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Black-Latino Tension Is A Figment Of White People’s Imagination (or Desire?)

Started by baratunde aka jack turner · 11 months ago

Remember a few days ago, when I wrote about how Obama is kicking McSame’s ass among the Latino demographic? Well I just found some additional quantitative evidence explaining what’s behind the “blacks hate browns and vice versa” meme we hear so much in the media.

From Gallup: Whites May Exaggerate Black-Hispanic Tensions<br ... Continue reading »

90 comments

  • Lily

    11 months ago

    I have mentioned that I am a mix on this board so that i don't misrepresent myself here. Forgive my actual words in some places as I struggle to take my feelings and transform them to the written page. I know there are many of us, in the brown population, who know that until America makes amends and truly changes its relationship between blacks and whites, our own status will not change. We believe racism is like a cancer on this land. Until we go to the root of the cancer which is slavery and race relations between the most powerful (white rich connected men) and the least powerful (black slaves and their descendants and even blacks who are not directly descended) working on other groups would be like treating the symptoms. I am not saying that I there are no powerful blacks, this board alone proves how truly powerful and amazingly accomplished you are even with the institutional inequalities. My Native and Mexican people cannot be treated as equal until you are treated as equal. True equality, true respect, true amends. This is what the white press doesn't understand. Genocide of Natives and refusing new hordes of people across borders happens all the time and has happened throughout time. The slavery that your people endured is uniquely cruel. Words fail me at what I am trying to say so forgive the actual words but listen to the meaning. Until their is a completion with slavery and the residual effects of it, there will never be equality for us all. When one of us is hurt, the others are hurt as well.

    That being said. My brother and his girlfriend work very hard in LA with migration (yes, not immigration) rights and laws. That is mainly the Latino population but since 9/11 there have been a lot of Africans and Middle Easterners who have had lawyers and advocates because of them. In the few days after FISA and another group of mainly white voters were bailing on Obama I and thousands of others received an email. In it was the knowledge that no one gets into power with idealism alone but we need to have that person there to represent us. He may not be able to fight the way we would love him to, but if we are honest, no one man can ever fight the machine that way.
    There was an link to an article
    http://www.truthout.org/article/obama-and-progr...
    and this passage was highlighted

    Under a McCain presidency, we'd be back to square one, where we've found ourselves since January 2001. Putting Obama in the White House would not by any means ensure progressive change, but under his presidency, the grassroots would have an opportunity to create it.

    Along the way, let's strive to eliminate disillusionment by dispensing with illusions. No one who is a presidential candidate can proceed to overcome corporate power or the warfare state. The pervasive and huge problems that have proved to be so destructive are deep, structural and embedded in the political economy. The changes most worth believing in are the ones social movements can make possible.

    I understood his vote and while the supporters of Edwards and Hillary cry out that see she voted against it and he would never have voted yes, I believe if they were the nominee, they would have voted the same. The idealised world versus the real world.

    The Latino community is not bailing. No nos moveran.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    You expressed yourself brilliantly. With insight and wisdom and truth. Thank you for this.
    reply
  • GreenLadyHere

    11 months ago

    Lily: Your passion and wisdom are amazing! I hope that this doesn't sound trite, but , as profound as you have spoken!!

    ". . . but if we are honest, no one man can ever fight the machine that way."

    You have reinforced the African proverb [though I found out that other cultures have expressed the same in a variety of ways] that "IT TAKES A VILLAGE . . ."
    We must see ouselves as a part of the VILLAGE OF "CHANGE" if we are to realize the CHANGE! So we continue to fight in our various ways to keep the message loud and clear! I thank our Ambassador- Mr. Obama-for his world tour where his/our message could be declared and embraced!

    KUDOS to you and your FAMILY for their "VILLAGE EFFORTS!!!" :>) :>) :>)
    Much love!!!
    reply
  • Lily

    11 months ago

    Thanks to you both. As a great man once sang.

    I am everyday people
    reply
  • GreenLadyHere

    11 months ago

    Lily: SEEEEEE! You go for the "songs" too!! And "old school" is my favorita!! :>) :>)
    reply
  • adriana01

    11 months ago

    I am in CA, and among my more educated peers (Latino and black), there don't seem to be any tensions. We realize that we have many similarities in terms of our struggle for equal access to quality education, just treatment from law enforcement, etc.

    Now, on the streets, I think that there are tensions between blacks and Latinos in some of the poorer areas like Watts, South LA, etc. where Latinos have become the majority of the population without really understanding the struggle of their black neighbors. And this has to do w/ education, the dire economic situation that these Latinos are in (they work so much that often they don't have time to engage in their communities, they live in the shadows because they are undocumented, etc.). And of course, in the prisons, segregation of the populations is a reality, and when these people get out, they carry over that mentality.

    I feel that we need to build black-brown coalitions, especially on-line. I would love to see some of the bloggers here speak out on the Latino blogs or cross post some of the issues that we are facing to gain a broader understanding. As a Latina, I have always felt a connection to the black community and a great respect for its accomplishments because our struggle is a collective one.

    To answer the original blog post, I think that there is an incentive by white American in general, beyond the corporate interests, to keep us divided so that we "don't demand too much." Imagine the power that we could harness by coming together.
    reply
  • baratunde aka jack turner

    11 months ago

    adriana, great comments as usual.

    that bridge building is under way.
    Man Eegee of Latino Politico and nezua (of Unapologetic Mexican) comment here, and I know I'm going to make more of an effort to do the same on Latino blogs.

    At next year's Netroots Nation, we're trying to plan for a joint caucus. I encourage all of you to do the same. Check out Latina Lista and other Latino blogs and drop some comments and engage in the discussion. Bring what you find back here or email us with tips and topic suggestions.

    thx
    reply
  • adriana01

    11 months ago

    Thank you!

    I'm glad to see that Man Eegee and Nezua visit here and comment.

    I will take you up on this idea and e-mail you about blog posts and issues that you guys could help us with.

    I have a blog post up now on my own site about the Luis Ramirez beating death that happened in PA. If you do get a chance, you can see how comments have gone down the road of how the Latino community can learn from the NAACP, Urban League, etc.

    And I have addressed on more than one occasion our social similarities and the existence of the Afro-Latino community.
    reply
  • nettie

    11 months ago

    This goes so much deeper than just race relations and which minority group this government decides to give its scraps to. Neocon thinktanks decided at the inception of this union that in order to distract the masses from their "power" agenda they would always need to be a struggle for those scraps. A very few very powerful men around the world has now coveting that same plan of action. Mexico is losing jobs to India, African nations are refused and fair global trade policies so they will also need to compete for slave labour and now Iraqis and Pakistanis and shipped off to Dubai working for pennies a day. People of color (as numerous in number that we are) are victims of wealthy elite and until that is recognized we will remain beholden to the megaconglomerates that see us all as pawns.
    reply
  • TruthSeeker

    11 months ago

    That's right.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    The global political economy summed up in a nutshell.
    reply
  • Town

    11 months ago

    I don't think white people are thinking that hard.

    I would say that most white people don't know a Hispanic person or a Black person outside of a work situation, so when the talking heads and Billary and news media keep repeating that "Hispanics and Blacks don't like each other and Hispanics won't vote for Obama cuz he's black" white people are going to believe it, especially if someone white is saying it.

    The only way white people will stop believe that "blacks vs. hispanics" meme is if someone WHITE says it's not true. But Billary and the news media keep saying it's true, and even though polls are showing Hispanics favoring Obama by 66%, they still believe that Hispanics don't like Obama b/c he's black and Hispanics & blacks have a major problem with each other.

    So I do think the Black/Latino tension is a figment of white people's imagination, but only because they've been told that by white authority figures who need for there to be a "division" for their own agendas.

    This reminds me of the movie "ROMEO MUST DIE," when incidents would happen and the Black gangs thought the Asian gangs were behind them, and vice versa. But it was the White guy who was riling the Black and Asian gangs up against each other behind the scenes, so he could profit from the dvision and make off like a bandit.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    Exhale.

    Reading such things (and knowing their truth) makes me take a deep, deep breath.
    reply
  • GreenLadyHere

    11 months ago

    town: Co-signing! In the classrooms that I have taught in, I have seen as much cooperation among Black and Hipanics as existed within each individual group. But, I have observed tensions too, and with a bit of "social engineering" [putting students into "groups" according to my rules :>) :>) :>)], the "mixed" groups form powerful allies and the competition is fierce and productive! :>) :>)
    So to the question - Is the tension a figment . . .? - if "social engineering" can go on in the environment of a classroom, it surely can take place in the "larger community!" This is one of the reasons that I keep asking for DATA! If a journalist simply "OPINES" without DATA [e.g., there is A LOT of tension between Blacks and Hispanics], I ask --SHOW ME THE DATA that defines A LOT!!! What was the SAMPLE SIZE? SES of the SAMPLE, etc, etc, etc.
    Unfortunately, the opinions get "OUT THERE" in a short amont of time and wreak havoc, in some cases, B4 rebuttal questions can be asked! And someone else has helped form opinions.
    Finally, [WHEW :>) ], that's why i appreciat this thread, Mr. Turner, as an intervention to a completion of the formulation of solid opinions - as TRUTH!!!
    (Deep breaths :>) :>) )
    reply
  • Yoyogibear

    11 months ago

    Re-posting... I'm a newbie and accidentally posted my reply at the bottom of the page...

    I agree with you that white people aren't thinking that hard. As I'm sure everyone here knows, racism isn't really on the average white person's radar on a daily basis.

    I think some whites like to focus on a 'divide' between blacks and hispanics (or any other non-white ethnic group) because it validates their own racism. big Media outlets know that one of the products they need to sell to their viewers is a feeling of validation so they cover these bogus stories. I think whites - and I say this as a white person myself - watch/read these stories and figure 'blacks are racist against Mexicans so they're no better than I am!' I know it sounds crazy - not to mention utterly retarded - but I believe it to be true and have heard this sort of rubbish more than once in my life.

    I'd like to think there is a more nefarious reason for the coverage (creating division between groups, for example), but I think for the vast majority of the white population that actually make a big deal about this so-called divide, it just makes them feel less bad about their own racism.

    Apologies if someone further downthread posted the same thing.
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  • smoothie

    11 months ago

    I can say this much, Down here in San Antonio where its roughly 60% Latin and about 8% black we get along fine. Though the numbers are slightly different in my home city of houston, we get along fine there as well.

    Ive always looked at this controversy as a ploy created by certain groups to turn one against the other, in a grand scheme to watch them both wipe each other out.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    Divide and conquer. Oldest ploy in the book.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    Could it be that more white people (not just pundits) need our groups to be divided as the population demographics shift?

    ::

    I think that's it. Estimates suggest the Hispanic voter base will increase by up to 10% from 2004.

    That's no small increase.

    As the Black electorate becomes more involved than it has ever been at the same time the Hispanic electorate expands, well....
    reply
  • eclecticbrotha

    11 months ago

    You were right about the "brown assassins" comments. They're trying to hem him up at the Unity conference. First the moderator tries to get him to say the surge was a success, now we have a guy trying to say denying he's a Muslim insults Muslims.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    I'm afraid I'm missing that.
    reply
  • TRW

    11 months ago

    I saw that surge comment. It really angers me that there is no objective viewpoint, or a lack of actual knowledge about what is happening overseas. There are legitimate arguments about the success of the surge, but I guess since John foreign policy expert McCain says that it cured all the evils in Iraq, journalists are too lazy to actually research and find other viewpoints. These people make me sick. This is the same kind of foolishness that had everybody sitting on their hands in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. Its funny how Obama predicted, to a T, what would happen once we invaded, but instead of acknowledging that, every idiot with a mike wants him to change his view on the "surge." Nobody is brow beating McCain about saying we would be greeted as liberators, the war would be paid for with Iraqi oil, and the hostilities should only last about six months.

    I swear smoke is coming out of my ears right now.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    I fell you, TRW.

    Barack is pushing back hard, though.
    reply
  • kate03

    11 months ago

    Craig,
    I think white ethnocentric institutions need divided groups, a lot of white people, who are basically blind to the effects of racist structure, are mostly pawns in the game. I could be wrong here, but that's what I think anyway.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    Doesn't sound off the mark to me.
    reply
  • RiPPa

    11 months ago

    I'd like to think and agree that much of it has to do with the media. Sure, maybe in some communities out in California, this is a problem (one with a history in gang activity), but I haven't heard much in the way of a black vs brown thing. Seems to me, that its a white america vs brown thing which is evident wit the immigration debate.
    reply
  • Lisa M

    11 months ago

    A little off tangent here but I just saw this on HuffPo. Bill C pretty much dismisses any ill will Black people feel towards him for acting a fool during the primaries. Quote: I don't think it will last.

    I didn't think that much him before and think even less of him and his wife now. I think he showed his true self and Billary will have to deal with the fallout for some time to come.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/nyregion/thec...
    reply
  • TruthSeeker

    11 months ago

    Why did he go and plant himself in Harlem....to piss on a tree and mark his territory? Think he was trying to honour the black community?

    Bill has blood on his hands. Innocent Rwandan blood. Tainted HIV and Hep-C infected blood. Bill is a swine, and the black community has a murderous swine in it's midst. There's always a price, and the pig we protected - and his swine wife - returned to almost destroy the first black candidate.

    To Bill, the predator - our people are just prey.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    Tell us how you really feel, why don't you.
    reply
  • Town

    11 months ago

    Bill went to Harlem because it was cheaper. If those other Manhattan offices had been available at the rate the Harlem office was, he likely never would have even considered Harlem much less moved there.

    The thing is, Billary thinks they are dealing with the Stephanie Tubbs Jones ilk of black people, so when he says "It won't last" Billary is thinking of them, and they are right when it comes to them.

    I think for the under 40 set, Billary's about to have a rude awakening. Billary STILL doesn't get how they threw black folks under the bus. I truly believe if Billary had kept it clean and shut down all the race stuff (Ferraro I'm looking at YOU), she would be the Democratic nominee today, not Obama.
    reply
  • TruthSeeker

    11 months ago

    The world associates Harlem with blackness, black cultural Renaissance.. Bill would stick his penis into that particular mouth, and mark his territory.

    There's something far more valuable to Bill than dollars...and money is not a problem for him. Bill knows the soul of the black community is more valuable.

    We threw our lot in with the devil, and the devil moved into our house because he knows where we live, and he knew we belonged to him. Then the devil tried to collect by destroying Barack. The devil needs to be taught a lesson.
    reply
  • msmartin

    11 months ago

    You're on fire today!
    reply
  • Comment removed.
  • msmartin

    11 months ago

    Hey Truth, I am and hope you are as well!
    reply
  • GreenLadyHere

    11 months ago

    TruthSeeker: Amen! "Stomp The Devil Out!" [church song :>) :>)
    reply
  • smoothie

    11 months ago

    affirmative action didnt take long to become a topic..I find anyone quoting Ward Connerly very ignornant of his past. He started his business on a grant based on minority status and the moment he got succesful, he started a campaign against Affirmative Action.. (gotta love the self hating black rethugs)
    reply
  • TruthSeeker

    11 months ago

    Because he's "passing". Isn't that what "passing" is...trying to deny where you came from?
    reply
  • smoothie

    11 months ago

    unfortunatly...
    ward conerrly goes state to stae lecturing on Affirmative Action and how to end it. apparently he's now using Barackm as a Talking Point as to why you no longer need it.
    reply
  • GreenLadyHere

    11 months ago

    smoothie: I'm trying to figure out what happened in California. I didn't hear the discussion when Ward came through here. I feel badly for not being involved. I'm just sayin'
    reply
  • eclecticbrotha

    11 months ago

    Its nice to know that the minority media is as beholden to the neocons as the rest of the media. Most of the Q&A had nothing to do with the trip, just a bunch of gotcha attempts about affirmative action, being accused of being Muslim blah blah blah
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    The war on Barack is being waged on many battlefields.
    reply
  • eclecticbrotha

    11 months ago

    Put Suzanne Malveaux on the "brown assassins" list. In the post-interview wrap up she said the most important question "on everyone's minds" was whether Obama feels beholden to the black community because of benefiting from AA.
    reply
  • baratunde aka jack turner

    11 months ago

    "the most important question"
    jesus. i want video.
    wtf is wrong with these people?
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    There's a reason CNN is running "Black in America" on a continuous loop. So they can have a CNN dumbass ask a question like this.

    She's promoting The Spook Who Sat By The Door nonsense.

    I refuse to watch CNN except in snippets.

    It's more racist than FOX because it acts like it's not.

    I saw this shit coming back in April when they started advertising the series.
    reply
  • msmartin

    11 months ago

    ......and to remind the voters what "black" is.
    reply
  • GreenLadyHere

    11 months ago

    co-signing, ms martin: I don't know how long the mantra that "we don't that much about Mr. Obama" is going to keep up! What more do "they" have ta know?? I know!! [she said dropping her voice in disgust :>)] So at least "they" can keep up the "Black" thing - as you have pointed out!!!
    Whew!! (Deep breaths! ) :>) :>)
    reply
  • msmartin

    11 months ago

    I heard a Repblican pundit say "they need to know he shares their values". I opine that he likely not only shares their values, but has more.
    reply
  • eclecticbrotha

    11 months ago

    Ouch.
    reply
  • GreenLadyHere

    11 months ago

    msmartin: Band-aid, please! :>) :>)
    reply
  • eclecticbrotha

    11 months ago

    Here's Malveaux trying to throw the "Audacity" of him acting like he was "running for president of the world" in his face, allowing Obama to Barack that ass with his answer:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCprJK9RC3Y
    reply
  • TruthSeeker

    11 months ago

    Thanks for the link. He was great here...he seemed so much more relaxed than pre trip. I think he's relieved it went well and he kind of got that hurdle out of the way. Now he has some armour against John McCain on security and foreign policy.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    No. She. Didn't.
    reply
  • msmartin

    11 months ago

    I'm sure she did. I didn't care much for her reporting during the primaries. Like you said, this is a war being waged on many battlefields. Many.
    reply
  • eclecticbrotha

    11 months ago

    My wording may not be completely accurate, but a flurry of Kossacks asked similar questions minutes after she spoke to Blitzer.
    reply
  • TRW

    11 months ago

    WTF. Sometimes Black people embarass the sh** out of themselves for being so openly foolish in public.

    Are these people journalists? Where are the standards? Please tell me this wasn't an actual journalist that asked this?
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    I feel that we need to build black-brown coalitions, especially on-line. I would love to see some of the bloggers here speak out on the Latino blogs or cross post some of the issues that we are facing to gain a broader understanding. As a Latina, I have always felt a connection to the black community and a great respect for its accomplishments because our struggle is a collective one.

    ::

    Sounds good to me.
    reply
  • Sepia

    11 months ago

    Was it just me, or did Leonard Pitts, Jr. try to create a "Gotcha" moment at the Unity Conference?
    reply
  • nezua

    11 months ago

    i keep an eye on this type of headline and article always, closely, for about the last two years. a series of articles are now arising like a spike and to me it is clear that the right wing is either planting articles or planting seeds of ideas in certain press mediums or somehow influencing the conversation and wants to introduce a rift no matter how tiny so that it can be wedged and wedged to a greater degree by november. dont bleeve the hype i say. we're working together every day all day online and off. of course there is tension and violence and everything between all kinds on this continent. as a media person, i dont doubt the issue, but all things are going on always. so why report on this now? why so many articles right now? i certainly pay attention to the timing, the framing, the effect of those articles and who benefits by the proliferation of them.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    McCain Fumbles on Sunday TV

    He's unfit for the presidency.

    That's all anyone needs to say about him from this point forward.

    Anything else is just noise.
    reply
  • Lily

    11 months ago

    As John kept saying two parent family ad naseum, why didn't George say, Gay couple means two parent family.
    The stupid and the stupid having a conversation. TV really does suck.
    reply
  • TruthSeeker

    11 months ago

    Yeah. Then he said at the end "traditional family". The typical tv personality (and that's what they are, not journalists) is too dumb to think on their feet during an interview. They stick with the questions as written and can't improvise of follow up effectively on a provocative answer..or non-answer in McCain's case.

    I cannot stand McCain.. and his nasty grimace/snarl/smirk that the pundits call a smile. Know how I feel when I see that snarl, the same way I feel when I hear a rattlesnake, even on tv: Danger!

    It's like High School all over again with him. McCain's the dumb jock and Barack's the whiz kid....except this whiz kid can throw 3 pointers...and the dumb jock's aging and he's got mental arthritis.
    reply
  • msmartin

    11 months ago

    Aside from the media being too dumb to modify a planned interview session, McCain is getting more assists than a NBA player from them.

    Wiz kid with a three-point shot - I love it.

    I'm not sure he was ever really mentally capable to begin with, hence his grades and rankings. He's better known for his will to fight; he is the type who doesn't possess the ability to think, so he acts out his emotions in an agressive and physcial manner.
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  • eclecticbrotha

    11 months ago

    The guy is in the early stages of dementia. He denies what he said two days ago and then even says we really were greeted as liberators in Iraq.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    Obama: VP Pick Won't Be Based on Geography

    He has looked the most comfortable with:

    Bob Casey
    Kathleen Sebelius
    Chris Richardson
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  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

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  • TruthSeeker

    11 months ago

    ..Great. Now if black people could figure out a way to earn royalties on our stolen cultural soliloquisms.
    reply
  • carolinagirl

    11 months ago

    LMAO. So true.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    Gallup:

    Obama 49%
    McCain 40%

    The biggest lead so far in the daily tracking polls.
    reply
  • TruthSeeker

    11 months ago

    I was just reading that....The campaign said they didn't expect a bounce and actually thought there might be a slight dip while they were out of the country. Ha, I don't know if they're playing games on that one, they must have internal polling. Anyway, no matter what Conservatives or middle America says, everybody wants to be loved. There's no way the adoring crowd in Berlin is a bad thing for Barack...or America.

    Then, foreign leaders are trying to kiss his ass to curry favour with their own people! How is it bad for a potential American President to have that kind of influence? How??
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    Only in their jealous imaginations.

    At least George Herman Walker Bush could admit he was jealous without flinching when asked what he thought about heads of state rolling out red carpets for Barack.
    reply
  • eclecticbrotha

    11 months ago

    Because it hurts the sitting president's feelings to see that the world wasn't hating America they just hate HIM.
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  • GreenLadyHere

    11 months ago

    eclecta: Tru dat! :>)
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    This article should win the Pulitzer Prize.

    Frank Rich: How Obama Became Acting President

    Damn he can write.
    reply
  • Lily

    11 months ago

    I await what your browser finds, Craig!

    This was a very good article and honest. Having lived overseas, man, all the world really wants is someone at the helm that isn't insane and takes their needs into some kind of consideration. They really have deflated any apsirations more than that. I think that is why they look at Barack so intensely. It is like getting the bestest ever christmas present instead of the socks you were expecting.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    Here's is what my niece, who is Dutch, had to say:

    We were so impressed with his presents (sic), his words and his aura. We had tears in our eyes. We WANT to believe him, we WANT to trust him. He's doing what no politician has done in our lifetime (30 years to be exact)he showed us europeans there is a possibility to come together as nations, to work tgether. He gave us all hope for the future.

    This is a young woman who can't stand anything German. Goes back to the legacy of World War II, as you might imagine. I figured she probably wouldn't enjoy Barack speaking in Berlin.

    Boy was I wrong.
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  • baratunde aka jack turner

    11 months ago

    great article!
    reply
  • TruthSeeker

    11 months ago

    That was a damned good article, covering all the bases and expressing utter exasperation with the train wreck that is McCain. Frank Rich is a man still connected to objective reality, what a relief.

    ...And it gives Barack his due praise.
    reply
  • CraigHickman

    11 months ago

    His writing has been the best of anyone's this election cycle. Peggy Noonan is a close second.

    He really ought to get the Pulitzer Prize for his body of work.
    reply
  • TruthSeeker

    11 months ago

    I agree, Peggy's pretty amazing too. I think she's conservative though...I don't seek out her stuff, but when I encounter something, it's always insightful.

    Ben Stein, I'm not that familiar with, but on Larry King he praised Barack for being one of the most talented campaigners he's ever seen. He also later said he doesn't work for McCain and can tell the truth. I don't know if that's his usual style, but it was refreshing.

    I think what we're starving for is someone saying just how amazing Barack's candidacy has been. Deep down, they all admire/envy him...I know it. But, even the Democrats are mum.
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  • msmartin

    11 months ago

    He simply told the unvarnished truth. The truth that many operatives have plotted to cover.

    Finally, real journalilsm that wasn't paid for or inspired by.........
    reply
  • Sepia

    11 months ago

    Finally! I REAL journalist who's willing to tell the truth!
    reply
  • heartsandflowers

    11 months ago

    Well we brown people have a lot of shared history and recent ancestry as many of us are the descendants of those who were enslaved. Our appearance does not give an accurate estimate of our gene pool. We have common goals. It is of interest and intent by those motivated by racial bias and a desire to retain power to impose a system of inferiority and discord amongst others. Some people may have problems with each other and are misinformed but certainly not all. It is a similar theme as the one being pushed about Black men and Black women hating each other and being dysfunctional.
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  • baratunde aka jack turner

    11 months ago

    test
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  • Squarepeg

    11 months ago

    Racial tensions in Miami, Florida are an everyday reality for Black Americans in this city.

    With the desire to disenfranchise Black folks for the struggle they waged to obtain civil rights, the powers-that-be in this city, embraced the incoming Cuban migration at the expense of the community, with civil rights legislation used to benefit those folks who had not lifted a finger in the cause of civil rights.

    For more than 40 years, the Black community has been subjected to the use of a foreign language as a weapon in order to deny jobs, educational opportunities and other resources. Black politicians to their own detriment have sold out their communities for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver, only to be kicked to the curb by both Hispanics and Whites when they were no longer needed.

    At the present time in Miami, the irony is that the white population is less than 20 percent and most middle class Blacks are moving out in droves. It seems that in less than 40 years, civil rights that were designed to balance discrepancies in treatment of Blacks have been turned on their ear to benefit another group that did not lift one finger in support of the legislation they are now taking full advantage of.

    People from other countries who have never worked a day in their lives in this country in many cases are entitled to social services, including Social Security Supplemental, that many of our grandparents are denied until they can prove they are US citizens. People affecting the outcomes of elections who have voter registration cards that shouldn't have as they are not US citizens.

    The answer to your question for this town if you were to get a Black person to candidly tell the truth would be that yes, there is more than tension between Blacks and Hispanics, there is bitterness that this group of people are benefitting from a struggle they did not suffer from, but many have the audacity to state publicly, proudly, and arrogantly, that Black folks have too much power in this country.

    Yes, there is tension and it is not a preception but reality in this place.

    Let's be real. When you can't get a job because you don't speak the
    "right" language, or you enter a store and no one speaks English, the tension is only exacerbated.
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  • Yoyogibear

    11 months ago

    Your points (at least in the first 4 paragraphs) are reasonable. Miami might be an extreme case though. I'm not sure it's representative of America as a whole.

    regarding people who have never worked in this country being entitled to social services while older African Americans aren't is a bit more questionable to me. I'm not sure how, say, illegal immigrants could get such services while others, who were born in America, can't get the same services. If there is actual evidence of that happening, I'd be interested in seeing it. I tend to hear it from my right-wing relatives, but don't see much evidence of it myself...

    Regarding language issues, put yourself in their shoes. It's possible they don't know the language. If you've ever been overseas, you may have noticed that many Americans (and other foreigners) who live in another country never manage to pick up the language of their host country, either. It's especially difficult for adults who didn't have sufficient exposure to English when they were younger. That might account for the non-English-speaking stores in Miami (though, if they have lived in the US for any period of time, I imagine they can struggle to express themselves at least in very basic English). People with no English skills in America are also often forced, thru necessity, to work in their own communities. Why would boeing, for example, hire someone in the US who speaks *only* Korean? The fact of the matter is, such people have little choice but to start their own business or work in an ethnic supermarket or some other place where they can get by largely thru their own language.

    Similarly, Americans aren't the only people who have to learn the 'right' language. I live in Japan and work as a staff recruiter. Many of the jobs I get are at non-Japanese companies and require English skills that the vast majority of Japanese people don't have. As a result, for those Japanese people who weren't fortunate enough to live in America, for example, when they were young and when their parents (father) were working in the US, they either have to learn English on their own time or build a career/life in an area where it's not required.

    The tension with regards to language seems completely unnecessary to me. It is what it is. I'm sure language issues have existed since the beginning of human migration. FWIW, if you walk into a store where the employees don't speak English but are talking amongst themselves, I suspect they're engaged in a mundane conversation, just like English speakers are when they work together. Americans seem particularly inclined to think that they're being talked about negatively when they are around others who aren't speaking English. In reality, I think it's seldom that exciting.
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  • melanctha

    11 months ago

    Miami's Cuban population is largely descendant from those members of the Battista oligarchy and their lackeys who were forced to flee Cuba with the ascendence of Castro and the revolution. They came from a regime/economy that was largely based on the oppression and discrimination of blacks. (Although, interestingly enough, Battista is considered to have been black. ) They merely continued behaving in the manner to which they were accustomed. They not only look down on blacks but most other hispanics.
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  • Yoyogibear

    11 months ago

    I agree with you that white people aren't thinking that hard. As I'm sure everyone here knows, racism isn't really on the average white person's radar on a daily basis.

    I think some whites like to focus on a 'divide' between blacks and hispanics (or any other non-white ethnic group) because it validates their own racism. big Media outlets know that one of the products they need to sell to their viewers is a feeling of validation so they cover these bogus stories. I think whites - and I say this as a white person myself - watch/read these stories and figure 'blacks are racist against Mexicans so they're no better than I am!' I know it sounds crazy - not to mention utterly retarded - but I believe it to be true and have heard this sort of rubbish more than once in my life.

    I'd like to think there is a more nefarious reason for the coverage (creating division between groups, for example), but I think for the vast majority of the white population that actually make a big deal about this so-called divide, it just makes them feel less bad about their own racism.

    Apologies if someone further downthread posted the same thing.
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  • GreenLadyHere

    11 months ago

    "And the Beat Goes On" [Sunny & Cher]
    Timothy Pratt - Las Vegas Sun: Black-Hispanic Rivalry May Be A Myth [ya think ? :>) :>)

    www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jul/28/black-hisp...

    Doing this in between projects! Whew! :>) :>) Ya know, I haven't had my "DISS THE DUDE" moments today! It's ruff! :>) :>) :>) Whew. Deep breaths! :>) :>) :>)
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  • 英文家教

    2 months ago

    Don't stop learning people. Just keep at it and you'll get it eventually.
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  • 英文家教

    2 months ago

    Studying isn't easy but if you keep at it you will reap the reward. Everyone should keep learning and not stop.
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