Posted on 11/27/2013 4:45:00 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I’m not a racist. But I do have a race problem. I finally owned up to it as I was anticipating seeing 12 Years a Slave. In the weeks leading up to its opening in my state of North Carolina, I tried to think of whom among my friends I could see this film with. I have a number of racially and ethnically diverse friends and acquaintances who would love to see it, and yet, I knew I could only see this movie alone or with another dark-skinned person.
This is hard to admit. I will hurt the feelings of people I love. But isn’t confession the first step to being reconciled? I have good, healthy friendships with a range of people, but I could not think of one white person where I live with whom I would feel emotionally safe enough to see this particular movie about slavery. I did not want to have to entertain any of the likely responses from anyone who could not see themselves in the skin of the enslaved men and women on the screen. I had no desire to dissect the film politically and theologically, engage in well-meaning social commentary, marvel at the history conveyed through the movie, or grieve over what was done to black people.
I did not want the burden of the social translations that black people so often have to do automatically on so many internal levels while engaging in discourse with whites in this country. There are things we learn to do almost subconsciously in order to keep some whites comfortable enough around our blackness. Things like gauging their actual level of interest or understanding of black culture in order to know how far to take a particular conversation....
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Lol
From one victim to another sorta thing
What about injuns...they never get their due by comparison
I expect it’s about to go from soft to hard in a lot less time than many think.
Why so no sympathy?
LoL
LOL, no Thanksgiving charity at all....I’m so mean.
First rule of racists: Don’t admit you’re a racist.
Really? What did he talk about? I’m interested in hearing.
He was discussing the history of the churches in England just before the ‘exodus’ to what later would become America. While focusing on Henry VIII, he mentioned that Henry was angry with Catherine since she didn’t produce any sons, and how that led to a division between England and the Catholics. It was just that mention, then he moved on to Mary. It just caught my attention when he mentioned ‘Catherine of Aragon’.
That’s OK.
Cromwell rounded up all the Catholics in Scotland and shipped them down to Barbados as slaves back in the 1600s. Not all slaves have been black.
The New Model Army.
You mean like a north African muslim whose relatives might have sold your relatives into slavery? Meanwhile sitting next to the redheaded great grandson of early 20th century Irish immigrants would be too awkward. No doubt the irony is lost on her.
Very often, black people work to make white people at ease by layering away any unease we ourselves may feel.
Has she considered that most whites do the same, but multiplied ten fold? The media world that exists today is a giant pretzel that whites have twisted themselves into to accomodate black feelings. It's why movies like Twelve Years a Slave exist, for crying out loud.
I am saddened at the undeniable reality of my problem. I mourn my seeming inability to fully trust those pink-skinned children of God.
Pink? This is Luis Farrakhan style vulgar racism.
Actually, I didn’t miss yours (and it was very good!). I was just recalling the old double entendre from when I was a young man, and thought it would bring back fond memories to some other old farts.
By the way: I like your profile page.
In other words the author does not have the maturity to deal with the subject matter.
Enuma Okoro is a racist....in addition to being ignorant....
Yep, Henry was pretty much a beast to her. The woman went through a lot, including having her daughter taken away from her, yet she never lost her faith in God. I admire her.
A frickin' pity at this time in our so-called history that so damn few homies can actually read it. And if through some miraculous happenstance they could, they certainly wouldn't accept it.
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