Something that bugs me about Obama's 'black' credentials...

I have posted many times about my IR experiences. You guys get behind these parties on the left and the right and they do nothing for you.
They get their payoffs. But what does the average voter get?
You should work for Gavin Newsome and see if he will help you out with a job etc.

 

Jaybee, I can respond to your response to me, or I can just let this die like you requested. I'll leave that up to you. You feel that I am incorrect, and I feel that you are incorrect as well. At this point, I know that there is nothing that I can probably say to change your mind, and I know that there is nothing that you can say to change mine. We are all entitled to have our own opinions. I feel that we are at the point of just needing to agree to disagree on this issue and move on.

 

Thanks, Loki. You are one of the members that I appreciate your support. I always know that if you agree that I worded my post in the way that I intended for it to be. I have a tremendous amount of respect for you.

 

You are most kind, and please know that the respect you have for me is most certainly a two way street, always enjoy reading your posts (even the risque ones!).:smt023

 

Ha, I'm sensing that, somewhere deep down inside in you GG, in places you don't talk about at parties, you WANT me on that wall, you NEED m....(remembers where he is)

Sorry, wrong speech. Where was I??? Oh yeah.

I think a part of you wants to continue this, and I for one would like to read it. Truth is, I'd like to continue this but the quality (not stance) of replies so far has been a notch above playground level, your own sweet self aside.

So I'll say this. In 8 hours, Bookie will either have deleted this thread or she won't. If the former, then the time spent posting will be my only regret. If you then find the thread open, then please, address the points within. I've only 'known' you in the online sense for a week or so, I already have a keen respect for your intellect, and thus I don't want you going away with any misunderstandings, because I'd find that even more of a regret. I DO want you to understand what I'm saying (which I don't think anyone here does) even though you may still end up disagreeing.

It may all eventually boil down to a difference of opinion as innocent and fundamental as, "I like green things and you like red things"

If you still feel it's best to leave it be, then that is cool too.

 

Jaybee-I am one of the Moderators and I can assure that this thread will not be deleted. Why should it be? This is a discussion forum, you raised a question and made an assertion of your opinion. Ppl can agree or disagree with you. In the process, either you'll educate ppl or you will be educated by them. As long as y'al are discussing it in respectful manner, there is no reason for deletion.
Dissent is the greatest form of patriotism.

 

Indeed. You should also add BlkCasanova and that right wing Amanda poster to the list of regulars who do nothing besides post antagonistic nonsense here.

 

This may be all and well but truth is there isn't a one experience that all black people from descendents of slaves feel. Most of us don't know what difficulty of being a slave was but we know what it is to be black in modern times just like obama does. That's what makes us feel closer to him as a black person. People who were slaves back then could easily say that black people of modern time don't really know and could not represent the troubles that they go through. This is merely a game of you don't know who I am and can't possibly represent me. Every one could say that to any one and it would be true. There isn't much substance in this arguement.

 

That's just what I'm saying though, I don't feel he DOES know what it is to be disadvantaged. Now that he is (arguably) the most powerful man in the world, I virtually certain he never will. I also disagree about the 'no single experience'...it's more like a single combination of experiences, rooted in the resentment that has filtered down.

Fascinating point. I hope future blacks move FURTHER away from being able to identify with the horrors of the past.

 

There are quite a bit of people who wouldn't know either. I have had a better childhood than Bill Clinton. Most black people have.

We didn't move further from the identity but closer to equality.

 

It is different. People think and experience things differently. All black People don't have the same experiences. It isn't like a collective of experiences that one major power can distribute to all. I have never experienced what rodney king has experienced. To assume that it is a combination of experiences would need for you to see black people as a group and not individual which does not work.

 

On what do you base that latter point?

No, I would agree with those blacks of the past who (would) feel that modern-day blacks can't FULLY identify. In the Jewish religion, to maintain identiy, much emphasis is placed on the remembrance of suffering, many of their periodic observances revolve around previous injustices, during which they will fast, and desist from pleasurable activities. I would imagine this is done because the natural human capacity is to heal from hurt, but the healing process itself dims the intensity of the memory of those hurts.

It is not easy to relate to the loss of millions of your people if you were raised in a six-bedroom house, never went to bed hungry, never been deprived of what you cherished. So, as you move towards equality, yes of course you will be able to understand what the slaves underwent, but it will only ever be an intellectual understanding; as discrimination fades, so too will the identity erode.

 

I believe most black people have not lost their father in a car accident.
They didn't have an abusive drunk for a step-father. I am not basing this on any poll but I could always make a poll to see how many black people have had this or not.

There are different forms of identifying. We use the history books. Fact is no Jewish person could ever know what is like to be in Nazi Germany unless they were there. To be gassed or beaten is not the same as fastening. Heck, it is no where near death. They use these tactics to remind each other just like we use books. We could argue about this. In the end, it will be subjective. What is important is that we don't forget. That is when we lose our identity. When we can't remember it.

 

He graduated from Black People Life University as President of the United States.

That's quite an accomplishment.

 

someone left me a no-name neg rep for this post..

lmao Tony, stop playin'

 

I've tried to read all of the replies, but some I've had to skim over (working on a bit of "homework" in another window), so if I repeat something that's already been said, or misread anything it's my bad.

Essentially, what I'm gathering from the conversation, you (Jaybee) are questioning how much Obama can actually identify with being a "black american" considering his upbringing, right?

I also noticed at one point you said something along the lines of him being able to understand better if he were on welfare in Compton(paraphrasing, sorry if I grabbed the wrong point).

The thing about anyone, black, white, red, brown, yellow, purple, green...Situations on the individual basis are never all inclusively the same for every single person of any given group. It's just doesn't happen that way. You don't seem to have a very good grasp of how black people really live in America, because you seem to be under the impression that all black americans live in poverty. Some do...but so do white, asian, hispanic, etc Americans. Poverty isn't something exclusive to the black community, nor does being black mean you were born into poverty. It is possible to have one without the other.

Now, does a black person born with a bit more luck have to turn in their rights to claim their ethnicity? I frankly feel this is a bit absurd. It's like saying that because I'm poor I shouldn't be able to consider myself white, because white people are by and far generally more well off financially than other people. That's kind of silly.

A person's life experiences do largely stem from their economic status, I agree with that. But equating being black with poverty, and considering anything less to be going further from being black feels a bit racist to me, honestly, because there are plenty of black people who have never had to live on welfare.

My boyfriend is black, but he has never been poor. He's never been filthy rich, but his mom worked extremely hard so he never had to live in poverty. Does this mean he's not black?

My experiences have been vastly different from every white person on this message board, but it doesn't change my skin colour. People, regardless of skin colour, have a great variety of lives.

The problem with this thread is that what you've said is very offensive, though I don't think you intended it that way. It's even more offensive because the statements you're making imply that you feel you understand what you can't, simply because you are an outside observer, not one privy to the insider details that one living in the situations you're discussing actually understand.

I'm proud that my president is black. I'm proud that he's also white. Frankly I'm just proud that, for once, a man who appears to be black, regardless of his biracial genetic make up, was able to attain the highest elected office in my country despite the still blatant racism that a large portion of the population still embraces. I feel that I, nor you, are not in any situation to decide whether he is black enough to identify with black people, because neither of us are him, nor do we know personally how his life went as he grew up. Regardless, even if he never faced any hardships it doesn't negate the fact that his father -was- black. You can't change your race, or your heritage, or your country of birth. He is an American, and he is half black. In America nearly any amount of black heritage IS black heritage all the same, because the average person on the street in America will call anyone with features attributed to being black a black person. Doesn't matter how much money they have, they're still black in the eyes of nearly everyone they meet, so your original point is a bit unfounded and, as I said, offensive.

I'm sorry if you don't understand how it is offensive, but as you pointed out you are neither black, nor American. That means your understanding of the situation is less than that of those who are either, or both of those things. It's the same way as I would struggle understanding what it would be like to be any race in any other country, and my understanding would diminish with every other variable that differs from my own personal experiences.

 

Kids NEED to play...

 

:smt042 @ questioning the president's "street-cred".

First y'all wanna question his patriotism, now this?:smt043

 

lmao

you know he's got to have 'street-cred,' and none of that mainstream acceptance bullshyte.

Just like rappers.

:tonqe: