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radiohead spoke from personal experience as a black person. I do the same. mhking does the same. None of us blame anyone (and those who know me here can vouch for my saying that I could care less what a lot of the mouth-breathers around here think).
Our histories are interlaced. Therefore, there is no "whitey" history or black history. It's only American history.

Period.

Indeed.

I am the product of my own decisions and actions. I have no reason, nor cause, nor desire to blame anyone for my position in life; not some unseen "whitey", not any other boogieman someone can come up with.

And I dare say that I can speak for most other blacks (and any other minorities for that matter) who inhabit FR when I say that we're damn proud of that personal responsibility that we all bear.

Coming to the defense of radiohead is inded admirable; chivalry is not dead. I don't know what schools you went to, but one of the common complaints many of US Black People voiced over the years is "where do we fit in history, American or otherwise?" My instruction in American history was very white-washed, with the great accomplishments and vision of our (?) Founding fathers, (many of whom owned slaves), our captians of industry, our great explorers, topped off with our great savior and emancipator, Abe Lincoln. Sorry, I forgot to mention Fredrick Douglass, possibly the greatest manifestation of integrity and strength in the entire American 19th century. Ol' Freddie got a few lines, here and there, along with G.W. Carver. What about the rest of the population? Voting? Land holding? Education? INTEGRATION?
ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH? Get the idea?
THAT was MY personal experience.

I had ONE teacher who lost a few friends in Viet Nam who REALLY told it like it was: the battle in this country is for the young person's MIND. Once controlled, you can do what you want with him/her.

I added that statement to say to you, yes, you make your own decisions. You are indeed the product of your own decisions. Any one of us who has accomplished anything knows this. Many of us who have nothing know this also. My point is that you like any one can only make a decision based on what ever knowledge you have acquired up to that point. If, like the author of the original atrticle stated, the only exposure to education or advanced learning has been delivered by skill-less or uninterested teachers, in places where the standards have been tremendously lowered, or has been regarded as a waste of time, many of the old thought processes have to be stripped away before any real progress can be made. Remember when it was common knowledge that YOU COULDN'T GIVE A WHITE PERSON A BLOOD TRANSFUSION WITH A BLACK PERSON'S BLOOD? or When Black people just didn't have the intellectual capacities to perform higher mathematical functions? Times changed as information became available. Times changed as the subtle messages to the various ethnic groups were refuted and disclaimed. BUT: That doesn't mean that the messages that were sent did not exist, and that the repercussions of some of those those messages still don't exist today. Ever ask a cop friend if racial profiling actually exists?

One thing I notice about this site: anytime someone wants to say something derogatory about Black people, the racists and handkerchief heads come out and applaud the clear vision of the poster. RARELY, if at all, do i see any refutations. Why is that?

As Always:
"K"