Chicago Family's 'Buy Black' Experiment Becoming a Nationwide Movement (Tenafly: moving to, budget)

[cyntmac]

You answered the question the way you did for a reason. You should have said, "what does it matter? I am an American".
People outside of the US protested what was going on in this country in terms of segregation. Did you know that? Did your parents have the time to teach you about such things? Did they ever think of any of this before they came here?

[Lusitan]

Originally Posted by cyntmac

Were you protesting segregation in the 60's? The real deal? Was your father or mother? Did they actually benefit from it?

Originally Posted by cyntmac

You did mention that you were not born in the sixties and that your parents were not here. Why mention that at all? ... I would never mention info like that in specific here because I am an American and it is not relevant when talking about OUR country's history pre 1970. Is that VERY VERY clear?

Originally Posted by cyntmac

You answered the question the way you did for a reason. You should have said, "what does it matter? I am an American".

LOL!

Because I didn't give an answer you wanted to hear, or that would fit whatever racist argument you were trying to make, I should have disregarded your question.

Priceless comment. LOL!

[cyntmac]

It is very telling that you wanted to go into those specifics. I wouldn't call it priceless but I think it is interesting that you feel you receive no benefit off of others unfortunate history.

[Lusitan]

Originally Posted by cyntmac

People outside of the US protested what was going on in this country in terms of segregation. Did you know that? Did your parents have the time to teach you about such things? Did they ever think of any of this before they came here?

Did it ever occur to you that Americans, even black Americans in the 60s (let alone today!) were wealthier and lived better than 90% of humanity on the rest of the planet? And that people in other countries might have had more important things to do (like, oh, avoiding starvation or death camps) than protest which water fountain someone was drinking from in the richest country half a world away? Or that people who weren't given the benefit of any education would have more important things to do than protest whether schools in some southern states in the USA were segregated?

Get over yourself already.

[cyntmac]

Using your line of reasoning you should have been offended by my question. It was not a trick question or anything close to that.

[cyntmac]

Originally Posted by Lusitan

Did it ever occur to you that Americans, even black Americans in the 60s (let alone today!) were wealthier and lived better than 90% of humanity on the rest of the planet? And that people in other countries might have had more important things to do (like, oh, avoiding starvation or death camps) than protest which water fountain someone was drinking from in the richest country half a world away? Or that people who weren't given the benefit of any education would have more important things to do than protest whether schools in some southern states in the USA were segregated?

Get over yourself already.

I totally hear you. This is still the best country in the world for most everything. The difference is that I am a realist about that. I am very aware of the misery in most of the world. I was very lucky to be born here. Regardless, I still believe that anyone coming here has a responsibility to become educated on US history- which includes the injustices.

You can't just wave a wand and act like it came before you and has no impact on your life or future. That is just wrong. I know new immigrants are frequently just trying to survive but they still have that responsibility. This country's history is not all about the immigrant. It's just not.

By the way- you should not make light of the water fountain issue. It was merely symbolic of a much greater injustice and it is very disrespecful to do so.

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by cyntmac

You can't just wave a wand and act like it came before you and has no impact on your life or future.

maybe i missed something here but what is the point you are trying to prove by constantly talking about how history impacts our life today?

[Lusitan]

Originally Posted by cyntmac

This is still the best country in the world for most everything.

Agreed.

Regardless, I still believe that anyone coming here has a responsibility to become educated on US history- which includes the injustices.

Agreed.

You can't just wave a wand and act like it came before you and has no impact on your life or future. That is just wrong. I know new immigrants are frequently just trying to survive but they still have that responsibility.

Just because I believe it's racist to refuse to buy anything from any businesses owned by someone with a different skin color does not mean that I am uneducated about American history or how all of us got to where we are today.

People can (and obviously do) disagree with these actions and consider them racist, and that doesn't mean they're waving any wands around or are uneducated about history.

This country's history is not all about the immigrant. It's just not.

Every American is an immigrant; every last one. Even "native Americans" immigrated here from Asia thousands of years ago.

And even looking through the narrow lense of the American nation, only a small minority of today's citizens are descended from people who were actually here when the country was founded in 1776. The rest of us are all immigrants. The vast majority of the population has only been here for a handful of generations, unlike other nations where people have been there for thousands of years. So yes, this country's history is all about immigrants, one way or another.

What it shouldn't be about is perpetuating racist attitudes and divisions by discriminating against one group or another based on skin color.

[cyntmac]

Nice except for the bit about an all immigrant nation. I understand that if you go back far enough even native Americans can be looked at as other than. But again what is true in theory is not the same as reality as the Irish American history is vastly different from the Native American history. No real point in debating it but AAs did not immigrate here. What is the point of trying to prentend otherwise? My history is nothing like that of the Native American or the AA for that matter.

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by cyntmac

No real point in debating it but AAs did not immigrate here. What is the point of trying to prentend otherwise? My history is nothing like that of the Native American or the AA for that matter.

so what?