While reading an interesting story in the New York Observer about the overwhelming whiteness of the magazine industry, I noticed the prevalence of the phrase “people of color.” This term has become ubiquitous among progressives as an inclusive nomenclature for non-white people. Ironically, it’s a variation of the now discredited term “colored people,” once used to identify African Americans. These days,… return to article
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Reader Comments (16)Page 1 of 1 pagesSlavery is over and America has changed.
1965, Univ of Alabama football team (0 black players)
1973, Univ of Alabama football team (11 black players)
1979, Univ of Alabama football team (19 black players)
2005, Univ of Alabama football team (54 black players)
And out of 22 starters (Def & Off) .... 15 of the starters are black.
Ya ... I would say we have made progress when it comes to race relations in America.
Posted by tina1 on Jan 31, 2006 at 5:06 PM Are blacks who were for nearly 250 years ill-paid, ill-housed and ill-treated supposed to feel tranquil and happy now that they can drink from the same water fountains as white people, or play football with white people?
Come on tina1, as Katrina proved, one’s race/class determined who would live and who would die. The poor blacks lived in the below-sea level Ninth Ward, whereas the wealthy whites lived on the high ground and were spared death and severe emotional distress.
Posted by Liberal on Jan 31, 2006 at 11:14 PM The fact that black people are in writing seen equal before the law did NOTHING to improve race relations in this country. A law can end discrimination, but not prejudice against or discomfort with another race. The onus is on the people of this country to create bonds between all of mankind. I know tina1 will not participate, as she thinks racial injustice and inequality magically disappeared in 1965.
Posted by Liberal on Jan 31, 2006 at 11:17 PM [url=“http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060206/zirin”]
Strength in numbers—-go team![/url]
Posted by wileywitch on Feb 1, 2006 at 6:00 AM to Liberal:
I don’t mean to be hasty to you ... but you have been sold a bill of goods by the liberal media concerning New Orleans.
I’m referring to your comment about “wealthy whites lived on the high ground”. The liberal media made everyone to believe that all of the blacks in New Orleans lived in the Ninth-Ward and the rest of New Orleans is white .... NOT TRUE !!!
New Orleans is the most desegregated city in America. Unlike most cities in America, there is no “white part” and “black part” in New Orleans. Most cities have the races seperated .. the “west side” is black and the “east side” is white. New Orleans isn’t like that. Everyone is mixed together.
I know this ... because I’ve lived in New Orleans.
And if you don’t believe me ... just look at the map from the city of New Orleans itself. This is from the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center.
As you will see, there is no “white section” of New Orleans. The only area of New Orleans that has the most whites is the LAKEVIEW area .. and besides the levee that broke by the Ninth-Ward, the other MAJOR LEVEE BREAK was the 17th St Levee .. which is right next to the Lakeview area.
The entire Lakeview area was underwater ... wiped out .. but the liberal media never showed anything from the Lakeview area .. the liberal media just focused on the Ninth-Ward.
http://www.gnocdc.org/maps/race/pdfs/african_american.pdf
Posted by tina1 on Feb 1, 2006 at 7:14 AM to Liberal,
Your gonna love this one. Here is the news article from WWLTV in New Orleans when Mayor Ray Nagin ordered an evacuation.
Mayor Nagin orded a MANDATORY EVACUATION less than 24 hours before Katrina hit.
Nagin didn’t order the MANDATORY EVACUATION until the morning of August 28th. Katrina hit Louisiana at 6am on the 29th.
——————————— ;—
Also ... read this:Nagin said that the predicted tidal surges and heavy rains could mean widespread flooding and power outages that could last for some time.
The order extends to everyone in the city of New Orleans with the following exceptions: Essential military and law enforcement personnel from the city and state, regulated utilities employees, essential members of the media, hospital employees and their patients, medical personnel, Criminal Sheriff’s personnel and inmates and hotels and their patrons.
Nagin said the city could and would commandeer any property or vehicle it deemed necessary to provide safe shelter or transport for those in need.
———————————& ————————Here is the link
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL082705nagin.b7724856.html
Posted by tina1 on Feb 1, 2006 at 7:31 AM tina1’s football stat is by far my favorite. Awesome. I’ve not laughed out loud at anything on this site before it.
Roll tide.
Posted by rocco on Feb 1, 2006 at 7:28 PM Recognizing the incredible brutality and degradation visited upon people of African descent in the history of America, I submit that focusing upon differences in complexion as a representation of human identity (or its lack, in the case of those who were legally defined as chattel) is an outmoded paradigm that was not only the source of those injustices, but perpetuates ongoing antipathy in the name of making up for historical crimes. I honestly don’t think it is possible to make up for those crimes, they can only be gotten past. People transcend them when they treat others with decency, as they themselves wish to be treated (one of the very few things that all the prophets agree upon). That’s about the only way. The mechanisms of law and education can’t do it. They’re insufficient to the task bringing about racial harmony or understanding.
A new paradigm of human kinship has become possible as the result of modern genetic science, and although there has not been sufficient time for it to spread, it has the potential to erode the tendency to dehumanize those who look different from us. Whoever “us” is to you. That potential will be fulfilled or lost to the degree that we re-tool our heads away from old fashioned divisions and in favor of measureable closeness of relation. It’s not that difficult to do, even if it isn’t truly easy for some.
It is perfectly plausible to suggest that xenophobia has a genetic source as well, of course, however I believe that it is well within the scope of a rational mind to learn from the new information and to acquire the realization that no matter who you dis, who you kiss, who you fuck, or who you fuck over, you’re doing it to a relative. Not a literal cousins, perhaps (though I like the thought that all of you 6 billion brainy primates are cousins of mine), but kin nonetheless.
Less genetic variation across the entire living human species than in the chimp population of the African continent. Like it or not, we’re kin.
Liking it is a state of mind that feels pretty fine, if you can take the step of abandoning old mental habits. Feeling justified in being angry about what you and your ancestors suffered. Seeing other complexions as non-kin. Worrying that your daughter might fall in love with my son, and have children with him. Old mental habits like that.
The point is, unless we get the clue to identify with each other no matter how we look and no matter what ugliness in history might be a divisive force between us, there is not going to be any real reduction in the ambient level of disaffection between racial and ethnic groups. We’ll continue to fight over job access, university entrance standards, textbook renditions of historical events, etc etc etc… etc
The old way of thinking has clearly let us all down, there is no rational reason to remain attached to it. The melanin level in your skin is a coincidence, and you are, in a real way, a cousin to me. All of the bad shit of history that has been linked to race has been on behalf of an illusion, or at least a trivial characteristic blown way beyond its true significance.
It’s high time we outgrew it, and I for one will propagandize against the cult of race til my dying day. It’s washed up. Meaningless. Harmful. Best it should pass away.
Posted by Kuya on Feb 10, 2006 at 10:56 AM oh…MY GOD!!! i thought Tina1’s inane comment that africans in american had overcome because of some random football stats was bad, but KUYA…your advice that we Africans in America should suck it up and ‘get over it’ takes the cake. i take it you are White, and i can tell you this much, Africans in a American will only ‘get over’ racism and systematic discrimination when Europeans in American ‘get over’ being racist and systematically discriminating against us. The overwhelmingly WHITE government of this country throws a few civil rights and a couple-a-holidays in our laps like they lost a football match, and take less than ZERO responsibility for anything that happened. So, when the United States of America has it’s own Truth and Reconciliation council where they not only admit the evils of slavery, but also apologize, then we’ll have what shrinks call CLOSURE (pronounced KAH-LOW-JURE), and then we’ll be able to ‘get over it’ as you so flippantly suggest, start interracial dating with impunity and move on. And if Whites are ever big enough to step up to the podium to apologize to the descendents of African slaves for crimes against humanity, they can also apologize to the indigenous people of this country for stealing their land and treating them like crap while they are at it. Get over it! Not in your wildest dreams.
Posted by anonymous lala on Feb 18, 2006 at 12:26 AM Hello anonymous lala,
It’s not only people of African descent I’m advising to “get over” the complexion-obsessed way of evaluating people, it’s to all. Ancestors of yours (and likely you yourself) were victimized on the heels of this mode of categorizing people, and the same xenophobic trend continues to this day WITH THE EXCEPTION of those people who have seen that “race” is an outdated, ill-supported, victimization-promoting paradigm that has failed, failed, failed us all. It has failed you, by “typing” you and those who resemble you in demeaning ways, with the historical and cultural record quite clear in regards to the suffering that has resulted. It has also failed me (yes, I am “white”, to use the stereotyped term) by encouraging me and people who resemble me to see ourselves as somehow separate or special based on the extraneous characteristic of skin color. “People Of Color”??? Disgusting term! That would include everyone except us palefaces, yes? Absurd! I would say, even racist in its sentiment.Surely it has no basis in anything but simplisitic, shallow thought. I reject it!
If you’re harboring anger, I can understand to an extent, but my point is that the basic habit of categorizing people according to “race” is in the midst of being debunked IF we are willing to leave behind old prejudices and habits of exclusion and recognize what new data has offered by contrast. What usefulness there may be in clinging to a baseless historical/genetic fiction has not been explained to me yet, except in one single way: that it is just to hold on to anger against modern whites because of the crimes committed by their ancestors and the benefits they are all believed to have accrued thereby (the latter point of which is highly arguable). I think that abandoning race-based thinking, which is the source of the injustices you’re angry about, would be an obvious improvement in human relations.
However, if holding on to your anger is what you feel is more appropriate and more just, I can’t stop you. I can hope that you’ll see a reason to let it go in time, mainly due to its futility. What is gained by clinging to it? Do I “have it coming” (your anger, that is) because I’m descended from Europeans? Sorry, but I also reject any guilt for the crimes or fortuitous events connected to my paleface ancestors; I sure as hell didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my hand, in spite of the fact that I’m Caucasian. Did I benefit from being born “white”? Perhaps so. Is there anything I can do to change the past? There is not. Is there anything I can do to influence the present and future? There is. I’m doing it.
The ancestors are dead, you see. We’re alive, and there’s a new way of thinking available today, here and now. I hope you decide to partake, and not get left with the delusional race-obsessors. Their day should end.
And for what it’s worth, I might offer an apology for the evils of slavery if 1) I thought it would be meaningful to anyone living today, which I doubt seriously (would you consider it meaningful, anon lala?), or if 2) I had come from a slave-owning family (I’m certain that my poor-white ancestors could never have afforded a slave). As it is, I think my apology would be considered trivial and worthy of scorn by just about everyone.
I will try to make up for the segregationist/ racially victimizing influences that I know ancestors and living relatives of mine fostered, going back to the days of slavery and coming up to the present day. I’m trying to make up for it now, by undermining their (and anyone’s) race-based thinking.
Do you see?
I am not one of those who has hurt you, anon lala. Don’t confuse me with those who did, just because of the coincidence of our pale complexion.
Posted by Kuya on Feb 20, 2006 at 3:54 AM KUYA, you took the time to write a 657 word response (excluding ‘hello anonymous lala’), so, i have read it carefully, and have given it thought before writing this response (keep in mind that i’m not trying to change your mind, as you did not change mine. Nevertheless, it is cathartic, as is your case i’m sure, to “put it out there”).
While your response to my opinion is not as hate- filled, ill-informed and flat out ignorant as the overwhelming majority of white “thought” on the internet, it is nevertheless naive, and shows a blantant disregard (more like outright denial, contempt and disrespect) on your part, for and of black americans as human beings whose socio-political presense in these United “stolen” States is almost unparalled in human history. There are other instances throughout African history where Africans have been victimized by encroaching empires, but this isn’t the forum for that discussion, since “we” seem to be in denial about the current subject at hand.
I’m not going to respond point for point because that in itself is pointless. Basically and to sum it up, i will say that your sentiments are not surprising and are quite epidemic among whites comfortably fortified in the middle class, who react strongly and with great discomfort to any suggestion of misbehaviour or impropriety, past or present, by themselves or their ancestors…it messes with the fake pretty pictures in their heads—pretty pictures of pretty houses, pretty cars and multi-colored neighbors who are so happy to have ‘stuff like theirs’ that they couldn’t possibly frown at their white butts and make them feel uncomfortable.
Please understand this…the burden to apologize is not yours. The burden is on the government of the United States of America to apologize. It’s the burden of the ‘people in charge’ to set the tone for the rest of the nation, and if and when that happens, it’s your job and every other white american’s job, to fall in lockstep.
The only person who has ever come CLOSE to offering an apology was Abraham Lincoln. His declaration on 1/1/1863 that slavery was to end ‘effective immediately’ was an act of apology and also, if i might add, very brave, an act for which he was ultimately assassinated. I imagine at that time, that it was considered by whites, as it is to this very day, an act of transgression, to simply acknowledge the humanity of that person over there, yeah, that one with the BLACK skin.
The world is engulfed in a race war. Look around, watch the news, read the headlines and the back stories. That’s all there is. That’s all there will EVER be until Whites can look in the faces of the damned “people of color” and say, “we don’t own you, we’re not here to forceably take what’s yours, we can pay you a fair price for it if you want to sell some of it, but we’re not going to come and kill you and burn your village to get it, because at the end of the day, we respect you as a human being even though you have black skin.”
Then and only then can we talk about this other business, the business of forgetting we’re black, then and only will we be happy blending and waxing with white folks til we’re all nice and brown and unthreatening. 570 words.
Posted by anonymous lala on Feb 20, 2006 at 11:30 PM Hello again anon lala,
I read your reply. I see that you have little respect for my view of these matters. What can one do? Instead of writing a long rebuttal, I simply repeat that I have decided to lend my energies toward undermining race-based thinking. Obviously it’s an uphill battle in this age of identity-wars and post-imperial settling of scores, but I’m gambling that in time to come the newer, better view of humanity will gain ground. It’s an investment I’ve chosen to make, and I think the potential payoff is worthy of the investment. Even for you, cousin.Our grandchildren’s marriage to each other (yes lala, yours and mine) and the kids who are born to them will advance my cause. I see no reason to think of this as either improbable or regrettable. As for them being “brown and non-threatening”, i.e. implying that they’ll be virtual non-entities, I think their existence will be a threat only to things that I consider malignant. Racial deconstruction suits me fine, it threatens nothing that I hold to.
I am not at war with you. If you think you’re at war with me, you’re mistaken, and have chosen an “enemy” who actually bears you no ill will and has done you no harm. I won’t rob you, conquer you, or underestimate you, and I’ll pay my way fairly. I respect you as a human being (and a cousin), with whom my fate and that of my children are interwoven, and I care nothing for your color of skin. I would like the same consideration from you.
I have little to say about “the government”. There are so many ways that they DON’T represent me. If they change their ways to be an authentic force for justice in the world, none would be happier to see it than me. In the meantime, I have this life, with these goals, and I do not bind myself to the evil of power-seeking “others” who clearly have no interest in my agenda.
To the extent that one man can make up for past wrongs stemming from the concept of race (maybe there isn’t), this is the way I’ve chosen to attempt it. It’s unhappy that you consider it futile or intellectually weak, but I see the continued racial-ism as even more futile, a true dead-end, and likely only to foster continued suffering. If I could win you over, I would, but I see that will take time. I pray that it is possible, and not just “my wildest dream.”
Or, we could continue bombing, shooting, slashing, and slugging it out. Whose interest would that serve? I submit, no one that either of us would admire.
Posted by Kuya on Feb 21, 2006 at 4:56 AM well, this is just to round off my part in the discussion based on this month old news article about black history month. BLACK HISTORY MONTH will be relevant as long as black people live in the united states. keep in mind, people migrate, people die, people move on…noone stays in one place. that has been proven throughout history.
black people have been black for tens of thousands of years, and as black people, we will not be defined by, nor will anyone else with critical thinking skills define us, by that brief period in our ages-old history when we became vulnerable, and got ‘jacked up’ by european economic expansionists.
please know that this is not a revolutionary discussion taking place here. why oprah herself engaged tom cruise for 2 and a half seconds about this issue on the infamous ‘couch-jumping’ episode, and we all know oprah doesn’t talk about anything that’s not on the minds of her surburan white housewife audience.
to suggest that i would ever allow my children will suffer the humiliation that goes along with living in a country that is home to worthy causes like the kkk, would suggest that i had no upward and outward mobility, and that i was destined for the rest of my days, to sit and rot in this country. i would never allow a child of mine to be born, to live or to be educated in the united states. that in itself would be a crime against their humanity.
lastly, it really should be made a crime for white people to mouth off at black people about their race, much like it is a crime in europe for people to mouth-off at jews about the holocaust.
so that’s it. black history month is almost over. 7 more days and we’ll be back to celebrating the many many achievements of white europeans, as we do every day, all day, all year long.
Posted by anonymous lala on Feb 22, 2006 at 12:07 AM During my five years teaching Developmental English at an HBCU, we were encouraged to bring up Afrocentric or at least topics relevant to Black young adults. One of the articles that really shaped my views was from issues-views.com, “Keeping the Eye on Failure, or How to make sure the patient doesn’t get well.” This article written by a Black conservative lady (whose name escapes me) contended that too much of what is taught in Black history focuses on negative stuff to the extent that Black history reads like enslavement, freedom, civil rights with little good in between.
One tragedy is that today’s African-Americans are cut off from successful businessmen and others who succeeded in the bad ol’ days. I found sketches of at least twelve successful African-Americans in that article alone.For example, Durham, North Carolina has had a successful Black-owned life insurance company since the turn of the 20th century.
Paradoxically, Black institutions are downgraded through this view of Black History, sometimes by Blacks themselves. Yet fortunately, it’s becoming more common to see that integration led to a brain-drain in the Black community while allowing for some Black elite to work for previously all-White organizations.
By the way, that title “Keeping the eye on failure,” was based on a statement by Booker T. Washington—a leader who realized the ability to make a dollar needed to have priority to the right to spend it away at a place of entertainment. Sometimes the Black Elite wants to dwell on tragedy and the guilt that Whites today should feel at the expense of young Blacks learning anything about entrepreneurship. Moreover, this Black Elite becomes allied with Liberal Whites, rather than any kind of pragmatic businessman.
Sure achieving civil rights prevents episodes like the Tulsa Massacre. But Black economic success, especially after World War II, helped fuel the civil rights’ movement—not the other way around.
Now that we have the ghettofication of young African-American culture, to use John McWhorter’s terminology, the attitudes for success are becoming blurred in a world of gang glorification and dreams of a rap career. Let’s hope that Minister Farrakhan’s urging of rappers to study the news, expand their vocabulary, study the pan-African movement (like Kwame Nkrumah), and end misogynism becomes more well-known and followed. Moreover, we need to have a more balanced view of Black history that allows for reading about success before it was supposed to have happened. And that includes study of whatever countries Africans have ended up making their homes.
Posted by bohemiotx on Apr 17, 2007 at 4:32 PM The observance of African American History is still needed. I talk to young adults almost daily and know that they are not aware of the struggles that took place for them to enjoy much. I talk to young adults of other races that thank me when I make them aware of the contributions made by people of color and whites as they worked together to rid this country of the ills of Jim Crow laws, de facto segregation…When we remember, we are less likely to make the same mistakes. We are less likely to take for granted.
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