blacks minnesota_chris Today I was working again in an inner city school. Mostly poor, mostly black. Some of the kids were definitely smart. Some were acting oddly (although come on, they ARE high schoolers) and I wonder what will happen to them. Will any of them reach out for that brass ring? Will they always talk and act like poor black folk? Will they ever have any opportunities, the kind of opportunities that middle class whites have, or for that matter wealthy whites (such as becoming president). I'm afraid of becoming prejudiced, because I'm not really exposed to middle class blacks like I knew in high school and college. They all sound dumb to me now. 030128 ... minnesota_chris and no one has blathed on this before. 030128 ... . you are really predjudiced and you sound ignorant despite your concern 030128 ... minnesota_chris I am ignorant despite my concern. 030128 ... minnesota_chris if you are black, or minority, tell me why you think what you think... or even if you're white... nothing wrong with calling me a racist. If you're just somebody who thinks we shouldn't talk about blacks, or ignore their situation, then never mind... we're going to disagree on this one. 030128 ... MisterFunkadelic Trust me, Chris. As a black man, I can tell you what you said is something a lot of us would like to say. I see it all the time among some of my students...And I'm not saying that I don't have my own "Well-shit-Negro-that's-all-you-had-to-say" moments, but it's hard sometimes to get a young brother to sit and listen when you're telling him that if he keeps up the way he's going, he'll do every bit as much to keep himsef down as the system will. Especially with people like George "Nukular" Bush at the wheel. (And I'll tell you what, I was so proud of Colin Powell until he sold his soul and joined the Vegetable's cabinet. He should have run on his own - except for that whole Trent Lott "Solid South" agenda that the GOP won't admit to - I think he would have had a pretty good chance, though that's not to say I would have necessarily voted for him, I vote my conscience, not my color) Sorry, got off on a tangent Seriously, between Tiger Wood's denial of his blackness ("Cablasian?" please, give me a break), Johnnie Cochrane defending the guiltiest black man in the last 10 years and some of my favorite hip-hop artists (ODB? God, help us all - I love Wu-Tang, but, damn, that boy's got some issues), black America hasn't been doing itself any favors in the eyes of the public at large in the last decade or so. "And i'm black y'all yes, i'm black y'all i'm blacker than black 'cause i'm black y'all" [How many other high-school teachers will tell you that "CB4" just kicks way too much ass? That and Rusty Cundieff's "Fear of a Black Hat" are just entirely fucking brilliant] 030128 ... xle the things you said that caught my eye were "Will they always talk and act like poor black folk?" and "They all sound dumb to me now." so what it sounds like to me, is that you disregard their form of language as inferior to yours. how is it exactly that they "sound dumb"? i'll admit that i'm someone who is maybe oversensitive to racism/sexism/whateverism but it seems like this blathe is well intentioned and i'm curious what exactly it is that you mean. 030129 ... minnesota_chris Ultimately it doesn't matter what I think of their talk... I try to look beyond the surface. I think their potential employers will think they sound dumb. Same thing for everyone else who could give them a chance. They talk like poor dumb folk... even if they are quite bright. It's also a kind of racism to ignore race. Something we get a lot of in Minnesota, where we pretend to be all alike. 030129 ... scrwing for virginity how is it racest to ignor race? this may be a bit off topic, but i need to vent about this. i have come to a realisation a few weeks ago: as an b-c earning white male living in a midle income home i have no chance of a colege education without years of debt to pay off loans. i have yet to find a (decent) scholarship i can apply for. there are some for a and a-b students, and i admit that those are my fault for not getting, but i have found countless scholorships for mexicans only, mexican males only, mexican females only, blacks only, black females only, and black males only, but i have found no, i repeat, not 1 white male only scholorship out there. if this isnt raceissm, fuck that "reverse raceism" crap you see on tv (i mean how is it "reverse"?) then i dont know what is. dont get me wrong, i am all for equil rights, but when i say equil i mean equil. i say that all the race/sex specific scholarships need to be taken out, and the race and sex boxes on college forms need to be removed, as well as job forms but that is another rant. i also say that acceptance into schools or jobs should be base on a persons performance not who their parents are. 030129 ... screwing for virginity and when i say equil i mean equal. 030129 ... minnesota_chris I think that some of those programs were very necessary at first, to give blacks an opportunity. Now some blacks (and even more so, Latinos) are achieving, and quite often those are the ones getting the scholarships, while the ones who are truly in the pits have no chance at such a scholarship. I have no easy answer for that. I don't think they should have any scholarships simply for being a white male, since white males often have a better shot at other opportunities. I don't have any answers, I was looking for some actually. 030129 ... Blather Admissions Board Dear Mr. Virginity, Your application to our university has been denied, because you DON'T FUCKING KNOW HOW TO PROOFREAD! It has nothing to do with your gender or race. Thanks for your interest in the University of Blather. 030129 ... MDogMA Our system isn’t set up for an individual’s happiness. I just don’t think that they have come to grips with this, and for a first I’m not just talking minorities, I’m not racist I just hate idiots, percentiles say minorities have it, but in shear numbers whites still triumph. I don’t fashion myself an expert on poverty psychology just giving background, but I digress, we’re talking poverty. I’ve seen the welfare mom getting a brand new CD with no food, and I know a man fresh out of college on athletic scholarship for smoking weed, when he knew they test. Why…whywhywhy. Are these people stupid, are they imbalanced, simply lazy. I just don’t think they’ve resigned themselves to an existence outside of their learned misfortune. From our media driven lives we are told sharing files is supporting communism, when in truth since the 60’s we can no longer call ourselves a real democracy. Ever since the advent of welfare programs and equality issues, the drug laws that help only the problem, making them into more than they ever could be. The urbanite life style is suicide, even our rich have more dept then they could possibly support. Most never grip these conclusions, just watch their Toshiba flat screen some Asian man told them was good and eat their Mc Chicken lean. Is it going to take a redefinement of our social structure to bring all people around, a complete scraping of the old…Probably, but with the current system all the children of their politics are guaranteed high paying careers. Status quo usually pays, disruptions reduce time for trade negotiations, and without the mindless system maybe people would stop listening to how the RIAA MPAA say people are supposed to live, fight, have sex and every other social “innovation” that can be attributed to the conglomerate, and they defiantly don’t want that. Of course then maybe I’d be willing to say I like people again. 030130 ... minnesota_chris I didn't follow all of that. But I really wish that everyone had an opportunity to succeed. 030131 ... MDogMA they were idiots i let them walk their paths, and don't lose one minute of sleep. 030324 ... Novice As a black teenage, maybe I won't know what you see compared to what i see. I never went to school with more then 5 other black kids in my class. The rest of the school was white. None of us were pooor all from middle class families. But here in Jersey, everyone lives all over the place especially in a private school. So how would you tell who lived in the inner city? None of us sound dumb, and apparently I sound "whiter or the whitest" of everyone. (Sorry tangent) But look, you are prejude (I know thats spelled wrong) the fact that you think that those kids sound dumb is just going to force farther into it. And how do you think you sound to them. Like an idiot sometimes, trust me. Maybe its just a Jersey thing or an E.C. High School thing, but you can't tell the difference from how anyone talks. And for the middle class blacks that you know, how do you think they got there?? Because someone who started to think the way that you are, pushed and taught they better. Kids only know what they learn at home, and as a teacher you need to bring them to the next level, or refine the level they're at if it's the same as you. I know from my great-grandmother, what education she did and didn't have, but still she was a brillant person who talked correctly. And with every generation that you see everyone is on a different level. I wish I could say I was the highest, but I think I'm somewhere like an inch above my mom. You aren't quite racist yet...but your on the way. No went to private school, except for me. From ingorance to riches is all I can say. 030620 ... shorty i really dont see where ther is so much discrimination going on to day.i live in a large texas city andat least6 out of every ten,jobs is held by an afro-american. Or so it seems.When it comeshomeless, ist seems like there are every race ofhomeless. And about language,teacher ,since when do uyou pronounce the word "ask" axe.That may ot be iggnorant, but it is careless. 030620 ... blah novice; what's it like being black? do you see a lot of prejudice? are you regulary made aware that you are black? 030628 ... Novice Whats it like being black? I dunno is it supposed to be different from being a human, or a girl? I (thank God) really haven't experinced prejudice. I think it's because I go to a Christian school, but I know that has very little to do with it. I don't really see prejudice, I see a lot of annoyance but that seems to circulate throughout ALL of my friends. I hear a lot about it in my church (it's a Baptist Church) but I find that althought I hear it, I'll still ingore it, because I am determined to not become bias, against my best friend or any friends I've grown up with. Am I reguarly made aware you asked...hmm...no, maybe if one of the guys in my class is singing a Jay-Z song, when they get to the nigga part, they'll always stop and say sorry, but that doesn't really bugg me at all. The only time that I'm made aware of being black, is from older adults who proceed to list everything wrong with every race in the world, and how everything is a dagger to the throat for black people. 030703 ... ferret black_goths, that's where it's at ya'll 030703 ... Aimee I live right across the street from a black family. They are definitely what I would call "ghetto trash" and believe me there's plenty of white ghetto trash in this neighborhood too... guess that's what you get for living close to school... but i digress... This family is the reason why I get so scared I'm racist. I've listened to their domestic disturbances on a nightly basis for the last 4 months... the woman screaming at her boyfriend/husband/whatever at the top of her lungs that he's nothing but a cheating "nigga" and that she's tired of raising his children if he's gonna go run off and fuck some other ho.... in front of their/his 7 children... I mean honestly!!!! Who the hell needs to hear that... I would adore it if someone would just take those children away from them and force the adults to get jobs!!! I can't say anything about the "white" families (and I say "white" because most white people are varying shades of pink and olive and whatnot), because they're rarely around. I'm sure if we lived further into the ghetto, there would be plenty of instances that I would find completely appalling. I don't know how this fits in here, but eh... it's just something I wanted to get off my chest... I'm also tired of the race card being played everytime they don't get their way.... I used to get it all the time when I was working at a boutique. They'd come in and want their childrens' ears' pierced and when they didn't have the photo ID needed they'd say I was discriminating against them because I'm a white girl and they're a black man or woman. It just makes me so mad, because all I was doing was following company regulations and federal law. I just wish everyone could just get along and forget the racial issue... I'm not talking about the cultural and ancestral issue, because you need to know where you're from and about your ancestry... I'm just talking about skin color. I don't care if you're black, white, purple, brown, red, olive or whatever your skin color is... if we get along, great! If we don't, well... good luck.. I'm not going to go after you for your skin color... it's as ridiculous as someone getting beaten up for their shoes. I already feel guilty enough for being born into the "priviliged race". I just don't get why I should have to feel worse about it. 030703 ... Novice "They?" Why are you scared of "them?" Do "they" scare you? And why are "they" so scary? NormallyI don't get irritated about this subject, but how they always use they irritates me. Why does they need to represent a whole race? A couple (maybe more) doesn't represent a whole race. Try using black, nigga, negro, colored, whatever but just cut the "they" garbage out. I do see your point with the race card that is annoying, trust me. And when you stop saying "they" you'll have won half the battle. I can't just blame your and sorry to make you my scapegoat, but black people too need to realize that we're not helping the situation either. And priviled race? Before I say something, I think you should explain that. 030704 ... Aimee I was merely using it as a pronoun... I'm not going to say "blacks" over and over and over again just to make someone happy, it's poor grammar. I thought i made it clear that it's the shitty few that make the whole look bad, I guess I failed at that point.. but it's true.. 030704 ... dissappointed tsk, tsk 030706 ... User24 if everyone stopped talking about it like an issue, I think it would stop being an issue. The fact that we still talk about race/religion/sex/sexuality as a big thing really isn't doing anything to help the situation; "Hi, this is Jim, he's gay." "Hi, this is Wendy, she's a woman." "Hi, this is Bob, he's black." "Hi, this is Tara, she's christian." "Hi, this is Sam, he likes cheese on toast." I mean, come on, who gives a crap, ferchistssake? what does it matter? Hi, this is Howard, he's human. 030706 ... karl the weed exactly 030706 ... Novice It matters a lot if you have an opinion, the people with opinions tend to be the the ones who, better understand the world and the people in it... then those who don't 030706 ... oldephebe and what if your opinion long steeped in the venom of cultural cathechisms and personal animus - what if it is part of that darkness part of the Tyrannies that almost tore down the world - people howling out from behind the walls of their own hubris and deeply settled bigotry only understand only want to understand their own implacable imperative - not all opinion is an emblem of enlightenment and those who are perhaps wmore reflexive who wait to ponder and wheigh matters and ideals and people and consciousness outside their cultural or "class" enclaves these are those that have the ablility to potential to broaden their narrow breadths of being - but it works both ways - i like what user24 had to say though - i so exuberatnly concur - 030706 ... mon i wonder if there is such thing as an understandomometre or would it be comprehendometer? 030706 ... . . 030725 ... minnesota_chris I had the thought the other day, that poor black kids should have black teachers, or white people who understand their way of life, and speak their language. In schools where I've worked, I've often seen a white educator complain to a black parent about their black kid. And the parent often assumes that it is the teacher's fault. Now granted, sometimes it is a racist teacher, but often the kid is being a brat. And if the parent isn't on the side of the teacher, the kid is going to go nowhere. 031020 ... bandersnatch but that happens egardlees of race. almost every time a techer needs to talk to a parent (reguardless of race) because the student is screwing up, for what ever reason, the parents side with the student regardless of whos fault it is, the teacher or the student. and trust me on this, i was an asshole in school until about 7th grade and my mom was, thank God, the kind of parent who decided who was to blaim, me or the teacher, in each situation. plus i have a aunt, a couson, a father, and countless friends of theirs who are teachers and bitch and moan about this all the time (among other things, such as no_child_left_behind but that is a story for another day.) 031020 ... bandersnatch holly-shit i cant spell. sorry for that previos blath, plase forgive all typos. thankyou 031020 ... TalviFatin Its all a difference of melanin. Who cares? We're all just human. Sometimes I wonder why people arnt prejudice against me. I'm a "Spot". My melanin chose to congregate in birthmarks, freckles, and moles. I wonder is cats, rats, and rabbits have this racist problem. "oh..ew...he's a black cat..dont use the same litter box!" I honestly dont think so. So whats the big deal? I have so much to say on this matter...but little energy.. 031020 ... marked . 040128 ... misstree as far as modes of speaking, m'personal opinoin is that there *is* a standardized english that is used for common communication, and deviation from it in certain situations (school, work, suchnot) suggests either inability to use common cant or disrespect for the other person in the communication duality. i mean, really, if i were to try to speak treespeak to my coworkers, they would make me piss test on the spot, and they wouldn't understand a word of it. the fact is that there are huge handfuls of people who don't use the formal cant for comminicating among peers; there's a million forms of slang, from cultures to subcultures to geographics to personality perks; but being able to use formal cant is a neccesary skill for speaking to those outside peer group. that said, a chunk of rambletime... i grew up in a 2000 person school with about 25 black students. one was one of my best friends. she caught a lot of flak for not being "black enough," but she mostly brushed it off and focused more on being in band enough, an honors student enough, a burgeoning computer geek enough, etc. one of the things that i've thankfully grown to realize is that there *is* a distinct black culture. my job doesn't hire idiots or slackers, and we have a goodly number of african-descent peoples working here. on occasion, overhearing conversation can sound like they're "ghetto trash" (i like that as a contrast to "trailer trash," it really is a similar scene but different setting), but in their professional dealings they are all articulate and hardworking and indeed kewl people. there are times that it shows through that i was raised in the suburbs, as opposed to the many coworkers who grew up rural. my family life was different, handed down through other suburban generations. you don't gain anything by saying that "everyone's the same," you gain by recognizing that variety exists and should be allowed to flourish within the whole as is not detrimental to the whole. (example: suburbanites are notorious for their prediliction for SUVs... this is a very bad cultural adaptation, and needs to be stamped out. sugar packets in gas tanks work well for this.) what many people take for *insert adjective here* is just the different shades in culture contrast. keep that in mind; it slowly erodes the differentness that likes to leap up in front. and saying, "we're all human" is a great soma, but is that what's really going through your brain if, say, you're a 23 year old who's been mugged twice and you're walking home at 4am and a black man with a bulgy coat is crossing your path? i recognize that i have some knee-jerk reactions, that i do have some prejudices that still need to be edited out. yes, we are all fucking human, but that's not the end of the story, and you can't just evaporate all the social stigmas and ingrained reactions like you're waving a magic wand over it. "we're all human" is a way of shutting people up so that people don't have to really stare deep into the ugly bits. hell, anyone who's seen a few of my rants knows how i love to preach on genderlessness; yet i still am nearly incapable of being truly mean to girls, and still can't stop myself from being mean to boys. logical belief and deep wiring are two different things, and getting them to match takes a lot of ugly work and maintenance. harrumph. i would apologize if i offended anyone, but really, if you're offended i'm not sorry; i just ask that you explain why. i'm always open to having my mind changed, if the proper points are presented. 040129 ... misstree o and one more point: "black subculture" is not synonymous with descent or skin color--it is labeled such because the majority of those in that culture are of the ethnic group commonly denoted as "black." being black doesn't mean you're part of the subculture, and being of other descent doesn't mean that you're not. wanted to clarify before i had to peel someone out of my larynx. 040129 ... minnesota_chris people are afraid to talk about it. There's good black guys, and scary, just like good white guys and scary. And all the colors in between. I've been attacked by all of them I think. No, wait, I haven't been attacked by good black guys, unlike good white guys. 040131 ... Novice I don't think its even that ppl are afraid to talk about it. But I think that its also exhustion, like I mean, some people don't really listen and get offended at the part of the conversation. That's what it's like in my family and my friends, they don't listen, so they don't understand the other side. 040201 ... Novice ACTUAL...its not really the other side, but it's letting go of the pre-concieved notion, from the past. It's okay to remember, but you need to move on and accept that this is a new day and time. Just cuz you (you being my grandmother) don't understand, then figure it out, and don't get insulted, and rambling about crap from the 1930's south 040201 ... Raina As a black middle class female, reading this blather just reinforces my own personal beliefs. I am a racist. A human racist. I abhor people on a whole, regardless of race. Especially people who won't step outside of their comfort zone, yet can generalize based on the ilk of the ones they are surounded by. I'm just glad this page is blue... 040701 ... Lila Pause This blathe makes me uncomfortable. There isn't one for "whites". 040702 what's it to you? who go blather from