Readers sound off on what blacks can do, whites can't

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | November 13, 2005 | MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

[inquest]

Attitudes like the one you describe are probably one of the biggest things keeping so many blacks mired in poverty. Even when they're unspoken, they still have a powerful effect.

[ncountylee]

...Barack Obama's brilliant memoir...

Could be written on the back of a napkin.

[babydoll22]

"It's about starting the conversation that needs to take place between blacks about blacks disrespecting blacks."

I have a hard time taking any one seriously who uses the term " disrespecting" Talk about dumbing down!

[hosepipe]

Shes still clueless.. not an inkling of knowledge of what the democrat party and liberal agenda is.. or why a person with a black and white parent calls themselve black or a person with a hispanic and anglo parent calls themselves hispanic..

NOT A CLUE..

[Logophile]

Thanks, but no thanks. When it comes to these sensitive racial matters, a white person's praise doesn't help. Ask Condoleezza Rice.

I am scratching my head over this one. Would someone care to tell me what the author is trying to say here?

[Thebaddog]

France is burning. The world is slowly turning upside down. It's turning slower and probably righting itself because of Bush and this chick is playing the race card.

This reminds me of 1969 when we landed on the moon and some TV type stuck a microphone in the face of Ralph Abernathy to get him whining about the state of racial relations.

[LWalk18]

Thanks, but no thanks. When it comes to these sensitive racial matters, a white person's praise doesn't help. Ask Condoleezza Rice.

I am scratching my head over this one. Would someone care to tell me what the author is trying to say here?

What I think she is saying is that many blacks see Rice as a "sellout" in part due to her being closely tied to a white Republican Administration. Many blacks are dubious of black conservatives because they believe that they are airing dirty laundry regarding blacks in order to entertain whites who want to feel superior.

In other words, white person's praise- blacks will not listen to what needs to be heard, believing it to be a mere putdown.

[Mike Darancette]

Does this stuff really happen?

You would be entitled to draw back a bloody stump.

[bad company]

Still, that doesn't mean that whites aren't talking about this man like a dog behind his back.

That one kinda stands out.

[King Prout]

this author is a twit.

anyone of any race who is a barbarian or a pimp for barbarism is fair game for my criticism.

[jimboster]

Barack Obama's brilliant memoir

I wonder if it includes how he raised millions of dollars for the re-election campaign of the only U.S. Senator who was a Grand Kleagle for the Ku Klux Klan

[Logophile]

What I think she is saying is that many blacks see Rice as a "sellout" in part due to her being closely tied to a white Republican Administration. Many blacks are dubious of black conservatives because they believe that they are airing dirty laundry regarding blacks in order to entertain whites who want to feel superior. . . . In other words, white person's praise- blacks will not listen to what needs to be heard, believing it to be a mere putdown.

You may be right.

Still, it makes me wonder: What would Condoleezza Rice say if someone asked her, as the author suggests? Does Secretary Rice worry about such things?

[richmwill]

Yes, it happens. At a college-gathering I went to, someone asked a black male who was in our group if he was "the limo driver".

[gogogodzilla]

Ping!!!

You've nailed it.

[Marie]

France is burning. The world is slowly turning upside down.

Sounds like the world's righting itself, to me! har har! (I know, I know. I'm bigoted against frogs.)

[ByDesign]

It happens, and the white kids have no idea how idiotic and stupid they look and sound.

There was a movie on cable recently, "White Boys", about white kids in a small rural farming town trying to act ghetto and being "down wit da bruthas" - only to be nearly killed by real thugs in Chicago in a drug deal gone bad (hilarious scene where hick brings $68 to buy drugs, and thinks the thug drug dealer will loan him the rest...) Incredibly funny, and VERY realistic movie.

Thug culture is all the rage. It will pass. I'm not saying its good, bad, or anything, but it too will pass - and with it all the wanna be thugs and hos at the mall with it.

[Clemenza]

What's interesting about the hip-hop mania is that youth from every culture want to be part of it. For example, one day last summer, a carload of Hispanic males pulled up in front of my house with their radio blasting filthy lyrics. They got out of the car and stood beside it, talking loudly and addressing each other as "N----- this" and "N----- that." It was appalling.

The same is true of the Arab, Nuyorican, Dominican, and Guyanese "yutes" in New York. Black English has become the official language of "the street" these days for many ethnic groups. "Brooklynese" is all but dead.

[Clemenza]

Did you see what she said afterward?:

"I'm a Latina, and there are times that I see how Mexicans are portrayed and it really does sicken me," wrote a reader in Iowa. "On the other hand, I also see how Latinos perpetuate these stereotypes, and so the issue struck me."

[norton]

"In your next enlightening column, make sure you don't curse us with your mouth full."

Just guessing,
but that guess is that you didn't really read the article. :(

[Clemenza]

I tend to find that such incidents are very common with folks from "the Greatest Generation", less so with us Gen Xers. My grandmother assumes that anyone of Asian appearance is "Chinese" and "not born here."

As for white people talking black when they meet blacks, I have seen this and feel embarassed.