I'd consider that to be a fair answer, Mrs. wimpycat.
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Posted on 09/16/2005 7:09:28 PM PDT by flixxx
Racial differences of opinion
Here's an uncomfortable subject: Why do black Americans see some issues so totally differently from the way nonblack Americans see them?
The obvious examples before us are the polls that show large majorities of blacks saying that the Bush administration slowed relief to Katrina victims because so many of them were black, and large majorities of whites saying just the opposite. (Pause for factual note: Most Katrina victims, of course, were white: Orleans Parish has a black majority, but the other Louisiana parishes and the Mississippi and Alabama counties hit by Katrina have white majorities.) Here are results from a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll conducted September 8 to 11.
Just your best guess, do you think one reason the federal government was slow in rescuing these people was because many of them were black, or was that not a reason?
(snip)---((table did not reproduce well))
I am reminded of the polls taken immediately after O.J. Simpson's criminal trial, which showed that a large majority of blacks thought he was not guilty and a larger majority of whites thought he was guilty. At the time, I wondered whether black respondents really believed he had not killed his wife or whether they were just expressing something in the nature of solidarity with him. Looking at results like these, I wonder something similar: Aren't these black respondents just expressing their dislike or even hatred for George W. Bush, rather than embracing the absurd position that the federal government would move slowly to rescue people because many of them—many, not most, as Gallup was careful to ask—were black?
Where did you grow up, that that was the ONLY time you saw segregation in a commercial establishment?
I'd consider that to be a fair answer, Mrs. wimpycat.
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Wait, I get it...telling a person that they have to eat at the restaurant two blocks away simply because of their skin color is only an act of racism if there are a few pejoratives thrown in, right?
I'd laugh out loud at the ridiculous nature of such a statement, if it weren't so sad.
My parents are in their late 60's, early 70's, and were born and raised right here in NC. They could tell you some stories. Not as bad as some you've heard, but indicative of how pervasive the system really was.
It's sad that everything about Katrina is us vs. them, politically or racially. It's ridiculous to believe that the President intentionally sabotaged the rescue efforts for any reason. However, I have no idea what is like to be a minority, so I can't say how I would respond in the same situation.
At this point, I think people don't want to believe that the world can be so frail. It's much more comforting to believe that a person is to blame than to believe that we are helpless against nature.
The only personal story I heard along these lines left a huge impression on me. My friend Gary, who is black and nearly my exact age, told me one day about what it was like for him growing up. (By the way, I'm a spring chicken at 42).
He would try on clothes at K-Mart here in Dallas (back in the mid-sixties), but instead of letting him try on the clothes in the fitting rooms, he had to change in the alley.
This floored me.
I mean, I know about the crap that went on in the Jim Crow days, and anybody with sense knows it was a travesty. But this was a guy my age! I will never forget that story, because it affected a friend of mine (who, incidentally, rose above it and does not harbor any bitterness).
Hard to imagine those days. Still we need to improve race relations, but how far we have come.
I hope that my little reminiscence will shed some light on your statement. I had the papers from the US Embassy in London 1954 to apply for immigration. Impossible though. Opted for Canada.
Time passes. First car a 55 Ford. I got two weeks vacation,from my Canadian employer. Headed down to Tennessee, summer of 1958. I asked a gentleman in Nashville, the whereabouts of the YMCA. I was directed down the hill. When I got there, the sign in purple read "colored" YMCA.
Taking a rare tan and with certain features,must have done it. I knew it was the "wrong" one. I asked again of someone. Up the hill, I headed to the YMCA proper. I gingerly headed in with a packsack and a Union Jack sewn on it.
A grizzled elderly gentleman spotted me and said,"Yep Tennessee gittin' to be a mighty important place- people comin' around". No problem. Often wonder where my looks came from- family said Spanish gypsies somewhere. LOL.
That's amazing logic. Can we also assume that the people who were lynching blacks were really trying to cure their sore throats?
Condolleezza Rice tells the story of shopping with her mother for a dress as a young girl and being told she had to try it on in the utility closet, IIRC.
It is hard to imagine those days, especially since I grew up in a military town, one of the most integrated places in the country, in an integrated neighborhood. (My hometown was something like the 2nd most integrated town of its size in the country, according to some survey a couple years back. I think #1 was also a military town.)
I would hope that it would serve to illustrate what I was trying to say however given the reaction of some I am not very hopeful.
Why don't you put your "blade" back in your hide and guit trying to cut everone that has a different opion....
In my opinion, and considering the situation in the context of the realities of those days, if a black man, in the South, in the 30's & 40's, walked into a 'white' restaurant, by way of the front door, because he was hungry, I would have to conclude he was from out-of-town and didn't know his way around.
And why don't you step up out of my face and learn how to spell properly?
To quote some of my Jewish brethren, "Never again."
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No I don't think we could assume that.
I saw on T/V, an hours show on the celebrated RAT PACK. You will know of Martin,Sinatra,Lawford and Sammy Davis. Now Davis had a serious accident and eventually lost his eye. It was stated by one of that group, or someone well connected that Davis was refused admission to a hospital- because he was black.
If some one on this thread can verify this,from actual facts-ok. In that such a callous event took place- then this would tend to ratify stories of utter and mindless discrimination.
I try, myself, to separate what is fact and what is heard second hand. I make it a point to "speak as I find",for I was actually there.
Bull.
You've had an obvious grudge form 3 to 5 different threads...
BillyBob, you need not apologize for people who "ought to know better." I submit that they DO know better, but would rather show their true colors -- everyone else be damned.
I can't "jump" anywhere right now.
Like you, I can summon whomever I choose. I don't have to respect anyone's opinion, just like you don't have to respect mine. See how that works?
You've had an obvious grudge form 3 to 5 different threads...
Spelling problems, spelling problems. But I digress. FireTrack, you haven't seen me with a grudge... yet.
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Amen. Pass the collection plate.
Never again, Mike. Never again.
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