When the Bough breaks;

la petite

 

oops.

I'm a start calling you 'tite pomme. How do you like it?

 

I like that quite alot.

 

And I'll alternate it with "peach".

You got your accolades down with me, sugar.

 

Interesting thread. Of course racism exists in every country in the world. I also think some of you are oversimplifying the matter.

Try being a white man and living in Asia, Africa or South America. I assure you racism is not just a black persons problem.

Call someone in Kong Kong a Chinese person and you have likely insulted him.

Speak Mandarin Chinese in the wrong place in China and people will think you are less educated and look down on you.

Be a white man in Central America and you will be charged more for goods than the local people.

I am not even going into some of my experiences in the USA but yes there are blacks that openly admit they hate white people, just because they are white.

I will tell you a secret. When I deal with someone in business it is price and quality. I am interested in numbers not race.

None of this is new.

People can use race as an excuse. But in every industry there is opportunities for all races.

Do not let assholes get you down. If they do they have already won.

 

Cate If you really want to understand the black experience in america, picture yourself back in the late 1800s stationed at Fort Apache and surrounded on all sides by bloodthirsty Indians.

You turn on the radio and Geronimo’s voice appears, you turn on the television and there’s an advertisement for fresh scalps, and the front page of the morning Gazette reads ‘Fort Apache surrounded; 4 troopers dead, little hope of rescue’

While this is only an allegory, it somewhat describes the conditions we face each day as african americans

Hotwater

 

come on you know humor when you see it


hotwater

 

Sounds quite absurd to me...

Haven't read through everything just yet... but something tells me it has something to do with american living conditions and the genetic differences between the races... much more plausible than... stress???

Perhaps a common food, air quality, water quality, etc etc doesn't agree with the set of african genes? Stress???? please....

 

icky.

 

Yeah see, I like to differentiate between racism and prejudice. The first is systemic, the second has to do with individual attitudes...ok.

JUST so people understand what's really important to me. See, I could give a fuck if people are prejudiced. You don't like me...pssht.

But I sho as hell want my fucking money!!!

Edit: and my inaliable rights.

 

You can have anything material you desire in life if you are willing to do what is necessary for success. Race is not a factor. We all can overcome any obstacles or assholes life gives us.

I believe in you.

 

Thanks for keeping the thread going and taking up the fight while I watched Kansas dismantle North Carolina


Hotwater

 

Hahaha...You're the man, hotwater. THE MAN.

 

Race IS a factor. But it is not impossible to trascend. The two things are not mutually exclusive.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'll be alright.

 

Thanks

No matter have effective a communicator you are, white americans will never be able to relate to the african american experience


Hotwater

 

How do you know? And who are you to compare yourself to the blacks who experienced firsthand the horrors of slavery?

 

Wow. There are so many issues in this thread. But I think one of the most disturbing sentences spoken, my whole life, is that a white person could never understand what it's like to be black. I think that is very untrue, and it is a major part of what is holding us back as a country. The inability to relate to each other, why? Because someone said it was impossible to do so, and people have continued to say so, so much to where it is imprinted in people's minds and they don't even try.

We are human, we can understand the human experience. But I don't think that anyone in this thread has demonstrated that they do understand the effects of racism in america, for blacks. It's very, very complicated. As a matter of fact, it's taken me 24 years to understand it and I've lived it, seen it with my family and friends and heard the stories.

As for the study on pregnant women, I think there is an underestimation of how powerful stress is on the body, especially the body of a pregnant woman. But I would say this is very subtle. I think I need to write a separate piece on this, but let me say this much. African-American women are often high-strung, because of the complete negativity in the environment for being black, back in the day, someone came up with black pride, this created a crazy paradigm shift. This is an exaggeration, but it is a good representation of what has gone on for the past several decades in the black race.

Rules were made to protect blacks from embarrassing the race, there were certain things you could and could not do, you have to look a certain way, talk a certain way, act a certain way. In the back of your mind at all times "I am black, I have to represent that". This created a ton of stress and a loss of self. Blacks have struggled with fitting in and standing out at the same time. It's basically like a dual personality, you have to be a certain person around white people and the general public, a certain person around black people, and then you have to deal with the judgements from your race and other races. This effects every single part of life. Very subtely, in some cases, many people never recognize this, but if you pay attention it is definately there.

So, what do I think about this study? Well, as a normal everyday person, who doesn't wear her race on her sleeve, it sounds silly and exaggerated. But if I just tap into the well where past experiences are dumped I really can see that as being a possibility. However, I don't think it really matters. Not to black people, maybe to white people, but as black people we really need to get over the whole race thing, I think it could be helpful for some white people who are naive to pay a little more attention to the whole race thing, but in general race is just one part of the equation, like pressed rat said, it was a very effective way of distracting us, let's move on.

Oh and hair for KC, because I love her so much. But really I love getting this question, I can't be offended by anything, and really there's no reason to be by this topic anyway, some people are just paranoid, afraid and overly sensitive to anything from a white person, though they might not admit. Though hair is a very sensitive subject to a lot of black americans. There's about 3 main ways that black females take care of their hair. Natural hair: which might include dreads, afro's, and wearing their hair in it's natural texture. Relaxed hair: also called permed, these people get a chemical cream put onto their scalp to burn their hair straight basically, it lasts between 3-6 weeks, depending on the person's hair texture and how straight they want it to be. Pressed hair: They get their hair straightened with a hot comb. Weave/Extensions: They get their hair braided, or wear a wig or in some other way add extra hair, or have hair put over their natural hair.

Most of these, except those with natural hair, don't like to get their hair wet, because water will either ruin or weaken the look they are going for. In some cases people with weave don't mind getting their hair wet. Most of these hair styles take a lot of time to get done, and might be painful, or either takes a lot of keep-up, so that is another reason why there is a lot of sensitivity related to that. Anymore questons please feel free to ask.

 

Very well said, Hannah.

 

Thank you. I really wanted to learn about the hair care aspect, and your words were incredibly well written out for the rest of your post. Thats helpful.