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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Patricia Trinchero who wrote (55217)	3/22/2008 4:06:37 AM
From: Mac Con Ulaidh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542202

"Are we racist if we want to discuss a legitimate racial issue that bothers us?" nooo. i was appalled at the jump on obama saying his grandmother was a typical white woman. it means... average. a white woman. of her age. and her time. my mother, who is 82, years ago admitted that when she sees a black man on the streets she is nervous. that is/was imbued. the 'bad' black man. but... she made clear is more if is a group of them. then... harder to admit... she admitted is nervous if sees a group of young white men together. but.. is not any sane woman walking a street an empty street alone and hears heavy (ergo male) footsteps behind her, on her guard? and should males in general be offended that she is? nooo. it is wise. perhaps he is one of the 9 in 10, or 99 in 100, who is okay. maybe he is the one who isn't. no apology needed for being on guard. my mother perfectly understood obama's grandmother, even tho she is one of the most non-racist people i've ever known, and raised me that way. i think part of what obama was getting at was... say these things openly. no shame. no apology. talk to each other. to grip your purse tighter is not like a store owner dogging a black teen who comes in to buy some candy, assuming he is a thug thief. so what's the issue?

To: Patricia Trinchero who wrote (55217)	3/22/2008 4:56:55 AM
From: Cogito	Respond to of 542202

>>Are we racist if we want to discuss a legitimate racial issue that bothers us?<< Patricia - I don't think so. Not that it's up to me to judge who is a racist and who isn't. In my opinion, we are not being racist as long as we aren't judging people based on their race. I also happen to believe that it's a dicey thing to make the decision that someone else is racist, unless their actions or words are very overt. I remember that once an article in the Village Voice saying that the people at General Mills were racist because they had put some of the US Olympic basketball Dream Team on a Wheaties box, and three out of five of the players they had chosen were white. The author said that since more than 70% of the players on the team were black, the makeup of the group on the box should have reflected that. The people at General Mills responded that they had put the photo shoot together in a hurry, and that those five players happened to be the ones who were available that day. That, of course, was not enough for the author. He considered that to be a lame excuse and an after-the-fact justification for obviously racist behavior. I thought at the time that the article was a load of crap, and I think so today. That's kind of tangential to this discussion, I realize. Sorry about that. - Allen