- Joined
- Sep 13, 2007
- Messages
- 79,903
- Reaction score
- 20,981
- Location
- I love your hate.
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
I want folks to read these two post because what haymarket points out is exactly how some try to "defended" their racism. Instead of acknowledging, for example, that yes, some White people do have this natural, instinctive impulse to take a defensive stance when around Black people, they instead try to make the claim that it's the other guy whose being racist.
All Obama said was, "Look, my grandmother, who is White, still carries with her some habits that makes her act cautiously when around Black people. I'm okay with that because she was an elderly woman. How many senior citizens do you know who aren't creatures of habit? The wake at the same time every day, go through their routine, insist that certain things are done a certain way and rarely deviate from them. I'll even go one further...
Most folks who "know" me are aware that I'm Black and my wife is White. Most places we go I'm the only Black man in the room, but it doesn't bother me because I'm use to it. The same can be said of my wife when the situation is reversed. But it took a long time for my step-children to get comfortable being around Black people.
I'll never forget the time I took my family - my wife, our daughter we borne between us, my two stepchildren and my biological son to visit my daughter, son-in-law and the grandkids. They live in a predominately Black neighborhood. My stepdaughter was nervous the entire time, but my stepson was fine. I understood her concerns because she'd never been around so many Black people her entire life! So, I made sure to always be around her just to reassure her she'd be fine. She was about 15 then. She's 20 now.
I laugh at it now because just last year she dated a Black guy and thought I and her mom would be upset about it. I was like, "Why would we? I am Black; your mom is White? :doh: You guys would LUAO if you heard all the ebonic she and her brother speaks around the house. My stepson's favorite movie is "Undercover Brother". They laugh just as hard when my son and I immitate White folks. We look at people on both sides of the racial divide and wonder what's wrong with people?
But you see, WE can speak out against racism because such doesn't exist in my home. But my "white" kids see the hidden racial undertones that come their way from time to time. It's doesn't happen often, but they're quick to point it out and have called out their friends on it often.
Rev, yourself and a few others on this board have done this often. You make the claim that you're not racist, that your dislike for President Obama has more to do with his politics and/or actions than it does the color of his skin, and yet you've gone out of your way to inject race into this issue where it doesn't belong. The discussion should be about the validity of the President's long-form birth certificate, but instead the discussion has turned ever so slightly about racism only because there have been slight racial enuendo here or there throughout the thread.
Here we have a man with a very unusually path in his life. And as such, the validity of his birth was brough into question. But instead of us saying, "Well, that settles it! He's an American," were' now talking about comments he made concerning his grandmother's instinctive defensive habits when strange Black men would approach her. Obama told of such an incident in his book, "Dream from my Father" (Page 87-89) when he mentioned an incident where his grandmother was approached by a strange Black man who was rather aggressive in asking her for money while at the bus stop on her way to work.
"A man asked me for money yesterday. While I was waiting for the bus," Barack's grandmother, Toot, had stated.
"That's all?" he asked.
"He was very aggressive, Barry. Very aggressive. I gave him a dollar and he kept asking. If the bus hadn't come, I think he might have hit me over the head."
His grandfather's reply to the situation:
[She's been bothered by men before. You know why she's so scared this time? I'll tell you why. Before you came in, she told me the fella was black."
There was a reason the President's grandmother acted that way around strange Black men. But what that interview the Good Rev mentions didn't make clear was that the President's grandparents had a few very close Black friends. In fact, according to the book, "Gramps" best friends was a Black man called Frank. Toot apparently wasn't afraid of him at all because according to the book, Frank was a constant visitor to their home for dinner and other family events.
To put this issue in perspective, I'm usually very comfortable around most White people. But every once in a while when it's just me and I'm around the rouge-biker types I do tend to get alittle nervous. But I also get just a nervous when I find myself around a group of thuggish-looking Black men who resemble gangbangers rather than fine, upstanding individuals. It's not racially motivated; it's more fear from the unknown than anything else. Now, if Barack's grandmother reacted that way only when around Black people, I'd say maybe there is a hint of racism in her. But from what he described in the interview, I'd say it was more a matter of her protective instincts coming through. It happens.
When I first move to Alabama, I had an old White woman lock her doors as my wife (who I was just dating at the time) and I existed our car at a local shopping center. I didn't see it happen, but my wife did and she was furious! I just laughed because I understood why she did it.
A little old lady sitting in her car alone and a Black man gets close to her car door. Maybe there was a hint of racism in her actions, but I'd like to think it was just an old lady being protective of herself.
Brother, I am not a racist. Never have been, never will be. You really need to stop this.