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If people want Obama to be looked at as a candidate and not just as the first black man running for office then they need to let things like this go and stop making little things like a childs opinion into an issue about race.
[I made this comment below in reaction to what this man had said here:
http://www.utterz.com/~u-NTAzNjQzNg/utt.php#uttNTAzNjQzNg]
SerenityLife said: As an African American 34 year old single black female, I relate to your story in many ways.
In kindergarten I was told that black people were monkeys by a student who was half German. She said that her grandmother told her that all black people had tails. I honestly did not know how to react at the tender age of 5.
When I saw the play, Fences, by August Wilson and the actor James Earl Jones' pulled down his pants to prove he was not a monkey, it proved to me that other people had historically had the same experiences as I had:
http://www.cnn.com/…ilson.html
In law school, I was asked "permission" by a law school student to call me the N word because she thought that is how black people wanted to be addressed since she had heard the term used a lot in the TV show, "In Living Color."
These two personal incidents are examples of ignorance. These 2 events in my life have made me realize that ignorance will continue to exist if we do not have patience to teach, share and learn from one another.
It is frustrating and people want to label black women as the "angry black woman" but if you truly could walk in my shoes as a black woman then you would know what I experience on a day to day basis.
People who cannot relate to our situations will never relate but I hope that those who listen to our stories will be sensitive when they want to refer to any person in a derogatory manner.
Thank you for sharing.
With all due respect, i still do not agree about the original issue. I can understand why you might see it as disrespectful, but you can not judge every comment by your own experience. When you heard the term there was no doubt in how it was being used and that it was used in a belittling derogatory way. You had every right to be angry and hurt, but the comment made on the Rush show was just a comment until you know the true intentions behind the person saying it. It supposedly came from a child and children often see things in a different way then adults. They often compare people to what they know, like characters in a story book.
Its not about tolerance at all, its about jumping to conclusions based on scars from the past. Its about giving things a free pass until those exact same things are used against a different race or by a different race. Ive seen racism firsthand and my children have experienced it first hand so i do really understand about racism i just will not auto jump to conclusions based on my own experience that a comparison made by a child means that child is racist or its parent is racist.
The difference is that white people, as a whole, have never been referred to as monkeys, gorillas, apes or other not-quite-human primates. Black people, on the other hand, have -- and continue to be. A quick glance at white supremacist literature would clue you in on that fact. (Google is your friend here.)
Most adults know and understand that any comparison of black people to monkeys is usually offensive and shouldn't be made unless being offensive towards black people is your goal. That's why the caller's words are inappropriate.
Indiana said: "Seems like a over-reaction to me, it gets a free pass until it is used against a black man." Indiana I am not sure of your age, educational background or awareness but you must understand that the literature of America, and even radio/television media of 20th century United States is replete with images and language which portray African Americans and other people of color as inferior and less than human. It is also very interesting that you have spoken of people "receiving a pass". Within the constructs of the forming of the United States and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill until the passing of the draconian, three strikes and you are out anti-drug laws directed towards black and poor, there has been only one person that has received a pass--that being a Anglo-white, land owning male. Read the Declaration of Indepence. And according to C. Eric Lincoln's "Slavery and Capitalism, Lerone Bennett's "Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America" and other notable books the only pass the African in America has been given was a pass to travel between plantations!
I do not have the time in this forum to get into a psycho-socio-historical analysis of color prejudice in America; however, I strongly suggest that you purchase a copy of Winthop Jordan's "White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812 and George Fredrickson's "The Black Image in the White Mind; The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914". If Jordan's first book is too intellectually dense for you then read the simplified version "The White Man's Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States". From there after you have built up your capacity for serious intellectual study and debate then read Fredrickson's other books: "The Arrogance of Race: Historical Perspectives on Slavery, Racism, and Social Inequality" and " White Supremacy: A Comparative Study of American and South African History".
If you do a literature reveiw you will find that writers such as Jordan and Fredrickson, who both happen to be White, are far more critical and damning of the social system that put race at the epicenter of American life, kept it in place for economic and ego-centric purposes than any African American scholar/writer has ever been.
This attitude; this mindset due to ethnic birthright was not only pervasive in the social science realms but also found in the early science, e.g. psedu scientific literature of America. Read William Stanton's "Leopard's Spots: Scientific Attitudes Toward Race in America 1815-1859.
Consider the fact that race, ethnicity and privilege have been such a significant part of American life that even so-called foreign Whites that came into the U.S. from Europe via Ellis Island were considered unpure compared to British immigrants. Read Joel Ignatiev's "How the Irish Became White" and Theodore Allen's "The Invention of the White Race: Racial Oppression and Social Control" and his other book "The Invention of the White Race: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America." In California (not the South) after World War II there were signs posted on the beach and in stores reading "No Dogs are Japs Allowed".
I do not have time to get into the prevalence of racism in television and popular media. But read Donald Bogle's "Toms, Coon, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films." Read Eric Greene's "Planet of the Apes as American Myth: Race, Politics and Popular Culture." There are many, many, many other texts and audio/visual media and websites you must read. Contact Serenity life for your bibliography...then come back to the debaters bench with your facts, data, and statistics.
If you ok a remark like that for one person, then you have to ok it for others. If true equality is to exist then everyone must be treated equal and that means if it isnt acceptable to one its not acceptable for anyone.
Indiana why should people of African descent spare you the historical data. Are you of the oppressor lineage? If you want to impress anybody on this blog with your benevolence and love of black people, go out and make a public statement to all your white friends and family that make racist comments. Do you stop your friends and family when they make racist comments towards black people? Do you stop your friends and family when they make stereotypical comments about Asians and Jews? The Holocaust ended after WW II and the Germans are still paying reparations; 90-year old Nazis are still going before the World Court and being punished.
You are showing your arrogance and ignorance of racial and class oppression by telling people how they must think, and what they must do. You are exhibiting the hallmarks of institutional racism. Your comments are based on an inherent belief that you have of yourself which is that you are better than someone else because of your skin color.
You have never lived through segregation!! So, how can you tell anybody what is equality and acceptable. You forget: The oppressed did not make the rules--arrogant, people with a God complex like you did. Were you in South Africa when Mandela was in jail? Were you in Birmingham when dogs were put on innocent people by Bull Connor? Meet me in Harlem and tell me to spare the historical data. Your arrogance and ego starvation has closed your eyes and your brain to reality. Young man, or young woman I suggest you read something if it will stop you from being an apologist for racist and ignorant ideology.
The issue you mention is nothing. Institutional racism can stop people from being employed or being redlined by the bank or harrassed by the police because of skin color. Where have you been--under a rock! The oppressed have not made the rules--the oppressor that you are being an apologist for have. Young man or woman, until you have walked one day in a person of color's shoes do not ever form your mouth to make ignorant comments and baseless statements based on your limited experiences as a human being on this earth! It is an insult and no different than young white children calling black men and women "boy" or "girl". In a book written in the 1950s by Raphael Powell entitled: "The Human Side of a People and the Right Name," he says "Dogs and slaves are named by their master, free men name themselves."
Indiana if you want to impress me or anybody on this blog with your great belief in human freedom and egalitarianism read any of the books I mentioned previously. Don't do it for me, us or anybody on this site: Do it for yourself!
And a quick glance at the larger culture of America reveals the marginal nature of white supremacists. These people and their views are not even close to representative of white America. Their ideas are based on eugenics and fascism, and most Americans are too conservative to fall for those tricks again.
How about the Irish, dear? Ever heard what the American establishment had to say about Paddy? Ever heard about what England did to Ireland? Blacks don't have the monopoly on persecution for their race. If you can imagine a West African and a sub-Saharan African discriminating against each other, you get the idea.
I think you can dispense with the hyperbole. The worst, I would say, is the ignorance. At best it was an innocent report of an innocent remark by a child who needs to read more. Seeing malicious intent when none is intended is a sign of paranoia.
Well, I sure hope we can continue this discussion now that we're starting to actually trade ideas.
But since you broached the subject, I'll point you to "How the Irish Became White" by Noel Ignatiev for a look at how Irish immigrants fought to be "white" by discriminating against and assaulting blacks.
"And a quick glance at the larger culture of America reveals the marginal nature of white supremacists."
Check your history. White supremacists didn't become "marginal" until about 40 years ago. Most folks just got more polite about it.
"I think you can dispense with the hyperbole. The worst, I would say, is the ignorance. At best it was an innocent report of an innocent remark by a child who needs to read more. Seeing malicious intent when none is intended is a sign of paranoia."
As I said: the parent repeating it on national radio is the problem.
Misreading a very clear sentence is a sign of stupidity.