> > If only black mothers gave as much consideration to how they will rear a child they've just spawned as they give to coming up with a unique name for the child. -- L.Shad
Erp, yep, a racist remark for sure. I was about 75 posts behind this morning when I replied to L.Shad's post -- and in subsequent posts, I see that L.Shad's been confronted soundly, and my reply was cutting L.Shad a break that was undeserved. Or, was it? Perhaps at least some compassion for L.Shad is valid. The history of racism in this country is living in the nervous systems of African Americans, and it's all front burner stuff for them, and who could expect anything else from a culture that has been raised by whip and noose? I remember the first time I showed my anti-Semite attitude to my friends Barry and Jane Pitt by using the word "Jew" with an ever so slight "tone." They picked up on it immediately, and my re-education was begun. Any downtrodden group has exquisitely tuned senses regarding besmirchments. And I had a looooong way to go, decades even, and yet, even a couple years ago, still, I was getting lessons about my childhood-programming about Jews. I'm betting I still have a way to go. David Matt was my most recent instructor when I tried to discuss the anti-Semitic concept that "Jews have a special resonance with money." Even though I was certain that this was not true and was trying to prove it untrue, my words and tones still couldn't pass muster with David, and he was right. It takes a village to raise a child, and David was but one person trying to undo my childhood's inputs from propagandists. My spirit is willing but my meat's programming is deep and resilient; and without a strong vigilance on my part, these patterns can emerge and try to commandeer my attention. Sounds psychotic to say it like that, but deep prejudices are as if instant insanity patterns that can be toggled by outer challenges, and when emotions arise, it can seem that one is a stranger to oneself. In the movie Silver Streak, we see Patrick Mcgoohan being harassed by Richard Pryor, and Patrick is this picture perfect gentleman except for his demeaning tone of voice, but finally he let's loose and calls Richard the N-word. That to me is how most whites are operating -- they want to wear the mask of civility, but under duress, out comes the deeper and largely uncontrollable racisms of every sort. Yet, in American schools today, no teacher is empowered to actively confront racism on a personality level. No teacher feels empowered to take a kid and strip off that mask and reveal the hate that has been pumped into that kid by his parents. Yet that's what it would take -- a massive elementary school effort to confront the racism in a bud that's about to bloom in the kids. L.Shad is a reminder to any of us that if there is even the slightest racism in us, it is glaringly obvious to the abused. Just so, incidentally, must African American kids (some at least) overcome their anti-cracker memes. I loved my parents all their lives despite knowing how racist they were and how much in denial they remained even after my many attempts to confront their views. It's not easy to condemn L.Shad if one sees how deeply a person can be blind and be as if a victim of childhood abuse. My heart goes out to L.Shad, because, hey, anyone here want to volunteer to have that personality? Would anyone here want to battle their own psyche to escape from that cage? Well, we are all in cages, eh? L.Shad, I cannot toss a stone at you, but go and sin no more. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <no_re...@...> wrote: > > "spawning?" -- racist remark or insensitive gaff? > > Edg > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, I am the eternal <L.Shaddai@> > wrote: > > > > On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 2:33 PM, yifuxero <yifuxero@> wrote: > > > > > from Yahoo news: > > > > > > Boys With Unpopular Names More Likely to Break Law > > > Buzz Up Send > > > > > > livescience.com 2 hrs 25 mins agoBoys in the United States with > > > common names like Michael and David are less likely to commit crimes > > > than those named Ernest or Ivan. > > > > > > > And I'm sure it's no coincidence that black guys and black women in > the US > > all have to have their own cult names. So not only can you spot > someone on > > the phone with the black variant of the southern accident, you can > spot 'em > > by their name as well. > > > > If only black mothers gave as much consideration to how they will rear a > > child they've just spawned as they give to coming up with a unique > name for > > the child. > > >
