Posted on 08/28/2013 7:13:14 AM PDT by IChing
I grew up in a rural area of upstate New York that was overwhelmingly white, with almost no racial minorities around to speak of.
In school, and in books, magazines, and on TV, I was bombarded with messages and tales about the extent of horrors that whites had done to other races over the generations, especially to blacks.
For example, I was a tender lad of 13 or 14 when the wildly successful TV miniseries about slavery, Roots (based on the book of the same title by Alex Haley), dominated the airwaves and the national consciousness. Some of my schoolteachers during that year oriented much of their classroom time around discussion and study of the topic of Roots, and in my 7th-grade social studies class we spent weeks with specially developed materials designed to enlighten us about the anthropological dynamics of a certain tribe in Africa, the Egba Yoruba.
At that age, I was already a voracious reader, and became fascinated with the general subject of the black experience and race relations in our country. After watching Roots on TV, I got my hands on Alex Haley’s book, and read it cover to cover. I perused other books, such as The Me Nobody Knows: Children’s Voices from the Ghetto, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and Black Like Me.
Starting in the first grade, I had been completely indoctrinated in the socio-political sainthood of Dr. Martin Luther King, and I was very inspired by his legacy. For a class assignment, I wrote and made my own illustrated book about Dr. King, out of construction paper, staples, and magic markers.
Similarly, I was imbued with a reverential respect for Abraham Lincoln, and the legend of his having so courageously freed the slaves. On an 8th-grade field trip to Washington, D.C. I gazed up in awe at Lincoln’s memorial statue on the National Mall. Many years later, by moonlight on the reflecting pool in 2005, I proposed to my wife on the steps of that monument to Lincoln. But as a younger person, nobody, none of my teachers or parents or media figures ever told me what Lincoln had actually said regarding his prognosis for race relations in America once slavery was ended–I found out about that only in recent years.
Having very little actual experience with members of other races as a kid, I was nonetheless left with stereotyped impressions from various media, which in later years I found to be pretty accurate. While visiting my grandparents on the New England coast, I began to gain real-world experience: On one occasion, a young black man stole a ten-speed bicycle from my grandmother’s driveway. During another visit, at age 15, I was shoved to the ground by a much larger black guy when he and his friends didn’t like the idea that my friends and I were partying on their turf.
It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I found out that Alex Haley plagiarized much of Roots from a white author, and was successfully sued for it. Not only that, but that key aspects of Haley’s supposedly genealogically-researched story, and its depiction of slavery, were completely falsified.
I entered Air Force basic training at age 17, and that was when my firsthand experience with blacks really got underway. In the ranks, I found many of my black fellow servicemen to be perfectly wonderful brothers in arms. Some others, not so much. But mainly, the military ethos, discipline, and overall environment made racial differences not too important, it seemed.
It wasn’t until after I left the service and ventured into the cities of Buffalo, N.Y., Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C.(especially in black ghetto areas), mainly to do security and law enforcement work, that I became painfully aware, firsthand, of the shocking level of sheer depravity, chaos, racial hatred, crime, and mayhem that so many millions of black children are born into. After the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, and after having had numerous horrible experiences with hateful blacks on the streets and even in office workplace settings, I increasingly began to be concerned about what I sensed was an overall problem of a worsening racial situation in our country.
Whites and blacks all along throughout the years have been told that the problems of blacks are the responsibility of white people, for which whites should accept blame, and for which whites should come up with solutions, or at least bear the brunt of whatever remedies are declared, by whoever, to be in order. Simultaneously, outrageous levels of crime and violence done by blacks are to be publicly downplayed by the media and authorities, lest it be implied that black adults, parents, leaders, and so are to be held accountable.
The general approach has been that the overall condition of blacks in America is the result of the actions of whites, and therefore, whites must be the ones to make things better, and right.
Now, Barack Obama is in his second term as president, and has played a key role in aggravating and badly worsening the state of race relations throughout his occupation of that office. Obama entered the national scene fresh from two decades at the feet of Jeremiah Wright, and proceeded to hustle and con his way into the White House, appointing the blatantly race-oriented Eric Holder as his Attorney General.
With Obama’s shamefully divisive exploitation (for the purposes of rousing and rallying key blocs of his voting base) of local events such as the Henry Louis Gates incident and the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman debacle on the national stage, Obama has shown us all that poor leadership has disastrous consequences beyond implications for the overall economy and international intrigues/wars. Many Americans have to go about their daily lives concerned for their physical safety, while those in the highest offices of the land fan the flames of racial animosity and violence.
So what should white people think and do about it all?
If we assume that the races are intrinsically equal, we have to ask about, and expect a resolution to, the issue of whether and when blacks will, overall, ever assimilate to the standards of civilized society–because enough of them haven’t yet, so as to cause a grave alarm. So, what is it that whites must do, anyway? How many programs and apologies and decades of forbearance shall it take? If we are to operate in good faith, it should not be taboo to speculate in such a way.
We’re all familiar with that old saying, “you can’t keep a good man down.” It means, just as is found in the teachings of the ancient religions, that oppression is really only the test of character–and that if someone or something is keeping you down beyond a certain point, then you must not be a good man.
I grew up in a small town near Chicago. We had a small black population. All of them lived in single family homes. They had a mother and father. The father worked and the mother stayed home with the children. They never got into trouble and most of them went on to college. And there was no welfare. How did this happen? The intact family, that,s what, and education.
LOL, now don’t you feel better to get that off your chest?
Quit groveling and either we live as fellow Americans or we go our separate ways.
Whites can have the decency to stop insulting black people. Black people are just as capable and competent as any other person.
I putter around my glass studio all day while Dr. Ben Carson saves the lives of children. So you think he needs me to feel sorry for him? Preposterous! He deserves my respect and admiration, just like I would respect and admire ANY OTHER person who lives such a meaningful and moral life.
Teaching black children that they require government handouts, dumbed down school programs, affirmative action, and people to make constant excuses for them... ESTABLISHES them as second class citizens. It is blatantly saying, "These people aren't good enough to be judged by the standards of lighter-skinned people." What kind of BUNK is that?! Politicians and media need to stop doing it!
Lets try assuming that blacks are as good as everyone else and treat them accordingly. They are not mentally handicapped or violent animals. And that behavior in any population should not be rewarded or even tolerated.
you are probably correct
32 times more likely
We should stop taking crap from leftist racebaiters and quit cowering when white liberals compare us with the KKK.
We should never fail to remind leftist opportunists in the media and in elective office that it is the NAACP, the Democrats and their RINO accomplices who are the Uncle Toms -- advocating state slavery because freedom is just too dangerous, and spreading the patently ridiculous argument that the past existence of chattel slavery in America proves that there is no such thing as liberty.
We should never stop publicly demanding an end to the tax exempt status of the politically corrupt NAACP.
We should be constantly citing examples of the many accomplished and principled black public figures -- living and dead -- from Frederick Douglas and George Washington Carver to Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams to Allen West and Lloyd Marcus whose achievements, accomplishments and ideas are admired by conservatives of all races. And we should never miss an opportunity to compare these people to the lying, self-serving, leftist role-model scoundrels and phonies like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Charlie Rangel, Barack Obama, Chris Matthews and Oprah.
We should be citing the history of slavery and Jim Crow in America -- and placing the blame for it where it belongs -- with the Democrat Party. And we should never fail to mention that the NAACP was founded by Republicans, and that virtually every effort to improve the conditions of the black race during the darkest days of slavery and Jim Crow were led by Republicans.
We should never fail to mention that no black man was ever lynched by a Republican.
We should be hounding the media to quit covering up the epidemic of black on white violence that is too politically correct to merit mention.
We should laugh at and parody the race-baiters at every opportunity for looking at the world through their race-colored glasses.
And we should demand an end to affirmative action and Black History Month and all diversity education training and other politically correct claptrap that teaches young white children that they are bad and that they should be ashamed to be white, while teaching young black children that they are victims, that they are defined by their skin color and that they are incapable of being held to the same standards of civil behavior and achievement as everyone else.
I could say more, but I really need to get back to work now.
Does my avoiding them make me a racist? Avoiding them is the best thing to do on many levels. When they as a group decide to be civilized, maybe I’ll spend some time with them, if I want to.
Reminds me of the liberal claims throughout the Cold War that the West, and particularly the USA, was primarily responsible. The commies were justifiably defending themselves from our aggression, and if they let down their guard, they would be destroyed.
Well, USSR fell apart, and there were zero attacks or aggression by the West. Proving, to any reasonable person, that the Cold War was entirely the responsibility of the commies.
Similarly, IMO, for decades now the vast majority of white people in USA have wanted black people to succeed and indeed are anxious to help them do so.
But no reservoir of goodwill is bottomless, and I suspect the lake level is approaching the danger point. I know I've lost a lot of my goodwill towards antagonistic black people over the last year or so.
Can I call you,Mr. President!
How does your going to church stop blacks from playing “polar bear hunting” or as it’s more commonly known “the knockout game”?
Great job
Kinda parallels mine
Just 10 years later
I’m over it long time
They are what hold themselves back
And victimize each other and everyone else
And choose buffoons for leader
For the race baiters if all white people were fed to those sharks still hanging around the ‘slave route’ might be a good start.
If that doesn’t work out all white people could line up at NAACP headquarters and volunteer to drink Jim Jones Koolaid.
Where are you in Texas
In NOLA or Memphis or Jacksonville you couldn’t say what you did safely
I lived in Houston and Beaumont once....can’t there either
Maybe in Vidor...lol
Stop killing whites - and stop supporting other blacks who kill whites.
Just like it is sensible for me to lock my house at night.
“What Can Whites Do to Improve Race Relations in America?”
Arm themselves!
When BO was running for office, hubby and I had a conversation about this very subject and my hubby stated firmly that he believed race relations would worsen if he were elected. I believe he was quite correct in that assessment.
I, as a "white" person have absolutely no ability to change "race" relations. Anyhing I say will be dismissed. The only way for blacks to do anything about "race" relations is to look in the mirror and honestly assess what is going on in their community. I can't make their young men and women rediscover marriage and it's benefits for both adults and children, not to mention the larger community. This section of our society decided that Daddy Government was all they were going to need, and that decision destroyed their community. Only they can undo what has been done.
Then, when their young men have been raised in families with a father present, I think we will begin to see better relations (with everyone, I don't think just "white" people have trouble with young black men).
This is grossly miscast as black vs white. It isn't. It's thugs vs honest citizens, egged on by a class of professional agitators whose very last wish is peace. Who is killing young black men? It isn't rednecks with guns, it's other young black men with guns, and knives, and fists. Where thug culture reaches out to white victims, the media have to suppress it; where the victims are black they don't even have to bother. In 2011 there were 5825 white murder victims and 6329 black murder victims, despite the black population being some 13% of the national total. SOURCE.
I don't think the most racist members of the KKK could have produced a more vicious plan than the current promoters of thug culture have already succeeded in putting into place. Speak out against it, and if you're white you're a racist and if you're black you're an Uncle Tom, called that by the very same people who are demanding a "dialogue". Unbelievable.
Bump for excellence.
According to the liberals, you can only be a racist if you are a member of a superior race.
Mull that over.
Spot on they create their own problems they need to stop whining and get on the same page as everyone else.
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