Originally posted by Icarus Rising
I spoke in general terms about the effect, the outcome, of racism. It definitely serves the purposes of the PTB, imo. Whether or not there are any individual incidents, staged, or otherwise, could point to a "see I'm just like you" scenario, further perpetuating the illusion of connection between the classes.
Ok, I can see that. I always thought that if all the non-rich people could get it together, regardless of color, we could give the PTB a run for their money.
The insinuation of guilt is always there, and it is those who claim they 'have nothing to feel guilty for' who spread it. Forgive me for pointing out that throughout the long and winding road of recorded history the rise and fall of cultures and civilizations has had everyone under the other's thumb at one point or another.
Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult for African-Americans to pinpoint where exactly any of us came from (without DNA testing), so while I agree with what you said about every group having done something to another group, I simply do not have enough information, and I know I don't have to tell you why.
To take the last, say, four hundred years, out of context, and try to hold a generation unconnected to the accused iniquity responsible for reparations is patently false and ridiculous, imo.
Hmmm... I don't really know how I feel about reparations. I can see why contemporary white Americans would look kinda askance, like, what do I have to do with it? But, on the other hand, you have to understand that, having worked so long for free, for private individuals who then paid taxes to the state, black people feel that they deserve something for their efforts, from whomever. For other colonized peoples, once they've thrown off the yoke, they at least might get their land back and/or sovereignty. Due to the specifics of the situation, that's not possible, so now what do we do? Actually, I think that the promise made by General Sherman after the Civil War, of 40 acres of tillable land, was a good idea. Unfortunately, local, Southern, white politics, and vigilante-ism, squashed that. I'm not sure how we can fix it now, honestly.
o.p. by HH
Also, considering the fact that a lot of us have African, European, and Native ancestry, we are 'African-American' in a very real sense, a combination of all the groups who built this country.
This is another claim that needs examination, the pan- American, we built this place for you claim. [I did not say that, you may be referring to something else you heard from another black person.] Without the capital, and the materials, and the direction and planning, nothing would have been built. It was a co-operative effort [If you re-read the part of my post you quoted back to me, you might see that this is actually what I said] an all-American, not African-American, effort. It even included Irish-American [I know. I wrote about my teeny, tiny part of Irish ancestry in another thread, and I do make a point of know 'all parts' of myself], and Chinese-American effort...The institution of slavery played a small part, early on. [I must admit, I am a bit insulted by that. Please see Slavery in North America. African slaves provided free labor from 1619 to 1865, about 250 years, out of a history that only spans 386 years, counting from colonization.]
My ex used to tell me all the time that black people couldn't be racist because of slavery... [I've heard that before too, and I disagree, I know plenty of black people who are very racist. I think what she meant was that our racism doesn't matter; no one is affected by it and no one cares. 'Racism,' officially refers to dislike of a person because of their race (in general, that's what black people have the power do when they're 'racist'), but to me, 'racism' is not getting a job I'm qualified for because of my race (in general, that's what white people have the power to do when they're 'racist').]
Originally posted by BradKellBrrexkl
So it's two problems I have. The first, why is putting anything in front of -American so important? ...
Originally posted by BradKellBrrexkl
Why the big 'African-America' deal? Why the big deal from any race? Lennox Lewis. He's dark in skin tone. Some would call him black. What does he call himself? BRITISH. And not African-British, either... Secondly, shouldn't pride and love come from those things we choose?... I would never say something like "I'm proud to be White!" Why would I be? I didn't choose to be White, I never made a motion to be considered White, I have no control over being White. What is there to be proud of? It's like saying "I'm proud to be Male!" Big whoop! What did you have to do to become Male? Oh, nothing?
Originally posted by BradKellBrrexkl
But to be proud of something you have no choice in, what sense does that make?
) We can also disassociate ourselves from the
great masses of blacks who fill the urban ghettoes. Have you ever seen Imitation of Life? If you have, you know what I mean. Originally posted by BradKellBrrexkl
Ghetto is funny to me, as it origanally dealt with run down areas in Hispanic lands, little huts and such, not massive housing tenements.
Originally posted by shadow watcher
Do you see a color based hierarchy within the black community? I remember reading somewhere that the lighter skinned blacks looked down upon the darker colored. Is this real?
Just a thought that has been in the back of my mind, and never came up in a conversation.
. I see rappers, in casting girls for music videos, as representing the general
tastes of young black men. Normally, they choose light-skinned to brown-skinned black women, with only the occasional dark-skinned beauty, most of
whom have hair- weaves, and latinas, who may or may not have weaves. I'm not really surprised in their choices, since spanish-speakers often share
black neighborhoods. However, since, alternatively, the rappers could have exclusively cast black women, I did have a question: did they choose
latinas because of their hair (texture, length, etc), or their skin-tone? With that in mind, I recently noticed a lot of East Indian women (I
think), so that leads me to believe that light-skin isn't so much the issue anymore, as is hair. Originally posted by smallpeeps
[NOTE: This was posted by another user under the title, "The Shocking Story Of Chapelle's Censorship" and as I was reading the link, that user's post got trashcanned. In fact, the post is very interesting and I figured I'd re-post it. If the media can use force to alter what Americans see on TV, well, that's conspiracy.]
www.chappelletheory.com...
Here's the actual website. The individual claims to be a PR rep, and the writing seems consistent with that. He says that black American power brokers took Dave Chappelle down. This is the truth about what happened, I believe. Chappelle was way too funny and way to offensive to the powerful.
This is the modern day example of how censorship is quietly used. It comes in the form of pressure from your peers who have supported you and loaned you money while you were struggling.
February 5, 2003
Robert L. Johnson, alerted by the rumblings coming from the Cosby, Farrakhan, and Sharpton camps, decided to tune into this show to see what Chappelle had been doing that was getting so many black leaders rankled. After watching the show, Johnson reportedly thought to himself, "Bill, Al and Louis may be right — if this really blows up, it sets us up to be minstrels again." Just as Cosby and Farrakhan did, Johnson decided to get involved as well.
April 9, 2003
Louis Farrakhan, most likely under the direction of Cosby, sought out the opportunity to speak with Chappelle. Farrakhan, who had advised Chappelle on his conversion to Islam in 1998, visited Chappelle on location days after the episode aired. His concerns fall on deaf ears, as Chappelle was resistant to pressure to tone down the show's content.
April 20, 2003
With Chapelle's Show on hiatus before production for season two commences, Chappelle took some down time at his Ohio area farm. It was here that he received a strange package.
As told by Dave himself, at around noon, in the middle of an early season Cincinnati Reds game, there was a knock at his door. Chappelle was a bit concerned, as no one except his close family and friends were aware of where he was.
When he opened the door, all he found was a crudely wrapped package, with the inscription "For Chappelle" on it.
Inside the package was a voodoo-doll style replica of Chappelle dressed as Clayton Bigsby — the African American Klansman from his first show. The doll was riddled with safety pins, and had a noose tied sharply around his neck. Accompanying the doll was a message in a childlike scrawl that read, "what you're doing is hurting the African American community — it needs to stop."
I do believe this is how it went. Cosby sees himself as the American realization of black properness, so when you combine him with Oprah and Robert L Johnson [owns BET and megabucks], well, it doesn't matter how funny your show is. You're going down.
I wanted to post more here but I'll see if anyone wants to read the site and offer their opinion. It's important to look at issues like this which sometimes seem innocent. Here we have the funniest black actor in years, who doesn't adbide by the black power brokers like Oprah, Cosby Robert Johnson, Farrakhan, etc --and gets taken down for it. This says a lot and although it's not aliens or bohemian grove, it's still pretty eerie.
And sad too, because Chappelle's Show was hilarious. It really hit a chord among young people of all colors who can easily see that people like Cosby, Winfrey, Goldberg are lying to them.
[edit on 17-12-2005 by smallpeeps]
Originally posted by trudginup
It's not real.
Here is a link----->Clicky
It's mad to see how gullible people are. Or racist.
