One Reason Why I Speak About Racism

by snowbird 113 Replies latest jw experiences

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  journey-on

  You make a good point, Wing. There are some blacks slowly awakening to the reality of which you speak. They almost seem embarrassed by the blatant double standard some of the so-called black leaders perpetuate. They "see" it for what it is.

  But, these old black power mongers have spent many decades building up their little "empires" and they don't really want true equality to come about. The black youth today, however, (other than the crazy black power militant types), are so much savvier than their parents and grandparents. They are getting educated and beginning to wake up. They're not constantly focusing on what's holding blacks back, but talking about ways Americans overall can keep moving forward. They are tearing up the race card and just seem to know instinctively that they're included, not excluded.
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  StAnn

  My mother was the first generation of her family "white enough" to go to school. But that didn't stop her family members from becoming educated. They educated themselves at home and eventually some even received PhDs and became college professors at Black colleges. They were extremely well educated and when my grandfather died, the first thing I wanted was the books that he learned from. I still have his French textbooks, Geography, etc. They're from the 19th century but they're very good. If you want an education, you have to do whatever you have to do to get it.

  Regarding schools, I have special needs kids and the schools try to shaft them every chance they get because they can't complain about it. In my son's old school, they changed my son's diagnosis in their records and said he wasn't autistic and then took the funds that were supposed to go to him for special accommodations for autism and used them to repave the parking lot. They did this with all of the autism money. I contacted my state representative about it but don't know exactly what they did to the school. ( All those neurologists my son has seen over the years who say he's autistic, geez, if only they were as smart as those administrators in the public school system. )

  Special needs kids, black kids, hispanic kids, and poor kids all get shafted because, IMO, the powers that be in the school system think that the parents are too dumb and uneducated to fight back.

  I agree with Terry on most of what he said. Regarding a rational approach for change, I think the "race" box should be removed from every form and every application in the nation. We are all Americans and should simply refer to ourselves as American. If we want to preserve and celebrate our ethnic culture at home, that's great. But so far as the outside world is concerned, we should all just see ourselves as fellow citizens. No special programs for anyone based on ethnicity.

  BTW, when I lived in NC, I put my son in day camp in Raleigh one year. He tried to play basketball with the black children but they wouldn't even speak to him. The kids segregated themselves.
• 

  undercover

  I think it's time for the NAACP to become the NAAMPP - National Association for the Advancement of Minority and Poor People.

  The kids segregated themselves.

  I remember in high school that "we", the kids, basically segregated ourselves in certain situations. There were no real race issues or anything. Everyone got along for the most part. But when we had assemblies or pep rallies or other events in the gym, it was obvious how we segregated ourselves. The whites sat on one side of the gym, the blacks on the other and the jocks/cheerleaders sat on the small bleachers behind the basketball goal under the scoreboard. No one instituted a rule on where to sit... we just kinda made our own, unstated rule.

  And this wasn't an old historical school with leftover practices. It was a modern school built well after civil rights. There was no left-over segregation ghosts or anything.
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  snowbird

  Did anyone read the report that I referenced?

  Syl
• 

  wasblind

  There's a big brawl going on in one of the larger school districts in my state.

  people have been arrested black and white together for the same cause.

  the school board wants what the naacp calls re-segregation . And the black and white

  together are fighting against it. This is in Raliegh NC
• 

  journey-on

  That pdf. file was entirely too jerky, long, and blurry to read. Maybe my computer is getting ready to crater, but it did not like that link at all. Give us the gist of it, Sylvia.

  What is the date of this report? From the little I could get out of it, it covered 1951 thru 1963. What are the basic points you are trying to convey?
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  snowbird

  The date of the report is 1967, but it goes all the way back to 1916, when Horace Mann Bond did a survey on the sad conditions of Southern schools for Blacks.

  I'm drawing attention to the obstacles I had to overcome in order to get an education, such as picking cotton until November, which meant missing three months of schooling.

  I've been accused of exaggerating conditions under which I came of age; I thought a report by the Department of Education would be more convincing than anything I could say.

  Syl
• 

  HintOfLime

  In my experience, a good education has less to do with money, and everything to do with attitude. I've been in rich schools and poor schools - and the schools where I learned the most were the ones where students were well behaved and motivated to learn. (The rich students tended to be spoiled brats who expected everything without having to work for it.)
  
  In this day and age - if you want to learn a skill, nothing can stop you. With free schools, free internet, Wikipedia, Google, and dozens of video tutorials and 'how to' sites.. Anything you want to learn you can learn.
  
  It's just a matter of being determined, motivated, and doing the work.

  - Lime
• 

  journey-on

  I'm drawing attention to the obstacles I had to overcome in order to get an education, such as picking cotton until November, which meant missing three months of schooling.

  And my grandmother, had to drop out of school in the 3rd grade to work on the farm and take care of her younger siblings when her own mother died after childbirth. I never heard her whine or complain or make excuses about anything because of it. She just made sure she lived a good life, gave her daughter (my mother) a better life, and died with the love and respect of her family, neighbors, and church.

  57 is not too late to back away from your computer, and get back into school. In the past, you've said you want to do that. Well, guess what, dear Sylvia, there is NONE OF THAT CRAP holding you back now. No excuses.....unless you're looking for one.
• 

  miseryloveselders

  I personally wouldn't want my kids around those jiggaboos.