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Watching The Wheels
Dave Thompson

What I Learned From "Notes of a Native Son"

Posted Wednesday, February 11, 2015, at 10:23 PM
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  • Thanks dave......I enjoyed the read.......when I attended school at the DEFENSE RACE RELATIONS INST. We did major studies on these subjects and the effects and as you say the past is never dead. and your right it's not even past.We just saw that.I guess what gets me is they have no idea how they contribute to the devastation.I have tried to convey to some that the racial anamouse directed at the PRESIDENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TODAY......it's affects will be realized in the next generation and beyond.ANYHOW I could go on for a long time.So again thankyou for the read.take care and be carefull out there.......smile

    -- Posted by lamont on Thu, Feb 12, 2015, at 2:57 PM
  • Thank You Dave...... On equality were still not there.

    Obama has received more hate than any other President

    Yet the haters will say its his politics!

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Feb 15, 2015, at 10:48 AM
  • There is a person some people tend to hate because;

    This person presided over the ending of two wars; wars where real Americans were killed, maimed and are shattered forever.

    This person presided over the end of great recession; the beginning of the great recovery; unemployment of 10% to less than 6%.

    This person presided over a country where over 10 million uninsured people now have health insurance and access to regular medical care; where before these masses didn't.

    And this person did more damage than any other president? Do facts not mean anything to the people who make these claims? Of course not.

    -- Posted by sara-connor on Sun, Feb 15, 2015, at 8:50 PM
  • Two links that are worth the read. Be warned that there is use of a word that is offensive but needed to used.

    http://breachofpeace.com/blog/?p=612#more-612

    http://www.vox.com/2015/2/13/8033441/james-anderson-sentencing-statement

    -- Posted by the old progressive on Mon, Feb 16, 2015, at 8:26 AM
  • To add to what you were saying, Sara. Obama has, I think, made progress in trying to end racial injustice. His remarks and actions in regards to Trayvon Martin, and in Ferguson, Missouri are an example of this.

    On the other hand, he has been subjected to so much hate in most cases because of his race. Marilyn Davenport, a member of the Republican Central Committee and the Tea Party sent out a picture of Obama as a monkey. Anybody that says this isn't about racism is either lying or fooling themselves.

    -- Posted by Sam_1776 on Mon, Feb 16, 2015, at 11:09 AM
  • On the topic of the blog, I read an article about how some members of the Supreme Court, for example, John Roberts won't rule against a law that is racist as long as it doesn't say any of the bad, racial words. This is how discrimination is allowed by the Supreme Court.

    The quote from the Atlantic is below. There is something really wrong with this. We have made progress though because Obama, a black man, was elected by the majority of Americans in 2008 and in 2012. The country spoke and between the other candidates offered up, he was clearly the right choice in those elections.

    "A number of correspondents have explained the paradox this way: Roberts and many others object to laws and policies (like affirmative action) that actually use racial terms in their language. A law that doesn't do this is "neutral" and thus poses no problem.

    This distinction is foreign to the Constitution. What the Equal Protection Clause as interpreted by the courts actually targets is "intentional discrimination." Constitutionally, it doesn't matter whether lawmakers write that purpose into the language or not. As anyone who has studied American history knows, it's possible to further white supremacy without admitting anything publicly; that's how Southern states kept the ballot all white for a century despite the 15th Amendment's prohibition of race discrimination in voting. Jim Crow election laws didn't say only whites could vote; instead, they set up a maze of restrictions--grandfather clauses, poll taxes, literacy tests--designed to winnow out non-whites and, to a lesser extent, poor people of any race."

    http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/heres-what-racial-discrimina...

    -- Posted by Sam_1776 on Mon, Feb 16, 2015, at 9:11 PM
  • As you can tell from the 2 links I posted, the mentality of racism is still being taught to the next generation. This is not an unconscious decision, it is very deliberate. It is not confined to the deep south either. I can not tell you how many times after the 2008 and 2012 elections I heard "I can't believe they elected that "n". Not democrat. Not liberal. Not socialist. Not communist. Just "n".

    Let me be very clear on the subject of racism. I have lived in several states and many communities. Racism is alive and well in the minority communities also. This ugly disease is taught at home and survives because many of those who oppose it are fearful of being labeled liberal, or any other label that conveys a negative connotation. You will hear "Well that's how they treat us" as justification for their behavior. The peer pressure both at home and in the community is aimed at perpetuating this thinking rather than taking the harder road of standing up to it.

    Let me be very clear on this point, this behavior will never completely die out because there will always be those few that fear a negative label more than they fell the need to do the right thing.

    There will be those who will enter the discussion with the intent to sideline a topic they aren't comfortable with and try to drive it to another subject. When called on it they will make some sort of token offering, but then continue their effort to change the direction of the discussion.

    -- Posted by the old progressive on Tue, Feb 17, 2015, at 6:48 AM
  • For the record I have no use for Sharpton and his rhetoric. That being said, he is a private citizen, not an elected official, which leads me to the following.

    A Mississippi lawmaker says racist comments recently attributed to him were taken out of context and supposed to be off the record.

    State Rep. Gene Alday, a Republican, told The Clarion-Ledger he was against increased funding for education, in particular funding to improve literacy. During his explanation, Alday said he comes "from a town where all the blacks are getting food stamps and what I call 'welfare crazy checks.' They don't work."

    Alday also told the newspaper about a time he visited an emergency room.

    "I liked to died. I laid in there for hours because they (black people) were in there being treated for gunshots," Alday was quoted as saying.

    Alday didn't deny the comments attributed to him. However, he said he was not a racist.

    "I am definitely not a racist, at all," Alday told Mississippi News Now. "Because, I mean, I get along with everybody. And I've spent a lot of time helping people."

    Alday blamed Clarion-Ledger reporter Jerry Mitchell for quoting his remarks out of context.

    "The interview, he just took me out of context," Alday said. "He asked for one thing and started asking another thing."

    Alday elaborated in a followup story with the Clarion-Ledger.

    "[Mitchell] asked me a question back to when I was in law enforcement," Alday said. "I have a way of talking and saying, 'take this off the record.'"

    Alday also said he had no problem with African-Americans.

    "Yes, it's true that most of the blacks in my hometown are on welfare," Alday told the newspaper. "But they're good people. I don't have anything against anybody. I'm a straight-up guy. In my little town they had little civil rights walks and I was with them. I'm with everybody."

    What is truly disturbing is that when I searched the web for coverage of this from the right-wing media, not a single item came up. Not a single word of condemnation from the right for such racist remarks.

    -- Posted by the old progressive on Tue, Feb 17, 2015, at 8:26 AM
  • -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Tue, Feb 17, 2015, at 9:45 AM
  • When you continue to justify actions that cant be justified for the reasons you state that is a lie.

    When you have but one answer to questions that defy the facts that too is a lie.When you can justify the actions of equality for some but not all then that too is a lie.

    Some can state what they want but the double standard set to this presidency is by far overwhelming !!!!!! to be able to albi the racist comments,and defend them with there are racist around, but they arn't elected officials. Elected officials have said and condone them.TO SAY WITH ALL THAT .....THAT RACE HASNT PLAYED A MAJOR PART IN THIS IS JUST UNFATHMABLE.

    TO be truthfull it's not worth talking about and the reason is simple TO SEE THINGS AND FEEL THINGS OUT OF YOUR OWN COMFORT ZONE TAKES COURAGE. SOME WILL TAKE THAT STEP AND MAKE IT A BETTER WORLD SOME WILL NOT BECAUSE IT CHANGES THERE WORLD.

    For me the argument is over here. I see the same stuff repeated again and again.It can be repeated some more it will not justify itself.!!!!!

    -- Posted by lamont on Tue, Feb 17, 2015, at 2:23 PM
  • OP...... I knew about the case I DIDNT KNOW ABOUT THE JUDGES WORDS.......HE went to the heart of it !!!!!!!!!!!!

    -- Posted by lamont on Tue, Feb 17, 2015, at 3:14 PM
  • lamont, I figured you would read it. The word is offensive to be sure, but it needed to printed to really convey the point. I made a post on another blog relating my experiences after 2008 and 2012. You, Mike and I are about the same age, but it seems like you and I are the ones who really remember the 60's. The dark days of our past must be remembered lest they be repeated.

    -- Posted by the old progressive on Tue, Feb 17, 2015, at 4:46 PM
  • OP.....NO !!!!!!!!!........Things have changed didn't I tell you it was all fine !!!!!!!! right?

    you and I both know as long as I don't say anything everything is fine.......problem is for who?????????SMILE !!!!!!!

    -- Posted by lamont on Tue, Feb 17, 2015, at 4:59 PM
  • -- Posted by the old progressive on Tue, Feb 17, 2015, at 5:08 PM
  • Claiming that bigots come from ALL sides, and colors, doesn't make bigotry against minorities okay. So instead of trying to spread the blame why not try to end bigotry?

    Recently in Idaho we have two examples of bigotry.

    1. A "Christian" woman physically attacked a Jewish woman at her house this month saying that she'd "better accept Jesus".

    2. A man physically and verbally (cultural epitaphs) attacked Iragi students (teenagers) at Lucky Peak last October.

    -- Posted by Sam_1776 on Wed, Feb 18, 2015, at 12:50 PM
  • Really? So it's okay if nobody is beheaded or set on fire?

    -- Posted by Sam_1776 on Wed, Feb 18, 2015, at 8:21 PM
  • Let me remind you of the conversation and your request for information, Mike.

    You wrote:

    "So, what's been going on here in Idaho since Ruby Ridge? Skinheads been out lighting fires and protesting?

    Prejudice will never be fully extinguished on EITHER side, as long as there are still a few pockets of bigots (in ALL colors)."

    -- Posted by Mike Bradbury on Tue, Feb 17, 2015, at 6:01 PM

    I replied in response to your comment and to answer your question:

    "Claiming that bigots come from ALL sides, and colors, doesn't make bigotry against minorities okay. So instead of trying to spread the blame why not try to end bigotry?

    Recently in Idaho we have two examples of bigotry.

    1. A "Christian" woman physically attacked a Jewish woman at her house this month saying that she'd "better accept Jesus".

    2. A man physically and verbally (cultural epitaphs) attacked Iragi students (teenagers) at Lucky Peak last October."

    -- Posted by Sam_1776 on Wed, Feb 18, 2015, at 12:50 PM

    -- Posted by Sam_1776 on Sat, Feb 21, 2015, at 1:23 PM
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