The following Featured Post comes from TV Series Group 1, Thread 9.

16. whining
Sun, Sep 19, 1999 - 5:58 PM/EST
davidt10

I believe that if blacks would stop all their whining about slavery and all the other things and start acting and thinking like other human beings then they might start to be treated like all other human beings. When all I hear every day is how white man put them into slavery and how I should feel sorry for them and all the other nonsense then it makes me want to puke. It seems funny that I don't feel this way toward any other race but blacks. Why???????

17. Do you _really_ want answers, David?
Mon, Sep 20, 1999 - 5:00 AM/EST
thaduke

Well, at least you're back instead of perpetrating a drive-by posting.

David, we ARE real people...real human beings. Why do you not believe this? We love our families, our kids, want a better future for all of us, we fight, curse, drink, work, worry...all of the stuff your folks do. Instead of asking, really truthfully asking for answers, you simple spit out old, hoary stereotypes and what you see on the TV about African Americans as being the absolute truth.

We're not the Borg, David. We're human beings that want what you want. Respect. Kindness. Fair treatment. Not the promise of happiness; just the ability to compete for it like everyone else. To be judged by what we INDIVIDUALLY do, or say: not by what you THINK we do or say.

Some might say I'm wasting my electrons with you David; maybe I am. I just feel that if you let go of the hate, and yes, the fear you have, you might actually like and respect us as human beings.

We don't NEED you to like us; that's for damn sure.

But it just might be a nice experience for all of us.

ThaDuke

18. WHY DO WE FEEL THIS WAY?
Mon, Sep 20, 1999 - 12:27 PM/EST
simsow

There is nothing wrong with whining; complaining, fussing, etc. We are all guilty! From children to the very old.

Some white men did put them in chains, but no one asked you personally to feel sorry for them. They simply want what you want, respect, the opportunities that you have; treated with dignity, respect, purchase homes, cars, get a college education and go where ever they choose without being afraid. Some people do not value what they have until they lose it.

21. A Cautious Gambit
Mon, Sep 20, 1999 - 8:13 PM/EST
smitty

Some opportunistic black "leaders" do a lot
of fan-flaming about the past. It seems most of the black participants in these posts don't bite
on that line of argument.

I think most white people are like me. They recognize the terrible wrongs; both past and present. But they are aware (I am 61) of changes
that have taken place in the law, in business,
and in the minds and hearts of many.

When some blacks seem transfixed by the past, when
they seem unable or unwilling to see the whole
variety of black experience, then some white
people become exasperated. They say to themselves,
"These people are not seeing things clearly and
what is more, they are being downright nasty about
it."

American blacks who move to other nations of black
populations seem (in my limited experience) to find these nations fall short. As I said in another post, you won't see Carlton or Len back in
Nigeria anytime soon (but you will see doctors and
missionaries both black and white doing service
there).

Almost every day of my life I draw a deep breath
and thank my lucky stars that I am not driving
a herd of sheep in a high Mongolian pasture or
ducking a machete in Burundi - or dodging a sniper
in Yougoslavia.

22. A little clarification...
Mon, Sep 20, 1999 - 9:36 PM/EST
thaduke

Smitty;

When you speak of "black leaders" you make one of the fundamental mistakes that are made when non-black peoples speak of us: that we are the Borg, led by one consciousness, one thought, one creed. The so-called "leaders" only speak for those that follow them. I don't know your political leanings, but it's like all white Americans are lead by David Duke or Pat Buchanon. Silly, ain't it? But that is what is done by non-blacks every day: they assume that since s/he is black, we automatically tow "the party line".