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Exactly. I know what his point was, but average black isn't going to understand. Too busy hanging on to the victim label/status.
What exactly is the "average" black? And how many blacks do you know offline, personally, that have the victim/label status? And what does victim label mean?
The person who wrote that long-winded post, told the same immigrant story that's been told on citydata by plenty of other posters-we came to America, without a pot to **** in, my parents worked super hard without any assistance, and now we are doing good, I'm educated and etc. Great for him. But what does that have to do with the topic of this thread? Why insert this story with the intention to act as if all blacks are victims and he's had it harder? Isn't he being a victim himself-whining about language barriers, being made fun of, etc? Everyone no matter the race can probably provide stories where they overcame a great obstacle and became a much better person because of it. It isn't anything new and it has nothing to do with the topic of the thread which was to define the African American community.
Not to mention he made the assumption that all blacks collectively see ourselves as unprivileged. Then even after spouting that entire tale he stated that blacks that do feel unprivileged have no right to feel that way and they need to walk in his shoes. So then the implication is that he is the unprivileged one? Who is he to make that determination without knowing anyone's situation?
And if he is a business owner, and educated, et how is he unprivileged? Is it solely because he is a Vietnamese immigrant that was bullied and had difficulties understanding language? And why he is he complaining when he has these accomplishments in the first place? And furthermore why is he assuming that his life was harder than others-whom he does not know? Perhaps he needs to take a walk in shoes of people who had it harder than he has.
In other words his story was original and if it was true it was commendable that he did overcome all
That he did. But his assumptions were ignorant and the ghetto names he included were silly and ignorant.
Look at neighborhoods and how segregated they are. It is amazing really. If you look at percentages in my city it is clear segregation is huge as in over 80% of one race in each area. Kind of odd really.
If there are "African Americans", there should probably be, "Italian American" and so-on. When I was little, there was a little bit of that. I remember Italian American being used a little, but not much. Now I never hear it, so maybe at some point the African American label will go away. I think one of the problems with it leaving anytime soon is it is perpetuated by the Black community. Some black folks use being black as motivation, and excuse for their own failure and some could care less. That being said, why is there even a category like that?
There still is.
I look Jewish. There weren't very many Jews who went to my college, and a nice Jewish girl was quite friendly (not that way, just friendly) until about two minutes into the conversation where she figured out I was a gentile at which point I wasn't interesting anymore. Where I grew up there was a very strong Italian American community. Many towns have little Italy, China Town, and so forth. There's things like the Chinese American Community Center. Basically, what you're describing is what's known as mainstreaming. Usually when minority groups mainstream, the cultural identity does weaken. For example, Italians are now considered white, nor where Germans. My grandmother doesn't like Irish people. You still have Irish American communities but not that strongly anymore. That's just mainstreaming. I know Italians that are upset by the fact that most Italian Americans don't have much regard (or I might use the word obsession) for their hereditary background. Personally, ethnic enclaves creep me out but I do see the value of hanging onto your culture as well.
With blacks, that's really too broad. There certainly are ethnic enclaves. Seattle has a large African immigrant population, mostly from East Africa. They have a strong community there. They have almost nothing to do with the "average black" in Seattle area who has been here for generations, however, any more than the Scandanavian/Nordic community that used to exist in Seattle had almost nothing to do with the "average white" in Seattle. One of my good friends is Romanian. There's most definitely a Romanian American community that he's a part of.
It doesn't take but a few moments to send a letter or an email to them. About as long as it does to create a thread here.
Creating a thread here generates (hopefully) intelligent discussions, which in turn stimulate the mind and give people insight on others' thought processes.
Sending letters to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be a waste of time. They are probably less likely to even read those letters than they are to stumble upon this thread.
Creating a thread here generates (hopefully) intelligent discussions, which in turn stimulate the mind and give people insight on others' thought processes.
Sending letters to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be a waste of time. They are probably less likely to even read those letters than they are to stumble upon this thread.
Yeah, I don't get the idea that you're somehow obliged to send letters protesting anyone of your race just because you disagree with them. I disagreed with Bush's stupid war. I never sent him a letter about it either.
Anyway, when I was caught up in the protest in Oakland, most of the black people there were just like everyone else: mildly annoyed.
I think Chris' rant on black people's names was funny... Because it's true.
In fact, all of us have crazy names.
Black: I used to work in a pharmacy... Prescription came in and the name on it was "La-a" ... I'm like, okaaaaaay. So we fill it and now I have to page them on the intercom. Great. So the way I pronounce it is, "La Ahh"... Lady comes over and she's like, "baby it's La Dash A" lol. I didn't know we started added special characters into first names.
What exactly is the "average" black? And how many blacks do you know offline, personally, that have the victim/label status? And what does victim label mean?
The person who wrote that long-winded post, told the same immigrant story that's been told on citydata by plenty of other posters-we came to America, without a pot to **** in, my parents worked super hard without any assistance, and now we are doing good, I'm educated and etc. Great for him. But what does that have to do with the topic of this thread? Why insert this story with the intention to act as if all blacks are victims and he's had it harder? Isn't he being a victim himself-whining about language barriers, being made fun of, etc? Everyone no matter the race can probably provide stories where they overcame a great obstacle and became a much better person because of it. It isn't anything new and it has nothing to do with the topic of the thread which was to define the African American community.
Not to mention he made the assumption that all blacks collectively see ourselves as unprivileged. Then even after spouting that entire tale he stated that blacks that do feel unprivileged have no right to feel that way and they need to walk in his shoes. So then the implication is that he is the unprivileged one? Who is he to make that determination without knowing anyone's situation?
And if he is a business owner, and educated, et how is he unprivileged? Is it solely because he is a Vietnamese immigrant that was bullied and had difficulties understanding language? And why he is he complaining when he has these accomplishments in the first place? And furthermore why is he assuming that his life was harder than others-whom he does not know? Perhaps he needs to take a walk in shoes of people who had it harder than he has.
In other words his story was original and if it was true it was commendable that he did overcome all
That he did. But his assumptions were ignorant and the ghetto names he included were silly and ignorant.
I think Chris' rant on black people's names was funny... Because it's true.
In fact, all of us have crazy names.
Black: I used to work in a pharmacy... Prescription came in and the name on it was "La-a" ... I'm like, okaaaaaay. So we fill it and now I have to page them on the intercom. Great. So the way I pronounce it is, "La Ahh"... Lady comes over and she's like, "baby it's La Dash A" lol. I didn't know we started added special characters into first names.
My first reaction to your first paragraph was to laugh, seriously. Pot/kettle. Thanks, that was rich.
Christopher also said that no one could pronounce his name which is very believable and that he was mocked as a young immigrant. Many people appreciated his story. I'm sure you know many immigrants. I used to have clients that were predominantly immigrant and almost al of them had "American" names that they went by although accounts were set up in their native names. They knew it just made life easier. To continue to mock him for changing his name is petty. Carry on.
This is still true. Large groups of Indians are migrating to the US. Many adopt their US name since many of the Indian names are hard to pronounce..
Just call Dell support and talk to "Bob" in India.
For posters who complain about the term "African American Community" which is such a common term that it is literally a page on the Whitehouse website about Obama and his relationship with said community, you single out a poster and mock him for his race? Seriously?!!
Where in the blue monkey hell did I mock him for his race (meanwhile, you ignore the part of his post that called certain black people's names "crackhead names" ?
Have you never heard of the term 'model minority'? Try Google, it can be your friend sometimes. Asians are often referred to as the model minority, which is a backhanded compliment.
And it's ironic, because it's does the same thing the term "African American Community" does and put a label on an entire race of people based on a handful of people.
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