I will have something substantial to say on Holder's speech tomorrow.
For now, I always marvel at the response, quite predictable as it may be, in the comments section of Fox News and other conservative "news" outlets, towards any efforts at having an adult conversation about race or the persistence of racial ideologies in this country.
You have to love conservative mouth breathers as they are a source of never-ending joy and entertainment value. Moreover, it always strikes me how those who have immersed themselves in the cacophonous musings of the Right-wing echo chamber really do in fact live in an alternate reality.
To that point, some choice posts from the comments section of Fox News at http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/18/holder-calls-nation-cowards-race-matters/comments/:
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What a surprise, some one in husseins cabinet is talking negatively about the country and our people...this goverment has become a complete joke and is completely out of touch with americans
It's funny how black people always call the race card. Quite frankly, I'm sick of it. We have "black history month", "asian heritage", "gay pride", etc. where's the white pride. Oh I forgot, that's racist. Anyone who thinks that whites are bad and always have to use to race card towards the whites are cowards. I am white and I am proud. Am I racist for that? Well if so, let me ask you a question. Are the other ethnicities racist for thinking the same way? This cowardly way of thinking by Mr. Holder sends a message to all races to be ethnically irresponsible towards the white race. What really pi$$es me off is that other whites think this way. Stand up and be proud of who you are. And yes I will use the same quote all other people do while expressing their undying beliefs, "It's my constitutional right to be allowed to say what I want". I'm standing up for my race and what I believe in....if I don't then noone else will. I am a proud WHITE man.
Oh the irony- Holder calls the US a nation of cowards on the heels of the election to where an African American was elected as president of his "nation of cowards" and then takes it further when he suggest we use "Black History Month" to inspire the discussion. The hypocrisy of it all!
Remember the obese black minister that spoke at the first black presidents inauguration? Remember that he said "White will do right". The overwhelming majority of blacks in this country are the racists and they don't want racism to end. It's how all of you start and end your day. Racism is your issue and you have the solution. Grew a few, step up and show you're willing to be a part of this country. When things get tough don't cry racism everywhere you go.
By the comments it appears AG Holder is right. I've never seen some many victims in all my life. I have many friends from every ethnic background. It's amazing how much you can accomplish by walking up to people and extending a open hand. That approach has worked well in every community I've lived in and I have lived in several states and countries all over the world. Time to end the excuses. Who's racist? If we must proclaim "Black History Month" are not those that do so the racist people? If you want to eliminate racism, eliminate all references to race, but that will include all references. Be careful what you ask for. You might get it. I believe America's black people have been experiencing a greater degree of favoritism in hiring, retaining, recruiting, etc. in the past decade. How about we treat all people the same, and base it on merit, not race.
15 comments:
I couldn't even bring myself to finish reading that bullshit. I'm too respectable a Negro to raise my blood pressure, lose more brain cells, and clog my sinuses even more than they already are.
Sigh. I hate people sometimes. (As respectable a Negro as I am.)
Echo chamber? Ironic then that you are echoing the most inflammatory comments you can find. Do you know those people personally? If not, how do you know with such certainty that these are all indeed right wing racist bigot white people. Many, if not most, such comments are written with the intent of eliciting an inflamed response and angering people. It's called trolling. Welcome to the internet and the 21st century. As a general rule, you should ignore Trolls, not feed them.
Similar idiocy is found on the left, but I suppose regularly calling Colin powell an "uncle tom" is fine, since he's a "rethuglican."
Honestly, how do you expect anyone to believe any assertion that you're trying to move beyond racism when you take pleasure in dredging up the lowest common denominator of vile tripe - for what? Your own pleasure?
Thankfully, the commentors here haven't bitten your vile bait, as the previous poster said: I couldn't even bring myself to finish reading that bullshit. I'm too respectable a Negro to raise my blood pressure, lose more brain cells, and clog my sinuses even more than they already are.
Cheers! Don't give those stupid idiots/trolls on Fox News the time of day.
Jeers to the person running this blog...
Link... Racism on the left? Oh wait, we on the left can't be racist: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/4/12/183155/559
Holder was on point as so are u folk
To focus on one particular race or culture waters down the strength of America. Some have created a pathetic stage for themselves in promoting what they believe is inclusion but in reality it breads division. Focusing on the negative increases it in power. We are all "created" equal by God. Our circumstances make us stronger or weaker in the area of patience and kindness. To be proud of our race and our culture should not bread hate for others. Doing so degrades our race and culture. America leads the world in equality not because of political views but because our "Creator" is mentioned in our founding documents. Lets recognize some good in what Holder said and also laugh at the silly statements made as well and not validate them as gospel. To think that you are 99% right and others are 99% wrong, may sometimes mean the opposite. Lets listen to understand and speak to be understood. Lets get off our pathetic stage of promoting individual agendas and promote an American one.
Good convo.
@Bruce...I think your comments prove my point. Actually, I did cherry pick a few from the 400 or so posts on that site, and yes, flamers do get the most attention and look to provoke. But, these are some of the more reasonable and less vitriolic posts on the matter.
If you come back, or check our earlier posts you will see we are equal opportunity in our confrontation of stupidity...from wherever it may come.
Cheers (not jeers) to us!
cd
Proves your point? But you don't have an adult conversation by letting children determine the tone.
I understand why you pick such silly posts from Fox, it's funny and it makes us feel good because we see how stupid they are. That's fine, but your missing that many of those posts were made not because people believe it, but because they like to make people angry.
To take such vitriolic comments seriously, they need to be non-anonymous (Editorials, or face to face conversations). The internet is full of troll idiocy. Actually, I know a few people from Democratic underground who post things claiming to be conservatives, just to make conservatives look bad. It's being a "bomb." The reverse exists as well. Yup, that's the internet, it's pathetic! :)
well, how do?
the heat of injustice and ignorance is more contagious than i thought.
the english language is confusing us all and twisting white supremacists into a convulsive state of labeling "others" as racists. the most confusing aspect is that the "others" begin accepting the title of racist fallibly. this error has become a wide spread involuntary action that proves that, the american population as a whole is daft or mildly retarded. clearly, we are a nation that moves forward within a forgettable blur of the eradication of native. african and asian people upon this soil. moreover, we continue along this path denying or without understanding(through our genetic memory) how this "great" nation was built and the torture that was captured within the minds of our collective generations(white or black) thus, marginalizing and capturing our bit of remaining soul. we must all look in the mirror and repeat cannon fodder three times; awaiting the ghost that will remind us that, this is all a game.
"Do you know those people personally? If not, how do you know with such certainty that these are all indeed right wing racist bigot white people."
Call it a wild guess.
In a nutshell, we are seeing that Obama is indeed a liberal and Holder, his AG appointee, is the mouthpiece that articulates the victimologist wing of black activism. I am amazed at how begging and whining, at the expense of independent black institutions, has actually become a credible form of protest.
Let us face the obvious: The Civil Rights movement and its preoccupation with "what white folks got" has been a miserable failure. We sold off the chance of Spelman having its own particle accelerator for the right to use the whites only toilet.
Al,
I hope you're just trying to be provocative.
1.) There was no single "Civil Rights Movement" confined to the 50s and 60s. This is a misconception that ignores century long efforts.
2. The idea that black struggles for equality were/are merely based on a fixation on white folks is ridiculous and insulting. Ever hear of voting discrimination, employment discrimination, housing discrimination?
I am not trying to be provacative. Consider this: Jackie Robinson left a professionsal black baseball league with premier athletes to "Cross the color line" and in the process, brought about the demise of a black community based professional baseball league that employed black people on all levels. Imagine what would have happened had black folks chose to build what they already had for the purpose of creating something that was better than what the other guy had? We would have had a situation where the Kansas City Monarchs would compete with the Boston Red Sox to sign the top free agent. The Birmingham Black Barons, along with the Mets, would be in the hunt for the best high school pitching prospects.
Thanks to Civil Rights ideology, black folks took the best and brightest of our community and redirected towards the economic empowerment of folks other than us. In Brown v. Board of Ed., Black folks should have used that same energy to build separate and superior schools. Its a whole lot easier to do that than to bring a case to the Supreme Court.
And if you allow me to return to the issue of black athletes, might I also note that black colleges lost the greatest black athletes to white insitutions. I prefer a world in which the nation's top quarterback prospect is facing the common conflict that involves deciding on whether to attend Morehouse or Hampton.
Booker T., Marcus Garvey, and Elijah Muhammad were right. WEB DuBois his entire philosophy as well as the mutants it spawned did nothing but sacrifice true black independence in order to beg and blame whitey for the crumbs from his table - and we got them.
If people can look at the condition of America and conclude that Bush was a bad president, then I can look at the current condition of our black working and middle class communities and conclude that the Civil Rights movement was a bad idea.
A good convo and exchange.
It is funny how booker versus dubois seems to always dominate our conversations...in a good way.
But, in thinking about these cherry picked comments, yes some folks do write to get a response, but i firmly believe that the vast majority sincerely and deeply hold these beliefs, and that the electorate is more (rather than less) divided on matters of race than is generally understood.
Yes, Obama won. But, he won despite the deeply held animus and racial resentment of many voters.
chauncey d
Al,
You are offering a perfectly legitimate critique of integration and argument for black self-sufficiency. I don't have any problems with those. My issue is that you're defining Civil Rights Movement strictly in terms of integrationism. The history just doesn't bear that out. Thousands of people worked for practical legal and economic rights that had nothing to do with wanting to be near white folks.
Let me put it this way:
How would black people have protected their independent, self-sufficient communities if they didn't have the right to vote?
Holder must step down
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WHO IS HE TO TELL MY YOUNGER SISTER WHOM TO DAYE...WHY BLAKC BOY..??
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HOLDER IS A RACIST.
-I DEMAN D THAT HE STEP DOWN.
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HE IS NO IN POSITION TO TELL ME WHIT WHOM I SHALL SOCIALIZE
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