Victoria, This may be off topic. David can call it. But I hope you are not suggesting that things such as gender, race, sexual orientation and ability play no role in the seperation of "classes" in this country. Minneapolis has a sly racism so pervasive that I have known six African-American families that have moved to Minneapolis for better opportunities than those available to them in the middle South only to return to their homes in the South because of their inability to overcome and get a handle on the smile in your face while denying you a job racism in Minneapolis. And these people, for the most part, were educated, had damn good manners (and we won't EVEN go into a discussion here about the racism inherent in what is considered good manners or professional) and a masterful grasp English.
We've come a long way in the battle for equality but one persons blinded rosey lens view of the world doesn't change reality for the rest of us. -Brandon Lacy -Powderhorn Park -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Victoria Heller Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 10:59 AM To: Mpls Forum Subject: [Mpls] Syl Jones/Racism - Have we tried this yet? This may seem like a radical idea, but based on my own experience as an employee and an employer, there are only two things that separate "classes" of people in America. They are: 1. Good manners. 2. Proper English. Virtually any barrier in business or social endeavors can be broken by the person who has command of these two skills. >From Rudyard Kipling's poem "IF"........ "If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch," Vicky Heller North Oaks Here is the entire poem - everyone should know it. Mr. Kipling wrote it for his son. IF IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936) _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
