On race, America has far to go. Ferguson won't be the last flash point

The Manchester Guardian ^ | August 16, 2014 | Farai Chideya

[2ndDivisionVet]

The events in Missouri spring from America's deeply embedded segregation and black economic deprivation.

I spent my very early years in New York, living a very multiracial Sesame Street life, a big swinging bellbottom of a childhood. And then our family moved to Baltimore and the iron curtain of the "colour line" fell. I felt that I had moved from the 1970s through a time warp where black and white were the only two colours and never the twain shall socially meet.

I grew to understand what the 50s were actually like in Baltimore, when my mother, for example, was permitted to buy clothes from the major department store but not try them on. (Heaven forfend some black lady should be in the dressing room, right? You know they leave a residue of blackness on the clothes.)

America has never had one racial reality, but a series of them strung together from San Antonio to Pittsburgh to Appalachia. What we are seeing in Ferguson, Missouri, is the result of life in a specific type of heavily racialised zone. Yes, a city such as New York, where a black man was recently choked to death by police officers, has its own very clear forms of racialisation and it's a national issue. But the police killing, last week, of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen in Ferguson has sparked national protests because it represents a specific type of racialisation. This is of the majority black city, big or small, with a white economic and political power structure.

I grew up with mayor William Donald Schaefer, who presided over Baltimore from 1971-1987, an unusually long stretch....

[SZonian]

Glad you’re doing as well as can be expected...prayers up for a speedy recovery.

[Col Freeper]

LOL, nice hat WF.

Good thing that loser isn't in America any more.

Of course, he probably still hasn't renounced his American Citizenship yet -- so that he can quietly sneak back here should the need arise.

Renounce now AlexW, so that some Legal Immigrant can take your place in this great country.

[NFHale]

Marcella, I hope you are OK. Sorry to hear about the accident.

[wardaddy]

Blacks most definitely do not work like when I was a boy

Look at Ferguson.....just hanging out all day

I have listened to my workers talk about gaming entitlements

With two kids.....

One can likely get fairly 2000 per month in all the freebies....plus housing

Its ruined them....and the ultra obese white trash bunch too....who are mixing to produce fatherless mulatto generation at light speed

A real mess...racial progress

[Mears]

“Summer of ‘53?

Bah!

Kids!

(November of ‘52 myself).”

---

Fall of ‘32 here.

.

[Marcella]

“I got at the Grapevine Mills Mall for $15.”

Do you mean “Grapevine” north of Dallas?

[Darksheare]

OUCH.
Rest up, let the meds work, don’t try to move too much too quickly.
You might need to see a chiropractor as well.
Good to see that you’re more or less okay otherwise.

[Windflier]

Do you mean “Grapevine” north of Dallas?

Yeah. There's a western shop in there that sells cheap hats.

[Windflier]

To give the benefit of doubt, Al probably wasn’t always like that. Something embittered him somewhere along the way.

You're more generous than I am. I think his backbone gave out and he bravely ran away.

[Windflier]

That’s the MODERN version of the D-ring Winchester... Same job, different day.

Yep. I love 'em. They fit the bill for home defense on the urban 'range'.

[Windflier]

Never cared for those hollow-body Birdlands, though. I like my Jackson.

I hear that. I'm a Fender Strat man, myself. I once had a Jackson/Charvel with locking tremelo and active electronics. Sweet rig, and I miss it.

[wku man]

Get well soon, ma'am. Pain meds aren't fun, and they seriously fog your brain. But you're tough, you're a Texan gal, and you're a Dawg Soldier, so you'll bounce back in no time.

"All we dawgs together would be awesome."

All we Dawgs together would be a force that not even the entire Chicom army could oppose. As Mr. T would say, "I pity the fools who come up against the Dawgs!"

Bounce back, and keep fighting the good fight.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[Windflier]

If the SHTF, I'll be proud to stand beside you if you can accept the fact my rifle is a PINK Ruger. All we dawgs together would be awesome.

Same here, Marcella. I don't care what color your Ruger is, as long as it goes bang when you point it at the zombie enemies of our beloved country.

Sorry to hear about your accident. I guess that car bounced right off you ;-) You're a tough one!

(thanks for the compliment, btw)

[houeto]

Dang. Sure wish I could find me a $15 knock-off that looks that good. As far as the hat size, women hate it but I am scary-good at guessing their age and weight by holding their hand and turning them in a circle like you do when you country dance.

[Windflier]

Good thing that loser isn't in America any more. Of course, he probably still hasn't renounced his American Citizenship yet -- so that he can quietly sneak back here should the need arise.

You can bet that's the case. The weasel sits thousands of miles away from the fray while badmouthing us and our country. Meanwhile, Social Security buys his daily bottle of red wine and pays his rent.

The worm.

[humblegunner]

Jacksons are sweet too... what do you run it through, a Marshall?

Indeed, just so... MG50DFX.

Plenty of kick for what I use it for. Got some effects pedals
and a harmony machine that I used in the past, but the Marshall
doesn't need any of that mess.

Obligatory blurry pic:

I’ll stick with my American Strat and my two Ibanez RG550s (one black with maple neck, the other white with rosewood neck).

I had a cheap Squier Strat back in the day.. it was good to learn on but nowhere near as nice as a real Strat.

Also had an Ibanez bass.. lightweight but killer action.

The lack of density hindered sustain, though...

[wku man]

"I like my Jackson."

No kidding...I have a pre-Jackson Charvel Phil Colen model. Love it...designed for shredding, but I'm not that fast. I'm more of a Les Paul and Explorer man myself.

Hale, are you a picker, too?

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[wku man]

Dang...if I'd just read a little further, I'd have had the answer already.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[Marcella]

“Yeah. There’s a western shop in there that sells cheap hats.”

Well, Windflier, I now live in the town of Lewisville - you and I may live close to each other now. We go to a Catholic church in Grapevine. Send me a Freepmail and we’ll see how close we are.

[NFHale]

“..You’re more generous than I am...”

Well, I think people just change sometimes. Something happens to them, turns them inside out - who knows, death of a loved one, financial ruin, plain bad luck, any number of events.

Some people let those negative things get control of their views, and others don’t. Most people seem to take adversity in stride as just part of our time here; dealing with adversity makes you stronger. Running away from it just puts payment off for some other day, but it still needs to be paid, ultimately.

I just got sick of his bullsh*t and returned fire. It was real tiresome.