America is weary of black resentment

Ahwatukee Foothills News ^ | May 15, 2008 | Linda Turley-Hansen

[2ndDivisionVet]

Wouldn't it be something if Michelle Obama, not the Rev. Jeremiah Wright or John McCain, were the reason Barrack Obama looses the presidency? Instead of "change," the First Lady-in-waiting is sticking with old hurts held closely by certain black communities.

They are those who relish the pain suffered by their slave forefathers and mothers. They revisit, over and over, what was; hurts, carefully protected and harbored as badges of honor.

None of us on this land are responsible for what happened to their kin, but they don't care. They marinate in crippling history.

Why?

The reasons reek of the psychology of it all. As long as struggle is someone else's fault, change is not a consideration.

Very few pioneers, who wove the early foundations of this country, missed out on suffering caused by prejudice. Either they were the wrong culture, sex, skill or religion. None, however, endured the evil suffered by the Native American.

Surely, every one of us, who cannot claim Native American blood, should leave this land forever, if justice is to be granted a wounded race. When that is done, let the next victims speak their claims against a nation so grand that during the past century it astoundingly righted major civil wrongs.

Where will it end?

Time for healing is long passed. Resentments and victimhood are now simply an excuse.

Despite her education, Michelle doesn't seem to compute the reality of the struggle of all humanity, everywhere. Behind the scenes, I imagine the Obama campaign handlers are choking on their pizza.

"They just keep raising the bar on Barrack," Michelle complained.

And, we all know what that means. If it's hard to be elected president, it's about discrimination. No mention of black Americans who've broken the attitude chains of helplessness.

There are a good number among the black community who call on their citizens to stop sniveling, to reach forward, not back. They urge them to gather their families, mothers and fathers, and teach children values and the privileges of hard work. But, the other voices seem to dominate. Many are religious leaders, such as Wright, the Obama family guru for 20 years. They capitalize on a transparent time warp. They talk change, but they really mean hold fast to the past and cling to hopelessness. Be sure and blame the white man.

Sometime ago (March/April 1995), Psychology Today quoted British psychiatrist Anthony Daniels (pen name Theodore Dalrymple) in an article called "The Uses of Resentment:" "If the world is unjustly stacked against us ... it absolves us from the painful necessity to change. We can remain exactly the same while calling down anathema on a cruel world."

And then he drives it home: "There is one further advantage of believing oneself to be the victim of circumstance. Our supposed victimhood assures us of our own importance."

No one can ignore the evils of slavery. Like Auschwitz, it'll always be with us. But, even if black Americans cannot find it in their hearts or religions to forgive, they can at least consider the power of letting go for the sake for their children's futures.

The oddness of Michelle's tack is this: she and her husband have proven the laws of hard work. Still, she resorts to political dirty tricks with snarly references to prejudice. Michelle's seeking to capitalize on white guilt, but what she risks is the backlash of those who have grown weary of the gimmick.

Her husband's right. It's time for change. A great place to start is in those black American communities, which cling to cultural resentment.

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Linda Turley-Hansen is a syndicated columnist and former veteran Phoenix television news anchorwoman who lives in the East Valley. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached by e-mail at letters@lindastake.com.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Comments?

[Recovering_Democrat]

In a word, too many are “bitter”, as the supposed Messiah once said.

[Salvey]

Her thoughts are on the money, but she’s a dreadful writer.

[2ndDivisionVet]

It says she’s a former anchorwoman or “news reader” as the Brits would say, so I’d be surprised if writing were her forte.

[BunnySlippers]

I have often contended that the ball is in the black family’s court. Time for parents to blot out the “N” word, “ho”, calling for the killing of police and glorifying of gangs.

Blacks need to take the next step to “liberate” themselves.

[the invisib1e hand]

Comments?

You asked for it.

My hunch is that there is a small and historically effective militant white-hating fraction of the black population -- that is, multi-generational American blacks -- who have pretty much intimidated much of the rest.

But their game is up, and we can thank Jeremiah Wright in part for it; although recent immigration by Africans is changing the whole picture: these people by and large come here, get educated, work very hard, raise families, make wonderful citizens.

The pissing-and-moaning left of every race is, as the author says, "wearisome."

[Tenniel2]

...she and her husband have proven the laws of hard work.

Michelle-pas-belle has proven the laws, all right, but they're the pseudo-laws of affirmative action and reverse discrimination (Bakke, anyone?), not the laws of hard work.

It's been suggested, here and elsewhere, that she knows very well that without her melanin content she wouldn't have gotten anywhere near Princeton, let alone a mid-six-figure do-not-much job.

[stubernx98]

She is of course right. Now if we could wave a wand and change history such that slavery never existed. Think where all these people would be now. Mostly dead, and those that survived would be living under Despots and poverty.

Slavery is an ugly thing, and has been practiced throughout human history, still is in some places.

Part of the problem is that the blacks have a huge inferiority complex, and this is their way to transferring their guilt to someone else(we all do it to some extent(you know - it is George Bush's fault).

Then there is the “Bell Curve”.

[Tax-chick]

Her thoughts are on the money, but she’s a dreadful writer.

Ghastly. She lost me in the first sentence, with "looses" instead of "loses." Honestly, epople! No your homophones - it's what sets us apart from the savages!

[Darren McCarty]

The bottom line is this. The world meets nobody halfway.

[bill1952]

. Michelle's seeking to capitalize on white guilt, but what she risks is the backlash of those who have grown weary of the gimmick.

Michelle is seeking to capitalize on black racism, but what she risks is the backlash of those who have grown weary of the gimmick.

[MARTIAL MONK]

None, however, endured the evil suffered by the Native American.

She crawls out of one swamp and jumps in another.

[sam_paine]

Write their wif ya epople as allways on loosey gucey, TC! =)

[Prole]

I just want to hear Michelle Obama raise her clenched fist and shout, "White Devils!"

Just let it out, Obama. I know what you are thinking whenever you reference "typical white people," and I am not fooled.

I know what you mean when you acknowledge that you were never proud of America before. I know what you are doing when you socialize with scum like Farrakhan, Shabazz, Wright and Sharpton. I know why you cheer for a racist who shouts, "G-D America."

The Obamas have done everything but shout "White Devils," yet I am waiting patiently for the final gaffe on National TV.

Maybe Hillary already has it on a cassette somewhere, and she is just waiting for the right moment to release it?

Regardless of that, M. Obama is one nasty racist.

[Sal]

Michelle's seeking to capitalize on white guilt, but what she risks is the backlash of those who have grown weary of the gimmick.

IMO the Obamas have set back benevolent race relations by at least a generation.

I was always one of the ones showing disapproval when someone made even a mildly offensive racial comment and I actively argued with those who said worse. It's been a long time since I had to do the latter because it's very rare for white people to make such comments nowdays--at least the ones I know.

I could handle the psycho preacher and church members as an aberration in the culture, but then I heard black pundits tell me that this attitude is widespread in black churches.

I hate racism and that includes black racism. And now here I am extremely weary of the gimmick and part of the backlash.

If I'm reacting that way, I have to figure there are huge numbers of people who are too.

[Vigilanteman]

The same could be said about the Hispanics, which isn't a race anyway. I've known a fair number of people of Hispanic origin who came here legally or, if illegally, made every effort to learn English, appreciate our culture and get legalized. Without exception, everyone of these people work hard, love their families and make superb citizens.

Then there are a few of the a**holes of Hispanic background who I used to work with in California. They were clear that I was their inferior because I didn't speak Spanish. Somehow, my presence in their neighborhoods was an invasion, tolerated only because I brought economic value to them.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Many white children today are raised with very few if any prejudices about black children yet many blacks are still resentful that their great great grandfather was (or might have been) a slave against whites who were more than likely NOT slave owners.

[Solitar]

Michelle, Barack, Condi, Colin, Janice (Rogers Brown), and others like them have exceptional IQ's -- the top one-tenth of a percent of those of similar mixed race. They should be working to pull the rest of their mixed race up rather than helping them wallow in victimhood. But victimhood is a way to ignore the reality of their poor situation.

One third of that mixed race have an IQ lower than 80 -- lower than the least bright one-tenth of non-hispanic Whites -- which makes for a very difficult life. The middle third of their mixed race has an IQ of less than 90 -- less than the least bright one-quarter of non-Hispanic whites -- making for a hard life for both groups with IQ's under 90. Only one third have IQ's equivalent to "normal" for non-hispanic Whites. But they could all do much better than they are now if they would put the victimhood stuff behind them and work for the best they can be.

Meanwhile, we Republicans should help the exceptional mixed race Black Republicans -- like Janice Rogers Brown -- gain offices (such as SCOTUS) where they can help all of us. And we should prevent those like Michelle and Barack from keeping their people down.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Ahwatukee is a more recent part of the Phoenix Metro area, yet shares the odd distinction of the area: relatively few black people. There are about 5 million people in the State of Arizona, but only about 3% are black, far below the national average.

Since Phoenix is a post WWII boomtown, from about 50,000 then to over 2,000,000 today, most of the people who live there are from other States. And while there are some ethnic concentrations in Phoenix, they are small, so that the metro area is fairly homogeneous.

This means that ethnic minorities, including ethnic blacks, Asians, and Mexicans, tend to integrate far more rapidly than elsewhere as well. For the most part, ethnic minorities have to go out of their way to concentrate, for example in churches.

So where does this leave racial attitudes in Phoenix?

Well, there were some “race pimps” some years ago, but for the most part, there is little for them to do in Phoenix, except to try to create the illusion of racism where none substantially exists. The last big issue was the Martin Luther King holiday.

But the most interesting thing is the white attitude towards black people: the white children raised here know very little about black people, except what they see on television. They have few preconceived notions, most of which are dispelled when they meet middle class black people.

This means that racism for the most part only exists by ignoring black people, or if they themselves make an issue of it. Otherwise, their actions and behavior speak for themselves as far as acceptance or rejection go.

Arizona was never a slave State, and wasn’t even a State at the time of the Civil War. So slavery wasn’t just different people, but in a different place, and a different time. It is not part of Arizona history.

This is why there is little tolerance or interest in making an issue of ancient wrongs in Arizona. People who do so are just being whiny.

[To Hell With Poverty]

Honestly, epople! No your homophones

Tee-hee, thanks for the chuckle! ;)