as there remain Nazi zealots, though, hatred will never go away in our lifetimes.

Getting attitudes to change requires change on both sides. President Obama represents ALL of America, meaning he has great influence over both 'sides'. He should strive to be the ideal role model.

But when he bows to kings and drops the race card without all of the facts, it makes me, for one, wonder just what in the hell we've gotten ourselves into!

[oldhardhead]

I am doubtful of the claims being made about police "racial profiling." It may exist to some extent, but Obama and Gates assume it's a major problem. It is controversial, and apparently has nothing to due with Mr Gates arrest. It sure looks as if they have prejudices against white police.

prejudices: (pre-judge) an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason

I look forward to studying the history of racial profiling in a new documentary for PBS. - Gates

So why not a study to see if it is a problem? Or why it's a problem? That would be the scholarly thing to do, it would be what I would expect from a professional Professor. Of course not, I imagine the "documentary" will try to show every argument that can be made that it's a prevalent (super-sized) problem. Hello, Mikey Moore?

IMAO, it's this kind of crap that makes people notice race. If the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons would just stop making a living off of it, we would all be better off.



Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrested

Two black men with backpacks were seen trying to force the door open. If a one-armed orange-haired white man wearing a santa suit was seen trying to force the door open, the police would be looking for a one-armed orange-haired white man wearing a santa suit. Just because "white" is part of the description does not make it wrong or "racist."

Political correctness has gotten so stupid that newspapers leave details out of descriptions for fear of being "racist."

Professor Gates is a world-renowned scholar and documentary filmmaker. We have come a long way, they could be celebrating the progress we have made.


Obama says police acted 'stupidly' in arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

''I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home, and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately.''

Question: Is there a valid reason for "the long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately?" Well, Professor Gates apparently doesn't need to even ask the question.

Obama doesn't regret 'acted stupidly' remark about Henry Gates Jr. arrest

BOSTON - Many police officers across the country have a message for President Barack Obama: Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own.

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[Pineygirl]

Originally Posted by Lsn2Mkt

It'll take either a cataclysmic event, or at least another generation for that to dwindle to nothingness. Just as there remain Nazi zealots, though, hatred will never go away in our lifetimes.

I agree with you there, and I think it's the generation thing. See, here's the honest truth for many Boomers who grew up in the cities. Many of us had never seen an African American until the late 1950s, very early 1960s. We lived in close, clean, safe neighborhoods in the inner cities where the only time we locked our doors and windows was when we went to the shore for the week. Steps were scrubbed every Saturday; clothes were hung out every Monday. We walked to the corner grocery or went shopping on Germantown Avenue. A treat was going downtown for the day.

Our first experiences with the new "colored people" (as we called them then) were good. However, within a year or two, our neighborhoods became dangerous places, with multiple locks on windows and doors. House values fell as white people scrambled to leave. Realtors fueled the flames by telling us our neighborhood would get worse, and white flight became a stampede.

My family stayed, because my mother wanted to instill a love for people of all colors. She even met MLK at the March on Washington, and became friendly with many of our new neighbors.

However, when I could no longer walk or ride the bus to school without begin called "white girl" and getting the crap beaten out of me; when my father got mugged several times and started sleeping with his gun; when my brother was robbed in school; when thugs would climb over our back fence and drink and do drugs in our own backyard; when the corner groceries were held up once a week; when friends would no longer come to our neighborhood to visit because they feared for their lives; when I would fall asleep to the sound of people running on our roofs and gunshots, my parents knew it was time to leave, as well.

Getting attitudes to change requires change on both sides.

You're correct there, as well. Awful things were done to black people. But awful things were done to white people, as I described above. Yet we were not permitted to vent without being called "racist." We were never allowed to talk about what happened without being made to feel guilty and told it was "our fault." I'm sure I will be called a racist for simply documenting what happened in North Philly and other cities, and for being honest about how that changed the attitudes of many white people.

Fortunately, many of us matured and met enough African Americans who were wonderful people to overcome those early, formative experiences.

On the other hand, when the African American community refuses to hold criminals accountable for their behavior; when they wring their hands as their children shoot their children day after day; when they tolerate drug dealing on every corner, waiting for the government to "do something," it's human nature to wonder what's really going on.

But the next generation knows nothing of being "run out" of their childhood homes. They have grown up side by side with people of all ethnic groups, and take them for granted. It's a nice thing to see. My granddaughter calls black people "Africans" the same way I would say "so-and-so is Irish or Italian."

But when he bows to kings and drops the race card without all of the facts, it makes me, for one, wonder just what in the hell we've gotten ourselves into!

Never forget that Obama is an old-school Chicago politician who takes full advantage of every "crisis," and exploits it for the good of the Democrat Party. He is not the agent of hope that he promised to be; he's no different from any of the other sleazebags that have infested Washington, except for the side of the aisle he represents.

[oldhardhead]

Sure, there will always be some racists, some Nazi zealots, some criminals... evil won't go away completely. It can be diminished, Nazi Germany did not succeed in taking over all of Europe and eliminating all Jews.

No person, black or white, should ever be judged before the facts are known and no individual should ever be stereotyped based upon broad generalizations. That includes stereotyping white police officers.

Did anyone try to paint the "white flight" as an "intolerance for diversity?" Being a criminal is bad behavior, not a cultural difference.

[Pineygirl]

Did anyone try to paint the "white flight" as an "intolerance for diversity?" Being a criminal is bad behavior, not a cultural difference.

Interesting -- I have a feeling those white papers would be new, since "diversity" wasn't on the radar screen in the 1950s and early 1960s.

We did have diversity, though. Polish, German, Irish, Hungarian (right off the boat because of the uprising), English, some Puerto Ricans, Spanish, Jewish, Italian, Scottish, etc. And it was diversity in a true sense, because they were second generation. Many of my friends' parents had accents, and all of their grandparents did.

[Lsn2Mkt]

Originally Posted by Pineygirl

... diversity, though. Polish, German, Irish, ...

My father-in-law is 94. He was in the Polish army before the war, then spent 2 years in a Russian concentration camp. After America entered the war, Russia released the Polish soldiers and they served with the British. He eventually was a tank commander, highlighted by the battle at Monte Cassino.

He hates and distrusts* Russians. I guess that's a learned form of bigotry (that's probably the only form); they directed impacted his life for reasons he still doesn't understand. His expression of bigotry? Russian dressing is not allowed in house!

Ironically, the German army destroyed his home town just for giggles and to totally dishearten the population. I've seen him honestly joke with transplanted German soldiers about chasing them (and Rommel) through Africa. He knows most soldiers were just kids stuck in a bad situation.

I asked him once what it was like hearing 'dumb Polack' jokes after moving to America. "Some were funny. People who told them were idiots to be ignored!"

Then (with a twinkle in his eye) he asked me if I'd heard any good ones, lately. I couldn't remember ANY!

He hates and distrusts* Russians.

He says, "The only difference between Russians and Germans is that you can trust a German. A Russian will look you straight in the eye, tell you all is well, then shoot you in the back. A German will look you in the eye, tell you he's going to kill you, then shoot you between the eyes."

[Arius]

Originally Posted by oldhardhead

What words of Cheney's have killed people? Who has been killed by Cheney's words?

Let's say most of Cheney's words have led to the death of someone. Of course I am being facetious here...

[Pineygirl]

I think it's perfectly normal to form opinions about a group of people if you're the minority within that group, and if you weren't familiar with that group before.

I'm sure, for example, if middle-class African Americans moved en masse to North Philly the outcome would have been completely different (as in Mount Airy and East Chestnut Hill).

If your father-in-law had met several Russians before the war he may not have formed such strict opinions (he may have known some Germans before the war, but Russians were kind of scarce in America then).

If African Americans only knew white slaveowners, they, too, would have formed certain opinions of white people.

In other words, it's human nature, and it takes a looooooong time to change :-)

By the way, I would give anything to hear "white" jokes -- like your father-in-law, I bet some of them are hysterical! Oh, well, I have to content myself with Chappelle. His jokes are really funny, but I'm sure they're the "safe" ones!

[oldhardhead]

Originally Posted by Lsn2Mkt

I asked him once what it was like hearing 'dumb Polack' jokes after moving to America. "Some were funny. People who told them were idiots to be ignored!"

Then (with a twinkle in his eye) he asked me if I'd heard any good ones, lately. I couldn't remember ANY!

Originally Posted by Piney

By the way, I would give anything to hear "white" jokes -- like your father-in-law, I bet some of them are hysterical!

Ya had to ask.

What holds up an Italian outhouse?



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[oldhardhead]

(according to the good authority of one of my ancestors. I mean my friend's ancestor.)

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