I'm an African American. Ask me anything.

[Anonymous]

If you were the only AA in a playground with your kids and I come over and say hi, would you think I'm weird?

Sometimes I see that in my neighborhood park and I want to say hi, but I'm not sure what response I would get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:59 poster again, apologies to the other DCUM readers for my tone. I probably should not have allow the poster who I responded to to get under my skin but I just could not help myself.

Wow is all I can say. Take a deep freaking breath. I was not trying to get under your skin. I thought my question was a legitimate question as you simply stated that you worked in a law firm and my post specifically mentioned career coaches for attorneys. The legal secreataries were not expected to act, look and carry themselves as the junior attorneys. I asked the question because perhaps your experience was because as a legal secretary you would not have been subjected to the same biases. I asked because if you responded lawyer, my response would have been thank God times are changing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were the only AA in a playground with your kids and I come over and say hi, would you think I'm weird?

Sometimes I see that in my neighborhood park and I want to say hi, but I'm not sure what response I would get.

Say Hi!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were the only AA in a playground with your kids and I come over and say hi, would you think I'm weird?

Sometimes I see that in my neighborhood park and I want to say hi, but I'm not sure what response I would get.

I would be glad to speak to you. I live in a neighborhood with only one other AA family, so maybe that is me that you see on the playground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were the only AA in a playground with your kids and I come over and say hi, would you think I'm weird?

Sometimes I see that in my neighborhood park and I want to say hi, but I'm not sure what response I would get.

Definitely would not think you're weird. Why would I think you're weird for wanting to talk to me? Please come say hi and start some playground small talk - especially if you live in an neighborhood with few AA families.

[Anonymous]

13:35 here. Thanks for the encouragement. I'll definitely say hi. Now that I think about it, it's silly to not say hi. I guess I don't want to be seen as that weird lady who just started talking to you out of the blue. Probably just my hangup.

13:39 If it's you, I'd be happy to meet you.

[ManHere]

Anonymous wrote:If you were the only AA in a playground with your kids and I come over and say hi, would you think I'm weird?

Sometimes I see that in my neighborhood park and I want to say hi, but I'm not sure what response I would get.

Of course say hi. If not for you, do it for the kids sake. Maybe they will become friends.
-OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw a program that said AA GIs weren't allowed to purchase homes when they got back from the war. They were forced to rent and over time, white veterans were able to build equity in the homes they purchased with GI Bill money. They used this to send their kids to college and because they had college degrees, they were able to get good jobs. AAs weren't able to save as much and so maybe their kids didn't go to college and got lower paying jobs. So maybe that is part of it. And maybe because if you are conditioned to have little hope in things being fair, you just don't care about the future and live for the here and now.

Absolutely this is true for many AAs. This cycle is slowly being broken (I'm proof of that), but this is very real. It's very hard to break the cycle of poverty and inertia in 50 years when you faced oppression for the previous 300+ years. The days of government sanctioned oppression were not that long ago; many of these people are still alive today.

I think this is a point that a lot of folks, white and black, don't really seem to get. The last legal obstacles to black homeownership fell in 1968 with the Fair Housing Act. We're all, black and white, to a great extent ignorant of our own history.

[Anonymous]

ManHere wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you were the only AA in a playground with your kids and I come over and say hi, would you think I'm weird?

Sometimes I see that in my neighborhood park and I want to say hi, but I'm not sure what response I would get.

Of course say hi. If not for you, do it for the kids sake. Maybe they will become friends.
-OP

The mom I saw at the park had kids that were several years older than mine, so it might be kind of obvious that I'm just wanting to talk to her. Still, it's no reason not to say hi, so I will.

[Anonymous]

Do you think that people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton perpetuate a racial divide to further their own agenda or purpose?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think that people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton perpetuate a racial divide to further their own agenda or purpose?

Not the Op, but YES, YES, YES and YES. Sharpton in particular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

ManHere wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:59 poster again, apologies to the other DCUM readers for my tone. I probably should not have allow the poster who I responded to to get under my skin but I just could not help myself.

OP here. I think that PP asked IF you were the the attorney or the legal secretary (notice which one she listed first) because you didn't state it up front. She didn't assume that you were either one. You just said that you worked for a law firm.

Fair enough, I take it all back. I am sorry. I have two little girls and all this pressure to "fix"/"tame"/"pick your word" their hair just makes be nuts. I was lashing out, I am sorry. Think I need to stay away from this thread.

I don't think you should stay away. I'm a black female who perms her hair.

Let me say this: Some natural-haired black women seem to get really defensive about their hair. Any comment made is seen as an insult/criticism/etc. They also seem to dish out insults themselves "ruining your hair, using those harsh chemicals to kill your hair"/etc. I wish we could all just respect each other's choices. When I get flack from natural-haired women about having a perm, it doesn't bother me at all. I'm happy with my choice and wouldn't wear my hair any other way (well, except a good weave for when I want to add some length..I've been rocking it short lately).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain why were Africans targeted for mass slavery? How did other races avoid being the majority of slaves in a new land?

The Native American Indians were first used as slaves in America. However, many died off others knew the land and could easily escape. They also spoke the same language, which was foreign to the slave owners and could easily communicate without being detected.

White indentured servants and Black indentured servants were also tried. The white indentured servants assimilated with ease into the populace and simply walked away. It was impossible to tell who was an indentured and who was not. So a lot of money was lost. It was not se easy for the Black indentured servants. At this time, it darned on land owners that using black indentured servants were more cost effective than white indentured servants. After a period of time of using indentured servants, the land owners found it far more fiscally satisfying to go straight to outright slavery. It was all about the money. The slaves were separated by tribes and forcefully prohibited from speaking their native language. The slave owners learned this lesson with the Native American Indian. More importantly, the african slaves did not know the lay of the land, so escaping into the swamps was not so easily achievable. To justify slavery, the bible was brought into the picture and misconstrued to quell the concerns of those religious people who thought it was against the bible's teaching.

Good teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think that people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton perpetuate a racial divide to further their own agenda or purpose?

Not the Op, but YES, YES, YES and YES. Sharpton in particular.

pp, are you black? Just curious.

My answer: In some cases, yes. But I also think that Jackson and Sharpton did (and do) great work. They should not be discounted altogether.

-AA female

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were the only AA in a playground with your kids and I come over and say hi, would you think I'm weird?

Sometimes I see that in my neighborhood park and I want to say hi, but I'm not sure what response I would get.

black guy here.

ummmm no. real question is why are you afraid or hesitant to approach me? if i were your white neighbor, would you feel the same?

and im not trying to start anything so dont take my question as combative