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white guilt
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Anonymous
| Wow. That's a pathetic piece of writing. Neo-socialists? Eurosnots? Barak (sic)? O'Henry (sic)? LOL on that one. |
Anonymous
I enjoyed this piece and I think there is a lot of truth in it. It is my hope that the election of Obama will empower the AA community to take ownership and responsibility in raising the quality of schools, strengthening families and inspiring hope in children. There is no doubt that racism still exists; I think the author made some great points about taking personal responsibility instead of always falling back on racism as the reason for all ills. I also think that the author of the original post made a somewhat valid point in stating that the great majority of black Americans voted for Obama singularly because of his race. Is this not racist in its own way? |
Anonymous
OMG. Do you know any black people? Even just one? It is clear that you don't or else you wouldn't make these ridiculous statements. You have just stated that black people do not take ownership and responsibility for their lives and families. You are beyond pathetic and ignorant. What I hope is that the election of Obama will somehow empower people like you to get out of their own tiny insular worlds and not make racist generalizations regarding people and issues they know nothing about. But I'm not holding my breath. |
Anonymous
What a narrow-minded post. It's like listening to Elisabeth Hasselbeck on the View and her know-nothing post-Civil Rights era attitude. Do you have any idea what people like John Lewis -- who had his head bashed in by police during a non-violent march in Alabama -- went through and why this election meant so much to African-Americans? The murder of children in a church fireboming. Lynchings. Can you not appreciate what Obama's ascendancy means to African-Americans especially to those who lived through segregation? Unbelievable. If you think African-Americans vote solely on race, look at the elections in 06 in Maryland. African-Americans in Prince George's County rejected african-american Michael Steele for the US Senate, voting instead for Ben Cardin in the senate race. Even after wading through the ignorance of the original post, I found nothing redeeming in it. |
Anonymous
Just to be clear -- I was stating that I enjoyed the Bill Raspberry article, not the Tom Adkins post. Also, did you bother to read Raspberry's article? He is an AA man and stated much the same about taking responsibility to improve educational opportunities and strenghten families. I realize that my post did sound a little harsh. Of course I don't believe that black people never take ownership or responsibility. Bill Cosby has long been speaking about how important it is for African Americans to value education and strong families. |
Anonymous
| Apparently, the election did not spell the end of moron, ass, or lunatic. |
Anonymous
|
Just want to note that I attended a vigil for an African-American murder victim who lived in public housing several years ago and the pastor who spoke talked a lot about people taking responsibility for themselves. There wasn't a mention of racism or oppression even though in my view that probably had an indirect connection to the woman's death.
I am white so I am no expert on these things but I get the impression that lots of African-Americans feel that black people have to take some responsibility for living a good life -- but what they don't like is white folks (or Bill Cosby -- who IMHO has gone about it the wrong way) focusing on that without acknowledging the subtle but powerful racism that continues to make life difficult for the African-American community. That's why I wasn't surprised when Obama said something about personal responsibility to the black ministers earlier in the campaign. This was characterized in the media as some kind of message to the white community, but I think all along it was just an acknowledgment within the African-American community of a commonly held view. |
Anonymous
| 17:27 again -- I should emphasize that I think racism is alive and kicking our society and while the election of Obama is a huge step forward, racism continues to be a problem for us as a society. Just wanted to emphasize that I think most African Americans are not out playing the victim -- they care about personal responsibility as much as anyone else but they're not blind to the racial inequality that continues to persist in the United States. |
Anonymous
I am not the first poster but I also agree there is truth in it. I work in social services and believe me, there are a lot of people out there that blame everything and everyone but themselves when they "can't catch a break". More times than I care to remember, race was a reason for poor decisions. And when race wasn't the reason, it was always someone else. To the above poster - I know a lot of black, white, hispanic, asian, etc. people that refuse to take ownership of their poor decisions, refuse to work, expect handouts and think someone else is holding them back. I would love to invite anyone on this board to come and see what I see - you won't find it in McLean and Bethesda. Sadly, the fact that B.O. winning isn't going to make a difference at all in these people's lives...they will come up with other excuses as to why they can't get ahead and improve their lifestyle. And I am not talking about families with legitimate reasons to seek aid - I am talking about about families that know they can't afford to buy things but still have amassed massive amounts of credit card debt, still rear children, and take the easy way out by stealing and selling drugs. I have very little sympathy for these people that refuse to help themselves. No matter what flavor they are. |
Anonymous
|
Interesting post PP. I think that the inability to take responsibility is born out of two places: many or some AA were never GIVEN responsibility as their place in American history or culture; they were owned and then "set" free to still grovel and play second fiddle. Responsibility was not theirs to take, so when it came time to, well, that was not the cultural heritage. White people are the ONLY ones that talk about boot straps because they had them.
Secondly, blame and poor decision making, I think, comes from POVERTY as strongly as history, these days. Many people live in places and with others who have NEVER made a good decision. It is hard to break a cycle when you may not even know you are in it, at least until it is too late. I believe our country just MAY be on its way to start healing, but poverty and lack of education are what stands in the way of personal responsibility and good decision making. But make no mistake, everyone must be held accountable for their mistakes...no matter what. |
Anonymous
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OMG. Do you know any black people? Even just one? It is clear that you don't or else you wouldn't make these ridiculous statements. You have just stated that black people do not take ownership and responsibility for their lives and families. [b]You are beyond pathetic and ignorant.[/b] What I hope is that the election of Obama will somehow empower people like you to get out of their own tiny insular worlds and not make racist generalizations regarding people and issues they know nothing about. But I'm not holding my breath. I understand that this is an emotional issue but if you truly hope to facilitate change in people a better route may be to offer counter points to educate or make them aware of an issue they may not have thought about. Using slander and calling people names usually results in them writing you off as an angry person and closing their ears to you. |
Anonymous
You must not have listened to Barrack Obama's Father's day speech. |
Anonymous
The fact of the matter is this: Statistically, there are more whites than African Americans in contempt of child support in the U.S. So for those of you who feel the need to attack a minority group (key word - minority), first look to yourselves. Furthermore, as a representative, why shouldn't Obama feel free to address a group who's been disenfranchised since this country was in its infancy? How is his motivational speech any different from the inspirational poems of Sandra Cisneros, for example? Isn't she, as a representative, also speaking to a minority group as a way to bring about change? btw - Here is a link to Obama's speech: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/15/obamas-fathers-day-speech_n_107220.html Obama's fathers' day speech |
Anonymous
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Is there any white guilt for killing off all the Native Americans?
or the Chinese railroad workers? or lumping all the educated, professional African Americans with African Americans who are abusing the welfare system? or being completely ignorant of the fact that there are white people who abuse the system too? trailer park crackheads and wall street bankers for example. |
Anonymous
| I'm not sure why an entire ethnic group should feel guilt for the actions of previous generations. I do my part to help those less fortunate through volunteer work and charitable donations. But I certainly don't feel guilty about what someone in the 1860's or 1960's did before I was even born. That's ridiculous. I can't help that I was born white and my white skin does not make me a racist, much as black skin does not make someone lazy or irresponsible. |