Pop singer Beyonce Knowles performs scantily-clad dance on tomb of President Ulysses S Grant

BBC News/Entertainment On Line ^ | Monday, 14 July | staff writer

[stainlessbanner]

Grant kicked your a@@ and you "Unreconstructed Rebs" have never gotten over it.

A little bitter? Yankee virulent comments.

[Pharmboy]

The funny thing is that this guy initially attacked me as an "ignorant Southerner;" I did not tell him that I am actually an "ignorant Yankee" becuse he's too stupid to click on my name and see where I'm from.

Anyway, I took it as a compliment to be called a Southerner; my son-in-law is 100% Southern.

[cyborg]

I had one very good black female friend who could explain black American culture to me in college. She would talk about something called 'conking' mixing lye with potato starch. I am sure you would agree that it's a good thing that isn't done anymore. Aside from that, inventing these potions made CJ Walker the first female millionaire anywhere in the world in the mid-late 1800s here in the States.

Living in a predominantly middle-working class black neighborhood, I can tell you that moderation IS NOT the order of the day. I get a lot of women who gush over my hair and ask me how to get my kind of hair. Sometimes that makes me really uncomfortable, especially when they say 'good hair' eeewww... I'm glad I was not brought that way.

[Quester]

Living in a predominantly middle-working class black neighborhood, I can tell you that moderation IS NOT the order of the day. I get a lot of women who gush over my hair and ask me how to get my kind of hair. Sometimes that makes me really uncomfortable, especially when they say 'good hair' eeewww... I'm glad I was not brought that way.

My Midwest experience is probably a step beyond this.

It's about working with what God gave you.

[cyborg]

calling up the cherokee division of the confederate army...

[Mr. Mojo]

Grant must be rising in his grave...

[TontoKowalski]

Hair is a funny subject for us white folk, too.

My Mom and sister have straight hair, and go to the beauty parlor frequently to get it wavy. Then it's the curling iron every morning. I still remember their home-perm days, and some of the mishaps that resulted. They'd kill for wavy hair.

My wife has naturally wavy hair. She'd give anything for it to be straight. She wants to grow it longer, but when she does, it just gets wavier and curlier, and you can't tell it's any longer except when it's wet.

I told my wife she should try the relaxers that black girls use. I assume those would work on her, although her hair is wavy and not tight tight curls like black people have (we used to call it kinky, but now I'm not certain if that's a racist term... if it is, it's not intended to be).

[rwfromkansas]

lol

[cyborg]

Yes I agree. I find that locks tend to be distasteful among some people because of its association with 'pot smoking rastas'. I think a lot of it is in womens' minds as to what they think they will look like without the artifical stuff. I find it personally liberating to not waste time fussing with the hair. Having said that. God gave me stubby lookin fingers so I wear nail tips... which I think next to hair is another obsession with my neighbors. It's all good though. I do not want to get all political about ones hairstyle the way many people did in the Sixties. I will say that many black women who shop where I work are not relaxing their hair anymore because I do not.

[rwfromkansas]

Now, if she did this to Stonewall Jackson, well, then I would be pissed.

[Fraulein]

I took it as a compliment to be called a Southerner

That word is *always* a compliment.

[cyborg]

Kinky isn't racist... if you said nappy some black people might get offended. Lots of white people have rebellious hair. Your wife can always do japanese thermal condition but that will make her hair PIN STRAIGHT and she may not even like that. She should try the kids' formula for black hair straighteners. It's gentle with no lye.

[rwfromkansas]

The curls just come naturally? Interesting.

[rwfromkansas]

Oh good grief. I doubt Grant will be offended since he can't see anything.

[stainlessbanner]

87 gets funnier each time I read it; especially knowing you are from Jersey. A Southerner might call it "high-horse" post whereby the author needs to get down. We won't ask him about Grant's presidency.... (shhhhh)

[TontoKowalski]

Thanks for the advice on the kid's formula. I'll tell her that. I didn't know their was a kid's formula...

Thanks also for the clarification on "kinky" and "nappy." I grew up in the Deep South, and sometimes I don't know what passes muster (words/phrases which were just part of our speech when we were kids).

For example, the old TV Show "Benson" had an episode surrounding the racist connotations of the word "uppity." In my upbringing, "uppity" was just one of those vague Southern words with unclear definitions. My mother would get on us if we got uppity, which I took to mean when we put on airs or otherwise got too big for our britches.

I had no idea "uppity" was a racist word. Frankly, I'm still not sure, but I don't use it anyway.

[Im Your Huckleberry]

Only towards those who make demeaning and ridiculous comments about a good man. That's all.

[stainlessbanner]

I remember alot of those words, too. I never took them to be particularly offensive, but you never know what the PC folks are banning nowadays.

Check out this thread for some old Southern sayings; you'll probably recognize a few!

[cyborg]

I never knew uppity was a racist word. I do not hear that word unless it comes from a black American from 'down south'. Uppity is usually synonymous with uncle tom negro, bougie,etc. and perhaps that's where the race thing comes in.

Calling someone negro is considered racist BUT I grew up hearing the words negro, white, coulie, coloured,etc. because my mom is from a British colony. I'd never say negro though. I don't want a lecture on black identity.

[Im Your Huckleberry]

You're obviously a southern sympathizer. Whether or not you're a "southerner" by birth matters little, it's clear with which side your sympathies lie.

Kinda like the war itself. Being born north of the Mason-Dixon line didn't make many a northerner any less a southern sympathizer.

It's S.O.P. for those who favor the South to run down Grant with ignorant comments about "drunk" this and "butcher" that because they can't handle what happened on April 9th, 1865.

So yeah, I get more than a little sick of the disrespect from those that wish Lee had won, and they could preserve states rights...and own all the slaves they wanted to today.