I was listening to a friend over the weekend go on and on about how white people are discriminated against. He likes to talk and sometimes I think emotion get the better of him and he ends up saying things that he doesn’t mean, so I thought. I say that because he is the only white person that I have ever heard say that. I know lots of white people and with many of them we have had conversations on the subject of race. He is the only one I have heard say that he has the short end of the stick.
Yesterday I was listening to NPR and they had Michael Norton on. He is the co-author of a Harvard Business School study that reveals that whites believe that discrimination against them is on the rise. Also on the show was the author of Color Blind, Tim Wise. This is the link to the show where you can listen to it. It is only about 10 minutes long.
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/13/137818177/racism-as-a-zero-sum-game
My friend talks about how he didn’t get a job because of quotas and how minorities get contracts just because of their race. How there are special awards for black people (BET). Even though that one is not true, BET gives awards to all races. He went on and on about how white people can’t do the same things as black people. I will agree with him on that point. White people can’t call their TV station White Entertainment Television. They have to call them ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, TBS, CNN, MSNBC, MTV, TV Land, Discovery Channel, History Channel; I think you get the idea. On all those stations you will mostly white people. That’s the way it is and that’s the way it always has been. Then came BET and if you wanted to see mostly black people you had a station to turn to. If you notice I said A station, meaning ONE. I’m not sure if he is complaining about black people having a station of if he is complaining that they use the word “Black” in the name. I guess I should ask him. The thing is, if black people had not been shut out then they would not need to create their own home. When you look at the BET Awards, it is a mirror image of the other award shows for white people. BET gives awards to mostly black people and 1 or 2 white people. Whereas the other award shows give awards to mostly white people and 1 or 2 black people.
Rather than complaining about the need to build their own home some white people are complaining about them having a home. When you look at how hard it was for blacks and other minorities to get anything for a very long time in this country. It is amazing to hear people who are upset that they have something. It’s like getting beat in the street then someone complain about you getting blood on the sidewalk. That person complaining is not looking or is unable to see the bigger picture. These people are looking at the result and not the cause.
I know this is not a comfortable subject for many people. I could be like one friend and prefer to not talk about it and almost pretend everything is fine. He feels that because most of the problems happened before I was born that it should not concern me. Some feel that talking about this only creates more of a separation between the races. I don’t know what the answer is but I don’t think ignoring it is the solution either.
What do you think?
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Independence Day
On the 4th of July I got this Tweet: Independence day, the day in the history of our great nation that we decided that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. Enjoy it and remember it.
I tried to ignore it but I could not. The next day I responded to it by saying that the Tweet was not correct. It sounded good and I understood what they were trying to say but ALL MEN were not free at that time. I said in response that all WHITE MEN would be a truer statement. That too was not correct. What I should have said was ALL MEN (except black men) were created equal.
The reason I am posting this is because the person that made the Tweet emailed me saying that their Tweet was correct. I know some people don’t like to let little things like FACTS get in the way of their argument. Some people like to argue just because they don’t want to be wrong.
I don’t think they were trying to be disrespectful. I think they were just feeling patriotic and wanted to share the feelings thru Twitter. Maybe I should not have responded to it and just let it go. There is NO part of me that thinks this person is racist in any way. I was just surprised when they disagreed with me and said they were sticking to the original Tweet. We spent about 6 hours emailing each other disagreeing on what I call documented facts and they call my opinion.
I understand some white people don’t like admit that this country treated black people like animals. That doesn’t change the facts. I don’t blame the white people of today for the things that happened many years ago, but that doesn’t change the facts. I understand that it is a shameful part of America’s history, but it doesn’t change the facts.
They said “enjoy it and remember it”. So let’s remember it.
On July 4th 1776 this is what was written: When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
I’m not going to post the entire Declaration of Independence. They went on to list several grievances they had with the King of England regarding the treatment of the colonist. They didn’t bother to exclude black men (I believe) because they considered them to be the same as cattle and chickens. Some of the people that signed the document were slave owners. These are FACTS not OPINIONS. Slavery is an ugly part of America’s history and you CAN NOT dress that turd up.
My reason for posting this, other than just needing something to blog about, is I would like to hear from people that feel that I should not have responded to the Tweet or that the Tweet was correct.
I tried to ignore it but I could not. The next day I responded to it by saying that the Tweet was not correct. It sounded good and I understood what they were trying to say but ALL MEN were not free at that time. I said in response that all WHITE MEN would be a truer statement. That too was not correct. What I should have said was ALL MEN (except black men) were created equal.
The reason I am posting this is because the person that made the Tweet emailed me saying that their Tweet was correct. I know some people don’t like to let little things like FACTS get in the way of their argument. Some people like to argue just because they don’t want to be wrong.
I don’t think they were trying to be disrespectful. I think they were just feeling patriotic and wanted to share the feelings thru Twitter. Maybe I should not have responded to it and just let it go. There is NO part of me that thinks this person is racist in any way. I was just surprised when they disagreed with me and said they were sticking to the original Tweet. We spent about 6 hours emailing each other disagreeing on what I call documented facts and they call my opinion.
I understand some white people don’t like admit that this country treated black people like animals. That doesn’t change the facts. I don’t blame the white people of today for the things that happened many years ago, but that doesn’t change the facts. I understand that it is a shameful part of America’s history, but it doesn’t change the facts.
They said “enjoy it and remember it”. So let’s remember it.
On July 4th 1776 this is what was written: When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
I’m not going to post the entire Declaration of Independence. They went on to list several grievances they had with the King of England regarding the treatment of the colonist. They didn’t bother to exclude black men (I believe) because they considered them to be the same as cattle and chickens. Some of the people that signed the document were slave owners. These are FACTS not OPINIONS. Slavery is an ugly part of America’s history and you CAN NOT dress that turd up.
My reason for posting this, other than just needing something to blog about, is I would like to hear from people that feel that I should not have responded to the Tweet or that the Tweet was correct.
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