What is racism and what is not?

willbuck1 · #21 07/20/10, 10:39 PM

Glenn Beck was actually calling for the full story today. He makes a good claim that until the full video is seen there is no case to fire her. She claims that it was 24 years ago that she did that and she has changed her beliefs since then. The whole video has not been released and doesn't look like the NAACP is going to release the rest of it. If her story is true it gave an opportunity for the White House to look like it was fighting racism against whites but actually getting rid of someone they felt wasn't rascist enough.

salmonslayer · #22 07/20/10, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Glenn Beck was actually calling for the full story today. He makes a good claim that until the full video is seen there is no case to fire her. She claims that it was 24 years ago that she did that and she has changed her beliefs since then. The whole video has not been released and doesn't look like the NAACP is going to release the rest of it. If her story is true it gave an opportunity for the White House to look like it was fighting racism against whites but actually getting rid of someone they felt wasn't rascist enough.

Kind of a text book example of people jumping to conclusions. The woman was relating a story from 24 years ago, the farmer didnt lose his farm partly due to her efforts, the farmers family supports her, and she was illustrating the story to show that she had initially had race in mind due to the historical and documented abuses within the USDA against women and minorities when in fact she discovered that the true problem was poverty and that revelation changed her whole way of thinking. She sounds like the kind of government employee we need more of.

The irony here is that the NAACP and the first black administration ended up vilifying her and firing her before they actually found out what really happened.

I say reinstate her and fire Vilsack.

pancho · #23 07/20/10, 11:54 PM

I was unaware this happened 24 years ago. I was thinking it happened recently. When i listened to the full story it looks like the woman did not deserve to be fired.
Hope everyone listens to the full story before making a decision. I didn't.
I was sure the woman should be removed form her job immediately. I was wrong.

Sawmill Jim · #24 07/21/10, 12:05 AM

Toss some those other bums out and give her a better job

#25 07/21/10, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvella

or maybe they lived near me. a KKK rally several years ago had people with black baby dolls chained at the neck hanging from the grill of their car. that made me nervous and i'm white.

some black people do overreact. but for them, it's kind of like picking at a sore, the more it's picked at the easier it bleeds.

there was a boy on my foster kids basketball team 2 years ago. the guy in front of him in line got 2 pieces of pizza. when he got his pizza he only got one piece. he felt he only got one when the white guys got two because they were racist. he didn't know the guy in front of him paid extra for 2 pieces.

we don't know the side of the women in your story. there may well have been something said that could have been racist that the other people didn't pick up on. until we know what they think was said we don't really have an accurate story. nor do we have a way to try and smooth it out.

We DO know what was said..my DD's coworker said.."I'm having fun with the children. We're making little white ghosts to hang on the tree outside." The two Black women left the table, went to the manager and complained that the White people were TALKING ABOUT MAKING HALLOWEEN GHOSTS TO SCARE BLACKS."

As I said..sometime, someplace, these two young Black women got the notion that tissue-paper white ghosts hanging from trees at Halloween was a secret message among White people that meant, "Hang Black people." It is an accurate story..that's what makes it so odd..who would think for a minute that Black people would believe such a thing?

wendle · #26 07/21/10, 07:18 AM

Here's more on the story of lady who resigned
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/...ex.html?hpt=C1

It was 24 years ago, and she wasn't working there.

wwubben · #27 07/21/10, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countrygurl

racism: when a white person is promoted because of of their qualifications, like the fire fighters a couple of months ago got promoted on their test score but a lawsuit was file because some applicants didnt score well. when you get points add to your score (college admissions, ect base on your race. your are approved for a loan based on your race not on the ability to actually make the payments. they are the first to play the card

not racism: acorn, new black panthers, national association of "black", govenors, colleges, lawyers, any any other Black Organizations, (cant have a "WHITE" organization on no!!!!

and know i dont have it backwards, racism will always be fueled as long as we allow things to be based on ones race or beliefs and not on their on merit. and it just not based on race, you can have a gay organization but not "straight" organiztion time to get rid of these titles and then you will see racism be a thing of the past, and no i am not a racist I base my feeling on a "person" not on their race or beliefs

now go ahead a SLAM me!

Many would consider this post racist.

TheMartianChick · #28 07/21/10, 08:11 AM

I have a pretty tough standard that must be met before I will call something racist. All other possibilities must be exhausted first.To give an example:

A black man goes into a store and he is followed in every aisle by a man dressed as a store security guard. This goes on for several aisles. Finally, the man leaves in a huff, refusing to purchase anything in a place where he is being racially profiled. Was this a racially motivated incident?

From my standpoint, it might not be...The security guard might not even work for the store. He could just be another shopper who happens to be traveling down the same aisles.

If the security guard did work for the store, I would want to know if he follows everyone who shops there? If so, then he is showing no racial bias whatsoever and is merely using the same protocol on everyone.

If he followed the man based upon shifty/suspicious behavior and would have followed any person with the same behavior of any gender/color, etc..., then it is not racism

If he followed the man because in his experience, all black men are untrustworthy, then it is racism.

As for the lady from the USDA, her behavior 20+ years ago was wrong... I don't care if the farmer eventually got the assistance that he needed...She was in a position to help someone and failed to do her best. Clearly, the farmer supports her now, but she allowed her perception of him to color her judgement and taint her actions. Often times when people are in the midst of an emotional event (like a foreclosure, job loss etc...) they can behave in a ways that can be wrongly interpreted. As someone in a position to help, she should have sucked up her personal feelings and dispensed whatever information and assistance that she was able to. Anything less was shirking her duties.

There is still more to come out on this story because the video was edited. I want to hear more of the facts...

Edited to add: I did not watch or read any news this mornign, so I was still commenting on what I had heard yesterday. Now that the unedited tape is available, this woman did not do anything wrong, she merely was relating the internal racial gymnastics that she went through as she attempted to assist the white farmer. I think that her admission of the struggle is refreshingly open and honest. More people could stand to be as honest with themselves.

marvella · #29 07/21/10, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Txsteader

Well, Palin was accused of being racist for wearing a white jacket.

It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

That and the other stories here are just a sad testament to what somebody in the black community is saying in order to keep the pot stirred.....and to what the black community will believe. Sad, sad, sad.

is that anything like michelle o getting lambasted for wearing a black and white dress to the oil spill??

marvella · #30 07/21/10, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wendle

A long time ago I was married to a racist. He told me about a young black child running across the road and dropped his book bag. My X proceeded to run the bag over , papers and such scattered everywhere. He had the most evil grin on his face and laughed about it. I told him it was not funny, the poor kid, I don't think it was right. The kid never did anything to him. Just as the white farmer never did anything to the lady who didn't help him. I wonder if he lost his farm. The lady was bragging about her tale in front of who she considered friends who were "her kind".
A little wary or a noticing a bit of difference isn't quite the same thing.

now that the truth is out...
she did help the white farmer. he was on the news this morning, saying she helped him keep his farm when no one else could. she was talking about how her father had been killed by the KKK and she had hard feelings about whites in her past. dealing with this white farmer helped her get over her racist feelings *24 years ago*

it's a typical right wing smear job- editing their "news" to stir up hate.

and as usual, beck claims to have known the "truth" first. what a weenie.

marvella · #31 07/21/10, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wwubben

Many would consider this post racist.

if the shoe fits- there are certainly enough real definitions posted to measure it by.

marvella · #32 07/21/10, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bostonlesley

We DO know what was said..my DD's coworker said.."I'm having fun with the children. We're making little white ghosts to hang on the tree outside." The two Black women left the table, went to the manager and complained that the White people were TALKING ABOUT MAKING HALLOWEEN GHOSTS TO SCARE BLACKS."

As I said..sometime, someplace, these two young Black women got the notion that tissue-paper white ghosts hanging from trees at Halloween was a secret message among White people that meant, "Hang Black people." It is an accurate story..that's what makes it so odd..who would think for a minute that Black people would believe such a thing?

as i said, maybe we should hear it from the women who were offended. it might be clearer if we heard their side of the story.

it's perfectly clear that on Gc some poeple are unable to recognize the racism in themselves.

i don't mean you. just so you don't get het up.:-) i know what you are trying to say.

willbuck1 · #33 07/21/10, 08:49 AM

Marvella did you even watch Beck. He was saying there was more to the story when everyone else already had her tried and convicted.
It was her liberal bosses (especially the white house) who forced her resignation on the half told story.