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I could go on and on regarding this subject but, I will try to keep it succinct. I can't tell you everything that pisses Black people off but, I can tell you a thing or two that puts White people over the top.
If I had to pin one thing down that sours racial relations in this city is the fact that most folks of color don't really want equal rights but rather, special rights. It's the part that the silent majority won't or can't say publically. Agree or not with this statement but it is coming straght from the heart.
And before you go off yelling racist (THE most convenient reply those of color use for ANYTHING that goes wrong in their lives) LISTEN to what I am saying, not what you THINK you read/heard?
This "special rights" clause extends to gays as well in this town. If you wanted equal rights you wouldn't push your agenda as loud and proud as you can and at every opportunity that presents itself. To be sure, I am very much of that silent majority in America. I go to work, pay my taxes and live a rather dull existence by most measures. I am the completely transparent white guy you see everywhere you go. I don't bother YOU, I don't blame YOU for anything that goes wrong in my life but, alas, that was never enough in this country, was it?
Some tips for those that differ:
Want to be accepted? Drop the Michael Vick Jersey and other lost causes. Convict people like O.J. who really are guilty. Don't feel so compelled to defend anyone of color for any reason. You only galvanize the rest of us. There is never an excuse for bad behavior. We think as little of Scott Peterson as you do. Perhaps you should extend the same courtesy for Vick, O.J., ad nauseum. A bad person is a bad person. Quit defending them. It only hurts your latest "cause".
Quit following the likes and rants of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and any other person of color that lives off of YOUR misery. These folks have made a living of telling you how bad you have it, who is to blame for it, and why you should carry the torch....ever seem them live in YOUR neighborhood? These people only perpetuate YOUR misery. It's how they make a living....get it? They have as much interest in your well being as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, etc...etc....it's just votes folks. Get over it. Start believing in yourselves, live YOUR life the way YOU want to. Quit jumping on the bandwagon everytime some ass-clown of minor note within your race "Tells you to".....be your own person, make up your own damn mind. You will get more credibility than you could ever imagine.
Drop the hood look. While this is a country of multi-diversity, wearing yards of sailcloth for one pair of jeans, corn rows, and a gold tooth does not exactly excite the likes of Coke, Bank of America, Delta, and any other perceived great employer.
Speak the language. Bet, owt dis, arite and the like does not a business person make. If you insist on carrying the diatribe, be prepared for the consequences.
Think about it. Grow the f up and start dressing like a business person and acting like a business person. People will receive you as the person you are.
Work ethic. Get one. Don't believe me? Go to ANY service industry in America such as fast food, the Airport, building services etc...etc.....ever see Laquitia hurry for anyone for anything for any reason? Don't like the message? ***** to Bill Cosby. He knows a thing or two about his own race and why HE never, ever invests his money into rental properties in da' hood. He knows better. Hate the message all you want, it's the truth and apparently, everyone around you knows it except you.
Set realistic goals. While we all enjoy Reggie Bush, Randy Moss, and Black Super-Star Rap artists, your chances of getting there are about as good as me hanging out with Snoop Dog. Get it? Pursue realistic goals. Hey, if you can do it, more power to you but don't be too dissappointed if your tracks lay down like a five dollar hooker on Spring Street rather than Whitney in her pre-skeeza' days....
Image: Atlanta doesn't have one. At least not a good one. From the time you get off a plane and go up the escalator in Hartsfield, you now get to enjoy a sneak peek of Mogadishu and what it must have been like for Black Hawk Down Veterans.....from the gypsy cab trying to hawk you to the sub-standard public transportation to the 10 mile trip to Somalia aka downtown Atlanta....go ANYWHERE in America and I will show you a VIBRANT downtown by comparison, save perhaps Cleveland and Detroit.....downtown Chicago? you bet, happening 24X7....Manhattan, sure....DC? All but the SE side.....LA is safer....hell, South Central is an improvement....this is what the busiest airport delivers to our city and what do they see??? It's sad...very sad....it's the saddest downtown I know....why do you think all the investment dollars are going to mid-town??? Why do you think Underground Atlanta has failed for the 6th or 7th time? People don't feel safe! And apparently, they aren't.
Want to improve the relations? Start there. Improve that, get Moorehouse, Spellman, Clark, and the like to pay their frickin' bills to us vendors for a change....then you might gain respect...then you might be treated as you would hope....Drop the Loc Dog wardrobe and attitude or keep it the way it is...drab, dreary, depressing with no possible hope of changing....
Most white people want to get along. Believe it or not. They just get fed up with frivilous lawsuits, bad behavior, chips on shoulders, and pent up anger and rage. Anyone that is 50 or less and is of color can't ***** too much to me and get away with it. Your ancestors have a plausible argument. You, however, do not. Get over it. EVERYONE's ancestry has been screwed. The Jews, the Christians, the Catholics, the Baptists, the Italians, the Irish...quit your bitching and get on with your lives.....PLEASE!
My Mother was 1st generation Irish, lived in frigid Cleveland with her brother, one sister and parents. They lived in a 3 room apartment....note I said 3 room, not 3 bedroom. In today's terms, this would be considered, inadequate housing and something would have to be done about it....right....well, apparently, in the early part of last century, there was something you could do about it.....work your ass off harder and perhaps you could improve your lot in life...to which she did, she worked as a check out clerk at Krogers....35 cents an hour, no raises, no benefits, for 5 years and put herself through nursing school, raised 6 kids of her own and quietly saved every dime she could, clipped coupons til the day she died and this is the best part....
YOU NEVER HEARD A F'IN thing about it....Now did you? SHE WAS TYPICAL......Try that, imagine that, work that, and shut your mouth about it why everyone around you screams injustice, how they should have more, how they should do this and they should do that.....often, we never really know who "they" really are.....now do we?....drop the blanket you THINK society owes you and "get busy".....it truly is amazing that the harder you work the luckier you will get......too?
In closing I can honestly say, most whites are afraid. They are afraid of what an angry mob might do. Don't believe me? Get off at 5 points station and simply walk around...go outside on the peachtree street stairway and walk south for a change...see how the anger seethes from the mob....watch them watching your every move....drift towards Forsyth and Trinity.....If you find yourself South of Marietta Street be ready.....apparently Shirley Franklin knows that no one is watching down there....there's little or no police...you are truly on your own.
Hey, and for once, when a White person gets shot, give us the same courtesy in the news. Quit calling it "another tragic incident on the NW side of town this evening" and call it "Black guy shoots White guy because he hates him".....It's not cutting it Shirley, everyone is clued in....it won't erase the image Atlanta portrays...
Sincerely,
The Average White Guy You Hate For All The Wrong Reasons
Well, i am white. dont act like racism does not still go on. If u dont want blacks to be angry and tell them to get over it....why cant whites get over the death of nicole simpson? oh, because a black man did it. we get angry over stuff that is not a fraction of what blacks have gone through. whites cant get over small stuff and youre telling blacks to get over something that big? its not your place to tell them to get over 400 years of racism and still goes on today. I know i have it way better than blacks here in america. call me whatever, but im honest!
It's impossible to know for sure how your kids will be treated here. At one school they may fit in perfectly, at another, the black kids will call them the typical name that mixed kids are called and give them hell. No way to know. Private school will minimize it (a good one, anyway).
If you move to one of the immediate suburbs like Smyrna, Vinings, Duluth, etc., then the kids will be in mixed schools and probably have minimal problems (if any at all) due to the mixture of kids. If you move intown then they'll likely catch hell from the black kids as most intown public schools are predominately black. If you move TOO far out into the burbs they may catch it from the rural white kids as the outer burb schools are predominately white, so it's a logistics game you have to play carefully.
However, there are many intown schools that are not predominantly black...there is mix of ethnicities and the kids (and their parents for the most part) are very accepting of all kinds.
No need to go to a private school. There are many schools in the Metro Atlanta area that will fit your needs. Once you get closer to your move and you narrow down housing price ranges, job locations, etc...I can help you with some excellent school choices. I hope this helps. Good Luck!
I have actually heard this complaint from other black people. In other words, black people who come from other areas of the country have said to me they've been told they "don't act black enough" by local black people when they're in clubs, etc. Or the parents of kids who get very good grades in school will say that the other school kids tease their kids saying they're "acting white" because they use good grammar and make good grades. This is why a lot of these parents intown try to get their kids enrolled in the few magnet schools that are around - so they can be around kids who actually want to learn and who won't tease them for doing well.
There seems to be a certain level of discrimination by blacks against other blacks here. Not being black I haven't seen it first hand, but I've heard enough stories and accounts to raise an eyebrow or two. The theory by some is that like certain other large urban areas like Baltimore or Detroit, Atlanta has a larger "stereotypically" uneducated urban black community, compared to other areas like San Fran, Washington, Denver, or Seattle, where you tend too see a highly educated black community.
Yes, I know, I'm probably saying that wrong so I get the heehaw peg on me, but I think you know what I mean. That you're much more likely to find a "ghetto mentality" in places like here, New Orleans, or Baltimore than you will in many other cities. So when black adults come here on their own or with kids, they see the differences and aren't happy - and, the locals will make fun of them as well. Same thing in the white community though - move some folks from Buckhead out to a trailer park and see what happens. Or people from L.A. move to Baton Rouge.
Like any other group of people regardless of race, color, income, or religion, there will always be an educated class, and a stereotype class - and neither will be thrilled to be around the other. So while you see tension here between whites and blacks, you will also see tension between blacks and blacks as well, depending on background, where they came here from, etc.
I have had the same experiences being raised from an upper middle class family in a region on the country with high rates of black poverty. Like you said though, this isn't really a "black" thing. The same goes for white "Yankees" versus white "Hicks". This is more about a stereotypical class thing, the problem is, poor blacks relate higher education and standard english with being white. This, I believe, is part of the reason why so many poor blacks reject the school system and that which tends to go along with being 'educated' in this country. The rejection is not of 'education' per se, but the persception of being educated by white society and 'the establishment'.
Well, i am white. dont act like racism does not still go on. If u dont want blacks to be angry and tell them to get over it....why cant whites get over the death of nicole simpson? oh, because a black man did it. we get angry over stuff that is not a fraction of what blacks have gone through. whites cant get over small stuff and youre telling blacks to get over something that big? its not your place to tell them to get over 400 years of racism and still goes on today. I know i have it way better than blacks here in america. call me whatever, but im honest!
Thanks bclark. I couldn't have come up with a better response myself to all the angry white people out there that are so pissed off because some black people actually have the nerve to say there's racism out there. Not all white people are like this but unfortunately many are similar in attitude to PMOSS.
Everyone should read this article by Cynthia Tucker of the AJC talking about the emergence of "Two Black Americas"--one middle class/professional, the other impoverished. (broken link) It totally destroys the misconceptions by some folks out there who think that Bill Cosby's views are unique and not shared by many in the black community. It also shows how the conditions of impoverished families are worsening while the black middle class has been doing well since the Civil Rights Movement.
It's impossible to know for sure how your kids will be treated here. At one school they may fit in perfectly, at another, the black kids will call them the typical name that mixed kids are called and give them hell. No way to know. Private school will minimize it (a good one, anyway).
If you move to one of the immediate suburbs like Smyrna, Vinings, Duluth, etc., then the kids will be in mixed schools and probably have minimal problems (if any at all) due to the mixture of kids. If you move intown then they'll likely catch hell from the black kids as most intown public schools are predominately black. If you move TOO far out into the burbs they may catch it from the rural white kids as the outer burb schools are predominately white, so it's a logistics game you have to play carefully.
Atlantagreg30127,
Interesting to hear your expertise on the treatment of interaccial children in inner city Atlanta considering that it is apparent in your post that you live no where near inner city schools or frequent them regularly.
Why in the world do you assume that intown public schools do not have children of mixed racial heritage? Do only middle and upper class people cross the racial barrier?
Well, I’ll break that stereotype for you now. MountainLovin' Mom, I have taught for some years at predominately black, desperately poor schools in Atlanta. Your children would not be made fun of for being mixed, but as with most schools in the country your children would be made fun of for being culturally different from my students. The very few White, Asian, and not so few children who identify with more than one ethnicity at my school grew up in the neighborhood. They come from many ethinicities, but the tie that binds is that they are all poor. Of course my students joke about each other incessantly about everything from a bad hair cut to unpopular shoes . . . but that’s what 14 year olds do.
Since it appears that you are middle to upper middle class than you likely will move into an Atlanta neighborhood with that same demographic. In that case your children will be surrounded by other students (of all races) in which they can identify because they come from the same economic background. You imply in your post that your children have mainly white friends. Now I will say this will be a separation point with some Black children. The Black students may identify less with children not because they are mixed, but they don’t share as much cultural heritage. I’ve known MANY Black persons who, growing up in predominately white neighborhoods, had a difficult time identifying with other Black persons. Interestingly, teaching in a predominately Black school I have many none black students who CLEARLY identify with African-American culture. It goes both ways.
Interesting to hear your expertise on the treatment of interaccial children in inner city Atlanta considering that it is apparent in your post that you live no where near inner city schools or frequent them regularly.
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Interesting too that you seem to know so much about me. We slept together when, exactly?
I live in West Cobb NOW. Now. I've lived intown. I've lived near downtown. I've lived in the Lindbergh area. I've lived in Brookhaven. I still have friends (many with children) who still live in varied areas of town such as Grant Park, Peachtree Hills, and Buckhead. Do not presume (wrongfully) that just because I do not live intown myself at this moment that I don't have a clue what I'm talking about.
But thank you so much for your interest in my level of expertise.
Everyone should read this article by Cynthia Tucker of the AJC talking about the emergence of "Two Black Americas"--one middle class/professional, the other impoverished. (broken link)It totally destroys the misconceptions by some folks out there who think that Bill Cosby's views are unique and not shared by many in the black community. It also shows how the conditions of impoverished families are worsening while the black middle class has been doing well since the Civil Rights Movement.
That article was dead on. I come from a Middle-Class Af-Am background, and we pretty much agreed with what Bill Cosby is saying.
I've been living in Atlanta for about 2 years, and I do notice a bit of Classism between the middle-class blacks vs. the lower-class blacks. I think that is a trend that transcends all races though.
While I wouldn't be so cavalier as to dismiss anyone's life experience as "a couple of isolated incidents", I might agree with your self-assessment of being blind.
I'll let you into a little known secret and I would advocate this for everyone, I have travelled all over the world and have discovered that all people regardless of race or creed are basically the same, they have the same aspirations, the same fears, the same prejudices, while all believing that they are unique in their struggles.
Well, i am white. dont act like racism does not still go on. If u dont want blacks to be angry and tell them to get over it....why cant whites get over the death of nicole simpson? oh, because a black man did it. we get angry over stuff that is not a fraction of what blacks have gone through. whites cant get over small stuff and youre telling blacks to get over something that big? its not your place to tell them to get over 400 years of racism and still goes on today. I know i have it way better than blacks here in america. call me whatever, but im honest!
Wow. I never thought of it in those terms, but I guess it serves a purpose.
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And you are an expert because . . .?
