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African American Heritage

Mmm?

  • No, blacks lack heritage.

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  • Total voters
    15
That is all quite true, yet the OTHER side of that is giving an excuse to any group based on "historic" bias factors is also terribly wrong and demeaning. If one EXPECTS a lower standard of achievement/behavior then that is often a self fulfilling prophecy. I am sick of excusing unacceptable social behavior based on race, there is no racial "reason" for (not) using profanity in public, or (not) being intentionally rude, loud and obnoxious in public. I have been threatened for merely asking that loud profanity be ceased in my presense and that of my children, and have often been accused of being racist for even pointing it out, even though I do this for ALL who exhibit such rude behavior (most were white morons). I find this use, by those blacks, of the "race card" sickening and offensive, as if they are OWED some special privilege based on their race being different than mine, as if I am acting "too white". At least "rednecks" do not USUALLY accuse my manners of being "yankee like", or any other such nonsense, and they most often do not respond with threats, but appologize and accept my request to tone it down a bit.

You and I were talking about two different things...your talking about behavior of some people...I was talking about people in general.
 
Johnson was a cyncial racist for signing the Civil Rights Act...Lincoln was an American hero for signing the Emancipation Proclamation, because he did it out of the goodness of his heart.


Is this supposed to be a joke? I agree that Lincoln was a great President but the Emancipation Proclamation was a purely political move on his part. It only freed the slaves in the Confederate states and not in those slave-owning states that sided with the Union.

LBJ was far less cynical in supporting civil rights because he was quite aware of the political consequences
 
If MLK Day, Black History Month, Kwanzaa, and other political "holidays" didn't exist, would African Americans have anything to celebrate?

Unfortunately, for many of them, their heritage is a mystery to them, since the original Africans were brought here by force, and there are likely few legal records they can search through looking for their history.
 
You mean the civil rights act where Johnson said

"I'll have them n****** voting Democratic for the next two hundred years."...

what a pathetic lie.

what he actually said is that the Voting Rights & Civil Rights Acts would lose the South for the Democrats for a generation, and he was right.

but he did it anyway, cause it was the right & just thing to do.
 
I grew up in a predominately black communtiy, was one of maybe a handful of white kids in a black school, and my step dad is african american. But good try, none the less



I'm not sure hiking out lord peanut does anything beyond highlighting their very marginalized status in american history. If you disagree your welcome to explain why, as opposed to getting angry and making assumptions about my race and cultural experience

yeah - we get it... some of your best friends .... and blah blah blah.
 
1. As much as any man, MLK brought moral clarity to one half our nation when we sorely needed it, and peaceful hearts to the other half, who needed it just as badly. He's a national hero for all Americans of all colors for that gift. He doesn't "belong" to blacks any more than James Madison "belongs" to whites or John Adams "belongs" to redheads.

2. I detest generally the notion that we should single out specific ethnicities at the government level for any reason whatsoever. Colorblindness will serve us better. Having the government enable Black Heritage probably does to Black Heritage what having government enable Churches does to Faith.
 
yeah - we get it... some of your best friends .... and blah blah blah.

:shrug: just like we get that you like to play the race card. You may have noticed that, like an overdrawn credit card, it has lost its' effectiveness from abuse?
 
Is this supposed to be a joke? I agree that Lincoln was a great President but the Emancipation Proclamation was a purely political move on his part. It only freed the slaves in the Confederate states and not in those slave-owning states that sided with the Union.

LBJ was far less cynical in supporting civil rights because he was quite aware of the political consequences

When LBJ was a Senator he was 100% in favor of segregation, up to and including opposing anti-lynching laws.

Lincoln at least believed in freedom for the slave.

When as a President Johnson changed his mind and decided to push through the Civil Rights Act... how did he justify it? Did he point to any alteration in his beliefs?

I'll have them niggers voting Democrat for 200 years were, I believe, his words on the occasion. Yes. Much less cynical :roll:
 
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All of the human race has cultural, biological and traditional heritage. We are all just the human race and ...the degree in which one relates to their biological, cultural or traditional heritage is individual.

I do not really broad brush any group of people.

Many of you are mixed race and do not even know of it.
 
I remain convinced that historical 'months' or 'weeks' based upon identity are counter-productive, insincere, and wrong.
 
yeah - we get it... some of your best friends .... and blah blah blah.

lol, no, my family. But glad that you feel your uninformed assumptions have any basis in reality
 
I remain convinced that historical 'months' or 'weeks' based upon identity are counter-productive, insincere, and wrong.

I think black history month served a purpose...and that purpose was to give pride to black youth on black accomplishments...some of which werent in textbooks or being readily taught in the classroom....whats wrong with that ? fast forward to today...is it still serving the purpose it was designed for...honestly I dont know
 
Sure is. When are they going to start teaching Native American history in schools? Actually - when are we going to start teaching that George Washington was the slave owning father of a nation who allowed Natives to be massacred? When are we going to start teaching that the guys who wrote "all men are created equal" really meant: all white protestant men of legal age are created equal? Or are we only going to start teaching the revisionist nonsense you believe in?

I'll make you a deal - when we start teaching a history that is not only non-rhetorical and concise but also inclusive of relevant aspects - you can preach to us about the "divisiveness" of teaching history that isn't white washed. Until then, hey, I'll guess I'll keep Black History Month and you can keep your creationism and beliefs that the FFs were demigods.

I don't make deals with race baiters.
 
:shrug: just like we get that you like to play the race card. You may have noticed that, like an overdrawn credit card, it has lost its' effectiveness from abuse?


The so called race card was minted by the right wing through their own racist beliefs and policies. It exists only because racists invented it, created it, coined it and made it possible. To remind people of the real existence of racism and its effects IS NOT playing any such card however. It is merely invoking reality. And that goes directly against the right wing cause celebre to take the very topic of racism off the table since it hurts them and makes them look bad.
 
lol, no, my family. But glad that you feel your uninformed assumptions have any basis in reality

I certainly would hope that family are also best friends. ;)
 
Since LBJ never said any such thing, I must assume the commenter hasn't studied 'real' American history. The relevant comment from the "racist" LBJ after he had signed the Civil Rights Bill was "We have lost the South for a generation."

Libs love to revise and ignore history that does not suit them. The fact is Joihnson was a racist and to deny this is to deny reality.

“I’ll have those niggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years.” —Lyndon B. Johnson to two governors on Air Force One -

“These Negroes, they’re getting pretty uppity these days and that’s a problem for us since they’ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference.”—LBJ

“It’s simple: I’ll have those [racial slur] voting Democratic for the next 200 years.” — Lyndon B. Johnson to two governors on Air Force One according to Ronald Kessler’s Book, “Inside The White House”

I could go on and on but as they say, one picture's worth 1000 words.

johnson.jpg
 
The so called race card was minted by the right wing through their own racist beliefs and policies. It exists only because racists invented it, created it, coined it and made it possible. To remind people of the real existence of racism and its effects IS NOT playing any such card however. It is merely invoking reality. And that goes directly against the right wing cause celebre to take the very topic of racism off the table since it hurts them and makes them look bad.

Pointing out that someone is using that accusation of racism, disingenuously, isn't the same as saying racism doesn't exist, or is a non issue
 
Pointing out that someone is using that accusation of racism, disingenuously, isn't the same as saying racism doesn't exist, or is a non issue

Now all you have to do is to show that the accusation of racism was being used disingenuously.
 
Now all you have to do is to show that the accusation of racism was being used disingenuously.

actually if you were throwing out such an accusation it would be dependent on you to prove it, or at the very least, defend it's use. Because such a claim is like any other, and the burden of proof would still rest with the claimant.

Sorry, people aren't assumed to be racist until proven innocent
 
Whoa, seven pages! I'm busy so I can't read the whole thread right now but I will later. I'll say something quick.

To the original question, culture and heritage are 'living and breathing", to borrow a phrase. There is very little in the American black culture that resembles Africa, IMHO except adapting things that are imagined to be culturally African and a very interesting phenomena, contemporary African society admiring and mimicking aspects of the black community in America. I'm black and my black heritage started in America, not Africa. Are there special black American cultural expressions? Absolutely yes. Is there a unique black American heritage? Its funny to think some people think not. I have to run for now but I will say this. I doubt there would be a black American community today if not for the white community's decades past of forcing blacks into their own isolated group. The United Negro College Fund and the historically black colleges and universities they endow were a consequence of banning blacks from the colleges and universities that should have been for all Americans. Blacks churches were formed because blacks were either not welcomed at white churches or more commonly, not treated as equals at white churches. The Miss Black America Beauty Pageant was started because black girls were not initially allowed to compete in the regular Miss America Pageant and once they were it was only tokenism and they had no chance of actually winning until the mid 1980s. Of course, today America is far less racist but now we're dealing with proud traditions such as one's Alma Mater or fraternity that are as important to blacks as their mainstream counterparts of which blacks were once banned are to whites.

IMHO the best solution going forward, which I think was always the motive of at least most black Americans, is to continue celebrating black American heritage but the hope (possibly fantasize) that all Americans of all races would celebrate them not just blacks. I have a difficult time understanding why only black Americans think MLK Day should be celebrated. I'm not Irish but every St. Patrick's Day I and every other black person I know wears green that day in honor of our fellow Americans who are of Irish heritage. My ancestors didn't come over on the Mayflower but I don't know a single black person who doesn't honor the sacrifices of the Mayflower pilgrims and give thanks to God for his blessing on this country every Thanksgiving. MLK Day, Black History Month, Juneteenth, etc. are American celebrations and should be for all Americans. IMHO Kwanza is weird so I'll exclude that one. Most Black people don't even celebrate it. Lift Every Voice and sing should IMHO be considered a patriotic American Hymn alongside God Bless America and My County Tis of Thee. White students should feel completely welcome at an historically black college, and in fact many do. FAMU in Tallahassee has more white players on their football team than many mainstream college football teams. Their Orlando campus, home of the FAMU School of Law has more white students than black students.
 
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I remain convinced that historical 'months' or 'weeks' based upon identity are counter-productive, insincere, and wrong.

I agree that they are probably counter-productive, but we have an entire segment of the population which essentially can't form their own sense of identity based on their literal family history, so although it may be counter-productive, I can see why some people think it's desirable and/or necessary. It seems unnecessary to some people to look at where they come from, and take that information into account in forming their personal identity, but that's probably because it's something they themselves aren't aware that they even do.
 
I'm guessing this came up because of Chris Rock's tweet about the 4th of July being a white holiday.

Actually, Chris Rock called the 4th "White independence day" which is somewhat different from calling it a white holiday. He was noting the irony of calling it "Independence day" when many Americans remained slaves and, thus, were far from being independent.

He was certainly making a political point, but it is also a pretty valid one.
 
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