Another question: I'm just full of them...how much of this is, I don't even know how to phrase it. Okay, we were listening to Sean Hannity yesterday and he was talking to Michael Eric Dyson, black guy, Princeton PhD., author, and MED was saying how Bill Cosby's comments to the African American community on child rearing were nasty and bad. We heard a segment of Bill's speech and Bill said something very important - thinking it's all the white man's fault is analgesic, but if you're not willing to work hard and push for the things you want in this country - black, white, blue, purple - you're not going to get anywhere in this world.
I believe that. Mike comes from poor white folks. He lived in a shack in high school. They never had money. Never and yet here he is working hard everyday at his job and he has earned the respect and the position he has. Poor White Folks. It was a shack, no a/c, one heater, and his dad still lives there - it was built by Mike's Great-Grandad close to a hundred years ago and there've been the minimum improvements on it.
Why is it okay for Mike to work hard and bring himself out of poverty but it's not okay for the black kids, the hispanic kids, and the Native-American kids? This Michael Dyson guy was saying that we need to treat the black families (he didnt' even mention the hispanic kids or the Native American kids) with kid gloves and not be pushing them to achieve goals.
The guy Mary Crow came upon beating on that Native American and saying it was for Wounded Knee is such an excuse. That white guy beating some one up for something that happened so long ago is just an excuse for his racism. Do you think Mary Crow has some of her own prejudices?
That corner she talks about - the one where the Indian lives - it originated as a white man's made corner for the Native American. But what is keeping them there? Pride for their land? I can understand that, but if your land is hurting you, hurting your family it's hard to understand why anyone would continue to live like that. If someone couldn't afford to move, at least teach your kids to understand that there is a better life out there for them. One thing about Mike's ex-stop-mom was that regardless of the lack of money and the shack they lived in her kids were going to go to school. They were going to study. They were going to do something with their lives. She pushed them to be better than they were. She taught them manners. She taught them about respect.
I think that's what is lacking so much today - regardless of race - Everyone just thinks respect, riches, status should just be given to them.
OY! I've gone off on a tangent and I ask you to forgive me and my crazy head.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2005-05-05 03:00 pm (UTC)I believe that. Mike comes from poor white folks. He lived in a shack in high school. They never had money. Never and yet here he is working hard everyday at his job and he has earned the respect and the position he has. Poor White Folks. It was a shack, no a/c, one heater, and his dad still lives there - it was built by Mike's Great-Grandad close to a hundred years ago and there've been the minimum improvements on it.
Why is it okay for Mike to work hard and bring himself out of poverty but it's not okay for the black kids, the hispanic kids, and the Native-American kids? This Michael Dyson guy was saying that we need to treat the black families (he didnt' even mention the hispanic kids or the Native American kids) with kid gloves and not be pushing them to achieve goals.
The guy Mary Crow came upon beating on that Native American and saying it was for Wounded Knee is such an excuse. That white guy beating some one up for something that happened so long ago is just an excuse for his racism. Do you think Mary Crow has some of her own prejudices?
That corner she talks about - the one where the Indian lives - it originated as a white man's made corner for the Native American. But what is keeping them there? Pride for their land? I can understand that, but if your land is hurting you, hurting your family it's hard to understand why anyone would continue to live like that. If someone couldn't afford to move, at least teach your kids to understand that there is a better life out there for them. One thing about Mike's ex-stop-mom was that regardless of the lack of money and the shack they lived in her kids were going to go to school. They were going to study. They were going to do something with their lives. She pushed them to be better than they were. She taught them manners. She taught them about respect.
I think that's what is lacking so much today - regardless of race - Everyone just thinks respect, riches, status should just be given to them.
OY! I've gone off on a tangent and I ask you to forgive me and my crazy head.