What never gets explained or discussed in Seattle

Who do I, a person of color, get "dirty looks" of disdain and annoyance, in public all the time from African-Americans--perfect strangers--who will be glaring at me for no reason just as I walk down a street or am on a public bus?

Rarely do white people treat me this way.

Many African-Americans express their feelings quite openly, without constraint, as if to say "You illegal immigrant who is stealing our jobs" or "You coolie."

Yet no one catches them on it.

Isn't it racism not only to judge someone simply on the basis of their physical (racial) identifying features but also to then act  out on the basis of prejudice?

# # # # #

To my mentor in college: A debt of gratitude

Alexander Morton, who was a staff member of the College Library at my alma mater, was a gay African-American man who not only befriended me, but whose kindness and generosity I will never forget and can never repay.

At a  time in my life of great emotional tumult, he reached out to me.   Unfortunately I did not really understand this at the time.    

When I look back, I believe that he was probably the one person on campus who was "looking out" for me--as he did for many others--and who actually cared about what happened to me.  His kind, avuncular smile and gentleness were constant.

Never an unkind word did I hear him utter.  He gave me words of encouragement that none of the my professors did.

Before I graduated from college, he offered to store my large stereo loudspeakers at his house and send them onto to me later, when I had settled down--which was more than two years later, as I recall. This he did at his own cost and inconvenience.

I only wish he were still alive so that I could tell him in person that I now appreciate fully his gift to me.

His spirit lives on in others.

 # # # # #

A possible explanation for America's love affair with African-Americans

Saying anything unflattering about someone or something that others idealize and idolize generally leads to those same others disliking you.


I have been thinking about what accounts for America's love affair with African-Americans, as it certainly does not have the intensity and breadth of this adulation for Hispanic-Americans, Anglo-Americans (Wasps), Asian-Americans, Native Americans, Italian- or Irish-Americans, Jewish-Americans or any other racial or ethnic group.

I think I have hit it on the head, though:

(1) Christian guilt:  African-American slavery is identified with the trials of Jesus and redemption of white guilt.  Obama was/is seen as the Messiah, as, before him, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. the savior.

"Love thy neighbor."  This New Testament injunction is literally taken to heart in a place like Seattle, where the sight of a black face on a bus or other public place often elicits a beam (smile of approval or encouragement) from a white person (especially a white woman)--which tends to lead to a rule that all behave this way if they are really not racist.*

* See http://seattletimes.com/html/latestnews/2022013883_ferrarisentencingxml.html

"Turn the other cheek."  (for white Americans, about 70% of the population, non-blacks follow suit)

(2) the overwhelming dominance of African-Americans in professional sports, the latter of which creates America's "true" heroes.  Boys are taught from an early that this is where they gain approval from family, acceptance from peers, and recognition by society.   
In France, the success of Zinedin Zidane (selon la BBC le meilleur joueur européen de l'histoire.)  of Algerian origins, created mass hero worship and has led to acceptance of North Africans among many, surmounting xenophobia.

Less important but still contributing to the phenomenon, lastly,
(3) Hollywood, which over the past half century, has made the black male the symbol of cool hyper-masculinity ("Men in Black," "Shaft," for example) in a flotilla of huge box-office hits (action films, not my cup of tea exactly) and others that have garnered critical acclaim, from the 1963 "Lilies of the Field" (which won Sidney Poitier the Best Actor Oscar) through 2013's "12 Years a Slave."
In between were, among others, "In the Heat of the Night," "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?", "Sounder," "Driving Miss Daisy," "Color Purple," "Do the Right Thing," "Shankshaw Redemption," "Green Mile," "Crash," "The Blind Side," "Precious," all of which (except for the latter) portrayed African-Americans in an extremely favorable light.  No bad guys (or gals) among the bunch.
Most recently, in rapid succession, have been "The Help," "Django Unchained," and "The Butler," all of which grossed more than $140 million domestically.  Americans are clearly stirred by these stories, when they are not knocked off their seats, figuratively speaking, by the hyper- and kinetic violence of the action films.
(4) the recording industry, where for years, the Top 10 have been stacked with black artists from Stevie Wonder to Michael Jackson and Beyonce.  The young have embraced "black music" with open arms and wild enthusiasm.

And, no, conservatives take note:  Obama is not responsible for this (he is  a manifestation of this).

Most intense is the feeling among liberals, especially white liberals and Hollywood, and the violent crime rate among African-Americans, which is perhaps 10 times as high as among whites, is considered a taboo subject, as it would compromise and call into question this fervent adulation and admiration without end.

Any suggestion of fault or shortcoming among African-Americans will elicit "racism!" even though most people do not even understand what racism actually is.    The word simply is a cover for "I don't agree with what you say, and I'm going to douse you with gasoline and throw a match in for good measure so I don't have to have a rational discussion with you about the merits or shortcomings of your views."

Discussion thereby is effectively muzzled with charges of racism and smearing (and the attendant suspicions akin to those of betraying the Nation and Constitution).

Not loving African-Americans and all things African-Americans leads to suspicions of being racist.

* * * * *

Not loving Jimi Hendrix, Aretha, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, Oprah, Jackie Robinson, Will Smith, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, Jr., Tiger Woods, Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, Maya Angelou, Eddie Murphy, Barrack Obama, and Toni Morrison leads one open as well to such charges

as does having

preferred Hillary Clinton to Obama in 2008

or

not liking deep-fried chicken (must be a code-word for being anti-black)

or

referring to President Obama as Obama or "Barrack" (Thou shalt not use my name in vain)

or

professing to not wanting to adopt anything but a black cat...

or

questioned why a majority of blacks in California voted for Proposition 8 (against gay marriage)

or

admitting to being uncomfortable around African-Americans, in general, because they seem to talk very loudly and boast/bellyache a lot...

or

Wishing that African-Americans would be more sensitive to cultures other than their own.  For instance, not raising their voices (yelling, screaming, singing) in public places because there are others around who do not share their same cultural reference.

That's a racist thought.

or

I really don't think that the African-American community has failed to hear and honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s call for non-violence.

That's even more racist.   Only a black person has a right to pass judgment...

That's a lot of hoops to jump through.

I don't know of any individual or group that does not have its strengths and weaknesses.  Even my two cats whom I adore have shortcomings.

Even after the Jayson Blair affair/fiasco, the New York Times is willing and ready to hire an African-American as its chief editor.

Feeling safe in Seattle

No, The Stranger in 2010 in its "Last Day"s section did not crack a joke about some poor dumb pregnant teen cracker getting kicked in the stomach by five young black women.   It does not report the race of attacker if black or that of the victim if white or Asian.

These girls happened to be caught on video.  I could see girls like this everyday just by taking the bus or walking in certain parts of the city.  They'll sock it to you, too, even if you don't piss them off.
  
But,. at heart, they're really good girls, misunderstood and as much victims themselves, you know...

5 charged in attack on man, pregnant teen aboard bus

Five teenagers have been charged in connection with an attack on a pregnant teen and her boyfriend on a Metro bus Nov. 19.

By Sara Jean Green

Seattle Times staff reporter

RAW Video | Pregnant teenager attacked on Metro bus

 Play video now

Three of the five teenage girls caught on video viciously attacking a pregnant teen and her boyfriend on a Metro bus last month have significant juvenile criminal histories, mostly for assaults and thefts, according to court records.

One girl was convicted last year of attacking a woman and attempting to steal her purse, while another girl allegedly grabbed and shoved a nurse at Swedish Hospital in August. A third girl has several theft convictions, including one from early 2008 for stealing $918 worth of merchandise from the downtown Seattle Macy's store, according to court records.

On Nov. 19, the five teens — four juveniles and one adult — got on the Route 358 bus in Belltown during rush hour and made their way to the back of the packed, articulated coach, according to the King County Sheriff's Office, which is responsible for policing Metro buses, bus stops and transit stations.

Without warning, one of the suspects grabbed an MP-3 player away from 17-year-old Jessica Redmon-Beckstead, who was on the bus with her boyfriend, Jason DeCoste, 19. In the moments that followed, the suspects punched and kicked both Redmon-Beckstead and DeCoste on the bus, despite the posted signs alerting passengers that video-surveillance cameras are on board.

The Sheriff's Office provided video footage of the incident during a news briefing in Sheriff Sue Rahr's office on Thursday. "I was shocked by how vicious it was and how unprovoked it was," Rahr said of the attack.

During the incident, one of the suspects can be heard accusing DeCoste of stealing her cellphone. According to sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart, DeCoste briefly met the girl at a party last summer and has denied taking her phone. His girlfriend, who was three months pregnant at the time of the attack, did not know any of the suspects, Urquhart said.

Redmon-Beckstead and DeCoste can be seen getting punched in the face and head several times; at one point, one of the suspects uses a bus railing to lift herself up and repeatedly kick DeCoste in the head. Three of the suspects rummage through his pockets, one of them pulling out a pack of cigarettes.

DeCoste tells the attackers that his girlfriend is pregnant, and one replies: "Nobody hit her in the stomach," while encouraging her friends to "hit her in the face."

"During the course of the video all the suspects are seen laughing during the course of the assaults and even joke about how they did not get any money from the victims. One of the suspects is heard complaining that she broke her nail," according to charging documents filed in the case.

Quickly arrested

On the video, DeCoste and other passengers are heard yelling for the bus driver to stop the bus, and DeCoste is again punched in the face and head as he and Redmon-Beckstead get off the bus. According to the Sheriff's Office, the couple then walked to the front of the bus and notified the driver, who called police and waited for deputies to arrive.

Redmon-Beckstead needed six stitches to close a gash over her left eye, while DeCoste suffered bruising. Both told deputies they were concerned for their unborn child, charging papers say.

All five suspects got off the bus when the driver stopped. Within half an hour, deputies arrested three of them in the 8500 block of Aurora Avenue, Urquhart said.

According to Urquhart, a fourth suspect, who is 16, was arrested Nov. 30 at her house in South Seattle.

The fifth suspect, 19-year-old Ayana Cain — who complained about breaking a nail — was arrested Dec. 7 at a Belltown beauty salon, he said. Cain, a student at South Lake High School, spent four days in the King County Jail before posting bond on her $50,000 bail, jail records show.

One 16-year-old is currently on electronic home monitoring while three others — ages 17, 16, and 15 — are being held at the King County Juvenile Detention Center. The Seattle Times does not typically name juvenile-crime suspects. King County prosecutors have filed paperwork in hopes of charging the 17-year-old as an adult.

The four juveniles have been charged with second-degree robbery, and Cain was charged with second-degree assault, according to charging documents.

The suspects, who were provided ORCA bus passes by Seattle Public Schools, have had their passes revoked and are banned from riding Metro buses for a year, according to the Sheriff's Office. If they are discovered on a bus during that time, they can be arrested for criminal trespassing.

Virtues of video

During the roughly four-minute assault, no one on the bus called 911, but Rahr said people were probably too shocked to react.

"When a situation erupts very quickly, it takes awhile for people to respond," she said.

Though Rahr characterized the attack as "an isolated incident," she said emphasis patrols are being assigned to Route 358 buses to ensure riders feel safe. But she pointed out that the route alone carries nearly 10,000 people each weekday and more than 3 million people a year.

Urquhart encouraged passengers who witness crimes to call 911 but not to get involved. He said the bus driver "did everything right" once he became aware of the disturbance at the back of his bus — and passengers can be heard yelling for him to stop the coach.

"He did not move that bus. He kept that bus in place until police could get there and interview witnesses," which led to the quick arrest of three of the suspects, Urquhart said. "This is how it's supposed to work," he said.

The bus is one of nearly 400 Metro coaches currently equipped with state-of-the-art video equipment, which records both video and audio. Cameras will be added to another 250 buses over the next few years, Rahr said.

In releasing the video of the Nov. 19 incident, Rahr said video cameras aboard buses are a deterrent to crime. She said there is a more than 90 percent arrest rate for crimes that are captured on video.

In a Sept. 17 incident, a surveillance video helped police identify and arrest a man who allegedly punched a mentally disabled man just after stepping off the No. 7 Metro bus on Rainier Avenue South, near Mount Baker Station.

The unprovoked attack left the victim, 55, with a broken jaw and face cuts. Police arrested Raymel J. Curry, 32, who has been arrested or cited more than 50 times, on suspicion of second-degree assault.

Previous attacks

The 16-year-old who was arrested Nov. 30 and is still in custody was convicted of attempted first-degree robbery last year for attacking a woman outside her apartment building and trying to steal her purse.

The 16-year-old and two other girls followed Lauren Luttrell, 29, off a bus in the Ravenna neighborhood and demanded money, according to Luttrell and court records. When Luttrell refused, the 16-year-old grabbed Luttrell by the hair and pushed her to the ground. A second girl "banged my head against the door frame a few times" and the 16-year-old delivered several kicks to her body.

The girls laughed during the assault, "which I think is messed up," Luttrell said Thursday. "They all just seemed very mean-spirited."

Luttrell wasn't surprised to hear the 16-year-old was suspected in another attack: "She was the main girl of the three who attacked me.

"Definitely I think they were enjoying it. They hadn't tried to take my purse until they'd verbally and physically messed with me," said Luttrell.

The 16-year-old was sentenced to 15 to 36 weeks in juvenile detention, but the court records did not indicate how much time she served.

In February, the 16-year-old was again arrested for possessing a stolen vehicle — and was supposed to report for drug treatment 10 days before the Nov. 19 bus assault, court records show.

The same 16-year-old and another suspect in the bus attack, who is 15, got into a fight while visiting the other 16-year-old suspect in the hospital in August, according to court records. The girls were fighting over a laptop and the 15-year-old allegedly grabbed and shoved a nurse, the records say. The 15-year-old was charged with assault.

The 17-year-old suspect has been arrested numerous times for theft for stealing from a beauty-supply store, a grocery and two department stores, including the downtown Macy's.

Seattle Times staff reporter Mike Lindblom and news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2013694732_busattack17m.html





What is it about American and African-American culture (and not African or Caribbean culture) that produces such individuals?

The politically correct answer:  Oppression.  They've been oppressed for so long.

A cliche.   The easy, reflex answer.

# # # # #

>> "I'm a liberal.

<< "I am too."


>> "Why should I care anyway?"

<<"Because you're a human being."

>> It hasn't happened to me, or anyone I know.  It's just an isolated incident.  

<< It could happen to you, your family, your friends.

>> Besides, all races and cultures do this (in equal measure)."

<< No, other races and cultures do not produce violence with this frequency and to this degree.  If the Seattle Police Department would release statistics,your statement could be disproven.

>> You should have your tongue cut out.*

<< [A virtual gang-rape, I see].


* An actual statement/threat made to Lily on a Yelp.com talk thread in 2013.

The impossible wish

Wishing that local leaders of the African-American community (do something to) stop the violence is like wishing The Stranger would provide balanced coverage of news.

97% of the murders of African-Americans are committed by other African-Americans.

It's not the comparatively rare shooting of a black man by a policeman that should cause outrage:  it is the thousands of black men killed by other black men every year.

* The Stranger the local newspaper that reports on all incidents of violence where blacks (and sometimes Hispanics) are victims and the attackers white (but never openly will identify the race of the victims if they are white (or Asian) an the race of the attackers if they are black.   It must be mentioned that the the latter happens 5-10 times as often as the latter.


Silence, only silence after James Paroline, the Rainier Beach traffic circle gardener, Kris Kime, and "Tuba Man" were savagely beaten to death...among the victims.   No acknowledgement or statement from either source.  Well, at least neither, to my knowledge, stated "they had it coming to them."

More of it

"More of it, bigger, louder, and faster" seems to be America's motto in the first half of the 21st century.*

In most quarters, I think I would be accused of apostasy if I disagreed, let alone challenged this.

But bigger is not necessarily necessarily, and here our I-pods would seem to be obvious corroboration of this view.

I think now that heading towards a point much closer to the horizon, I think I could and probably should place the motto above with just one word

"Wiser."

Forget the rest.

Prajnaparamita, Borobudur, Java, 1285 CE.

America is decidedly ambivalent about whether "more violent" ought to be added to the motto, as we are shocked and saddened by gun violence but delighted in watching violence on screens of all sizes.

Strength is equated with force, and violence is seen as often tantamount to the latter, a necessary "evil" and sometimes highly satisfying at that.  Bullying seems to require an equal and opposite force.

Immaturity is one thing that broadly characterizes our country, and relates to the search for a wiser way of life.

Living to be  75 but healthy rather than 100 with little or no quality seems O.K. by me.

The no-shame multiple-choice quiz

It's fun, quick,...and all responses are kept confidential.

The only way you fail is if you don't take the quiz.  (Lie, and you'll still get a "Pass.").

Come on...

Based on your own personal experience, which behavior below do you commonly find in the following racial, ethnic, socio-economic, political, geographical, or religious groups?  In which group, or groups, would you find it most likely to find these behaviors?

We not want to stereotype others* but on the other hand, we do not wish to be blind, either, to patterns of behavior that may actually describe cultural differences, whatever the possible historical or sociological explanation might be.


"I can look down on you (roll my eyes, stare, curl my lip, assume innate or moral superiority, etc.), be belligerent (you've pissed me off, and you have it coming to you), or treat you rudely (yell at you, "tell you off," act as if you owed them something), but you cannot do the same to me."

(A) Caucasian-Americans; (B) Hispanics;  (C) Asian-Americans; (D)Asians; (E) African-Americans; (F) African or Caribbean immigrants; (G) Jews; (H) Native Americans; (I) Republicans; (J) people with annual incomes $100,000 or more; (K) people with incomes below $20,000; (L) urban dwellers; (M) suburbanites (N) Southerners; (O) North-easterners; (P) Other


* Stereotypes, contrary to popular belief, have an element of truth.  But they are only a partial view.  For example, Asian women are often stereotyped as graceful, slender, pliant.   They are not often stereotyped as clumsy, fat, loud, belligerent.  A stereotype would not exist if they were not an element (or more) of truth to it.

The question is how a stereotype is used.  They should be used with caution and not be blindly used and not allow us to see the individual human being.

    # # # # #

Your answer, whatever you find, is important and should not depend on what others expect you to say.

#1

Now that Moscow and Beijing have overtaken Los Vegas as the world's reigning capital(s) of excess and bad taste, and the Chinese replaced us as the most obnoxious tourists, can we rest on our laurels (or at least take a rest)?

Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Boston, Manhattan, and Miami are still capitals (of other things) in their own right, so "we" make the most expensive and violent films, our plastic surgeons can promise women the biggest silicon boobs, hip-hop and soul reign king, we win the most Olympic Medals, our research universities top the lists, Apple makes the fastest, coolest portable devices, and we produce the most carbon dioxide emissions (total and per capita).

So maybe we can.  


                                                # # # # #

La belle au boix dormant (Sleeping Beauty)

Charles Perrault gave the world--us included--"La Belle au Bois Dormant" (Sleeping Beauty).

In return, we gave the world, Disneyland, and its various grafts (Paris Disneyland, et. al.).

Was it a fair bargain?

But we know what the world prefers.

Small IS beautiful

In the 70s in certain circles in the United States and much of the rest of the West, E.F. Schmacher's Small is Beautiful was widely read and discussed.

In the second decade of the 21st century, it would be nice if his admonitions were heard again, and maybe even followed.

But with the generations following its publication, non-conformity, independence, and individualism have fallen out of fashion. Instead group think, in all its manifestations (Facebook, Ipods, and the  ossification of liberal thinking...), has replaced them.

The sell out

           :Doomed for Demolition

Over the past year I have noticed the large number of buildings going up over not just the Pike-Pine corridor/12th Avenue East but also on Capitol Hill.  This has resulted in the demolition of interesting and aesthetically charming buildings (despite renovations) such as the David Weatherford Antiques building and beautiful rose-laden garden on East John Street.

Because Americans are unable to distinguish between architectural historical styles (other than "you, older building and "modern style), this may not come as much of a loss to some people.

But as I grew up on Capitol Hill, in the historic Harvard-Belmont district, the razing of so many century-old homes and the building of some rather or quite awful condominiums and mixed-use buildings has resulted in this neighborhood's losing much of its charm.

In a city given over so much to being hip, "progressive," dynamic, this, some would believe, is the price that has to be paid.  But to deliver the city over so completely to developers is a sell-out.  Why Paul Allen and Vulcan, or Amazon and all the others need to be subsidized is beyond my understanding, especially when they and their attendant enterprises eat up so much of the city's actual living, breathing space while contributing to the loss of much of this city's architectural history.

If there was any neighborhood in this city who architecture was worth trying to preserve, it was and still is Capitol Hill.  But you might as well be talking to a deaf person, as this city and its citizenry's concerns are clearly elsewhere.

Just not awesome or cutting-edge enough.  Forget diversity in this case.  

We need more glass, steel, aluminum, and concrete structures to enhance our neighborhoods and way of life.

No, not a peep from either The Seattle Times or The Stranger's woefully ignorant art critic* over the destruction of David Weatherford Antiques.

 
* one who in a review of a special exhibition of Japanese art deco on view in 2014 at the Seattle Asian Art Museum cannot (1) explain how a presumably important sculpture was was designed to whip up either nationalist Japanese sentiment or instigate/exacerbate anti-Chinese ones (the one does not necessarily presuppose the other--I don't think the Japanese were particularly anti-Chinese at this point in their history) or, worse yet, (2) tell the difference between a dragon and a lion.

I won't get into here how I don't think she may have been the best person to review the current Frye Art Museum's exhibit of Mark Tobey/Isamu Noguchi/Qi Baishi.













                                                                           

You wouldn't know.

dessein de l'interieur d'une coupe ou est representee Cassandre 440 B.C.E. (Louvre)

You wouldn't know that African-Americans were so heroic if you spent any time waiting for a bus in Seattle on 3rd Avenue between Pike and Pine.

-Lily H.

Quel destin attend-t-on?

Le 23 mai 1498, Jérôme Savonarole est pendu et brûlé à Florence, sur la place de la Seigneurie.

To the city with everything except

Snippet of conversation overheard at the beautiful, contemplative Japanese Tea Garden in Seattle yesterday:
"Well, they (the Japanese carp) ain't gonna any food from me.  [Chuckles]."




Granted we are not at Oxford* or at Les Deux Magots Saint Germain-des-Pres, but still...

It would be nice if the art of conversation came into vogue in this city.   

What passes for conversation--and in the strict sense of the word, of course, it is--in cafes, restaurants, museums, shops, and other public spaces is usually some form of shouting, snorting, shrieking, non-stop yammering, cheery maxims, banalities, belly-aching, self-important, unsolicited declarations and disclosures of private matters, and gossip--all pitched at the highest frequencies and directed at anyone unfortunate enough to be within 100 feet of the speaker.

Impressed we are...at how things in this city and every five minutes
can be actually be awesome.

(Americans don't have a tendency to exaggerate/boast, do they?).

Such conversations make spending time in these public spaces particularly irritating, if not downright painful.

Sometimes I wonder if the reason people wear earbuds, earphones, and all manner of audio paraphernalia is simply to distract themselves from being continually obligated to listen to others yakking and yammering.

So we shout into our cellphones because we can't hear ourselves speak because of the din around us.  And so others do likewise.

I am of the view that the cellphone was designed as a tool of communication, and not primarily as a tool of torture.   Many, if not most Seattleites would presumably disagree with me.

* Last year, a student found the social scene at [my alma mater]...to be lacking—both in variety and in meaningful connections with new people. “I was surprised when I got here and the standard was, ‘Hey, what’s up?’” she says. “That doesn’t really lead to any conversation.” 

Then, while studying abroad at...Oxford, she took part in regular formal dinners with professors and fellow students. Goddard enjoyed these dinners so much that she decided to bring the concept back to [the college].

Wishful thinking

Will someone tell them, the Republican Party, to move to the Antarctic?*

* so that they can refute claims of global warming

To a friend

to a friend deeply concerned about the condition of African-Americans in this country:

Thank you for sharing your views.  The fear of African-Americans, at least in my case and I suspect in many many other cases, including that of African taxi-drivers in NYC who refuse to pick up blacks because they have been robbed at gunpoint, is not based on skin color but on behaviors that are objectionable (as in demeaning, disruptive, inconsiderate, and/or threatening).

 I, a person of color, have just been assaulted too many times by African-Americans (not Africans or Caribbean peoples), both physically and psychologically in the past 45 years, to care anymore about their past or present issues.

Similarly, I have been "slapped down" just too many times by liberals (I count myself one), most of whom did not live through the Civil Rights movement as I did, to wish any longer to conform, or remain obedient and silent.  

Slavery existed at least since biblical times up until I don't know when.   I don't justify it--that would be hideous.  I am not sure if it continued through the Middle Ages and beyond into "modern-day Europe" (post-Renaissance?).  Why Europeans decided upon arrival and colonization of Africa to abduct black people and sell them to the Americas--and not Indians or Chinese, etc.--I don't pretend to know the answer to.

What is true is that the slave trade was not confined to the U.S. but to Latin America as well.

I don't believe there is widespread discrimination against African-Americans.  It does exist, but is grossly exaggerated.  

In fact, there is preferential treatment of them in college admissions, for instance, where 1/10 of white applicants (or Asian) is accepted versus 1/2 to 1/3 of blacks at my alma mater.  Two of the most prominent public positions, director of the Seattle Center and of the Seattle Public Library are African-American, in a city where blacks make up 12% of the population.   

I have seen time and time again blacks allowed to do things that whites would not be able to do, as in screaming/fighting/threatening/using violent language in public.   Liberal Seattleites seem to pretend it's not happening (look the other way), or rationalize it by saying "that's what slavery did to them."

Jews after the Holocaust, including survivors as well as their offspring, did not turn to crime or become pathological.  Nor did the Chinese, Koreans, etc., after the ruthless Japanese occupation of China when 30 million wound up dead.

I believe that films like "20 Years a Slave" and its numerous predecessors, including "Roots" and "Django Unchained" and "The Help" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" simply fuel the anger and resentment of African-Americans, pouring oil on the flames.  Hate breeds hate, and ditto with anger.   

They add rationale and rationalizations for hatred, rage, and destructive behavior, keeping in the public eye the misdeeds of others ("Nothing I've done compares with what my people have suffered.") and aiding to avert the gaze inside for a more honest, fearless self-appraisal.

Portrayals of blacks as only victims and heroes/heroines is not unrealistic, it is a distortion, over-simplification, and unrealistic expectations (

out of whack with reality).

Yes, surveys have shown that most African-Americans, including the well educated, believe that the federal government intentionally created the A.I.D.S. epidemic so as reduce the black population in the U.S.   This does not make it true.

In fact, I don't see many African-Americans adhering to Dr. King's admonitions to non-violence.   Instead, I continually hear the responsibility for destructive behavior placed on the Seattle School Board, the Seattle Police, banks, colleges, elementary schools, teachers, drug dealers, gangs, the federal government, state government, city government, Asians, Latinos, Jews, Arabs, fast-food restaurants, Hollywood, the publishing industry, you-name-it.   

It does sound like a conspiracy precisely some people actually convince themselves to believe it IS true --all those "forces" plotting to intentionally mistreat or treat unfairly people of a different skin color (granted, there ARE some people like that but probably far less than is believed by many liberals).

The ending of so much violence has to begin with African-Americans, for, in fact, contrary to popular opinion, 97% of the murders of African-Americans are committed by African-Americans and not whites or other groups.

To compare 150 years or even 50 years ago (in the Deep South) with today is nonsense.  It doesn't explain everything.  There are multiple causes for why individuals and groups behave the way they do today.  Even Obama, when he finally let go of preacher Wright, stated that to pretend there had been no progress since the 19th century was ridiculous; he also told African leaders before his election that they could and should better than continue to blame the West, based on their past, for their economic and political woes.

Kindness is a basic human right, and no one can take it away from you.  One can continually point the figure at others and/or brutalize others (and in doing so, continue the cycle of brutality/vengeance/self-pity) or decide that violence only begets violence.

The ones who make the biggest difference in the lives of African-Americans are African-Americans.  Anyway, many resent the assumption that you or I could possibly make a difference, as if they depended on others to make progress.

But if the parents, preachers, community leaders, and other role models are not instilling a sense of what is morally right and what is morally wrong in their children, who can (or should)?

Who is "doing it" to African-Americans?

Overwhelmingly African-Americans.


If even only one person tells his or her truth, it is still worth it.   Most people are afraid, and with fear, there is no chance for to take that long journey from night into the dawn of the new day.

Someone ought to tell them

There is more than one way of seeing the same thing.

Someone ought to tell them 

that being 

tough (the kick-ass guy, The man, and the stud)

big

loud

proud (swaggering, self-satisfied, "licking ones's chomps"...)

demanding

does not always turn on women (or men).

Don't blame racism.

La Belle Epoque in the 21st century

Paul Krugman
on

Why We’re in a New Gilded Age

or the 1%

New York Review of Books

a review of

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

by Thomas Piketty, translated from the French by Arthur Goldhammer

Belknap Press

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/may/08/thomas-piketty-new-gilded-age/?insrc=hpss





Now if only someone would translate this for the other 99%





http://americandigest.blog.lemonde.fr/2014/04/14/le-triomphe-americain-de-thomas-piketty/ 

"Seattle is too white."

\

So often in liberal places like Seattle, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, et. al.,  one hears the sentence,

"Seattle is so white."

Or

"Seattle is too white, so white bread."

But you never hear these same people exclaim,

"Philadelphia is so black."

or

"Atlanta is too black."

Because that would be racist.

I suppose these same people would prefer to live in a black-majority city and then not utter a word of complaint.