Posted on 09/05/2011 5:31:13 PM PDT by ilovesarah2012
There was a time until the early 1960s when the terms to describe those of African decent, like me -- African-American or Black or Afro-American -- were almost unheard of.
I remember a distinct conversation with a friend discussing descriptive terms for ourselves in 1963 or ’64. The term “black” was just coming into vogue and he didn’t like it one bit. “Call me a Negro,” he said, “but don’t call me black.”
Now, the word “Negro” (publications used a lower case “n”) has almost become a pejorative, so I was a little surprised when my pastor, the Rev. Willie Reid, used it during Thursday’s revival. “Back when we were Negroes,” he said, and listed several things that were different about black life in America back then.
That got me to thinking. Back when we were Negroes in the 1950s, “only 9 percent of black families with children were headed by a single parent,” according to “The Black Family: 40 Years of Lies” by Kay Hymowitz. “Black children had a 52 percent chance of living with both their biological parents until age 17. In 1959, “only 2 percent of black children were reared in households in which the mother never married.” But now that we’re African-Americans, according to Hymowitz, those odds of living with both parents had “dwindled to a mere 6 percent” by the mid-1980s.
(Excerpt) Read more at macon.com ...
Great sermon.
And so true. American blacks should be so much farther ahead of where they are (in general).
If he keeps this up, he’s going to get kicked off of Jesse Jackson’s Christmas card list!
This will never appear on the HuffPo.
Back when we were Negroes, the last thing a young woman wanted to look like was a harlot and a young man a thug, but now that we’re African-Americans, many of our young girls dress like hootchie mamas and our young boys imitate penitentiary custom and wear their pants below the butt line.
Back when we were Negroes, we had names like Joshua, Aaron, Paul, Esther, Melba, Cynthia and Ida. Now that we are African Americans, our names are bastardized versions of alcohol from Chivas to Tequila to C(S)hardonney.
For 40 years of my adult life I have said the key to true equality was education. The liberals every step,every vote has been to bar school choice, destroy the family thru welfare. It is so so sad that the majority of our black communities can not and will not see thru the democratic party. Until they do, nothing will change. What is also amazing is the american jews. The christian conservative has been unwavering in their support of the jews.yet they consistantly vote dem.
A very telling description of the current “state of affairs” in the black/negro/AA community !
I still prefer Mr. Lloyd Marcus’s tagline, “Proud unhyphenated American” !
I can also attest to the validity of the author’s contentions. I see the “consequences” every working day ! And, IMNSHO, he “sugar-coated” the reality of the consequences of the liberal exploitive extravaganza culminating the “Great Society” of the LB Johnson Administration. I see multiple generations of prisoners- all suffering the effects of substance abuses and nutritional deprivation resulting in cognitive and emotional/psychological disabilities. Doubtless, as their voting population declines these -”governmentally-disabled” blacks/negros will be abandoned by the liberal establishment in favor of some other race/ethnicity more tractable/reliable in the liberal/progressive “cause”. >PS
Back when we were Negroes
I am 63. Do you realize how old one has to be to remember Negro families? It’s like trying to remember a dream, and then trying to explain how real it was to somebody else.
We met people in South Carolina who remember freed slaves that had belonged to their grandparents. They stayed with them until they all passed away.
Incredible, wonderful Negroes from another time.
Blacks are waking up. Not all of them, not all at once, but the messages of Alveda King, Jesse Lee Peterson, Thomas Sowell and many others are being, I claim, internalized by a silent minority of the black community. I think this is happening slowly, maybe glacially, but I think that it is happening. Significance? Check back in a couple of generations and we’ll know!
If the lefties really believed in social justice, they would tear their garments and sit in ashes over what they’ve done to the black family through their botched social experiments.
Doesn’t negro mean black in Spanish?
Some of you 'youngsters' would benefit from reading up on the views of Democrat Senator Patrick Moynihan on the subject of 'Negro' poverty, family and illegitimacy. He had his finger on the problem as early as 1965 during the Johnson administration.
He concluded in a famous report that the rising rate of illegitimacy in the 'Negro' community would have devastating social consequences, a conclusion that has been born out by the history of the last 50 years.
Here is a short article to get you started.
What has always fascinated me about Moynihan, a relatively reasonable man compared to the current crop of Dems, is that he never made the association between the Democrat imposed welfare system and the rising 'Negro' illegitimacy rates.
He didn't understand the basic economic principle that states that if you pay someone to have babies and you pay them more if there is no husband in the house you are going have many young 'Negro' gals taking you up on your offer. Better, way better, to never ever make that offer.
In many ways blacks as a socio-economic group have regressed since when I was a child. I put a lot of blame on the left. They have indeed “kept them on the plantation”. Hopefully that is changing, but not quickly. People like Allen West and Herman Cain can lead the way.
One thing I have learned in my 68 years is that there are Negroes and there are those who are the N-word.
There is a world of difference. I know some fine Negroes.
It’s funny though, although white people respect them they are called Uncle Tom’s by many of their own race.
What ever happened to the whole “content of their character” idea?
Folks of all races can either be productive citizens or human trash.
Years ago, my grandfather employed about 50 black cowboys who were upstanding men. They were hard workers and didn’t have any kind of attitude. They didn’t use the n word because it was disrectfull. These were very religious men who were good family men and raised their kids right. I worked right along with them as a kid and learned a lot from them. We didn’t see differences in race, we were all in the same boat.
Don’t see many of those folks anymore.
Now of course when the guys hung out and tried to act tough the n-word was a natural addition to the other profanities.
But we would get a smack upside the head by momma saying it just the same as if we said #*$@!
Didn't really know any black folk until they finally integrated my school around 1968-our locality used the school choice system til the courts said we couldn't.
Seems black parents wanted their children to go to the black schools as much as the white parents wanted theirs to go to white schools.
Now you have to go to college to self segregate.
Back in the '60s "Negro" was the normal term, but the Nation of Islam ridiculed it (see Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X) and it fell out of fashion. To the extent that whites played any role, I think it was the mainstream media responding to pressure from self-appointed leaders like Jesse Jackson (at least for the change to African American).
Probably the reason that Black hasn't disappeared into the same memory hole as Negro (and "colored") is that it is one syllable whereas African American is 7 syllables long.
I would like to think so. The black community has been ill served by the Jesse Jacksons and Barak Obamas of the world long enough and they deserve better. But that is something they are going to have to work out themselves.
And as much as I would like to say that I see progress in that direction I really don't. The voting patterns tell the story: they still believe that a Democrat managed Federal Government will benefit them at the expense of "the rich". That "Big Lie" has stood the test of time - it still works.
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