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Originally Posted by Princess keke  Its sad that so many of you all get mad at famous people for giving money to the communities. Yes they do need role models but the money is given to help build the community to give them therresources they need to keep the kids off the streets. Its sad that when people stand up for something they believe in they get bashed for not doing other things. Its sad that more than half of you all sit on here and talk about changes that needs to be made in Chicago and other areas but you all are not willing to get out there and help. Its sad that most of y'all will never have to talk to you kids about how someone will judge you based off the color of you skin and the opportunity they might not ever be able to have because of there color but you all can sit here and write like y'all understand the pressure that a black male has to go through. Half of y'all don't understand and will never understand because you live a life where things are handed to you on a silver platter. |
Who is mad for famous people giving money to communities? I seem to have missed that.
Nobody said that it is wrong to stand up for what you believe in. But you can't zero in on one isolated case and ignore the bigger problem. And going out to Chicago to help? Do you seriously think a pasty-skinned middle-aged woman would be taken seriously there? The problem is from within and outsiders can't go in and tell people what to do, especially since you also claim that white people don't understand the black man. You can't have it both ways.
Black people are not the only ones that are judged based on their color. In fact, you are judging whited based on their color in your statement above. I have been judged based on my color. People have called me racist just because I am white and politically conservative, even though I have never done anything remotely racist and see all people as simply "children of God."
Why do you assume that white people have everything handed to them "on a silver platter?" My father was an hourly worker, my Mom a stay-at-home mom. I did not come from wealth. I did have two parents, a roof over my head, and I never went hungry because my Mom cooked at home and stretched a nickel like nobody else, used coupons, and menus were built around whatever was on special and what was fresh or put up from a family garden. There was no money for "extras." No girl scouts, no dancing lessons, no frills. Eating out was a rarity, and that includes fast food. Clothes were hand-me-downs.
I started studying hard in high school so that I could get a scholarship and pay my way through college. My excellent grades, which I EARNED through hard work (instead of hanging out, having fun, and getting into trouble, which would have been MUCH easier), got me the scholarship I wanted. I buckled down and worked hard for 4 more years and EARNED a degree that was difficult (and marketable, unlike some of those useless degrees they give out today in some subjects that can't get you a job) in chemistry. I went to work in an entry level position and worked my way up giving it everything I had. I performed to the best of my abilities, no slacking. I was rewarded with promotions, but I didn't go live high on the hog and spend all of the fruits of my labor. Even though I could have bought more throughout the years ... bigger house, new cars, more clothes, more fancy vacations ... I live in moderate but comfortable housing, I drive cars that are not luxury models and I keep them for at least 10 years, I rarely buy new clothes, and we do one nice vacation per year. Because we have worked hard and lived within our means and saved money all of our lives, we can now exhale. But it took HARD work, for MANY years, and not giving in to instant gratification. No silver platter involved.
****I consider my dogs to be a big "splurge" -- they are not a need but a huge privilege --- and am so grateful to have them in my life and the means to take care of them properly.****
I would be willing to bet that my story is not all that unusual here, that 99% of us got where they are by hard work, not some fairy tail-like silver platter. IMO, that silver platter is just an excuse to explain away why some people have things and others don't. Unless you are born into wealth and have a trust fund, there is no such thing, and that is rare. Most people have to work for what they have, no matter what their color.
You say that none of us understand what a black man has to go through, and of course that is true. Heck, I don't understand what a white man has to go through or even another white woman I meet on the sidewalk. You can't possibly understand anyone else, no matter what their color, until you walk a mile in their shoes.
It's interesting to me, though, that you point out that whites can't understand a black man, yet you think that you know what whites go through. 50% of whites have everything handed to them on a silver platter? Nope, not even close to the truth. I worked in a fortune 500 company for many years, and everyone I knew there -- no matter what color they were -- from the mail room clerk to the CEO -- worked to get where they were.
Furthermore, I think you are doing a great disservice to blacks that have worked their way up in this world. I have many black people in my neighborhood that I call friend and I know their stories and know that they started out in "the ghetto" (their words, not mine). I don't pretend to understand what that was like, but their stories about their journey have much in common with mine. They studied hard. They scraped their way through college. They worked hard, persevered, and were fiscally responsible. It's more difficult and it can be done. They are giving their kids a better start than they had, but their kids are still having to do the work to get where they want to go. No silver platter.