Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and Steve jobs got credit for Apple but many more behind the scenes did the work, so what?

What is your point this happens everywhere everyday

Look at the guy at 3m who invented post its.

I wonder if the tables were turned, would you still be saying this?

A minority is credited as one of history's greatest inventors, but it was later discovered that a white man actually did much of the work. Guess what--he would be labeled a fraud and repudiated.

But when whites do it, it's okay?
Just goes to show you that minorities are held to double standards.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised he got any credit. Edison and Bell stole most of "their" inventions.

OP here:

I think that's a bit of a overstatement. Edison and Bell were very fine inventors and very fine men.
I don't think I'd go so far as to say that they stole their inventions.


On another note, here is a book that Latimer wrote about his discoveries/the light bulb in the early 1900s: http://books.google.com/books?id=RlY4AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=lewis+latimer&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RtVvUrPTNqPr2wWZoYGoAQ&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=lewis%20latimer&f=false

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what he would have become had he been white?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Idiot aren't we talking about the past?
Weren't these inventions happen in the past? These kind of asinine responses really piss me off, so excuse me. Especially since I certainly am the last person to cry racism about EVERYTHING. But for someone to say we overcame is so naive it's incredible. Tell that to the Supreme Court who just set back voting rights about 40 years. Tell that to North Carolina and their voter identification laws of yesteryear.
If you do not think that race had anything to with a black man getting credit for anything in 1876, you are living a world of delusion far being anything ever seen before.
P.S. Stop calling yourself a minority! People of color are actually the majority population in the world. Majority/Minority labeling is demeaning to people on both sides of the designation. It is also a not so subtle form of weilding power of groups of people.
If you are a person of color, just freaking say that.

By stooping to the level of name-calling you are disrespecting yourself far more than you disrespect me. Let's be respectful adults here as we agree to disagree.

I'm sorry if you don't think that overcoming slavery was a huge victory, PP, or overcoming segregation, institutional racism and so on. I do see those as achievements against corrupt and often vile human nature.

As I stated in my previous post, we should remember, but I refuse to allow myself to become victimized. By perpetuating this "woe is me" mentality you are allowing yourself to be made into a victim, again, and when we do that as a community we so often hold ourselves back instead of progressing. The past is the past. You cannot change it. You should remember, of course, but I think you do a greater good by celebrate the achievements and working towards betterment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Idiot aren't we talking about the past?
Weren't these inventions happen in the past? These kind of asinine responses really piss me off, so excuse me. Especially since I certainly am the last person to cry racism about EVERYTHING. But for someone to say we overcame is so naive it's incredible. Tell that to the Supreme Court who just set back voting rights about 40 years. Tell that to North Carolina and their voter identification laws of yesteryear.
If you do not think that race had anything to with a black man getting credit for anything in 1876, you are living a world of delusion far being anything ever seen before.
P.S. Stop calling yourself a minority! People of color are actually the majority population in the world. Majority/Minority labeling is demeaning to people on both sides of the designation. It is also a not so subtle form of weilding power of groups of people.
If you are a person of color, just freaking say that.

By stooping to the level of name-calling you are disrespecting yourself far more than you disrespect me. Let's be respectful adults here as we agree to disagree.

I'm sorry if you don't think that overcoming slavery was a huge victory, PP, or overcoming segregation, institutional racism and so on. I do see those as achievements against corrupt and often vile human nature.

As I stated in my previous post, we should remember, but I refuse to allow myself to become victimized. By perpetuating this "woe is me" mentality you are allowing yourself to be made into a victim, again, and when we do that as a community we so often hold ourselves back instead of progressing. The past is the past. You cannot change it. You should remember, of course, but I think you do a greater good by celebrate the achievements and working towards betterment.

Anonymous wrote:^^ rant over

Anonymous wrote:
Idiot aren't we talking about the past?
Weren't these inventions happen in the past? These kind of asinine responses really piss me off, so excuse me. Especially since I certainly am the last person to cry racism about EVERYTHING. But for someone to say we overcame is so naive it's incredible. Tell that to the Supreme Court who just set back voting rights about 40 years. Tell that to North Carolina and their voter identification laws of yesteryear.
If you do not think that race had anything to with a black man getting credit for anything in 1876, you are living a world of delusion far being anything ever seen before.
P.S. Stop calling yourself a minority! People of color are actually the majority population in the world. Majority/Minority labeling is demeaning to people on both sides of the designation. It is also a not so subtle form of weilding power of groups of people.
If you are a person of color, just freaking say that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and Steve jobs got credit for Apple but many more behind the scenes did the work, so what?

What is your point this happens everywhere everyday

Look at the guy at 3m who invented post its.

I wonder if the tables were turned, would you still be saying this?

A minority is credited as one of history's greatest inventors, but it was later discovered that a white man actually did much of the work. Guess what--he would be labeled a fraud and repudiated.

But when whites do it, it's okay?
Just goes to show you that minorities are held to double standards.

Minority here & couldn't disagree more.

I worked on the Hill for a while for a Minority politician. The politicians speeches, ideas, legislation, etc were all written by his White staff. He still got credit. For centuries, apprentices always assisted the master craftsman but the master craftsman always got credit.

Chefs, sous-chefs, same thing. Architects (think Frank Lloyd Wright and others), all the same thing.

This has nothing to do with race. It's just the nature of apprenticeship. The truly talented apprentices are able to "break out" later on to establish themselves under their own names. So on, and so forth.

Wow-- it has nothing do with race. While I understand your point about apprenticeship, I think you are very off-base. Most of these things occurred during the time of segregation, jim-crow, legalized racism...but of course race didn't have anything to do with these folks not getting any credit. Naive much??

Okay, first of all your hypothetical situation did not include anything about jim-crow laws, etc. You're only now conveniently throwing them in. I'll play along in any event.

I'm sure Alexander Bell had plenty of white apprentices that never received credit for anything. I guess that's because of socioeconomic class? I'm sure they weren't all poor. Perhaps because they had the wrong last name? Where does this sort of thinking end, PP?

How did George Washington Carver do it? He made his numerous inventions in his own right and not under another person. The guy was brilliant and a trailblazer. He didn't dwell on the sorts of things that you are. He didn't waste his time proposing hypotheticals like "if i were a white man, imagine the things I could accomplish..." No, he just went out and did it.

I think oftentimes we (and I mean we because I'm a minority) hold ourselves back by focusing too much on the past, self-imposed limitations, and eternally playing victim. We shouldn't brush it under the rug. It was there, it existed, we suffered and we must remember. BUT we eventually overcame. So did many discriminated and persecuted peoples throughout history. There is still much to be done, but obsessively focusing on the injustices of this era (and again, many before it) will not better our community or this world.

Anonymous wrote:I'd wager that blacks were behind many great US inventions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and Steve jobs got credit for Apple but many more behind the scenes did the work, so what?

What is your point this happens everywhere everyday

Look at the guy at 3m who invented post its.

I wonder if the tables were turned, would you still be saying this?

A minority is credited as one of history's greatest inventors, but it was later discovered that a white man actually did much of the work. Guess what--he would be labeled a fraud and repudiated.

But when whites do it, it's okay?
Just goes to show you that minorities are held to double standards.

Minority here & couldn't disagree more.

I worked on the Hill for a while for a Minority politician. The politicians speeches, ideas, legislation, etc were all written by his White staff. He still got credit. For centuries, apprentices always assisted the master craftsman but the master craftsman always got credit.

Chefs, sous-chefs, same thing. Architects (think Frank Lloyd Wright and others), all the same thing.

This has nothing to do with race. It's just the nature of apprenticeship. The truly talented apprentices are able to "break out" later on to establish themselves under their own names. So on, and so forth.

Wow-- it has nothing do with race. While I understand your point about apprenticeship, I think you are very off-base. Most of these things occurred during the time of segregation, jim-crow, legalized racism...but of course race didn't have anything to do with these folks not getting any credit. Naive much??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and Steve jobs got credit for Apple but many more behind the scenes did the work, so what?

What is your point this happens everywhere everyday

Look at the guy at 3m who invented post its.

I wonder if the tables were turned, would you still be saying this?

A minority is credited as one of history's greatest inventors, but it was later discovered that a white man actually did much of the work. Guess what--he would be labeled a fraud and repudiated.

But when whites do it, it's okay?
Just goes to show you that minorities are held to double standards.

Minority here & couldn't disagree more.

I worked on the Hill for a while for a Minority politician. The politicians speeches, ideas, legislation, etc were all written by his White staff. He still got credit. For centuries, apprentices always assisted the master craftsman but the master craftsman always got credit.

Chefs, sous-chefs, same thing. Architects (think Frank Lloyd Wright and others), all the same thing.

This has nothing to do with race. It's just the nature of apprenticeship. The truly talented apprentices are able to "break out" later on to establish themselves under their own names. So on, and so forth.

Anonymous wrote:Morgan Garrett, creator of the traffic light and gas mask used in WWI.

The ENTIRE world has benefitted from his invention. How many people know he was African-American, the son of slaves?

http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventors/a/Garrett_Morgan.htm

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and Steve jobs got credit for Apple but many more behind the scenes did the work, so what?

What is your point this happens everywhere everyday

Look at the guy at 3m who invented post its.

I wonder if the tables were turned, would you still be saying this?

A minority is credited as one of history's greatest inventors, but it was later discovered that a white man actually did much of the work. Guess what--he would be labeled a fraud and repudiated.

But when whites do it, it's okay?
Just goes to show you that minorities are held to double standards.