How the heck are we defining dignity? As a son of a man who grew up in the South (and not even the deep South), I challenge you and your definition of dignity. My father and aunts and uncles grew up in Jim Crow West Virginia. They grew up in a small town that was (and still remains to this day) separated by a very real and clear color line. Race relations worked like this: the blacks stayed quite, servile, and docile and everything was allright...the blacks asked for simple things like equality in education, fair access to jobs and housing...and lynchin's were the order of the day. My Aunt tells stories even now of how the day after the schools were integrated in her small town, the segregated school on the black side of town mysteriously went up in flames...because the blacks in town didn't trust that the whites wouldn't find a way to send them back to the dilapitated school house.
Now, this is getting way off topic I believe, but let's talk about whites in South Africa. Let's talk about how the white is a stastical minority yet has enjoyed (And still enjoys) the political and social power of the majority. Whites invaded the land that was to become South Africa ruled it for hundreds of years, and the last 75 years was marked with the harshest form of Segregation imaginable (based, ladies and gentlemen on the Jim Crow laws of the United States South). And now that black South Africans are forcing white South Africans to share in the power and wealth of South Africa, to give up control of all of the arable land so that black South African families can make a living, we are talking about it in terms of blacks running whites off their land? Preposterous and RACIST. Forgive me for calling it what it is in the plainest terms possible. If, indeed, politics in Minneapolis was/is nothing more than individuals running out into the street yelling racism, why did it take until 1994 for Minneapolis to elect is first non-white mayor to City Hall? If yelling racism is all it takes to get elected, why has our city council never been a majority of people of color or even a third people of color? If racism is all it takes to get elected around these parts, then why aren't all the city house and senate seats (outside of perhaps Southwest Minneapolis) represented by people of color? If yelling racism is all that needs to happen to get things done, why is the police chief still in office? Why is housing still largely segregated here in Minneapolis? Why are neighborhoods like Phillips still crime laden while Linden Hills enjoys happeniness and tranquility? Again, I will encourage those who are living in a fantasy land in which the Holocaust never happened, race relations amongst blacks and whites were just fine and dandy until those rowdy upstart Negroes starting making a fuss, and women are treated as the equals of men to perhaps come down off the mood altering substances and take a peek out into the real world the rest of us are living in. Brandon Lacy Campos Powderhorn Park (A rowdy afro-latino kid who is the descendant of slaves from the United States and the colony of Puerto Rico). -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of James E Jacobsen Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 8:32 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fw: [Mpls] rascism I said that in Minneapolis, if you want to be in politics, you go into the street and yell racism, -ample evidence of that. Nobody mentioned what I said about South Africa where the black majority is now running the whites out. Anyone who says that the Scandinavians and what ever other ethnic group -oh, including the blacks- who didn't immediately get real close and friendly with other ethnic groups, are 'bad' --you are not living in the real world. I will just say that reference my comment about southern cities, particularly Memphis before the civil rights thing got going big, somebody direct mailed me this really nice and stereotype challenging letter: --------------------------------- > FYI: I lived in Memphis in the 50's and I agree that race relations were involved, nuanced and pretty peaceful. I don't have time to write at length right now about my experiences as a little Southern white girl - I'm at work - but I will try to later. It was a good time to be a kid and a very good place to grow up. The racial good will I experienced then has stayed with me for a lifetime. > > Oh, a very good film is "The Long Walk Home." Captures a lot of the dignity and strong relationships of that time. ----------------------------------- James Jacobsen // Whittier _______________________________________ 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
