I quite agree with Ross Bender.
As a person of color, I did not find his post to be an ethnic slur. Rather
he was upfront and honest about what most people think about crime in the
city in general and UC in particular.
I have seen quite a few other "coded" posts here that have offended my
sensibilities ("People shake their heads, cluck their thick tongues and
suggest, oh so VERY delicately."-Anthony Perkins) and there has been no
great hew and cry.
In general, I do understand what Jeff is saying; however I would rather have
upfront discussions about what people think about issues in the area and
even beyond. If people in this neighborhood cannot manage to to do this in
an open and broad-minded fashion, realizing that it takes all kinds, then
who can?
Wilma de Soto
On 9/30/03 1:06 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> In a message dated 9/30/2003 10:18:38 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
>> In a recent post to the list, Ross Bender waxed (hopefully) ironic:
>>
>> http://www.mail-archive.com/univcity%40list.purple.com/msg04698.html
>>
>>
>> Folks, please, use the list to share information with your neighbors,
>> but please don't use it as a cabaret stage. The culture list is
>> intended somewhat more for that purpose.
>
> Jeff, thanks for the plug. To subscribe to culture, go to
> www.purple.com/list.html.
>
>> I receive many complaints from people who feel the list has gone from
>> polite, albeit sometimes heated, discourse to sheer noise. Racial
>> slurs, even if meant ironically, generate similar complaints.
>>
>> I'm picking on Ross' post because it highlights nicely what I'm
>> talking about, but he's not the only one who posts without considering
>> whether he is furthering discourse or merely maintaining noise
>> level. (Much of that thread I thought was noise: my opinion only.)
>> Please, pause, think before you post. Are you asking a question or
>> answering someone's question? Are you contributing
>> something?
>
> Jeff and all: With all due respect, I was unfortunately not being ironic. I
> apologize for stating the situation in a way that brutally reflects racist
> realities.
>
> It is well known that currently and at least since the introduction of
> Rockefeller's draconian drug laws in New York in the 1970s, possession of
> drugs has been a convenient handle to get the black young adult population
> behind bars. The statistics of the proportion of black men in jail should be
> well known to readers of this list. If not, I will post them at some length.
> French and other world critics maintain that the USA way of dealing with
> poverty and racial inequality is to build jails, rather than adequate
> low-income housing, or to invest in health care for all, in this instance
> addiction programs.
>
> The whole issue of CIA complicity in the drug trade is also well documented.
> If anyone is interested, I will post at some length.
>
> Why discuss this on the UC List? Well, the topic is crime in University City,
> and particularly around PENN. The widespread perception on this list is that
> crime is a black issue - that's who commits the crimes, that's who we're
> afraid of, that's the population that needs to be jailed. This is a huge issue
> and again if someone wants to discuss it as it pertains to University City,
> I'd be happy to participate in the discussion.
>
> Again, as Jeff suggests, if you feel that life is a cabaret, you can take it
> to "Culture". But people who live in University City should be more aware than
> people in many other places of the underlying racial dynamics in our larger
> neighborhood.
>
> As to the larger issue of e-discourse and decorum, this list is one of the
> most polite I've ever had the privilege to participate in. It also has a very
> high ratio of active posters: to lurkers; in other words, it is a list with a
> high degree of active particpation.
>
>
> Ross Bender
> http://rossbender.org
>
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