Brenda’s Black and White Rant brought home from Joe’s site

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Brenda’s Black and White Rant brought home from Joe’s site

January 28, 2009 by Brenda Bowers

I use Black instead of African American because I personally hate that term. I think it is divisive and gives the impression that Blacks are not true Americans. We are ALL Americans if born in this country or naturalized! I am not a Russian American. My neighbor is not a Polish American. That is why I use the terms Black and White when I feel it is necessary for clarification of what I am discussing to indicate the race of the individual.

For example it is necessary in my opinion to indicate the race of the 39 Black GPD Officers who are suing the City of Greensboro for discrimination even tho when discrimination is the reason for a suit it is commonly (an erroneously) believed to be Blacks doing the suing.

I also feel it is necessary to indicate the race of David Wray (White) in his suit of discrimination against the City because this is an important issue that we as Americans must face. Discrimination and racism is a two way street!

Discrimination and racism is a two way street! We have been denying that fact while it has been growing until it is now a cancer between the races. A cancer that some of us refuse to acknowledge and those of us who do are of course “racists”. But this cancer is out there and more and more Whites are turning into thus far quiet racist who weren’t before due to the unequal treatment they see given to Whites while militant Blacks get away with anything they wish.

Greensboro has a Black Police Officers Union. But all Hell would break out if the White police officers formed their own union. Every Government body has a Black Caucus to which White politician are not accepted, but Hell would break out if Whites formed a White Caucus and everyone out there knows I am right in saying this.

Also in my refusal to use the term African American I am in very good company with many Blacks who refuse to use the term and are insulted by it as they feel it dismisses their right to claim American citizenship based on their families long history in this country and their families contributions to this country; their country!

I am also one of only a few among you who dares to discuss openly problems that the races have and must overcome somehow before we can resolve the problems of race that we still have after all these years.

This week I tackled one that raised the ire of Roch and perhaps others when I brought up Black Speech patterns and suggested this was a large impediment to their moving ahead economically. “Ask” is not “ast”! And this is just one small example of speech patterns that keep Black young people out of decent jobs. Speech is no less a problem for Hispanics getting a decent job when they do not speak English. The only difference being that they have the excuse of having been born and raise in a Spanish speaking country. American Blacks do not have this excuse. And as far as I know not being able to correctly speak the language of the birth country is only a problem for American Blacks. At least I personally haven’t met with the problem in any other English speaking country I have visited.

We wonder why Black children have difficulties in school. Schooling depends greatly on proficiency in reading and spelling. Well, both are based on phonetics which is quite simply “how it sounds”. Can we blame a Black child for not being able to read a word as simple as “ask” when that word is totally unfamiliar to the child? Or, I should say, unfamiliar in the correct form?

I beg your pardon here Michelle Honey but I need to bring this up. I helped served breakfast to some homeless people recently and I counted two White people. The rest were Black. What that tells me is that homelessness here in Greensboro is a Black problem. (By the way, out West homelessness is a White and Hispanic problem. I saw very few Black homeless on the streets except in the Southeast and the Northeast).

But to get back to my thought here: Homelessness in Greensboro and all over the South is a Black problem. And to my mind it will continue to be a Black problem as long as we continue to deny it. Once we identify honestly who the majority of the homeless are then we can find solutions to the problems. Here we go right back to one of many: Black speech patterns that keep them out of good jobs as just one of the problems unique to Blacks.

Sorry Joe, I got off here on one of my rants. I am just so frustrated and angry and hurt. In 1959 at age 18, I was teaching older Black (then Colored) men and women hidden in back woods Colored churches to sign their names so they could register to vote as was their right as Americans. Everyone believed the problem was the segregated schools and if the Colored children had the benefits of the Whites schools then they would learn. Here it is 50 years later and we still have a huge population of illiterate and marginally literate Blacks. We and the Blacks themselves have to face these problems and admit that a good many of them are self inflicted wounds. Some of them are social problems that both races need to address, and sadly some are still problems that Whites need to get over. BB

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Black problems, Black Speak, discrimination, Racism | 17 Comments

17 Responses

on January 28, 2009 at 15:11 Reggie Green / The Logistician

Complex stuff Brenda, and you’re to be credited with being willing to spend far more time trying to explain it to others than I. That being said, I was born in 1951. I was cool with Negro. Didn’t feel the need for the change. Still works for me today, although I am far more likely to use black, without capitalization, along with white, without capitalization.

A DIFFERENCE between American blacks and English colonies which happened to have significant black populations? It is my understanding that one of the good things about English colonization was that the English recognized the importance of establishing quality schools in their colonies which the native people could attend. I’ve never met a black from any of the former British colonies / members of the Commonwealth, who expressed themselves poorly, and used improper grammar. On the other hand, here in the US, there was a systematic pattern of depriving the slaves and blacks during Jim Crow with an education. Were it not for many religious societies and private schools, the current situation would be even worse.

Another thought: When the English colonized other countries, the native blacks were still in their native countries without the destruction of their culture and family structure. With slavery, they picked up people, took them from their countries and families, and further decimated the families during slavery, since they were treated like chattel property, not people. I’m not getting into the debate about whether slavery was a good thing and beneficial to humankind right now; however, there are big differences in the consequences.

I’m not justifying it, just explaining it.

Many scholars mentioned in years past, including Tocqueville, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville, suggested that the institution of slavery would come to haunt America many years later. While it is true that a significant segment of the descendants of slaves have advanced, a significant segment of them simply have not. Should a society be able to totally escape the vestiges of poor conditions within one or two generations? I would like to think so, and I am sure that those with high internal motivation have done so. Unfortunately, that is not the case with every single black person.

From a purely management perspective, I suspect that one reasons (apart from those economic in origin) that slavery persisted for so long, and that Jim Crow laws were allowed to persist for such a long period of time, was not the issue of state’s rights per se, but they realized that once you ceased the implementation of those institutions, the potentially negative ramifications from having had those institutions all along would spread to the general populace. One can not keep folks in that situation for so long a period and not expect some negative stuff to flow long term. To all of a sudden expect, let’s say generously, that all the negative ramifications associated with close to 350 year of second class treatment to disappear over a 50 year period appears to me to me unrealistic.

To provide an analogy, there were many casualties, both physically and emotionally, stemming from the dropping of our atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Forget for moral issue for now. Let’s assume that it was justified. Have ALL the people who were affected still living, or their affected descendants, fully recovered and reversed their lives? I doubt it.

Another question: Are the whites who find themselves in the same economic and educational situation as blacks equally responsible for pursuing certain bad patterns of behavior in the same manner as the blacks?

This notion that we can engage in a certain behavior for hundreds of years, and that the negative ramifications of that choice will simply disappear within two generations is not very realistic, quite frankly. Not saying that slavery and Jim Crow were wrong. Not passing judgment right now on those issues. Just saying that the consequences are not really over, and we need to face that.
on January 28, 2009 at 15:16 Beau D. Jackson

Everyone believed the problem was the segregated schools and if the Colored children had the benefits of the Whites schools then they would learn. Here it is 50 years later and we still have a huge population of illiterate and marginally literate Blacks. We and the Blacks themselves have to face these problems and admit that a good many of them are self inflicted wounds. Some of them are social problems that both races need to address, and sadly some are still problems that Whites need to get over. BB

I agree with everything you have said, I also believe that way to many black children aren’t learing is due to 21St Century black culture, drugs, morality, etc, and largely due to the break down of the black familt unit. Now I wish to stress that this does not apply to ALL black families, but just way to many. Beau
on January 28, 2009 at 17:52 brendabowers

Reggie, I capitalize Black and White since I use them in place of the capitalized Negro and African-American. It is meant as a sign of respect. And I sensed anger growing as you continued to write although you were trying to intellectualize and respond to me factually and dispassionately. And don’t you ever not say that slavery and Jim Crow were not wrong because they dam well were!!

Reggie, I knew this “rant” would bother you, and I am sure it bothers a good many of my friends both Black and White. It is just something I feel needs said and thought about and acknowledged if we are to move our Black children out of this morass they are in. Three homicides in Greensboro in 28 days and two of them young Black men! And killed by other Black young men! Dam it anyhow but this has got to end! I don’t know how, but if we can identify a problem and work on it; one little problem at a time then maybe, just maybe someday Black young men will find something more productive to do than to join gangs, take drugs and kill each other. And I know there are so many more Black young men who are making good lives than those we are losing, but we are still losing far, far too many.

Well, enough of the passion. Maybe I should calm myself down and try to get my thoughts around this and continue what you have started.

I agree with you about the demoralizing effects of slavery that we had in this country. Of course slavery was a common way of life in Africa and the Middle East long before we Americans got into it, and being treated as little more than animals seemed to have been the nature of slavery. In fact, from accounts that I have read since slaves were more readily available in the other countries and even today somewhat accepted by those societies though done quietly slaves elsewhere were treated worse than here. In fact, from account I have read and there have been many, most slave owners treated their slaves well simply because they did have a high monetary value. It is pure stupidity to abuse and not take good care of a valuable worker be it human slave or work horse. Unfortunately this is also how the owners looked upon many of their slaves, as human work horses.

It was after slavery and the Jim Crow era when the real harm was done. This period in our history correlates very well with the hundreds of years of the Europeans peons and peasants. During this period these people had no value to the ruling class and therefore their needs were ignored. They were only acknowledged when there was a need for their labor and then their labor was exploited. Otherwise live or die it mattered not. The attitude was that after all they breed like rabbits so there is always another peasant. (My grandmother and many northern Europeans I grew up knowing came from the peasant class in Russia or some country much like Russia thus my interest in life in Russia. I also heard many stories before I got old enough to do some research in books).

Jim Crow in the South eastern United States was miserable. There simply are no words to describe how terrible life was for the poor Black in the South. As share croppers their life was not a great deal harder than the White sharecropper, but the intimidation and exploitation when they sold their crops left them living in the starkest poverty and the hatefulness they encountered from some was beyond brutal.

The other thing about Jim Crow as opposed to slavery was in slavery more value was assigned to the male slaves than to the female so even though families were not the norm men still retained their psychological dominance attitudes so necessary for the healthy male psyche. Black men lost their value after slavery and the women became the more valued member of what were then of course families. The women were valued as household servants therefore they became the breadwinner (hunters/providers) and the male lost his sense of dominance/pride/self-esteem.

Just as this was changing toward the turn of the century and thru the 1920’s when Black men were able to make reasonable livings for their families then along came the Great Depression to again destroy the gains the Black male had made since if there was any work to be had it was given to a White man. This was a bad time of lynching’s. A Black man having a job or any sign of having money was unbearable to some Whites.

WWII brought another change because as the Black soldiers came home they were determined not to be put down again. They had earned their right to be treated with dignity and so the Civil Rights era began. Even in the Southeast things were changing for the better. Just read some Greensboro history will give you and idea of how thriving the Black community was. Black males and Black females had their place and families flourished. More and more young people were attending college. There was still a poverty, but that was true among Whites also. I will just drop one statistic at you because this is so significant to what is happening today. In 1960 the illegitimacy rate for Blacks was 24%, today it is 74%. Among White it was 4% and 28%.

What happened in the 1960’s ? Johnson’s Great Society and welfare programs for the poor. Only there was one stipulation that destroyed the Black male all over again: The husband could not remain in the home if the wife and children were to be eligible for welfare! Couple that with the so-called sexual revolution of the 1970’s and we have today.

I needn’t tell you what the statistics are about the effects of single family homes on children. They are well known. But there is no solution for that problem that I can see. All the fathers and would be fathers of these children also came up in single family homes and are now either dead or in prison. So you see this is the ultimate problem. Not slavery or its aftereffects taking so long to get over, or poverty and it’s aftereffects taking generations to get over because the truth is Black males and Black females and Black families have had very successful periods during this past 150 years to prove how the effects of slavery can be overcome in a generation.

But how in the hell are we going to overcome the effects of 74 out of every 100 Black babies being born today are going home to a single parent family?
on January 28, 2009 at 18:23 AF Ticker

“But how in the hell are we going to overcome the effects of 74 out of every 100 Black babies being born today are going home to a single parent family?”

Stop so called entitlement programs which are nothing more than extension of welfare. Demand that every child born have the actual father listed on the birth certificate and if that falls short use DNA to find the individual and demand that he support the child that he helped bring into this world.
If he claims to have no job but yet can wear $250.00 Air Jordon’s or what ever the top name is today, flashy jewelery, and drive a new car, take it, sell it and give it to the support of the child. If he has a job and quits to avoid support payment, lock his butt in jail, send him out daily to work on a work release and take 90% of the money and use it for support the rest use for his keep in jail, food etc.
You think I’m crazy. It works. I have seen it done and been a part of designing a program for these deadbeats. Of course the program caught hell from the likes of the farleft compassionate fools at the ACLU but they lost their argument on that one.
Continuing to enable young Black women , or White for that matter to have children without support will not stop the problem. When having children without support of a father becomes painful enough this pattern will stop. It will not stop until then . As long as young men or older men regardless, are able to sire children and then walk away free as a bird and not have to take responsibility the problem will not be solved. As long as both occur young people will not receive an education in anything other than how to scam the government for support.
When Black children were brought up in two parent homes there was less crime, fewer dropouts and welfare roles were less. The same stats prove out today. Throwing government money at the problem will not solve it. Proof of this lies in spending in DC, Detroit and other major Black centers. Look it up!
I am surprised BB that you have not commented on my article on Black genocide by this President. Perhaps you know and understand it to be true and see nothing to add to the fact.
on January 29, 2009 at 1:47 Reggie Green / The Logistician

Actually Brenda, your rant did NOT bother me. I can understand why you might think it would, but you really do not know me. I have absolutely no emotions about racism in American society at all. It is what it is.

Everyone has been discriminated against in some form or fashion in their lifetime, and throughout history. When one examines history going back at least 5,000 years, no one race has the right to criticize another for anything. African tribal leaders were significantly responsible for the initial stages of the slave trade. The Rwandan genocide a few years ago showed that blacks are not immune to human atrocities, even against their own people.

No Brenda, I’ve traveled around this world enough to know that there are good and bad people all throughout the world, and of every race.

Here’s another thing: Black folks are about to become the next American Indian. They will not matter in a relatively short period of time. The numbers are decreasing, there is no massive black immigration, they do not have any real economic power, and folks are tired of hearing blacks complain. I believe that affirmative action was a moral, philosophical, and public relations disaster for black folks. It was intellectually dishonest.

The Hispanics and Asians already outnumber them. They will not matter in the grand scheme of things very shortly. I can almost guarantee you that in 75 years, this conversation will not take place. Even a significant segment of black people view themselves in terms of the least common denominator.

To put it very simply Brenda, as with many things in life, some blacks will profit and benefit from the purported change in racial attitudes, but most will not. It’s just not in the cards.

Now, all that having been said, should you desire to review my true feelings about race, take a look at this article, Post No. 2, on my blog. Thanks. I thoroughly enjoy your discussions.
http://theviewfromoutsidemytinywindow.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-racism-although-problematic-serves.html
on January 29, 2009 at 13:07 brendabowers

I am copying Reggie’s post #2 to my site because he referred me and my reader’s to it. It belongs here as it leands another voice and food for thought.

After reading it I’m only sure of several things: one is the similarity of our background and differences in life experiences due I suspect very much to our race as well as our temperament: Me a 67 year old White woman who as a girl was adamant about the unequal treatment given to Blacks and the poor and our need as citizens of a free country to help them. I am not sure how Reggie felt about the Civil Rights movement, but from this I would say that he wasn’t too concern one way or the other since he was busy doing his own thing.

What I am sure of is that: Me a White woman of 67 and Reggie a Black man of 57 neither one have experienced personally either the racism or the poverty that we are so perhaps arrogantly discussing here and on other sites and other posts. This is especially true of me! All I can say in my own defense is that color of skin does not matter in the least. I stood up to White people and told them they were wrong and I stood up to Black People and told them they were wrong when I believed this to be the truth. I would stand up to blue and purple people just as quickly I am sure. I am still standing up (not literally since the old legs won’t allow it J) Now people there has to be some humor in this. LOL LOL Of course humor or not, experience or not, and color of skin quite honestly beside the point, I can not and will not change a life time habit of standing up for the underdog with passion and honesty. BB

Now do read Reggie’s post because I think he was/is ahead of his time and this is the path young Blacks are on as they leave us old dinosaurs behind. Thank God for youth and their clearer vision. We had it in our time too and moved beyond our parents so don’t feel too bad; it is just that our thinking both Black and White is out of date and has served it’s purpose.

There are problems to attend to and the fact that so many of these terrible problems involve young Blacks is the only reason to specify the race. We would be dishonest and not be addressing the problem if we did not identify those in need. I have spent my life trying to make the problems of the Blacks go away. There is still a long way to go because of these we as a society have inadvertently created and then left behind.

I won’t see the end of this particular phase in our history, but am sure it will come and young black men will no longer be filling our prisons or dying in our streets. I am also sure that being human beings as Reggie suggests we will find another underdog to make us feel better about our circumstances or ourselves, and then there will be another group of underdog champions who like us (Reggie and I) are so not in touch because we have never experienced the problems personally of the underdog. BB

Post No. 2: WHY RACISM, ALTHOUGH PROBLEMATIC, SERVES A PRAGMATIC AND UTILITARIAN FUNCTION
© 2008, The Institute for Applied Common Sense

Hold tight, give me a moment while I put on my Kevlar protective vest and body armor. “Problematic!,” you say; that’s an understatement. I realize that I’m about to take a journey filled with land mines and sniper fire. As I have often said, sometimes you have to go to a place to appreciate that you don’t want to be there on a regular basis. At least I know that I am going to take some heat on this one. Well, maybe not…

I’ll tell you at this point – my intentions are good. Additionally, it is my hope that by the time that you finish reading this, you will consider at least some of what I have said, and return your weapons to their rightful and appropriate place. I’ll also warn you that this piece should be read while sitting on the toilet seat of your favorite bathroom. It’s a tad labyrinthine in nature. Addressing the entire racial history of humankind requires at least two pages.

You see, I’m 56 years of age, and I’ve never really given much thought to this thing called racism. It is a concept that I recognized from a theoretical perspective, and about which I had read. However, I simply could not imagine spending much of one’s time dwelling on it. I also was afraid that by visiting the issue, even intellectually, it might have a “bittering” effect. Consequently, I came up with a construct in the 1950’s that worked for me, and I must say reasonably satisfactorily, at least for most of my years.

You will recall the recent furor generated by Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s comments during a sermon. In the context of the Obama campaign, many commentators reminded us that “America has never really dealt with the race issue,” or that we “have never had a conversation about race.”

I beg to differ. We’ve dealt with it in many different ways, and during the course of many conversations. The frustration expressed has really come about as a result of our inability to reach some satisfactory resolution, or at least some consensus about the issue.

I would submit that the reason that America has never really come to grips with the issue is because America has always dealt with it in a manner that results in it becoming an emotional issue at the very beginning of the conversation.

It is difficult to come up with an effective way to address a problem if you just focus on the symptoms, and do not really address the underlying sources. Approaching the subject from a little different perspective might enable us to formulate new solutions.

Quite frankly, although I do not have any empirical evidence to support this, it is my suspicion that we really have not made any progress in racial relations over the past fifty years. By relations, I mean how we feel about other races in our hearts and private thoughts. That’s what really matters. America has mucked this whole thing up in about as many ways as possible. There is plenty of resentment and seething anger out there, although it may be “inappropriate” to express or display it.

I actually hold my former secretary, Anne, responsible for setting me up on this racial thing. Virtually everyone who knows me knows that it is not a place that I like to go. (I’ve even been accused of denying that racism exists because of my philosophical attitude.) Anne sent me an e-mail and inquired as to whether I thought that Obama (who I understand is African-American) was “for real.” She said that she was somewhat intrigued by him, but that she had her reservations, as she did with virtually all politicians. She was interested in my take.

I responded by first noting that at a very early age, I remembered someone saying that the most important thing that an elected leader can do is to convey an attitude or feeling to his or her followers. That person went on to describe the attitude that Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill both displayed during their terms. They had the hearts and minds of their people. Both made their respective nations feel that certain goals were achievable. Some would say that Ronald Reagan, the Great Communicator, did the same thing for most of his years in office, whether you agreed or disagreed with his policies.

I continued by proposing to Anne, on a more personal level, that we might take some cues about this leadership thing from our parents. Fortunately, for most of us, when we were kids, we thought that they were the greatest people on earth. When we became adults, particularly when we had to deal with them during difficult times, we realized that they are just people, ordinary people, with all of the human flaws and problems that we see in others, and in ourselves. However, during the period of time when their “leadership” was most important, and had its most significant impact, namely our developing, childhood years, they did what they needed to do to provide sufficient guidance for us to become decent, thinking, human beings and hopefully positive contributors to society.

Whatever our personal issues with them may be, that is about the best that you can ask where there is no instructional or operational manual, or even agreement as to what is right or wrong. I suggested to Anne that it’s not dramatically different with the Leader of the Free World. Stay with me, I’ll get back to this racial thing.

One other thing: When one observes celebrities and famous people, one person can say or do certain things, and you have some doubts about their sincerity. You’re just not quite sure whether it is about the celebrity and his or her ego, as opposed to their really being interested in doing things for the benefit of society. On the other hand, you observe others, who might say or do some of the exact same things, and folks will say that he or she is sincere and really means it. Then again, there are some folks in whom you do not have much faith or confidence initially, and then you have to mature, or you see them mature over time, resulting in you having a different view.

I suggested to Anne that she had to follow her heart; feel it in her gut. I told her that if you think too hard, and look too long, you’re bound to find disappointment and flaws. It’s inevitable. They exist in us all – and we know it.

Actually, I had not paid much attention to Obama until Caroline Kennedy endorsed him. I had not even entertained the theoretical possibility that a black man might become President in America at this point in our country’s evolution. However, Caroline crystallized a nebulous uncertainty in my mind. Those few, carefully delivered words did the trick for me. Paraphrasing, she essentially said that in her youth, she did not appreciate or comprehend what her Father meant to others. However, listening to the expression of feelings by others who were around when she was a youth, Obama instilled in her the same type of inspiration that those folks claimed her Father did for them. It’s obviously not about experience, is it?

Is he more qualified than any of the other candidates? Hell, I don’t know. I’m not sure, contrary to the case of race, that it really matters. (Parenthetically, I wondered whether a person, contemplating the selection of a spouse, might consider whether various potential “candidates” were more qualified than others, and whether experience would be a prime determinant.) But, then it hit me – the realization that race was not the primary, instinctive, instantaneous factor that I processed upon focusing on him.

Kennedy’s comment suggested that (1) he had the potential to inspire something in us to move beyond our personal crap; (2) this certain amorphous quality was rare; and (3) we really haven’t seen it for far too long a period of time, and yearned for it. It reminded me of Jack Nicholson’s comment to Helen Hunt, “You make me want to be a better person.” It draws or tugs on your whole being. For millions, Obama apparently makes a lot of people want to follow him, regardless of his position on issues, and irrespective of his lack of experience.

I told Anne that it was, quite frankly, transcendental, in nature.

It occurred to me that not knowing, or not paying attention to, Obama’s race, like the position that most of you occupy vis-à-vis me at this point, might be a good thing. But it also got me “athinking.” Are there some “good” things about racism? Well, “good” might be too strong a word. Although the academicians would question the appropriateness of this, I use the words “race” and “racism” interchangeably, since, as a practical matter, if you did not have the latter, the former would be a non-issue. Let’s get back to why racism, although problematic, serves a pragmatic and utilitarian function in all societies, and has done so since the beginning of humankind. Are you still any angry with me now?

There is analysis, and then there is drawing a line for one’s self. A few years ago, I met this gal of a different race. A number of her friends had met me and said that I was “acceptable.” She was apprehensive and uncomfortable about meeting me, and had to get drunk and show up at 11:00 pm in order to face me alone. She reiterated that she had been brought up in a home in a working class town, where her Father had clearly expressed his disdain for members of other races. Her Sister in the Navy had married a man of a different race, and they had an interracial child, who her Father refused to acknowledge or even see. The Father disowned his daughter. My friend struggled with our relationship for years. She frequently made reference to her internal conflict in getting to know me better, and what she had been taught by her Father. She also noted that the friend, who was most supportive of her Brother as he was dying of AIDS, was a member of a racial group that her Father despised.

What I told her, and what I have come to accept about folks who hold views with which I disagree, is that people adhere to the principles and values that they think or feel work for them. It does not advance our cause to be angry with them if our view of race is different. While some might view it as ignorance, or a lack of sophistication, I call it “muddling through.” Some folks do not seek out information, education, or people of other races, because knowing more stuff complicates their thought process and ability to function in everyday life. There is, after all, only so much time in a day.

For some folks, occupying it with trying to understand what is really going on is problematic. If one has the benefit of being around certain groups of people, and the time, interest, and resources that permit you to engage others outside of your group, you will probably not view those new and different as threatening. However, if your position in life is less secure and more tenuous, the threat appears to be more real. That is not to suggest that it should, or that I am an apologist for racists.

However, for certain segments of the population, it is simply more efficient for them to deal with people and cultures that they recognize, and concepts that they understand, or take positions that someone else, or some other institution, controls. Does that sound familiar? I admit that it may not be the most palatable thing to say in certain settings.

There are two phrases that I have begun to use with more frequency now that I have reached my mid-fifties. They are, “Don’t try to make your issues my issues,” and, “It’s not the way that I want to spend my time.” Racism is frequently about efficiency, with respect to conduct, thought, and emotion. We only have so much time or energy that we are willing to devote to relationships with folks outside of our known realm, or our realm of priorities. Racism is also about probabilities. Arguably, there are fewer complications and unexpected events associated with sticking with our own and what we know. Is it limiting? Perhaps it is, if that is an issue for you. However, for people who subscribe to it, racism “works.”

Additionally, there will always be a need for humans to feel that they are better than some group of people, and a recognition that they are less well off or fortunate than others, even though it might not be accurate, fair, or justified. Are there perhaps other ways, not comparative in nature, to establish one’s place in society and establish self-worth and value? That we are still uncomfortable with the subject of race, during an era when Obama might have a chance, is reflective of its enduring problematic legacy.

Have you ever watched any shows following animals in the wild, and wondered about their applicability to understanding human conduct? Imagine that you are a tiger, amongst other tigers. Let’s assume that there are other, different animals in your vicinity. If you are familiar with them, and have had other experiences with them, then your reaction or attitude will reflect that prior experience, however limited it may have been. If the new animal in your midst is a total stranger, who you have not encountered before, then you need to size it up, your guard is immediately raised, and you must make a decision fairly quickly as to whether it is friend or foe. You may or may not be able to run away or successfully fight the strange new animal.

As humans, we have advantages over our animal counterparts. We can move to certain parts of town, join certain organizations, place our kids in certain types of schools, and otherwise take steps to reduce certain undesirable events, and to increase the probability or number of those events occurring that we consider positive in nature. But having a larger and more complex brain, we can also do others things. We can depersonalize acts that might be interpreted as racist acts toward us, and realize that the act is really not about us, but about the actor. We can also try to address those systemic and structural issues or conditions that encourage the practice of racism, or that make it such a useful coping mechanism for so many.

Hope springs eternal. Laughingman, of the Institute for Applied Common Sense, wrote in a recent piece:

“[T]he dilemma that this Nation faces is significantly more apparent amongst us aging baby boomers, than amongst the kids who will be inheriting the future implications of our, and our parent’s, mistakes. Half of our racial perception problem is hard wired genetic preference. Those of our ancestors who sought out their own kind, (and we still do this on the basis of first blush visual similarity), were more likely to enjoy the support and protection of the group. Adherence to group think advanced the chances of finding a desirable mate and passing along one’s genes through reproduction.”

“The other half of the boomers’ perceptual problem is environmental. We may have learned to shake off the fear driven prejudice and behavior, acquired as children from our less enlightened parents. However, acting equal and thinking equal are different things. This may help explain why the most libertine, least cautious, generation in recent memory (we were, after all, willing to swallow damn near anything put in front of us) has become the most compulsively concerned, micro-managing, group of parents…ever.”

“The good news is our kids seem to have inherited our best thinking, rather than our worst fears. So, the ground work put in by MLK, Muhammad Ali, Bill Cosby, and Malcolm X, is showing up as a very new irrelevance of the importance of racial background. Affirmative action has nothing to do with the value of Tiger Woods’ endorsement contracts, Oprah’s audience, Senator Obama’s chances to be our next president, or with the extraordinarily talented Lewis Hamilton’s probability of being the next Formula One World Racing Champion.”

“I can’t think helping that this is a very good thing. As the population continues to divide into ever smaller tribes based primarily on personal interests, those who pick their leaders based on performance, and emulate their behavior by choice, will enjoy more than their fair share of economic prosperity, and the unfair advantage in the genetic crap shoot.”

“Those who limit their learning to conforming to a previous generation’s preferences may go the way of the Dodo.”

Earlier this week, the world witnessed a generational and philosophical chasm between Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Senator Barack Obama. Rev. Wright has personalized this whole of issue of race, and a result, feels that it is about him.

Obama on the other hand, and this is why he will probably not prevail, has recognized all along that the significance of him even being in the hunt is bigger than the racial factor. However, I don’t think that we are ready for that level of conceptual evaluation yet in this country. (Remember Adlai Stevenson?) That’s why many in the media have turned this into a media circus and resorted to demeaning and demonizing those with whom they disagree.

Yes, America, racism works; and it runs both ways.
© 2008, The Institute for Applied Common Sense
Posted by The Logistician at 2:31 AM 4 comments Links to this post
Labels: Causes of Racism, Obama, Religion and Politics, Rev. Jeremiah Wright
on January 29, 2009 at 15:40 Reggie Green / The Logistician

Thanks for posting my article Brenda. I actually have another one more about the hard-wiring factors contributing to racism, should any one have an interest. Here’s my bottom line about race. The discussion, if it is held, should always be theoretical and intellectual in nature. To go the emotional route doesn’t really get us anywhere. If we can not do anything to advance the improvement of society, why even go there. Any time you start to regard folks as “different” than you are for reasons that are easy to categorize as negative or less desirable, it’s only downhill after that. Why do there? To me, it’s like any argument with a spouse or significant other. Did we really accomplish anything while we were yelling? That’s why I don’t yell.
on January 29, 2009 at 17:42 Reggie Green / The Logistician

Obviously there was some “black speak” in my preceding comments, for which I must apologize. I know better. I just did not take the time to proof it carefully, and that’s inexcusable.
on January 29, 2009 at 18:18 Brenda Bowers

Reggie, I didn’t recognize any black speak. I understood every word. I guess that shows a whole lot about me not knowing what I am talking about. If you are referring to the short phrases such as “Why go there?” That is not what I call Black speak.

Anyhow I do agree about being emotional when discussing the problems. It is really for this reason that I never agreed to take part in any discussions or sat on any boards( Besides the fact that I HATE boring meetings). I was too emotionally concerned so my time and effort were better spent in the field or trying to solve problems as they arose. I had the education, ability to run down pertinent information and the moxie to take on the State of Florida Employment Office about one particular office in Tampa and got some changes made. Took on the Recreation Department on an Army Post in behalf of the soldiers and went right to the Commander. Things really got changed. Took on the county I lived in and on behalf of a small group of neglected senior citizens who needed help and weren’t getting it while more affluent seniors had more than they needed. I simply by passed the county and went directly to the Federal District 6 Director with my data. I also ran down donations of sheets and blankets for battered women and children’s centers, filled trays in food ban and made sandwiches until my fingers were numb.

Just a lifetime of taking on one little problem at a time to try to help one little person or two at a time. Not a whole lot to put in an obit. but it was my life. And it has the side benefit that you can get as emotional as you want; kick scream and cry, then calm down and go talk to the people you need to talk to in a calm and authoritative way. It worked for me.

Oh, and one more thing: Thank you for bothering to read and comment on the ramblings and rantings of a battered and emotional old warhorse who is on her last legs and now has no other vehicle but the internet and her blog. BB
on January 29, 2009 at 19:58 Reggie Green / The Logistician

We should all thank YOU. Keep it up. We need more folks like you.
on January 30, 2009 at 11:12 Reggie Green / The Logistician

By the way Brenda, should you and your readers have any interest in another article which I wrote on the issue of race, feel free to visit my site and view Post No. 61, “Further Problems Associated with an Obama Victory,” written prior to the election. It is my contention that integration was forced on America, and that the majority of the white citizens really did not want it, nor were they emotionally prepared for it. I generally feel that you can not legislate morality, if deep down inside, people are not emotionally and spiritually there.

http://theviewfromoutsidemytinywindow.blogspot.com/2008/10/post-no-61-further-thoughts-about.html
on January 30, 2009 at 23:27 Reggie Greene / The Logistician

Check out the new, incoming Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele.
on January 31, 2009 at 13:45 brendabowers

Am of no real opinion on the new RNC chairman except that like the presidency it is about time another race get some of the action.

As for your article 61. Well I disagree because there is no way integration could have happened without the heavy support of Whites. Blacks simply didn’t have the numbers. And if you look at the number of states that were already integrated it was only the South east and Texas where there was any problems.

You are right however that morality can not be legislated and the South east certainly was not ready for it. This is why there are so many lingering problems;
Greensboro for instance with it’s White Southern Guilt which has allowed things to develop like the pandering to Blacks that has lead to the GPD debacle, the Project Homestead rip off, the closing of the White Street Landfill because people built homes there AFTER the landfill was there and now don’t like the noisy trash dump trucks going thru their neighborhood to the dump and Black leaders like Skip Alston and Earl Jones. If Greensboro had simply allowed integration to take place and treated Blacks with equality instead of pandering this would have been a different city today. But now after over 50 years we are being ripped apart by bad choices that were made decades ago. BB
on January 31, 2009 at 15:40 AF Ticker

BB, you are pretty much spot on in your comments. The southeast did have it’s share of problems with intergration and I know a bit about it since I grew up in the southeast , East Tennessee to be exact, and was old enough to “pay attention”.
I can remember when school integration was first mentioned in Johnson City as not just a possibility but as reality and I remember where the biggest ruckus came from and it was not the White community. You see in Johnson City the White community and Black community had co-existed side by side for years without even the first hint of a problem. Segregation was the norm but segregation was a choice not a forced condition. Churches shared pulpits and choirs regularly but the churches remained segregated, again by choice and not by forced conditions.
When it was announced that “grade a year” integration would begin the Black community was immediately up in arms and saying NO to integration. You see the Black community where I lived had pride in their community, in their schools and in their churches. They knew that if the schools were no longer separate then their students , teachers and community would no longer have a reason to be as proud. The Black community could see that their sports teams would be gone and they had dang good reason to be proud of their sports teams. For the most part their team, Langston High School , was one of the top teams in the state if not in the southeast. They had whooped up on one of the so called good Black schools by a score of 144-0 in football and slammed them 60-15 in basketball and it could have been worse but the other team threw in the towel even while playing against the subs. The Black community also knew that the teaching corp in their schools would be diluted and many would not have jobs when integration was complete. The Black community knew that their students would not be known on a first name basis nor would the teachers from the White community know the families of the students and to the Black community that was not good. The Black community knew that their band would forever be gone and man did Langston have a band! This band had marched in New York city, Washington , DC and other places and the White folks band hadn’t been anywhere. Pride was going to take a slide if integration took place and the Black Community knew it and they fought the inevitable for a good many years even after the “grade a year” program began.
One heard little from the White community in protest to the plan. I am not saying that there were not a few die hard segregationist living in the community who claimed the world would end if segregation ended. In the end , after 4 years of “grade a year” the program was sacked but not to the pleasure of the Black community for they saw what they had predicted coming true. The schools from grade 1-12 were fully integrated just four short years after the plan began.
The Black community was right in so many ways,at least right for their community, when they stood and protested this integration. In four years they say the end to a way of life, a communty basically disappeared into the swell of the integration wave that swept the country. Their sports teams were gone, their band was gone, their teachers had lost jobs, the kids were just another face in the crowd albeit Black. Teachers no longer knew the kids nor the parents and the parents didn’t know the teachers for the teachers , parents and kids did not live in the same neighborhoods. A community died and a lot of good things died because of integration but we know that f good did manage to come out of even what was considered then a bad situation. The schools improved , if only slightly, after this time and I say slightly in a good way because the schools in the Black community for many years were considered very good schools on any level.
The downside that I saw and that my Black friends saw was the loss of the sense of pride. I think this happened in many places, not only in the southeast but across the country. One has to remember that it was not just the southeast that was dragging their feet in integration but many places in the north as well. Truth be known much of the north was more fiercely against integration than the south however mostly for different reasons, the biggest was the economic factor. The southeast being mostly agriculture based and textile based had long been integrated within the work force with Blacks and Whites working along side one another in the fields and in the textile factories. Not so in the strongly unionized northern industrial factories. That however is a different conversation for another time.
Johnson City continued to move along and get along and has for these many years. There have been few instances of problems except , according to my Black friend, when some dang outsider groups came in to stir up trouble. They included both Black and White outsider groups in their conversation. A Black pastor and good friend made the comment to me during the race riots in Detroit back in the 60′s. He said, you know, there are White folks and there are Black Folks, like me and you.. and then there are those Black N—-’s and White N’—-s and it is those folks who are going to create too many problems for the rest of us. I agreed with him then and I agree with him now.
I would love to know his thoughts on this President today but unfortunately he passed away a few years ago and did not live to see or comment on current conditions. I miss our long conversations that we use to hold on his front porch, sipping good sweet tea, when I would return each summer to my hometown to visit.
on February 1, 2009 at 5:11 brendabowers

What you are describing is not necessarily integration but the busing of our school children all over Hell’s Half Acre in order to integrate the schools. this was the problem. It took away the neighborhood schools and everything became a down hill slide for education after that.

I remember both Ohio and Pennsylvania being integrated and always had been with no problems in any schools many of which were segregated due to neighborhoods but many which were integrated just as were the neighborhoods. But when busing was ordered by the courts then everyone was up in arms Black and White. We really made a real mess out of things when only a few states really needed fixed.

And actually integration was coming along in the cities and the states rather well since it was the people’s choice. the federal government and federal courts should not have gotten into the fray. This is where all the problems arose and actually set back the civil rights movement. Even Wallace eventually saw how wrong he had been! As Reggie said: you can not legislate morality. BB
on February 1, 2009 at 11:33 AF Ticker

No BB not busing since we didn’t have busing in my town. It was the early grade a year integration plan put for long before the busing deal became an issue. This all took place in the 50′s. Busing didn’t become an issue in most places until the mid 60′s or even later in some areas. I am talking just plain ole simple integration that dismantled the Black community or the Pride that was once there. Busing help to finish off what was left.
on February 1, 2009 at 17:16 brendabowers

Now I see what you mean. The Black schools were closed in small cities. In Wellsburg the Black kids came to our schools. I was in high school and the Black high school was 20 miles away in wheeling so Wellsburg Black kids had to take the public bus to school. I think when they came to our school it actually improved race relations in Wellsburg since for the first time the races actually did integrate. There were no problems or comments as far as I know. The first year saw a Black majorette and Black cheerleader and certainly football and basketball players. I don’t know however what happened to the Black High School in Wheeling. It may very well have been like your town. BB

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And So I Go: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

An Opinionated Older Lady on Lessons Learned

Brenda’s Black and White Rant brought home from Joe’s site

I also feel it is necessary to indicate the race of David Wray (White) in his suit of discrimination against the City because this is an important issue that we as Americans must face. Discrimination and racism is a two way street!

I am also one of only a few among you who dares to discuss openly problems that the races have and must overcome somehow before we can resolve the problems of race that we still have after all these years.

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And So I Go: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

An Opinionated Older Lady on Lessons Learned

Brenda’s Black and White Rant brought home from Joe’s site

I also feel it is necessary to indicate the race of David Wray (White) in his suit of discrimination against the City because this is an important issue that we as Americans must face. Discrimination and racism is a two way street!

I am also one of only a few among you who dares to discuss openly problems that the races have and must overcome somehow before we can resolve the problems of race that we still have after all these years.

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