Digging 4 truth-"Why decades and generations? My life experiences are not defined by what happened to my parents or my grandparents or my great grandparents."
Great question!
Because these.... "experiences"...are passed down...and down...and down
You must have had great parents and grandparents!
I have had to deal with being called Nazi before. In fact, my step-father was one. I didn't fall for that teaching. When I was growing up in Florida, I would sneek in my jewish and black friends to the house when he wasn't there. Later, after he passed away, we had a black friend/co-worker come and live with us a while till she got back on her feet.
All of us have generational teachings passed down to us. Comments, experiences, warnings and such. They all feed into who we are. We just have to sift through the garbage of hate related stories and be a better person.
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Rom.8:38,39-For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither heigth nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
D4T. I think you might want to rethink the position that what happens to your parents does not greatly affect your formative years. To a great extent, I am who I am because of my parents and I thank God for it.
Also, one consistent point I've made is that in dealing with particularly the older generation in the black community, you're not dealing with what happened to parents and grandparents, you're dealing with what happened to that individual.
That's not what you said... You said multiply it by generations.
Quote:
If your position is that what happens in one decade has no bearing on the next, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Are we moving on? Absolutely. I am very encouraged by the changes I see in every generation.
And people do speak out against discrimination. It does still occur, but thankfully it is getting better.
Of course it still occurs. But I am saying that when it occurs... let's not multiply it by decades & generations. Let's deal with it for what it is.
If one comes to the table "loaded" with decades and generations of what has happened in the past then they come to the table ready to prejudge the actions of the other individual.
Digging 4 truth-"Why decades and generations? My life experiences are not defined by what happened to my parents or my grandparents or my great grandparents."
Great question!
Because these.... "experiences"...are passed down...and down...and down
You must have had great parents and grandparents!
I have had to deal with being called Nazi before. In fact, my step-father was one. I didn't fall for that teaching. When I was growing up in Florida, I would sneek in my jewish and black friends to the house when he wasn't there. Later, after he passed away, we had a black friend/co-worker come and live with us a while till she got back on her feet.
All of us have generational teachings passed down to us. Comments, experiences, warnings and such. They all feed into who we are. We just have to sift through the garbage of hate related stories and be a better person.
Indeed... how thankful I am for the promise that the sins of the father will not be visited upon his children.
Not all blacks actually want to be called African American. What generally happens is that a vocal few in our country have been allowed to speak for all. I blame the media in part because they always want the sensational person and point of view. Particularly in matters of race.
I'm sure for some, it is in response to the feeling that instead of giving up their heritage, they were stripped of it. I happen to know many Irish-American, Italian-American, Mexican-American, German-American, Jewish-American etc...who are very vocal and proud about their heritages. They call themselves that, they celebrate holidays from those countries, they hold festivals, they practice the customs and instill that identity in their children. One interesting thing of note is that in all the examples I just gave, I listed countries, unique countries with unique cultures.The fact that we say African-Americans (a continent) is a testament to the fact that the cultures and history of blacks in America have been stripped from us to the point that they do not exist. I think that for many this is about a. taking what was for so long a source of shame and pain and making it a source of pride similar to what many other people have in their heritage. b. I think that many people felt like by virtue of going to school, they knew a lot about other people's cultures and not their own.
When it comes to heritage I think that if it has never caused pain or problems it is easy to ignore (kind of like what you were saying). Where you are from has probably never had a great impact on your family. For blacks in America, our ethnicity has in itself been such a cause of problems and has affected and shaped our lives so much, it is difficult for many to just pretend that it doesn't exist.
Thanks. That made it a bit better to understand. I used to go to German festivals as a kid. Loved watching the dancers. But I, was not proud of the most obvious. I know that there were alot of good Germans who gave their lives to save people from the Nazi regeime. But it has been years since, haven't really thought about it till now. I keep saying we'll go to the next October fest, which I really want to do, but we always celebrated the cajun festivities instead.
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Rom.8:38,39-For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither heigth nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That's not what you said... You said multiply it by generations.
Of course it still occurs. But I am saying that when it occurs... let's not multiply it by decades & generations. Let's deal with it for what it is.
If one comes to the table "loaded" with decades and generations of what has happened in the past then they come to the table ready to prejudge the actions of the other individual.
That... is prejudice.
Prejudice and discrimination is wrong. Always.
When I said multiply it for generations, I was not implying that it has been told for generations...I was saying that it had been happening for generations. From slavery to Jim Crow and beyond, there were many, many generations who were denied almost everything because of their color. That's what I meant when I said take the frustration you feel about a small amount possibly being denied to you, multiply it by 100 and extrapolate it over generations.
It's just something to think about.
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There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Chuck Norris lives in Houston.
Either the United States will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States. – W.E.B. DuBois
When I said multiply it for generations, I was not implying that it has been told for generations...I was saying that it had been happening for generations. From slavery to Jim Crow and beyond, there were many, many generations who were denied almost everything because of their color. That's what I meant when I said take the frustration you feel about a small amount possibly being denied to you, multiply it by 100 and extrapolate it over generations.
It's just something to think about.
Well... to quote you. We will agree to disagree.
I take each account for what they are. Right, wrong or indifferent.
IMO... That facilitates more progress in putting old wrongs behind us and deals with present wrongs for what they are.
When I said multiply it for generations, I was not implying that it has been told for generations...I was saying that it had been happening for generations. From slavery to Jim Crow and beyond, there were many, many generations who were denied almost everything because of their color. That's what I meant when I said take the frustration you feel about a small amount possibly being denied to you, multiply it by 100 and extrapolate it over generations.
It's just something to think about.
Tstew, I appreciate your input.
Your past generations certainly experienced everything that you mentioned. It's not easy to forgive and forget! Sadly, I think the racial divide may not completely end until the generations that have experience the true personal effects of racism have passed on. Then the only racism will be what a new generation reads in history books.
There's no real way to right the past wrongs, except to acknowledge it, apologize and move on.
Those that continue to use the race card as a crutch or excuse will be left behind. When black and white leaders chastise their followers when the race card is used, then you will find true racial healing. Until then, using the race card just keeps racism alive.
__________________ Words: For when an emoticon just isn't enough.
VANCOUVER, B.C. - A West Vancouver police officer who admitted attacking a newspaper delivery man in Vancouver last winter won't spend any time in jail for his crime.
Const. Griffin Gillan has been given a 21-day conditional sentence to be served in the community.
The Crown had been seeking a four-to six-month jail term.
Gillan pleaded guilty earlier this month to assaulting 47-year-old Phil Khan outside a downtown Vancouver hotel in January.
He admitted he'd been drinking heavily beforehand and apologized in court to Khan, who had said his attackers shouted racial slurs during the assault.
Two other off-duty police officers were also arrested in the attack, but only one of them, Const. Jeffrey Klassen of the New Westminster police, was charged with assault.
I take each account for what they are. Right, wrong or indifferent.
IMO... That facilitates more progress in putting old wrongs behind us and deals with present wrongs for what they are.
I'm always willing to agree to disagree, but I am genuinely confused as to what we are disagreeing about. Are we in disagreement over whether multiple generations faced widespread exclusion and discrimination due to race?
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There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Chuck Norris lives in Houston.
Either the United States will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States. – W.E.B. DuBois
"experiences"...are passed down...and down...and down 
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