Good point on names being a hindrance. I've been personally avoiding this thread like the plague. I said I wasn't getting into spats regarding racial or political matters any more on here. But one thing I wanted to mention. In this country, patriotic types are always so quick to puff out their chests and say "we're Americans! We're free! It's better here than anywhere else!, etc.." I can agree and understand those sentiments, however the people making those comments often don't take into account all of their fellow Americans. Many in this country grow up on 3rd base, and when they reach home plate, they believe they worked just as hard as the guy born on 1st base. Certain pockets of this country are so systematically behind other pockets of this country, that if there are not programs such as Affirmative action, those very people become in essence a welfare population. A burden. That's not to say I completely agree with Affirmative Action, because I don't. It is reverse discrimination, but it has a purpose.
When my dad was my age, the only jobs available to him were maitenance jobs. He couldn't go in the same church as white people despite having the same faith, which is partly why he was attracted to JWs. Some of the stories he's told me throughout the years at times had my jaw on the floor. Other times I felt a boiling rage that people could be so cruel to someone over skin tone. Whats interesting to me though, is his generation was treated better than the generation before his parents, and especially that of his grandparents. By the way my dad is a Veteran, and he got pooped on far worst being a black man than the white soldiers coming from Vietnam got treated. Now here I am today. I'm doing ok in life, but I know for a fact had I been born in Suburbia, in a middle class background, I'd be a lot farther than where I am. In my high school, they told us we can be carpenters, plumbers, electricians, construction workers, etc.. Thats what they wanted us to aspire towards. I can only imagine what they told my pop's generation. After I graduated I went to a tech school for a trade. The class was held in a this huge high school out in suburbia. I saw what those kids were learning there and I was amazed. Everything from their computers, to their curiculum was completely different and advanced than what I was exposed to. Now that I'm older and can look back, I say for a fact, I got systematically screwed. Not to mention being a friggin JW doesn't help much when it comes to higher education. You multiply my experiences with others in this country from working class and poverty backgrounds. Particulary minorities. Its more difficult for them to compete with those born on 3rd base and white.
For the record though, I'm not whining at all. I'm very proud of being born and raised in the city, with a working class background. Proud of my black skin, and proud of white people too. I just believe personally, to say you agree or disagree with affirmative action is too simplistic. There's too much history, particulary negative history regarding race and class in this country. To this day, there are still too many in powerful places looking to maintain certain status quos.
