Wise words (not written by me..lol)
GEORGE SANTAYANA:
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Now would everyone be just as accepting if an older white paster preached about white supremacy at a white presidents swearing in. There just seems to be a double standard

It would be seen differently!!
Because to talk about supremacy or fighting for rights are completely different no?

Who is fighting for rights these days?

No I agree with you- he probably meant it just the way it sounded- I just put it in context of the generational gap.

Me!
Last week I had two busses pass me up because one of them didn't know how to use the lift and the other one didn't want to bother stopping :mad:
I had to call Coach America and explain to the person in charge that if their bus drivers dont know how or dont want to pick me up, then they shouldn't be drivers...period! I was treated differently and made to feel like an outcast.
The end result was two people were giving time off to learn their jobs.

:thumbup:

I didn't say anything about not learning from history.

I, actually, specifically said

"Letting go means taking what you learned, and making yourself a better person because of it."

I have not said a word about not learning about it - I've actually said to KEEP learning about it. But what I AM saying is that people NEED to stop playing the victim. If people come together as EQUALS then no one will feel like anyone deserves an apology for something we had no control over.

Those who cannot learn from history -- history! This is *history*. History is the *past*. the past is of *uber* importance, but it is not the *present*. This is not happening in the *present*. Blacks are not demanded to sit at the back of the bus, they aren't lynched, they don't have to walk through different doors and drink from different water fountains. That is TODAY'S world - the world we currently live in. There is no reason to make comments suggesting that that is still the world we live in. It is NOT, and the world we DO live in wants to STOP that.

Do you remember back in 2006 the Jena six?
Here is the article...and yes "lynching" is still being used to make fear
Jena Six - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I seriously just think old people get a free pass. They've paid their dues they've lived their lives and they are who they are.

I was in line at the grocery shortly after the election. I was chatting with this sweet little elderly lady behind me. It was quite a nice little chat until she broke out this little gem- "I've noticed they are hiring so many more black people lately- it must be because of Obama". It caught me off guard and I guess I was standing there with my mouth open and then she said- "I don't have any problem with it of course, I was just noticing". So I said of of course, and I let it go. Now if that had been someone of my generation it would be a totally different story. I know we are talking about a public speaker and not a lady at the grocery and I would guess if his prayer had been pre-approved it would not have made it as written but you know- he's an old guy and he's probably dealt with too many women like that "nice little old lady" in his life.

I still chuckle a little thinking of that woman. Did she think Obama sent out an emergency memo to all of the grocery stores?:p

I do remember that. Very unfortunate.

My point is, it's not a regular occurance and there are very severe consequences for it. There are still people who think this way, but the law does not allow them to act on it freely.

Every single group faces discrimination. That's just the way it is. Gays, disabled, different religions, everyone.

But the point is, this is not 60 years ago. This is 2009. We are moving forward. It is *important* to learn about the past - I acknowledge and encourage that - but it is unnecessary to speak and act as if we are still in the past.

I think it's funny how people are getting so worked up over his comments and at the same time he is known as being gay-friendly. He can't be but so conservative and "stuck in the past."

Megan, I always listen to what you have to say because you are so smart for your age but just because they don't have to ride in the back of the bus and other things you mentioned doesn't mean that their life here on earth isn't maybe twice as hard as yours. Do you remember Katrina and the way they were treated like animals.....I hear people here say "they get so much" well I don't hear anyone wishing to change places with them. I don't for a minute expect you to understand this because you have to live through this and see what happens, yes even today!! I have black friends who have more compassion for those that make rude comments than I could ever have. We have a chance here to work together and put aside our differences and I hope that will be the case.

Ha ha, good point. Racists aren't usually known for their open mindedness.

When I was in elementry school I was one of very few white people at my school and I was treated very badly for it it got to the point I just wouldnt go to school.

Unfortunately, it's always going to be a color thing. Because there is always going to be blacks in pageants and yet the blacks are still going to have their black pageants, then the NAACP, they need to stop with all that if they want everyone to be treated equal. Everyones blood is the same color, so, all the nonsense needs to stop on both parts.

Just because we are young dosent mean we havent experienced or understand empathy. That is judgmental and stereotypical. He shouldnt get a free pass because of that when hes speaking to over a million people.

I don't know, but where I live, whites are becoming the minority. Most jobs we apply for we are told that we must speak both english and spanish in order to even be considered for the job. I think that's racism and discrimination. I can't get a job because I don't speak spanish? I don't want to speak spanish and I don't feel I should have to, but I'm not given equal opportunities. I don't see anyone as a minority. Everyone is equal.

Thats one of the things I was trying to say just couldnt come up with the word doubled standard. :)

[quote=Ashley V;2432096]I don't see where you are proving your point. It said even Obama stopped smiling at that.

It proves the point in that these words weren't created for the speech. He is quoting a man who went thru the trials and errs of the past. Its simply a quote. The original author died in the 1950's.

Was it appropriate? I can say when I first heard it I thought it was a break from the normal pomp and circumstance but in a day that is steeped in MLK and the long way that our country has come with embracing all cultures a statement from the past may not have been received in the best of light.Obama is not looking back, he is moving forward. We should all learn from that.

I look forward to a world where we all move forward and quit blaming and pushing for reminders from a past that has long since past. We can only lift ourselves as high as or sights can set and you cant set them high if you keep looking back.

[quote=RebelBelle;2433138]

However I also don't have a problem with business owners requiring a second language. Business is about catering to your customers needs and employees must be qualified to do so. My job requires a college degree. The woman in the cubicle next to me was required to know sign language. That's not discrimination. It's a fact of our changing global community. [/quote)

:thumbup::thumbup:........

Actually, after a bit of digging, this chant goes much further back in history. It was an intra-racial chant used by early african-americans most likely dating back to the slave days when the slaves were assigned duties based on how dark and light they were... i.e. the darker skinned slaves were given the worst jobs, while the lighter skinned ones got the premium jobs (field slaves vs. house slaves)

Here's a link that gives some of the background of the chant...

Big Bill Broonzy - Biography

Quoted in part...

"Is it possible, we wondered, if at least some of those words were inspired by Big Bill's lyrics for his song Black, Brown and White? Check it out: Black, Brown and White

We got a response from Chris Smith, blues researcher and author of 'Hit The Right Lick' a discography of Big Bill. He wrote:

It was an old rhyme in black oral culture before Bill and others changed the
subject from intra-racial to inter-racial color caste, by editing it. To
quote from a review of mine in Blues & Rhythm:

Big Bill abridges an old rhyme, which John Cowley suggests he may have got
from Zora Neale Hurston via Alan Lomax. In Hurston's Story In Harlem Slang
(American Mercury, July 1942), one pimp says to another: Man, I don't
deal in no coal. Know what I tell 'em? If they's white, they's right! If
they's yellow, they's mellow! If they's brown, they can stick around. But if
they come black, they better git way back! (Im indebted to Konrad
Nowakowski for this reference.)

Personally, I suspect that the first line originally started 'If they's
bright...' (light-skinned black) rather than 'white.' In other words, it
originally expressed internalized racism, as Brenda Dixon Gottschild notes
in Dancing in the Dark: African American Vaudeville and Race Politics in
the Swing Era¹ (New York, Palgrave, 2000; p. 135):

Internalized racism ensures that the values encapsulated in this vernacular
rhyme serve as an insidious, self-fulfilling prophecy:"

It's amazing to me what you can find on the internet now days... :D

It is discrimination when you apply for a job like McDonald's and there are people getting hired left and right that don't speak english very well, but you aren't even considered because you don't speak spanish. I have literally went to the drive through and have been greeted in spanish.

And I've been denied a job because I'm a girl. It was a host job at a restaurant.

I mean obviously if you are looking for a job as a doctor or a computer specialist or whatever, you need a degree. If you are speaking to those who are deaf, you need to know sign language. That's a given.

Thanks for sharing that :thumbup:

My son had the same problem when he applied at KFC :(
He is not bilingual and has no plans on becoming bilingual.
He is trying so hard to find a job, and its been almost impossible.

This is so WONDERFUL to know, thank you so much.