Posted on 09/06/2005 5:20:49 AM PDT by jmc1969
LET ME START by saying that if I had my life to live over a thousand times, the one thing I would not change would be my race. I am proud to be a black man. There are times however, when I wish that certain people and I did not share that trait.
For the past few days, the whole world ... well, at least those who have access to satellite and cable television, have been seeing pictures of the virtually total devastation of the cities of the U.S. Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 90 per cent of homes in New Orleans have been destroyed by flood waters and more than 100 people have been confirmed dead.
We see people standing on the roofs of their submerged homes desperate to be rescued, others being airlifted to safety, and we have heard tear-jerking stories of families losing their loved ones. But in all of this, we have also seen the really dark side of black people.
The day after the hurricane passed, there were reports of looting but network reporters had been saying that people were looting out of desperation, in search of food and water. A lot they knew.
The pictures I have been seeing are of people - black people - stealing shoes, diapers, and television sets. Not food and definitely not water. Not unless the armfuls of clothing, shoes, and appliances I see people wading through the streets with count as food and water.
Now, if all the looters were looting out of desperation, how desperate were the guy and girls I saw toting several boxes of size 13 Nikes? How desperate was the fellow with the stack of diapers? What, is it that he has several babies at home suffering from loose bowels? What am I talking about, what home? Everything is under water and what isn't, has been totally destroyed.
Plasma TV?
And just what are those guys stealing the plasma television sets going to be watching when there is no power in the entire city?
Desperation? Yeah, right. I am beginning to believe that black people, no matter where in the world they are, are cursed with a genetic predisposition to steal, murder, and create mayhem.
The entire firearm department at a Wal-Mart department store, for example, was cleaned out and the looters used the stolen weapons to rob people. How low is that? Everybody is suffering and the black people would seek to rob people who are suffering just like themselves.
No white looters?
And it has nothing to do with poverty. Where are the white people in all this? I am sure there are poor white people living in New Orleans, Biloxi and the other towns affected by what has been going on. Is it that the media are not showing pictures of them looting and robbing? Or is it that they are too busy trying to stay alive, waiting to be rescued, and hiding from the blacks.
And you know what? Even if the poor whites were looting and robbing, wouldn't it be nice if the blacks could have made them the only ones doing it
Just once, I would like for us blacks to take the high road in situations like this, where instead of showing our darkest side, we put our best foot forward. But I guess that would be too much to ask, too much of a case of wishful thinking.
I said it already but the posts were pulled.
Poverty is not an excuse.
Almost anyone my age from the South....47 and a cracker
had quite poor grandparents or great grandparents who left no legacy of stealing, thuggery or illegitimacy because they were poor
and neither did blacks back then either.....not on the magnitude of today
You're so proud of those sentiments, too.
Amazing.
Do you mean "Whorrrrrrrrrrrrrrealdo!"?
that is not true....especially in Southern states with high black populations
however...I will be the first to the loathe obvious rise in white or latino illegitimacy and thuggery
but...as usual why does any criticism of black cultural issues have to always be muted by qualifying that whites do it too
whites do but not to the same extent and that is the issue folks want fixed...one day anyhow
The ONLY thing I am proud of, is my courage to speak my mind. The Emperor is Buck Naked!
AS a percentage of the population of blacks, yes the vast majority of them are on welfare. But they are only 11% of the population. I work for the welfare system in MI. we have over 90k on the dole. Out of that group 30k are blacks on welfare.
You also forget that SSI is also welfare. And some, even would consider RSDI as welfare too.
Your mind judges people based on race. Nothing courageous there.
The overwwheling majority of black people in New Orleans did not, however, loot stores, rape and shoot people.
And yes, I did see some white looters, although most appeared black. But then most of New Orelans is black.
Had a smiliar situation occurred in a poverty-stricken white city, a similar situation would probably have arisen.
Every race and ethnic group has people with hariy little Neaderthals living inside them.
And despite my nom-de-pulme, I'm white, not black - and proud of it too.
the MSM woulda sold thier firstborn to splash white looters or snipers or thugs on the frontpage
they just didn't have many....not even on the Miss Gulf Coast which is 80-85% white
If the Superdome situation had been 100 black folks surrounded by 25,000 white folks some of whom were circling and threatening rape or murder and maybe even tried or succeeded....we don't know yet.....it would be the news that would dominate the entire storm....over and over and over.
What happened in the Superdome and Convention Center and elsewhere is very racial....to deny that is just crazy. It defies what we are hearing from survivors recounts. I prefer to believe them than sensitivity motivated denial.
now would the same freepers bitching about folks here having the audacity to question black culture be defending that many racist whites?
I think not
what we have here is folks defending their identity.....that's understandble...i do the same on some threads myself
but....that doesn't mean it's true or we're all gonna agree does it?
sorta precludes that by it's nature
as for PC crackers....I'll never understand ya'll
wishing things were different than they are will never make it so
I was sorta hoping this calamity could help drive a stake in thuig culture's heart.....and victimhood too....but it looks like it's already back to bizness as usual
You need to come down South to enrich your perspective....so do most freepers for that matter.
Jamaica has its thug element too, but the island has faced hurricanes without the extremes in violent behavior that we saw in NO.
That's exactly what I'm saying. Culture and genetics are not the same thing.
The insistence on tying race and culture makes me extremely wary of those who hold that view. Check out Dr. Thomas Sowell's Race and Culture and you'll see what I mean.
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
Actually, I take that as a compliment; and believe it or not, I do get to win more often than not.
Indeed.
But many can see through the rhetoric, and like in that episode, much of the time, finding the humor can be the key...
My mind tells me the atrocities committed were from black people. The help they are now receiving are a majority, white people. I will be damned if I sit back and say these crimes were committed by "People" and leave it at that, or say my Culture and leave it at that. You want to be color blind, that is up to you. But don't you dare try to quiet someone because they see this as a Culture/Race induced criminal activity.
really Zulu,
Then explain why white looters are not everywhere on the Mississippi Coast which has a population of over 400,000 folks of which 80-85% is white and yet the only looters I've heard mentioned therer are black?
Now...I have seen a handful of white looters in NOLA on the news but that's about it
The media would like nothing better than a parade of white looters....lord...they would be beside themselves.
How do you explain the disturbing comments from whites in the Superdome Convention Center and elsewhere? Denying there is black on white racism and a fair amount of black thuggery at work here is bald faced Stalin style denial "the lying eues complex" and saying that is so does not make one a racist....with all due respect to me a racist is a racial supremacist....none of which I know of exist here to many freepers these days....a racist is anyone critical of some culture it's nuts
It's Bush's fault.
I agree 100%.
Welfare reform did much to improve things, but it will take more reforms and at least a generation to undo the damage of (mostly white) liberal politicians.
Off topic, but welfare reform for corporations would start to undo the economic equivalent of this nightmare.
Actually I feel sorry for people like the author.
I have met many educated, cultured, Christian hard working black people. This is no prelude to a bashing or follow on insult. No, it's a sad story which seems to have a sad ending.
We have Condoleezza Rice (Whom many would like to see as our next president, and not just because she's black); Collin Powell, Woods, and so many others who are good people.
But why are these successful and good Americans looked at as sell outs by their own race? Why is the black culture one that worships failure? Their role models are in part incapable of speaking in coherent sentences, and that’s if you over look the colorful metaphors they stick in them. I don’t want my kid listening or watching that stuff.
It seems to me that there is almost a sub-culture which expects you to be a failure if you’re black. If you do break the mold, then you’re rejected by your own kind. Affirmative action and free hand outs have created a sub-culture in our society where this is expected and demanded. It’s come to a point where a 16 year old black kid thinks he’s a victim and believes he has entitlements because of his race. The same kid will listen to Kanye West and thinks Powell isn’t black.
This is no issue anyone can fix for the black community. They will have to do that themselves. One thing is for sure though. People like Jesse Jackson is not a cure to the problem, but many in the black community don’t see that. These people make their living off of the race issue and are counterproductive to any real change within this community. Of course, he is considered a “real” black man, as Clinton was.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200110/NAT20011001e.html
Red6
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