Friday, February 9, 2007
Man, a lot has happened over the week or so. I watched as an black head coach(Tony Dungy) became the first ever to win a Super Bowl, and it was during Black History month no less, so that made it even more special. But unfortunately, or at least in my case, every time February comes around, there has to be that select few that either try to get attention or are really hateful of the month. My sister told me about how one of her classmates keeps standing up and saying Hitler was a good man and all he wanted to do was to kill the Jews. Also, my girlfriend(who is white) told me that a group of black people in her class keep saying that white people get better things than black people. One went so far as to call everyone in her group(which included whites and blacks mind you) racists. Now I'm not one to immediately jump on the "Oh he/she said that so that makes them racists" bandwagon. I usually see if their actions show that. I do know one thing. I used to go to that school that my girlfriend goes to, and if that statement was true, then all the black people that I know should not be driving Escalades with 20" rims on them. And if they feel that way, then they should do something about it, like work hard to get what you want. I'm pretty sure that people of all races dont end up with nice things just because of race. As for Black History month, it is meant to celebrate the achievements of African-American figures, such as Langston Hughes or MLK Jr. I think there are other minority figures who are remember for what they did as well. I dont think it was meant to bring up injustices and basically cause everyone to feel sad or mad. If you feel like you want to celebrate it year-round, then you can; dont force everyone to do it. The same goes for anyone who doesnt want to celebrate it at all. As for my sister's classmate, she told me of two things. One, she thinks he's just trying to get attention. The second was when he asked everyone else(including the teacher) half of them ignored him and the other half said no they didnt and that he was stupid.
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4 comments:
I just wanted to reply to your comment of "like work hard to get what you want."
unfortunately, it's not possible to get what you want with hard work alone. The belief that anyone who works hard succeds is no longer true. The growing gap between rich and poor is making american dream out of reach for many of us. Rich is not rich because they work hard. We live in a society that is stratified and some have more priviliges and oppurtunities than others. poor is not poor because they are lazy and they are slackers. There are many hard working people in this country yet they struggle to pay their bills. American dream is a distant dream for America's working class poor.
As for racism, it is alive and well in America today. as long as we believe in the superiority of one particular race, we will never get rid of racism in america. unless we attack the root problem of what causes racism, america will continue to be a nation that is divided. Stratification is definitely one of the causes of racism. We are so used to seeing the black race at the bottom of the heap and the other race on top that we try to keep one race at the bottom and the other group on top.
Wow, that is a powerful statement...and "anonymous" clearly feels passionate as well. It is tough to address for me, being white and not having to deal with the racism personally. I just know I teach my kids the power of speech and equality and chose their school because of its' diversity. I would hope the jerk in your sister's class was made to look like a fool, he absolutely sounds like one. Good for you addressing the topic on your blog.
Sorry, I forgot to sign in with my user name and my post showed up as anonymous.
I understand that in some cases, people work hard and still struggle with their bills, but even those people don't run around saying that others get what they want just solely based on race. As for bittersweet's comment on racism, she did bring up some things that I didn't think of. I really appreciate the comments.
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