In honor of Black History month

[katsteve2012]

Muhammad Ali

R. Kelly - The World's Greatest - YouTube

"The Greatest"! Definately a marvel as a boxer and as a man. I had the privilege of meeting him once as a teenage Golden Glover.
Back in 1969, The man who ran our boxing program, Archie Moore(former World Lightheavyweight Champ) told us one day after our drills and sparring sessions that he invited a special guest to speak to us, and at that moment, Ali burst through the door to the gym, reciting poetry and doing the "Ali Shuffle".

He spoke to us for about half an hour about staying in school, staying out of trouble and training techniques.

After that, he took of his shirt, shadow boxed for 15 minutes in his street clothes and recited more poetry and signed autographs afterwards. He was amazing.

Too bad he was duped by those NOI frauds. He mouthed some unfortunate things that clearly came from that cult.

He did, but to his credit he eventually converted to orthodox Islam.

 

[Flopper]

That sentence tells me just how unaware you appear to be about the importance of recognizing historical Black figures. Black children need to be shown these things because in this country they are not taught that Black people contributed anything much except being slaves and marching. Basically they are taught that they are victims. When you teach a child that they are not much then you get half hearted efforts in school. When you teach the children they come from greatness by pointing out all the Black people who founded the concepts and knowledge base this modern world operates on you see those same Black children achieving that greatness. They are engaged because now they know that people that looked like them did great things.

I can't speak to all people and all places, but it seems to me that this line of thinking is both wrong and counterproductive, especially when it seems a stretch or when it focuses on a handful of black figures like MLK. In my experience, teachers in majority black classes have generally done a pretty good job with history over the last 30 years. But students who see little need for success in school and do poorly in math and English are unlikely to be more motivated to learn Black history.

There is also a persistent habit in the teaching of history to ignore the realities of ordinary life and to discount the role of all but the literate classes. This is true of the Chinese in America, the Irish in America, and the Jews in America as it is of blacks in America. History has a large class bias, regardless of color. I would agree that this bias is more apparent and deeper when it comes to people of color. But the solution is not a tit-for-tat "I see your Thomas Edison and raise you one George Washington Carver" approach. That approach looks strained and artificial.

I would suggest that when the pervasive malign influence of class is suspended a bit, and we look at the real history of our country, we will find plenty of ordinary black people making extraordinary contributions in 1774 Boston, as distinguished military units in every war, as writers and artists, in every branch of the professions, and as the common people who actually built this country.

If you want to subscribe to the "great man" theory of history, try starting with Fannie Lou Hamer.

If we would simply evaluate people based on their own individual merits without regard to their skin color, racial hatred would disappear.

 

[Ernie S.]

You have to be fucking kidding. Really?

Wow.

Sometimes sarcasm escapes people. Lighten up. Trajan is being funny

I find it kinda ironic that a certain somebody is missing from being honored in this thread. I wonder why that is

Perhaps because he's not an honorable man?

 

[Flopper]

I can't speak to all people and all places, but it seems to me that this line of thinking is both wrong and counterproductive, especially when it seems a stretch or when it focuses on a handful of black figures like MLK. In my experience, teachers in majority black classes have generally done a pretty good job with history over the last 30 years. But students who see little need for success in school and do poorly in math and English are unlikely to be more motivated to learn Black history.

There is also a persistent habit in the teaching of history to ignore the realities of ordinary life and to discount the role of all but the literate classes. This is true of the Chinese in America, the Irish in America, and the Jews in America as it is of blacks in America. History has a large class bias, regardless of color. I would agree that this bias is more apparent and deeper when it comes to people of color. But the solution is not a tit-for-tat "I see your Thomas Edison and raise you one George Washington Carver" approach. That approach looks strained and artificial.

I would suggest that when the pervasive malign influence of class is suspended a bit, and we look at the real history of our country, we will find plenty of ordinary black people making extraordinary contributions in 1774 Boston, as distinguished military units in every war, as writers and artists, in every branch of the professions, and as the common people who actually built this country.

If you want to subscribe to the "great man" theory of history, try starting with Fannie Lou Hamer.

If we would simply evaluate people based on their own individual merits without regard to their skin color, racial hatred would disappear.

So I can hate me some black people for being assholes?
Can I still hate ALL muslims, just because they're sharia loving muslims? Or do I have to hate each individual muslim based on his love of mohammed. I'm also pretty sure I can do both.

Hate injuries the hater more than hated, so have at it.

 

[Luissa]

You have to be fucking kidding. Really?



Wow.

Sometimes sarcasm escapes people. Lighten up. Trajan is being funny



I find it kinda ironic that a certain somebody is missing from being honored in this thread. I wonder why that is

Hmmm. I thought you guys claimed he was our messiah? And no liberal has brought him up. Weird.


Sent from my iPhone using no lube, maximizing the butt hurt in right wingers

 

[Trajan]

You have to be fucking kidding. Really?

Wow.

Sometimes sarcasm escapes people. Lighten up. Trajan is being funny

I find it kinda ironic that a certain somebody is missing from being honored in this thread. I wonder why that is

Perhaps because he's not an honorable man?

if you knew everything about a person, or certain people I think we'd all be in for a surprise re: who has honor or not, so let me speak to that from a backwoods place...........


I wasn't being humorous, I saw images of others who I thought were, well, imho to very celebratory(?)...thats my opinion, then we get to achievement, thats generally why people are celebrated, in my opinion.

he lead the nation in rushing in his first 2 years at college, won the Heisman in a walk his third etc. first player to 2000 yds in a regular ( old shorter) season, still holds the record for avg. yards in a season, set a world record in track....*shrugs* he was a stud.

Then yea, he had issues, we all are familiar with them so in the spirit of the thread, I'll pass on commenting etc......

if some feel he doesn't belong, well, ok, thats your opinion, I don't see myself as the curtain man for what AA's deserve recognition or don't.

 

[Michelle420]

Exactly. I'm a pure mongrel with so many different components to my heritage that it looks like fruit basket turnover when we try to trace it on paper. But our multi-ethnic family has a lot of fun teasing each other about being so Italian or so Spanish or so Mexican or so Irish or so Texan or whatever. But we're all family first, Americans first, loved ones first and whatever the ethnicity is just part of what makes us interesting.

I think we will be a much less racist country when we take that attitude with all people instead of continuing to reinforce the idea that there are some of us who are different because their skin is black.

There's truth to this.

But the teasing would be cruel without first a genuine interest in and understanding of some of the racial and ethnic differences. There's nothing wrong with acknowledgment, it's the hate we can do without.

By no means am I saying that YOU are a hater, Miss Foxfyre. I know you well enough to know that you don't hate in general. I'm generalizing here.

Would a big chunk of the world's hate just stop, if hate based on racial differences were suddenly rendered passe by society?

​

`​

It would certainly take a chunk of the hate out of the equation. But racist hate is actually pretty rare in this country. Instead we have a much more subtle form of racism rooted in opportunism, political correctness, and ingrained assumptions that black people are different from all others in the collective mind. It is an almost subconscious attitude that black people are not capable of or strong enough to be fully included in society and treated like all other people. A concept that they are different and special deference needs to be made to them and any who do not do that are racist. We are raising a generation to see black people that way--that encourages people with black skin to see themselves that way.

The unethical, both black and white, perpetuate this for self-serving reasons, and many good people I think perpetuate it out of well intended motives while failing to understand or recognize the unintended negative consequences. I still say that we will eliminate almost all racism in this country by adopting an attitude that we are all Americans and treat everybody the same rather than culturally forcing one large group of people to be different from all the rest.

You may not think racism hate still exists but if others still experience it, then they do.

While it's a nice sentiment to say we are all Americans that sentiment will be greeted better when people stop being racist.

People on this board make threads about blacks being less intelligent etc etc.

Racism still exists and those who experience it still feel its effect.

Slavery ended when white people decided it to end.

There are different races and histories the same thing as different religions.

Christians have christian history celebrating Christmas should they be told not to celebrate it because atheists think it should end?

Not everyone is christian but it does not have to be divisive just because they want to celebrate Christmas.

Not everyone is the same race but learning about a cultural history of a race does not have to be divisive either.

The reason for learning about black history is because in the past it was not taught.

 

[Gracie]

I see what you're saying Foxfyre and agree - we need to start treating all people as Americans regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, gender etc...but, there are still hurdles to overcome.

Technically, slavery was over "150 years ago" but the reality is it's affects endure up to today.

There are people alive who remember, were affected by:

Jim Crowe segregation. Seperate but equal. Drinking fountains for coloreds and drinking fountains for whites.

Tuskeegee.

It wasn't until 1964 that miscegenation laws were ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.

Civil Rights era: black churches firebombed, voting rights workers murdered, poll taxes, firehoses and police dogs turned on black demonstrators.

This is just a tiny handful of a very long post-slavery legacy that still exists in living memory - both in the memories of those who opposed equality and those who supported it. I don't think they can dismiss it so easily.

That same legacy is the one that taught us history from a primarily white male centered view point: the founding fathers, the western expansion, the civil war and the end of slavery. When I was in school - the civil rights era had not yet entered into history. It was too recent and unsettled. Contributions by blacks, native Americans, and women were a footnote. I think recognizing these groups and eventually incorporating them into the larger narrative is good - they shouldn't just disappear into oblivian again though.

I am not faulting anybody who wants to recognize Black History Month. I hope I didn't come across as critical about it.

My point was purely to explain my personal reasons for why I won't be wearing the image of a black person to celebrate Black History month. I might do that because I admire a person who happens to be black, but I want our society to do away with racism. As Morgan Freeman explained, and as I tried to explain, we cannot do that if we continue to make an issue of skin color and continue to see people as black first and whatever else they are as secondary. To me, that in itself is racist.

I don't expect or require others to agree with me on that. It is just my effort to combat racism by not separating a group of people out as different because of the color of their skin.

That sentence tells me just how unaware you appear to be about the importance of recognizing historical Black figures. Black children need to be shown these things because in this country they are not taught that Black people contributed anything much except being slaves and marching. Basically they are taught that they are victims. When you teach a child that they are not much then you get half hearted efforts in school. When you teach the children they come from greatness by pointing out all the Black people who founded the concepts and knowledge base this modern world operates on you see those same Black children achieving that greatness. They are engaged because now they know that people that looked like them did great things.

WELL SAID! This this this this this ^^^^^^

 

[BDBoop]

Sometimes sarcasm escapes people. Lighten up. Trajan is being funny

I find it kinda ironic that a certain somebody is missing from being honored in this thread. I wonder why that is

Perhaps because he's not an honorable man?

if you knew everything about a person, or certain people I think we'd all be in for a surprise re: who has honor or not, so let me speak to that from a backwoods place...........


I wasn't being humorous, I saw images of others who I thought were, well, imho to very celebratory(?)...thats my opinion, then we get to achievement, thats generally why people are celebrated, in my opinion.

he lead the nation in rushing in his first 2 years at college, won the Heisman in a walk his third etc. first player to 2000 yds in a regular ( old shorter) season, still holds the record for avg. yards in a season, set a world record in track....*shrugs* he was a stud.

Then yea, he had issues, we all are familiar with them so in the spirit of the thread, I'll pass on commenting etc......

if some feel he doesn't belong, well, ok, thats your opinion, I don't see myself as the curtain man for what AA's deserve recognition or don't.

Pixie was right. That is absolutely the funniest thing I think you have ever typed. And you know, heaven forfend you should man the fuck up and just own your own, right?

Right.

 

[Pheonixops]

How about Tucci Williams, who the left fought ever so hard for.

I never knew that Tookie was eyetalian!

ETA: Tucci is pronounced Too chi in Italian.

 

[Pheonixops]

I have to add this:

Quotes

BY ARTHUR ASHE

• "Drummed into me, above all, by my dad, by the whole family, was that without your good name, you would be nothing."

• "Clothes and manners do not make the man, but where he is made they greatly improve his appearance."

• "Every time you win, it diminishes the fear a little bit. You never really cancel the fear of losing; you keep challenging it."

• "If I were to say 'God, why me?' about the bad things, then I should have said 'God, why me?' about the good things that happened in my life."

• "One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation."

• "True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost."

• "You've got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing."

• "From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life."

• "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can."

• "Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome."

 

[Pheonixops]

Eric Holder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Pheonixops]

Colin Powell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Statistikhengst]

You have to be fucking kidding. Really?

Wow.

Sometimes sarcasm escapes people. Lighten up. Trajan is being funny

I find it kinda ironic that a certain somebody is missing from being honored in this thread. I wonder why that is

Do you mean President Obama, perhaps?

Oh, that's easy: he's not part of PAST black history yet. You do realized that the word history automatically infers "past", right?

In maybe 8 years time, I would be more than willing to post his pic for BHM, but right now, he is current history, not past.

 

[Mudflap]

You have to be fucking kidding. Really?

Wow.

Sometimes sarcasm escapes people. Lighten up. Trajan is being funny

I find it kinda ironic that a certain somebody is missing from being honored in this thread. I wonder why that is

Do you mean President Obama, perhaps?

Oh, that's easy: he's not part of PAST black history yet. You do realized that the word history automatically infers "past", right?

In maybe 8 years time, I would be more than willing to post his pic for BHM, but right now, he is current history, not past.

 

[Statistikhengst]

Colin Powell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great man. Great American.

 

[Statistikhengst]

Sometimes sarcasm escapes people. Lighten up. Trajan is being funny

I find it kinda ironic that a certain somebody is missing from being honored in this thread. I wonder why that is

Do you mean President Obama, perhaps?

Oh, that's easy: he's not part of PAST black history yet. You do realized that the word history automatically infers "past", right?

In maybe 8 years time, I would be more than willing to post his pic for BHM, but right now, he is current history, not past.

BHM = Black History Month.

 

[Mudflap]

Do you mean President Obama, perhaps?

Oh, that's easy: he's not part of PAST black history yet. You do realized that the word history automatically infers "past", right?

In maybe 8 years time, I would be more than willing to post his pic for BHM, but right now, he is current history, not past.

BHM = Black History Month.

Thanks. (I had a brain fart)

 

[Pheonixops]

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

 

[oldfart]

If we would simply evaluate people based on their own individual merits without regard to their skin color, racial hatred would disappear.

A noble sentiment. But I have a lingering feeling that racism persists because many people see a payoff in it; in their self-esteem bolstered by diminishing others, economically by creating a group more easily exploited, and a myriad of other social reasons embedded in the collective DNA of American society for four hundred years. I sense it will never disappear as long as so many find it useful.