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I just left a job where my boss was a black woman and she was the best boss I have had to this point. She is at the top of a white, male dominated profession (construction) and she was great at her job. The main guy running the office for that company in Charlotte is a black man. Both are married to well spoken, black people and have well mannered, and well spoken children. It's not an anomoly to have intelligent black people around. Your co-workers are stupid for even insuating that.
However, at the risk of really ticking people off, I have to say something else. If you look around, what race has more children out of wedlock causing the circle of poverty to continue? Yes, white girls are having more babies (with black fathers in my town) but when you look at the whole picture, it's the black community. Black guys get their girls pregnant to show they are a man and leave them to raise the kids on welfare and the circle goes on. Until the attitude that having a baby makes you man or woman changes in the black community (which I have been told is the case by black people), whether it's Charlotte or Atlanta, it's not going to change. I'm tired of seeing all these black kids brought up with 3 and 4 siblings all having different daddies or worse grandparents raising them because neither the mother or father can or will using my tax money to pay for them. Do white people do this too? Absolutely, but if you are honest with yourself, you will see that it happens way more in the black community. White people who do it are called white trash or trailer trash but it's ok to point it out about them. When black people are called on it, it's racism. There is a giant chasm that I don't think will be crossed for a long time. Black people still want white people to pay for slavery and white people don't want to hear about it because we didn't have anything to do with it. Another circle that keeps going.
If you have a good job and make good money, good for you. Stop letting other people bother you. You are black and you are successful. It's not out of the ordinary.
Amen! I totally agree, thank you for stating something that is normally considered too un-PC to say...
Don't really know what to say here There is racial intolerance everywhere. I have lived on just about every corner of this country of ours and I have never lived anywhere where it has been absent. It is really a pipe dream to think it will ever be any different. Just avoid the ignorant people and associate yourself with the ones that are more enlightened.
INCORRECT. I just moved here from Colorado.. you would NEVER hear the N word in Denver Colorado.. I have heard it many times since I moved here.. the south is still very ignorant.
INCORRECT. I just moved here from Colorado.. you would NEVER hear the N word in Denver Colorado.. I have heard it many times since I moved here.. the south is still very ignorant.
I totally disagree with you here and I am black. Charlotte has been much more welcoming to me than any other place I have lived. It's by no means perfect as far as race relations are concerned but better than most places. I grew up in New England and have experienced much more discrimination there than I have in the South. And New England is thought to be the most enlightened part of the country. Southerners tend to be more open and strightforward than in the North, while Northern discrimination tneds to be institutional and systemic and therefore often undetected. I can not speak for you or what goes in Denver though. Maybe Colorado is utopia.
INCORRECT. I just moved here from Colorado.. you would NEVER hear the N word in Denver Colorado.. I have heard it many times since I moved here.. the south is still very ignorant.
I moved here from the Springs, and I DID hear the "N" word. There are racists everywhere.
I just left a job where my boss was a black woman and she was the best boss I have had to this point. She is at the top of a white, male dominated profession (construction) and she was great at her job. The main guy running the office for that company in Charlotte is a black man. Both are married to well spoken, black people and have well mannered, and well spoken children. It's not an anomoly to have intelligent black people around. Your co-workers are stupid for even insuating that.
However, at the risk of really ticking people off, I have to say something else. If you look around, what race has more children out of wedlock causing the circle of poverty to continue? Yes, white girls are having more babies (with black fathers in my town) but when you look at the whole picture, it's the black community. Black guys get their girls pregnant to show they are a man and leave them to raise the kids on welfare and the circle goes on. Until the attitude that having a baby makes you man or woman changes in the black community (which I have been told is the case by black people), whether it's Charlotte or Atlanta, it's not going to change. I'm tired of seeing all these black kids brought up with 3 and 4 siblings all having different daddies or worse grandparents raising them because neither the mother or father can or will using my tax money to pay for them. Do white people do this too? Absolutely, but if you are honest with yourself, you will see that it happens way more in the black community. White people who do it are called white trash or trailer trash but it's ok to point it out about them. When black people are called on it, it's racism. There is a giant chasm that I don't think will be crossed for a long time. Black people still want white people to pay for slavery and white people don't want to hear about it because we didn't have anything to do with it. Another circle that keeps going.
If you have a good job and make good money, good for you. Stop letting other people bother you. You are black and you are successful. It's not out of the ordinary.
I say this not with the intentions to belittle any group. I say this to show you how powerful knowledge is, and why it is to buy into the agenda
Knowledge is powerful. While the media likes to portray the welfare person as being black, lazy and having a bunch of kids. This is just not true. I recall even in my criminal justice classes where we were given national reports with more whites being on welfare than blacks.
Knowledge is powerful. While the media likes to portray the welfare person as being black, lazy and having a bunch of kids. This is just not true. I recall even in my criminal justice classes where we were given national reports with more whites being on welfare than blacks.
Could it be because the white population outnumbers the black population?
Location: Charlotte,NC, US, North America, Earth, Alpha Quadrant,Milky Way Galaxy
3,770 posts, read 7,543,620 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by howdidwegethere?
A couple years ago when I first came to Charlotte on a work assignment, I became astonishingly aware of the level of ignorance that still exists in this region regarding race. For some unknown reason, before my co-workers had ever met my wife when I moved to Charlotte, they were all under the impression that she was and had to be caucasian. In a round-about way they had arrived at this impression due to my careful and generally good use of the english language...usually void of grammatical errors when speaking, my sense of confidence and my well-rounded knowledge about subjects (according to my collegues) that many people of color sterotypically are not interested in. I was floored by this information and I wanted to know if other African American's have been mischaracterized as being too different to be associated with our African American family in Charlotte. It appears that my idealistic projections about acceptance and the sophistication of many of my white constituents (especially locals) in Charlotte has been off target. Until now I have internalized this unsettling feeling because I spent much of my time away from the area for work. However, now that I have settled my family in this area there have been multiple unsettling conversations with various people of different ethnicities about the climate of Charlotte, NC that makes it more readily resemble a "big rural city in the south" rather than a city of the "New South." Moreover, I am told that if I venture into some of the surrounding areas outside of Charlotte's fold I will find that I am very unwelcome. Someone please speak to this...Quite frankly, I am seriously considering relocating to a true small town...at least I know what they're thinking.
Carolina Blue did a great job answering your question early on in this thread. You also seem to have some internal questions (based on your "divorcing cultures" comment).
It's been said very often, the true and real defining borders among people has to do more with your economic status more so than your skin color. I'm not quite sure but it seems easier for some people to group an entire groups of people into big buckets, never ever accounting for regional and economic differences.
Your co-worker seems to have made some ridiculous comments which is to be expected in any work environment (it's not written anywhere that you'll end up working with forward thinking people 100% of the time). I'm not even interested (after reading his comments) as to what color he is- honestly he could have been black making a comment like that, it would still be just as stupid.
My only issue (and it's a small one as it's been replayed a billion times all over the forum, couched in many different forms) is the broad brush used to paint an an entire region or people. So your experience has you thinking that you want to move to a smaller town. Why? There are many middle class AAs that have a completely difference and positive experience than what you've described. A couple people have actually responded in this thread to that effect.
I'm not sure what really can be said at this point, other than I hope you can truly see the broader Charlotte and not just compartmentalized areas. Charlotte has a lot of opportunities for a wide-spectrum of decent self-respecting people.
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There is racial intolerance everywhere. I have lived on just about every corner of this country of ours and I have never lived anywhere where it has been absent. It is really a pipe dream to think it will ever be any different. Just avoid the ignorant people and associate yourself with the ones that are more enlightened.
