The Plight of the Blackman

[JP226]

As many of you know, the US is supposedly a very rascist place... Now as probably even more of you know, black/ white relations aren't great. The question I have though, in pertaining to this issue is about a common subject always brought up. The plight of the blackman. We as white/ red/ yellow/ whatever are suppose to yeild to a black person because of their plight. Affirmative action, social conduct and so on are suppose to be conducted, when a black person is present, in rememberance to their plight. Now I have to ask what is the plight of the blackman??? DOn't get me wrong i'm not racist, my hero when i was younger was Mr. T. What is the plight of the black man??? Is it similar to the plight of the Irish? the Scots? The Chinese? The Jews? The Ukrainian? The Russian? The Gaul? Or is it the same as the blacks IN Africa? Why should I act a special way towards blacks here in america, affirmative action, when every race, every people has gone through the same IF NOT WORSE situation. Why should I act a certain way, and why should they get special treatment?

My answer to the issue is that the plight of the black man does not exist. It's all political. Yes slavery sucks, but so does genocide/ slavery imposed on so many other groups of people. I believe the plight of the blackman is an attempt, just as terrorism to an extent, to gain power and wealth while using the ignorance of certain groups of people. I believe people like jesse J and A Sharpton are using this "plight of the blackman" as a way to gain cash and power for themselves.

your thoughts?

[RusskiSoldat]

The whole affair is utter bollocks.
Everyone on top exploits it as they can, though.
My family was no less (if not more) plighted than the black man, where's my goddamn 230 point bonus on the SAT?

[Hub'ite]

The whole affair is utter bollocks.
Everyone on top exploits it as they can, though.
My family was no less (if not more) plighted than the black man, where's my goddamn 230 point bonus on the SAT?

Or your reparation money.

[RZZZA]

The U.S. is not an exceptionally racist place, its just that racism is so ingrained in our society that problems occasionally resurface, especially between blacks and whites. I think its ridiculous to say that blacks dont really have it any worse than whites, when as recently as thirty years ago Hollywood was still in the midst of Blaxploitation, as black panther and civil rights rallies broke out across the country, as MLK and Malcolm X made their rounds. Race is not an issue, you say? Well, a white person would say that...since they are not usually the victims of bigotry or racial injustices ingrained into our society, often times I see white people dismissing racial issues and I get the feeling like, just because they dont see it then it means it doesnt exist for them. The issue of LAPD officers beating up black people for little to no reason came as a shock to america when the whole rodney king thing happened, but it wasnt anything new to many, many black people who had learned long ago not to trust the cops.

This is where listening to rap music might help, because you tend to get the black perspective of some of these race issues. These Schools by Dead Prez maybe?

[Ahlerich]

The U.S. is not an exceptionally racist place, its just that racism is so ingrained in our society that problems occasionally resurface, especially between blacks and whites. I think its ridiculous to say that blacks dont really have it any worse than whites, when as recently as thirty years ago Hollywood was still in the midst of Blaxploitation, as black panther and civil rights rallies broke out across the country, as MLK and Malcolm X made their rounds. Race is not an issue, you say? Well, a white person would say that...since they are not usually the victims of bigotry or racial injustices ingrained into our society, often times I see white people dismissing racial issues and I get the feeling like, just because they dont see it then it means it doesnt exist for them. The issue of LAPD officers beating up black people for little to no reason came as a shock to america when the whole rodney king thing happened, but it wasnt anything new to many, many black people who had learned long ago not to trust the cops.

This is where listening to rap music might help, because you tend to get the black perspective of some of these race issues. These Schools by Dead Prez maybe?

i know quite a few american girls who say they would never date a black guy. sounds absurd to me. i think there is a problem between whites and blacks in america that exists in much huger parts of the society then in other countries

[internationalist]

The whole affair is utter bollocks.
Everyone on top exploits it as they can, though.
My family was no less (if not more) plighted than the black man, where's my goddamn 230 point bonus on the SAT?

When was your family exploited specifically for the color of their skin, deprived of their freedom, bought, sold, broken spiritually, emotionally, and physically. When was your FAMILY broken up, your parents sent off while you were a child, your children sold far away from you, your wife used to "breed" more slaves, who would also be sold. When was your life so tenuous that if you so much as looked at a white person wrong, you could be horribly mutilated and then killed.
Should I continue?

[danzig]

The whole affair is utter bollocks.
Everyone on top exploits it as they can, though.
My family was no less (if not more) plighted than the black man, where's my goddamn 230 point bonus on the SAT?

Reminds me of scene from a movie or cartoon cant remember which. It goes like the SAT are racist! Who came up with the SATs? The white man! Who gives the SATs? The white man! Who grades the SATs? The white man! Who scores the highest on the SATs?! Asian women!

[Lee1026]

The very premise of the idea behind affative action is silly. The idea is that minorities in the past have been oppessed found it very hard to get out, and they need that boost. Well, here in California and the University of California, the whites are barely holding their own ground. The ones that is taking up the spaces from the blacks are the Asians. But the catch is that when the civil rights movement ended, the asians were in the same boat. We pulled our selves out, why can't they?

[Darth Wong]

It wasn't that long ago that blacks who became prosperous were often murdered as a result, because whites feared the idea of blacks becoming powerful in society. One must remember that anti-black racism was not just open but actually written into the law books until the mid 1960s, just 40 years ago and so recent that much of the country's current population was already alive at the time. To call it ancient history is to bury your head in the sand and ignore reality.

There is still massive anti-black racism in the US; in the state of Alabama, a vote to overturn a state legal ban on interracial marriage passed by a 60/40 margin in 2001. That's just five years ago, and 40% of the population voted to keep it illegal! I demand an explanation for this verifiable fact from anyone calling anti-black racism a thing of the past or an exaggerated situation.

[Legio XX Valeria Victrix]

As many of you know, the US is supposedly a very rascist place... Now as probably even more of you know, black/ white relations aren't great. The question I have though, in pertaining to this issue is about a common subject always brought up. The plight of the blackman. We as white/ red/ yellow/ whatever are suppose to yeild to a black person because of their plight. Affirmative action, social conduct and so on are suppose to be conducted, when a black person is present, in rememberance to their plight. Now I have to ask what is the plight of the blackman??? DOn't get me wrong i'm not racist, my hero when i was younger was Mr. T. What is the plight of the black man??? Is it similar to the plight of the Irish? the Scots? The Chinese? The Jews? The Ukrainian? The Russian? The Gaul? Or is it the same as the blacks IN Africa? Why should I act a special way towards blacks here in america, affirmative action, when every race, every people has gone through the same IF NOT WORSE situation. Why should I act a certain way, and why should they get special treatment?

My answer to the issue is that the plight of the black man does not exist. It's all political. Yes slavery sucks, but so does genocide/ slavery imposed on so many other groups of people. I believe the plight of the blackman is an attempt, just as terrorism to an extent, to gain power and wealth while using the ignorance of certain groups of people. I believe people like jesse J and A Sharpton are using this "plight of the blackman" as a way to gain cash and power for themselves.

your thoughts?

Well, let me refresh your memory a little:







Seriously, I think that Affirmative Action is unnecessary given the state of race relations in the US nowadays, but let's not mince words and try to pretend that stuff like this (above) did not happen. Now I know, other peoples and societies have suffered similar or worse crimes than the African American, but we're talking about the USA here, and in American history you'd be hard pressed to find a group of people more oppressed and for longer than the African. Native Americans aren't far behind, though...

[Lee1026]

You go and find a black man who can say that. Face it, the victims of slavery are long since dead and buried.

[Hub'ite]

You go and find a black man who can say that. Face it, the victims of slavery are long since dead and buried.

Exactly. Its time to get over it.

[internationalist]

Exactly. Its time to get over it.

Its really easy to say this when your people aren't the ones who were oppressed against.

[Hub'ite]

Its really easy to say this when your people aren't the ones who were oppressed against.

Who cares if my great-great-great grandfather was a slave. How does if effect me? Should I get special treatment because my great-great-great grandfather was a slave? No.

[Darth Wong]

Who cares if my great-great-great grandfather was a slave. How does if effect me? Should I get special treatment because my great-great-great grandfather was a slave? No.

So you figure that anti-black racism ended with the end of slavery? That's an amazing assertion; how do you explain the fact that various forms of anti-black racism persisted even in written law until the 1960s?

[Evil Maniac From Mars]

Its really easy to say this when your people aren't the ones who were oppressed against.

They weren't? That's news to me.


With the Soviets, Hitler's suicide military orders and Gestapo raids, certain immigration laws, and East Germany, among others, I'd say my family alone, not to mention my people, have been opressed quite enough. And this is only the past seventy years or so. I can go as far back as Roman times if you like.


Most races, peoples, or groups have been opressed somehow, some way, some time. Including mine, and many others. Yet do we have laws like this in our favour? No. Suck it up and get over it.


Now, racism is still an issue. It is also an issue in many other parts of the world. The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, did a special a few years ago on people of German descent being beaten and ridiculed in parts of Poland (I mean in Poland NOW). It is not an isolated issue, and there is no reason one group should be favoured over another.

[internationalist]

They weren't? That's news to me.


With the Soviets, Hitler's suicide military orders and Gestapo raids, certain immigration laws, and East Germany, among others, I'd say my family alone, not to mention my people, have been opressed quite enough. And this is only the past seventy years or so. I can go as far back as Roman times if you like.


Most races, peoples, or groups have been opressed somehow, some way, some time. Including mine, and many others. Yet do we have laws like this in our favour? No. Suck it up and get over it.


Now, racism is still an issue. It is also an issue in many other parts of the world. The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, did a special a few years ago on people of German descent being beaten and ridiculed in parts of Poland (I mean in Poland NOW). It is not an isolated issue, and there is no reason one group should be favoured over another.

Well, you Germans voted Hitler into power, and ye who sow the whirlwind shall reap the whirwind.

[RusskiSoldat]

When was your family exploited specifically for the color of their skin, deprived of their freedom, bought, sold, broken spiritually, emotionally, and physically. When was your FAMILY broken up, your parents sent off while you were a child, your children sold far away from you, your wife used to "breed" more slaves, who would also be sold. When was your life so tenuous that if you so much as looked at a white person wrong, you could be horribly mutilated and then killed.
Should I continue?

Yeah, you're right, none of those happenned to my family because of the color of our skin
I suppose other reasons for it happenning just aren't good enough
And we were exploited specifically because of who our parents were deprived of ourfreedom, bought, sold, broken spiritually, emotionally, and physically. We were bought and sold freely, wives and mothers used for entertainment by our owners, the other branch of my family was persecuted for thousands of years, enslaved, exiled, stripped of their possessions and severaly limited, yet another was almost completely wiped out in 1915, with a boy of 15 having to trek through the Caucusus alone in those troubled years of war and banditry, and then be raised by a cousin in levels just above starvation. And while I don't know about wrong looks, the Armenians in my family don't get looks to pleasant their way when walking in Moscow, neither do the Jews, and the whites were soundly beaten on demand and used as cattle until 1861 legally, after which they lived in damn near the same conditions but weren't legally slaves until 1914, when the men were given an unloaded rifle and put into a trench for three years. Then 4 years of civil war, many years of starvation and disease, and then just as things started to improve, WWII, where so much more of my family was killed.
I'm one of two branches left from all sides of my family.
I have three cousins, although I could very well have thirty had parts of my family not been exterminated randomly throughout various times in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Do I get my affirmative action now?
Or does me not having a different skin collor nullify the above?

[Badnercalabrese]

Yeah, you're right, none of those happenned to my family because of the color of our skin
I suppose other reasons for it happenning just aren't good enough
And we were exploited specifically because of who our parents were deprived of ourfreedom, bought, sold, broken spiritually, emotionally, and physically. We were bought and sold freely, wives and mothers used for entertainment by our owners, the other branch of my family was persecuted for thousands of years, enslaved, exiled, stripped of their possessions and severaly limited, yet another was almost completely wiped out in 1915, with a boy of 15 having to trek through the Caucusus alone in those troubled years of war and banditry, and then be raised by a cousin in levels just above starvation. And while I don't know about wrong looks, the Armenians in my family don't get looks to pleasant their way when walking in Moscow, neither do the Jews, and the whites were soundly beaten on demand and used as cattle until 1861 legally, after which they lived in damn near the same conditions but weren't legally slaves until 1914, when the men were given an unloaded rifle and put into a trench for three years. Then 4 years of civil war, many years of starvation and disease, and then just as things started to improve, WWII, where so much more of my family was killed.
I'm one of two branches left from all sides of my family.
I have three cousins, although I could very well have thirty had parts of my family not been exterminated randomly throughout various times in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Do I get my affirmative action now?
Or does me not having a different skin collor nullify the above?

respect to you

[Legio XX Valeria Victrix]

That may be so, but don't you think 400 years of racially based slavery, followed by 100 of de facto political oppression, might leave the group with a collective feeling of inadequacy and fear/anger? White Americans shouldn't just expect black people to get over slavery in a few decades, which face it, it only HAS been a few decades since they were approaching anything even remotely close to an equal plane of social existence. We have nothing to compare it to.

In a sense, slavery is worse than genocide or religious oppression or other crimes, because it takes the humanity away from a person. Death is final. Slavery is for a lifetime, and you know that should you have any children, they will be enslaved as well.

Now I appreciate that the race card gets played a lot, especially with this Cynthia McKinney bull **** of a few days ago, but that doesn't make the inadequacy felt by black Americans entirely their fault.