[Floyd L.]

Most “mainstream” names have been around for centuries. What we are seeing is a historically and culturally significant phenomenon – the creation of not just one or two, but a whole set of new names within a single generation. I would not label these names “artificial constructs.” They are new constructs, new names. All names, regardless of whether they can be associated with a “definable origin” in the context of your usage, were once new names, embraced as such for a variety of reasons. Some, in African cultures, for example, were constructed to be imbued with special meanings; some in Christian-influenced cultures took on special meanings after having been in use (Jezebel, Delilah, Judas); some originated out of Christian religious fervor (Christian, Chastity, Prudence, Faith, Hope); others, created for the appeal of their sound, may or may not have taken on further meanings.

Spelling has been optional in the “mainstream” names (Ann, Anne or Caroline, Carolyn, Carol Lynne), as it is with the new names. While some of these new names will be more widely embraced than others, their “definable origin” will be African American.

User Detail :  

Name : Floyd L., Gender : M, Age : 59, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, 

[Floyd L.]

Steve, we have all of those statistics, or the “truth,” as you call them, that we need. Missing is understanding and a will to act responsibly on it. That understanding would inform us that sensationalizing those statistics to camouflage the deep problems in “the psyche of the white male” suggested in the question is one of the most dangerous of the stupid alternatives to which I alluded. Your statistics have been quoted and misused so often by those pursuing narrow-minded agendas as to discredit any other intended use of them.

Blacks have been uniquely stressed here for 400 years, and your statistics are largely, if not mostly, symptomatic of that stress. But white males have endured no such stresses here. So what impels them, the most advantaged members of this society, to commit the most heinous crimes in this society begs to be understood. You cannot adequately gauge our problems through looking only at their impacts on our most disadvantaged members. You must rigorously scrutinize the aberrant behavior of our most advantaged members to understand how profound is our society’s sickness.

When we match our enthusiasm for quoting old black crime statistics with an equal enthusiasm for understanding the sickness underlying those horrific examples of white mayhem, including whites males dragging blacks to death, bands of white cops shooting up black males like targets on a firing range and white cops sodomizing black males in their custody, we’ll be much better equipped to ward off future Columbines, Conyers, etc. You’ve gotten the statistics, you’ve gotten the facts. Fine. But quoting from the Bible, “…of all of thy getting, get an understanding.”

User Detail :  

Name : Floyd L., Gender : M, Age : 59, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, 

[Floyd L.]

Let us not be too quick to declare slavery dead. There are prostitutes enslaved by their pimps, addicts enslaved by their drugs and gun lovers enslaved by their guns. While physical slavery for blacks ended here in 1865, psychological slavery, formalized through Jim Crowism, easily lasted another 110 years (Jim Crow laws are still on the books in some states) and will have a deeply felt impact for generations to come. This form of slavery, while being the most debilitating to the enslaved, is most desired by the enslaver because the thought-control achieved through it becomes self-perpetuating, requiring, after a while, little or no intervention: “We have, as far as possible, closed every avenue by which light might enter the slave’s mind. If we could extinguish the capacity to see the light, our work will be complete. They would then be on the level of the beasts of the fields and we then should be safe.” (Henry Berry, Va. House of Representatives).

C.G. Woodson noted that “When you control a man’s thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions. When you determine what a man shall think you do not concern yourself with what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.” This is both the appeal (to the enslaver) and one of the awful tragedies (to the enslaved) of slavery, a fact not lost on those seemingly compelled to abuse and exploitation, but which does apparently escape others of us, including many of our leaders, planners and educators.

User Detail :  

Name : Floyd L., Gender : M, Age : 59, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, 

[Floyd L.]

To my way of thinking, the comment was intended to insult and the person was expecting you to take it smiling, which would have just invited future tasteless comments and behavior. The letter of apology reflects more the fact of your not smiling than any serious contrition. The more one has suffered insults, the more one is equipped to recognize them as such. And conversely, the less one has suffered insults, the more likely is one to call them almost anything else, including just stupidity. One can be stupid, however, without demeaning or insulting.

User Detail :  

Name : Floyd L., Gender : M, Age : 59, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, 

[Floyd L.]

It is not true that black crime is not news. It is often the only thing reported as newsworthy about blacks. How else would so many whites be able to quote statistics about it while knowing hardly anything else about blacks? Reputed black crime, regardless of type, has never been kept out of the news in any locale in this country, not because of the horror of it all, but because of its political, racial, economic and psychological importance to so much of America. Indeed, it has such an important role that much activity lumped under ‘black crime’ is not even viewed as criminal when engaged in by whites. Allegations, fear and the fact of black crime have always paid in America. Recall the many celebrated cases of white murderers falsely accusing blacks, knowing that most whites would readily buy the lie and enthusiastically vent their hysteria on some innocent black.

Criminalization of blacks in America feeds lucrative opportunities and supports comfortable livelihoods for many Americans, most of whom are white, ranging from the real drug beneficiaries through the gun industry and lobby to burgeoning police departments, prison staffs and a booming prison construction industry, with many upstanding, Christian communities now competing to be selected as sites for new prisons. There is no evidence that any of these groups desire to change this lucrative situation. Why cut off the hand that feeds you? The so-called War on Drugs has done nothing to stem the flow of drugs into black communities, but instead has fed the criminalization of black males in those communities. That is the big crime.

White crime never gets the serious airing and scrutiny it deserves because to do so would destroy the picture that has been so painstakingly painted about crime in America. The sad truth is that, by and large for white America, only white deaths are lamentable, black life is not as important as white life and is, for some, probably less important than black death. In this area we are a house divided, and subject to the same fate if we don’t wake up and get it together.

User Detail :  

Name : Floyd L., Gender : M, Age : 59, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, 

[Floyd L.]

Whites may be in some ways dominant, but they are not predominant – a big difference. The efforts of other ethnic groups are, or should be, not to ‘catch up’ with whites but to overcome the devastation of white domination, which, over the last several centuries, has been something of an earthly scourge and significant handicap to much of mankind. The exploitation and abuse attendant to this domination are undergirded by an apparent sense of racial superiority and of being, therefore, pre-ordained to inherit and use the world’s resources and its non-white peoples to feed that presumed superiority. As long as any degree of white domination is sustained at the expense of, and to the detriment of, other groups, there will and indeed should continue to be active efforts to overcome it.

User Detail :  

Name : Floyd L., Gender : M, Age : 59, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, 

[Floyd L.]

Most of the responses (Original Archives) do not admit that the “air of superiority” that Randy sees even exists, labeling it instead as self-confidence, self-reliance, competitiveness and formality, or possibly Randy’s own insecurity. But if we just consider that 1) it was established at Goettingen University in the late 18th Century that whites were the first, most beautiful and talented race from which all others “degenerated,” 2) even Abraham Lincoln argued that whites should hold the “superior position” in this society, 3) Rudyard Kipling declared non-whites to be the “White Man’s Burden,” 4) Third Reich “Aryans” declared themselves superior to and not to be polluted by any other race, and 5) decades of Southern political demagogues and legions of other white males have proudly boasted their beliefs in white supremacy and its being their God’s pre-ordained plan, isn’t it a wonder, if indeed not a miracle, that all white males do not display the air that Randy describes?

So could it be that many white males indeed do behave as if they are superior to others and do so because they truly believe or want to believe the centuries of teaching, evidence contrary to these teachings not withstanding?

For those who think not, the book Documents of American Prejudice: An Anthology of Writings on Race From Thomas Jefferson To David Duke comes highly recommended.

User Detail :  

Name : Floyd L., Gender : M, Age : 59, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, 

[Floyd L.]

G. Stevens’ response is baffling and seems to border on random venting. I see no connection in the original question with Al Sharpton, nor for the life of me do I see how the question is a “perfect example of the hostility in the black community toward Jews.” The suggestion that blacks should pool their money and finance their own films implies that films about Jewish people are financed by Jews. That may be correct. But this implication serves to remind us that what merits being portrayed and the validity of that portrayal are often determined by who has the most money to pool, i.e., money is everything, including the truth! This can be troubling. Since Jews as a group are better endowed economically than most and are very influential in the movie industry, G. Stevens’ comments lead one to question the extent to which those controlling factors shape and/or color the quality, focus and redemptive value of the products of that industry of worldwide influence.

Furthermore, G. Stevens’ view that we all should “grow up” and realize that Jewish money is for things Jewish (and I do believe this is what he means) regardless of how much any of us bitch and moan, I hope is not too broadly held. First, it personifies selfishness. Second, it encourages people to sit back without complaint and take any and all crap that those with greater means choose to dish out. Agitation, activism, protesting for change and improvement are as American as apple pie. Hollywood makes films to make money! Common sense says that if money is to be made from investing in films about the Black Diaspora, it would be foolish to let bigotry stand in the way. Black money is just as good as Jewish money – though there may be less of it.

Many groups have stories to tell of pain, suffering and triumph. Each story is different. Each deserves to be heard, for each has much to teach us all if we are unbiased enough to listen. Blacks, Native Americans, Armenians, Jews, etc., all have powerful stories. It does not necessarily follow that the Jewish story is “the transcendent story of annihilation and rebirth” even to all non-black Americans, let alone throughout the world, as G. Stevens claims.

User Detail :  

Name : Floyd L., Gender : M, Age : 59, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, 

[Author]

Posts