The difference between slave and immigrant accestory (Colin Powell, generation, drug)

[tomocox]

Last night, I had the pleasure of being front and center at an address by one of my true All-American heros. My loving bride had scored two tickets to an address by a phenominal man. After we got home, it hit me, this black man was the child of immigrants, not the child of slavery. He got it and he made it. His parents chose to come to America, live in a black ghetto, and demand that their child achieve. No, excuses, no backtalk, no chance to quit.

The man is one of the most recognized world leaders. He has black skin, red blood (which he has spilled for America), and a confidence of judgement that would cause lemmings to be jump over the cliff without question. Darn, I wish this man could be my president.

Three cheers for Mr. Colin Powell as he told his story which I just summarized from his speech.

[Wild Style]

Where to begin.....

I typed a long response out but erased it. You need to educate yourself. You do know Collin Powell is Jamaican right? You do know that Jamaicans were slaves bought in from Africa, right? As for his being American or not being American and how this does or doesn't play into his success, its just silly. I can take you to Brooklyn right now to my old neighborhood. It used to be a nice, kept up place and then the West Indians came in. Now they have the doors and windows hanging of the hinges and the drug dealing is not uncommon in their area. Does this mean all West Indians are prone to this behavior or that they can't make it out of their circumstances? NO, it means a section of their population are in a depressed state (socio-economically). The same can be said for some areas where Puerto Ricans live in NYC. You sir need to get out and see the world more. I now live in South Florida and can take you to west indian and cuban areas with the same depressed socio economic circumstances.

PS

Glad you enjoyed the event.

[GregW]

Colin Powell is a very impressive man no matter what his ancestry, birthplace or color. Judge people by what they do and nothing else.

[delusianne]

Too bad for us he has too much sense to run for president!

Did he say whether he's interested in coming on with the next administration in any capacity?

[Benicar]

Colin Powell is indeed an American to be admired. However, he is not an anomaly. There are myriad similar success stories -- too many to delineate on this thread; including descendents of U.S. slaves, and those reared in “black ghettos.”

Of course, these positive images of black Americans are not newsworthy; unlike the gang members, prison statistics, and other sundry negative stereotypes.

Hopefully the information provided by the following links will serve to enlighten you and other like-minded individuals. Given your fascination with the 'black experience' perhaps a course in Black History would also be of value.

Canton Public Library - Special Collections
Themed Reviews, Famous African-Americans
The new millionaires: emerging generation of supersuccessful African-Americans redefine wealth | Ebony | Find Articles at BNET.com
Welcome to the Organization of Black Airline Pilots :: About Us - Constitution & Bylaws
The Tuskegee Airmen--Overview: Legends of Tuskegee
African-American Astronauts
https://webfiles.uci.edu/mcbrown/display/faces.html
African-American Scientists (Reference) - TeacherVision.com
African-American Inventors

[tomocox]

The point of my OP was that this man's family took nothing for granted.

No, I don't think Mr. Powell wants to be anything but Mr. Powell. Nothing more, but a former or retired _____. I could be wrong about this, but nothing to indicate to me otherwise.

[Stormcrow73]

IMO, he's possibly the greatest American of our current time. If he ran for Pres., he would have my vote regardless of party. You cannot argue with leadership skills and I think he would bring a wise fatherliness to our nation if he would only choose to serve us one last time. I'm reminded that Washington also did not want to take on the mantle of president at one time.

[Magnulus]

You ought to come to Florida, not all Jamaicans have a squeaky clean reputation here. Haitians in particular seem to end up on the news disproprotionately. Invariably a few times a week you'll see on the news the same story over and over: Haitian/Jamaican X was arrested for beating child/wife Y in ghetto neighborhood Z. Lots of West Indian poverty. Alot of them are hard workers but it's not like they are all Clark Kents trapped in a black man's body.

Colin Powell is his own person, that's all I can say on that.

[willdufauve]

Originally Posted by delusianne

Too bad for us he has too much sense to run for president!

It was widely reported that the reason he didn't run for president is because his wife, Alma, feared he would be assassinated.