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Sorry I keep making multiple posts, but something else came to mind.
I was taking MARTA to the airport. I forget what station, but it was definitely south of Five Points (which is a different story). This AA got on the train, and on speaker phone, was loudly talking to some girl about wnating to have sex with her. He continued to use vulgar language in sweet talking his girl. Who does this??? Although you try to not let this sway your viewpoint of a certain race, it unfortunately does. And I know the vast majority of AA's would not do this. But people like this individual give other AA's a bad name.
^^^There was a poster that always pulled the "Blacks are naturally (insert negative trait)" and would pull out some biased stat that would support his agenda. In Atlanta, you have a lot of the "old school" mentality around in the 40plus crowd (not all of course) and they either pass it on or keep fighting with one another. I have an uncle-in-law and he still full of nescience when it comes to race and his "keep it realness" is really "Blame the Caucasian brother" even when someone Black may be in the wrong or whatever. Sorry for getting off topic, but if a lot of Whites feel the way that this ex poster (and world's best Christian) felt then I can understand why the Blacks here haven't moved foward. Really, I wish that both sides could just start over and form new opinions of one another.
How long ago did Atlanta, and Georgia as a whole, still have segregated public water fountains & restrooms? Legally segregated neighborhoods? I believe it was until the mid-1960s, at least. I think, all things considered, it's important to keep in mind that it wasn't that long ago that the south LEGALLY SANCTIONED racial injustices.
The facts remain, in many ways, the racial divide still runs deep in Atlanta.
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I'll never forget the night my husband took me to Stone Mountain for the laser light show in the the summer of 1990 or '91. When the song "Dixie" was played over the loudspeakers, the audience stood up. Thinking, "when in the south, do as the southerners do", I was about to stand up, until I noticed my husband was not budging.
I looked around and noticed it was only the WHITE folks standing, with their hands on their hearts, no less.
All the BLACK folks remained seated, looking none too pleased. I thought, "What the..."
My husband explained to me the song "Dixie" is synonymous with slavery, racism and hatred. Still puzzled, I asked, "If that's so, then why are they playing it at all?"
Matter of factually he said, "This is the south, "Dixie" the anthem of the Confederates, and Stone Mountain, GA is birthplace of the KKK."
I looked at him incredulously, "If that's so, then why are you here? Why did you bring me to Stone Mountain?"
He shrugged, "The laser show is really cool. I thought you'd like it."
He obviously wasn't the only black person in the crowd that evening who was willing to put up with the indignity of being subjected to a song which so strongly invoked the passions of the old south.
I remember clearly my husband did not hold my hand or put my arm around me while we sat on blankets watching the laser show. At first this bothered me, and then it dawned on me - he simply was doing what he was culturally trained to do - he was not about to draw attention to the fact we were a bi-racial couple in the south. If I had been born and raised in the south, perhaps this would have been second-nature to me as well, and I never would have questioned why it was he wasn't holding my hand or putting his arm around me.
I tried to enjoy the show while assimilating into my consciousness what I, a young, naive, white girl from Minnesota, considered to be yet another shocking, in-your-face, southern/racial reality check.
It wasn't the first time I was shocked by the racial divide in the south, and it also wasn't the last time.
Over the years I have come to love the south and Atlanta in particular, but it didn't happen overnight. There was a lot for this northerner to take in and accept before I could get to the place of loving Atlanta.
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If you really listen to young people of today, I believe there is a major shift taking place - the day is coming when everyone will be able to form their own opinions of one another based on character and not skin color. But let's not think this day is upon us as of yet - perhaps in another hundred years, we'll almost be there.
Last edited by StPaulEastSider; 05-15-2009 at 07:53 PM..
Only a racist, bigot, or incredibly ignorant person would expect a dissadvantage person to work harder in order to reach equality. If inequality exist it first and foremost requires the oppressor to acknowledge their oppression. Equality means equality, too work harder to reach equality means you are NOT equal.
I'm not saying this is right. Ideally it should be equal. But I'm saying in reality, minorities will have to work harder UNTIL the point there are equal number of minorities and caucasians in key positions. This is unfortunate, but a reality.
Working 2-3x harder is a way to make something out of yourself if you feel like you are given nothing. But too often, many AA's that I have encountered do less, but expect to receive the same. Again NOT ALL, but many that I have encountered.
If you really listen to young people of today, I believe there is a major shift taking place - the day is coming when everyone will be able to form their own opinions of one another based on character and not skin color.
I do think change is happening and I'm glad for it. I have AA friends who are younger, like myself, and we have no issues getting along, working together, and so forth. So I definitely think it is going in the right direction. But at the same time, there are also many younger AA's who keep that same mentality that everyone is against them. I think they came from a different upbringing, one that I would not understand.
But I just don't understand the rationale around complaining about an issue rather than trying the best to break out of it. Maybe it is something that I will never understand b/c I wasn't brought into that life.
Only a racist, bigot, or incredibly ignorant person would expect a dissadvantage person to work harder in order to reach equality. If inequality exist it first and foremost requires the oppressor to acknowledge their oppression. Equality means equality, too work harder to reach equality means you are NOT equal.
What kind of equality do you mean?
I'm sorry but as long as you're waiting for someone else to do something before you can be "equal" then you're going to be waiting forever. In your scenario you're giving all of the power to the "oppressor" rather than claiming your own destiny which I think is tragic, especially in a city like Atlanta with there are numerous examples of AAs who knocked down barriers to achieve great things.
Instead, what would it be like if the vast majority of the next generation of AA's were taught from a young age that they could achieve whatever they wanted with hard work and discipline because that is how everyone achieves their goals regardless of race. Do you think they would be better off?
Sorry I keep making multiple posts, but something else came to mind.
I was taking MARTA to the airport. I forget what station, but it was definitely south of Five Points (which is a different story). This AA got on the train, and on speaker phone, was loudly talking to some girl about wnating to have sex with her. He continued to use vulgar language in sweet talking his girl. Who does this??? Although you try to not let this sway your viewpoint of a certain race, it unfortunately does. And I know the vast majority of AA's would not do this. But people like this individual give other AA's a bad name.
LOL! I enjoy watching stuff like this play out when I'm out and about... it's all a part of the culture and it's usually all done in fun. This is the sort of thing I love about living in the city!
I suspect this was all done with a big dose of humor, and the boldness of a guy who is sweet on girl and, no doubt, wants to gets some action!
If the guy was hatin' on his woman, that's another thing altogether.... not having witness the give and take, I'll just assume it was done in good humor with the boldness, and perhaps irony, of black culture.
But most white guys just don't "get" this... I'll give you an example...
Last summer I went to a club with some co-worker, First Avenue in Minneapolis [the club where Prince made a name for himself.]
The guys in my group went to the "Techno Music" room, I had about 5 minutes of dancing as singleton robotic statutes and said to myself, "get me outta here!"
I escaped to the main floor, where they were playing hip hop music, and in no time I had a dance partner, a black guy, and we were havin' fun. Nothing bad, we were just dancin'
One of the white guys from work saw me dancing, and later asked me how he could get a woman to dance with him. I said, "You white guys need to take a clue from the brothers - just ask!"
The nerdy white guy said, "But she might so 'no'."
"So what? Just move onto the next woman. That's what the brothers do, they play the numbers game. You are afraid to ask even one woman to dance - no wonder you get no where."
"But my friends might see me get turned down, and that would be embarrassing."
"Good grief! With that attitude, you'll never get a dance, much less a date!"
It's a part of the black culture to be bold. Black men who have assimilated into the white/middle-class, professional culture have learned to not do such things as pick up a MARTA speaker to announce his love and lust for a woman... but I suspect he's bold in proclaiming his love, and lust, to his woman in private!
My point is... don't expect everyone to act in the same manner as the culture you were born into.... learn to enjoy the diverse fabric of city living. Learn to appreciate, not judge, other cultures.
And remember, when you are riding the MARTA south of Five Points, you are likely dealing with the socio-economic class of generational poverty. In the culture of generational poverty, crude sexual jokes are much more a part of the vernacular of the culture. You don't have to like it, but try to understand it for what it is... a culture vastly different than your own.
Last edited by StPaulEastSider; 05-15-2009 at 08:08 PM..
In my opinion, there are two underlying factors. One is as you've stated, the constant focus on the past. But perhaps more detrimental is government social policies of the past that have destroyed the AA family. If you just looked at the statistics that we all know are horrible for the AA community (crime, unemployment, education) and separate out the families headed by married parents, the statistics are virtually identical the white population.
I think you are referring to the Great Society of the 1960s.
The Great Society was a legislative program which had the ultimate goal of eliminating poverty, but instead replaced the father figure in many families with the government. It also rewarded women for having children out of wedlock.
From Wikipedia:
"Economist Thomas Sowell argues that the Great Society programs only contributed to the destruction of African American families, saying "the black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life."
The MARTA was one of my favorite things about Atlanta. Some of those MARTA announcers are outright awesome!
People on the DC Metro are so much more quiet. I don't think I ever encounter anything interesting on there. But with the MARTA --- you never know!
There's boxhead man! There's political debates that randomly break out! There's random apocalyptic religious nuts! And then you got really funky conductors! God, I love the MARTA!
Maybe it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I always like the great random culture of the MARTA.
But I just don't understand the rationale around complaining about an issue rather than trying the best to break out of it. Maybe it is something that I will never understand b/c I wasn't brought into that life.
Instead of complaining about the complaining, YOU need to be a part of the change.
Figure out what you can do to make a change, rather than suggesting what others ought to be doing differently. Seriously.
For change to happen, there needs to be a synergy of institutional/cultural change and individuals taking personal responsibility.
There is no one solution to an of the complex problems of our society.
Last edited by StPaulEastSider; 05-15-2009 at 08:11 PM..
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