Topic #9. Does white American have mercy for the black population of this earth?
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1. Does white American have mercy for the black population of this earth?
Thu, Sep 16, 1999 - 2:44 AM/EST
link

I sometimes feel that white american doesn't really understand the pain and the suffering of the black and other minorities on this planet. The fruit doesn't fall to far from the tree. We black people are from a bad history of pain and non respect for our fellow kind(in this country). This is mainly because we were taught not to like ourselves or Africans that come to this country to find a better way of life. Do people want to stop the pain are do most people think that it will pass by itself. I was taught from my mother who was taught from her mother and so on. This shows that our struggles are still here today because "the spirits of the pass are the spirits that dewell on this planet today." If my ancestor was darker skinned and told they were bad and the lighter skinned was educate then you can understand the black man and woman problems of today.

2. link
Thu, Sep 16, 1999 - 7:56 AM/EST
ottercat

Maybe we need to stop teaching these things to ourselves.

3. Definitions
Thu, Sep 16, 1999 - 11:48 AM/EST

If black people are fooled into defining themselves by race and race alone then they walk hand-in-hand with the biased whites and/or others.

And please don't tell me they are "forced by the white majority" to do this - that is a weakling's excuse.

Sorry to be blunt but these posts and this series are just too dern dull!

4. Mercy? Yes
Thu, Sep 16, 1999 - 1:01 PM/EST
joan

Yes, I have long perceived the gross injustice done to black Americans and to black populations in the other countries treated by the colonists as if they had no brains or culture of their own. So, does everyone know this when they deal with me? Of course not. The best I know to do is to look everyone in the eye and treat them with the respect that I want for myself. I also do not allow other whites to badmouth AFAM's around me. Is that enough? I don't know, but I do the best I can.

5. population
Thu, Sep 16, 1999 - 2:09 PM/EST
simsow

I was taught also by my mother; some things she taught me are wrong! I repect her in the fact that she believes she is right (and my mother), but should we not all respect each other above all else? If we teach our children "like Cicily" that her life is what she makes it of course she will still have to deal with other people. Respect is something learned and earned.

The family; Wilson-Sims seems to want what any other family wants. Yes they have racial issues, and life issues as well, but so does everyone else. Teaching our children their heritage is right, but teaching them to think "racism" is wrong! On one hand clinging to the past ways of thinking does not help in moving forward, but knowing where we were keeps us striving to move on to better things.

6. whites having mercy..
Thu, Sep 16, 1999 - 5:08 PM/EST
ottercat

Uh, wait a minute, didn't African tribes practice slavery on each other before Europeans discovered them? Aren't the people killing each other off in Rwanda in utter defiance of U.N. protests black? Wasn't the Ethiopean famine a few years back started as an attempt by their own government to drive their political enemies out of the back country? Didn't the (White?)U.S. government try to help? What more could they (we) do? Bomb them all and put them out of their misery like Kosovo? Much good that did.

7. Mrs. ottercat
Thu, Sep 16, 1999 - 8:40 PM/EST
link

You just wait a minute it is obvious that you don't know anything about African history. For one, when you talk about the Africans having slaves, they did but not in the same manner as the Whites did in England. The shamen of the villages had wars with other tribes and they didn't have jail systems so they took the people they captured as servants and sometimes they even married them, and if a father or brother stole something in the village their children whould become servants to the shamen. If you ask me I think that is better than this so called jail system here. They didn't kill them and cut off the body parts of people and saved them in jars. Please study about a subject before you talk about it. As for the poor whites in the country this problem was not made by black people. After the Civil War they had more blacks in the country than whites so the whites decided to balance the population. I believe the more whites that came to the country also became a burden on resources just as the blacks did but if they had came to a fair resolution and helped both sides maybe everyone would live the same but I don't really know that either because of the migration of others to this country, but look at the populations in the united states now and it is 72% white and 13%black and the rest is other. As for the Wars in Africa they are caused by the Whites being there and taking resources and not giving back. They also cause these wars because they push the tribes people together when they don't have the same structure in culture. Just because they are all black in skin color doesn't mean that they practice the same traditions. Evidently you or your husband don't care about any other culture but the culture which you live. Also the spead of Islam throughuot the northern regions of Africa are causing wars because of the conflicts in religions. "Look at the causes not just the end result."

8. LINK
Fri, Sep 17, 1999 - 10:46 AM/EST
simsow

I agree somewhat to what you are saying, we should all read more history since it would help us in understanding some of these issues. Put in the simplest way I can think of; if your parent committed a crime should your grand child be punished for it? I read about what some of the "white" people and the hideous things they did and it makes me sick and shameful to call them human. But those people were ignorant of other cultures and afraid. I am glad I was not of that time in history only because it would have been my death sentence, as I would have spoken out as I do now.

One cause for some of the racism today is because of what is taught in the home. Another cause is because of our own fear of the unknown. And yet some people know this and "refuse" to make change or change within themselves. I have no pity on them as the choices they make not only will they pay for it, but there are other people as well and for those people I am truly sorry.

9. simsow
Fri, Sep 17, 1999 - 3:12 PM/EST
link

The Africans at that time didn't have jail, so I feel that the only deterrent to crime was to make a man, the person who did the crime suffer and emotional pain. Because if you love someone you never want to see them hurt.

10. Black History
Fri, Sep 17, 1999 - 5:27 PM/EST

I think there are plenty enough despicable black despots in Africa just as there are plenty of despicable white, brown, and yellow despots all over the world.

The last time I checked no "race" had managed to get rid of all its bad guys.

We whites are sometimes as smart as we are despotic and we can and do manipulate world events in the hopes we will profit at the expense of others .... but we aren't always successful, are we?

The crux of the matter seems to be this. All of us have a tough row to hoe and blacks have a very tough row, much tougher than most. As they look down this row what do they say? "Damn, but this row is long and hard I think I'll ............."

Friends, fill in the blank.

11. I love it!
Fri, Sep 17, 1999 - 11:36 PM/EST
joan

Smitty, you can "talk" any time. I really enjoy your style! In this case, I certainly agree with what you said, and I LOVED the way you said it. To borrow an expression I like, "You go, girl"!

12. Having Mercy
Sat, Sep 18, 1999 - 1:37 AM/EST

I know I have always felt anger and shame about the way African Americans has been treated in this country, and I can only imagine it's a fraction of what they must feel. I think the feelings of anger, pain and guilt among us have never really been healed (over the years) and have created a strong barrier between whites and blacks in this country. I think it has also limited whites and

blacks in this country from truly getting to know each other, so very little bonding has occured. One of the few ways we really bond as Americans is with music-usually created by amazingly talented black musicians! It's interesting, and I have hope that forums like this will break down those barriers.

13. Thank you to all
Sat, Sep 18, 1999 - 2:18 PM/EST
link

I am glad we can agree on somethings, because we will never agree on everything!

14. Joan and Nena
Sat, Sep 18, 1999 - 7:30 PM/EST

Thanks for the kind words, Joan. Nena, you work in the industry. What could you add to Thread #14?

For that matter, I would like to see everyone take a look at it and comment.

Charlley, right down the way from you in Greensboro lives my aunt, a white maiden lady from Michigan in her late 70's, almost blind from glaucoma.

She still plugs along, working for the Humane Society and shoving checks in envelopes and sending them to the United Negro College Fund as she has done, as far as I know, for many decades.

I mention her because she is in your town, but let's hope Carlton and Len and our other young firebrands manage to recognize such persons exist.

15. smitty
Sun, Sep 19, 1999 - 1:57 AM/EST
link

I thank the lady for everything she has done and what she will do in the future, because she is helping to make bridges, that will let us all free. I thank all people that help anyone to make their lives better.