Can we blame our ancestors for our own shortcomings? (page 17)

BurnTheShips

We've all got prejudices. The idea is to realize it and overcome it.

BTS

snowbird

I'm sure Snow would LOVE to make allegories about his ankle monitor and the chains of slavery. Just another case of white man keepin the black man down!

A true story. Listen carefully.

In 1999, when I first started working here (police department), they brought in a Black guy who'd given them quite a chase. He was shackled, and when I heard the chains rattling, I became sick to my stomach and almost passed out.

My boss, a White man, wanted to call an ambulance, but I assured him that there was no need for that. I spent some time in the women's room until I could get my emotions under control. He later told me that I turned as white as a sheet.

Afterwards, he made a rule that no shackled prisoner was to come through our section. I didn't ask him to do it, he simply saw how much it distressed me and took it upon himself to spare me the sight.

Would I have had the same reaction if the prisoner had been White? I don't know. If my boss had been a Black man, would he have made a similar ruling? I don't know.

My reason for relating this? To show that I don't believe all Whites are racist, that some "get" it right off the bat, and that the pain felt by Blacks is real and needs to be acknowledged.

Sylvia

snowbird

I am sure if any of us came over to visit, we'd get treated like part of the family.

You got that right.

they are very hospitable, even if their means are meager.

Ditto.

Sylvia

undercover

posting to hopefully bump the page (those darn crazy missing posts)

(and no, Sylvia, this isn't a white conspiracy to keep your post hidden from view)

daniel-p

A true story. Listen carefully.
In 1999, when I first started working here (police department), they brought in a Black guy who'd given them quite a chase. He was shackled, and when I heard the chains rattling, I became sick to my stomach and almost passed out.
My boss, a White man, wanted to call an ambulance, but I assured him that there was no need for that. I spent some time in the women's room until I could get my emotions under control. He later told me that I turned as white as a sheet.
Afterwards, he made a rule that no shackled prisoner was to come through our section. I didn't ask him to do it, he simply saw how much it distressed me and took it upon himself to spare me the sight.
Would I have had the same reaction if the prisoner had been White? I don't know. If my boss had been a Black man, would he have made a similar ruling? I don't know.
My reason for relating this? To show that I don't believe all Whites are racist, that some "get" it right off the bat, and that the pain felt by Blacks is real and needs to be acknowledged.

Very touching. Somehow that means that Vick should be given leniency for his abuse of animals?

I think the pain you feel is real. I think that desrves its own topic. However, I simply think you've misplaced that pain into issues where it doesn't belong--in holding someone less guilty simply because they're black.

minimus

You got sick because he came in shackles? Or maybe because he was black in shackles? Woman, you've got some serious issues. Don't work in a prison.

snowbird

holding someone less guilty simply because they're black.

For the final time, I'm not holding Vick less guilty. He was found guilty and punished. He deserved it. However, my question still stands: How much of his aberration is due to the legacy of slavery?

I'm not backing away from that.

I've also posted on here that at my workplace, everyone except myself and one other lady, cheered when OJ was acquitted. I was sickened by the display.

Sylvia

minimus

You got sick because he came in shackles? Or maybe because he was black in shackles? Woman, you've got some serious issues. Don't work in a prison.

Can we blame our ancestors for our own shortcomings?

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