~ LETTERS ~
Morris Williams : FASCINATING RESPONSE RE. "THE N WORD" (Emphases added by ellen)
On Fri, 8 Mar '12 , at 12:32 PM, hccrg05@aol.com wrote: Ellen: First let me say, God be praised that your CT scan was normal. Celebrate:>). However, below I want respond to the “N” word and KKK citing. In addition, I cut and pasted below my commentary some excerpts from the NY Times article for which I want to respond. I borrow the line from Marvin Krislov, who said “classes were canceled for “a different type of educational exercise,” one intended to hold “an honest discussion, even a difficult discussion.” Below I offer a “different type of educational exercise” in two parts that are difficult, especially in trying to keep my response short, but it is honest. I hope you will share this with your readers. Use of the “n” word. When I was about 10 years old, 1959, I began to hear my parent’s generation use the word nigga in a negative and positive way. It was either “I’m going to do something bad to that nigga” or “This is my main nigga.” The words and the inflection of the voice let one know whether to pull your knife or slap a hand. While low grade, this was another emerging example of blacks taking the same sense of self-determination that white have in calling themselves and each other, “redneck, hunkie, peckerwood, cracka, etc.” You have never heard a white person saying the “r” word for redneck or the “c” word for cracka, etc., because white feel they can call themselves what they want. At first, blacks used those words to describe whites, but only in private and to each other. Later, during the 60s and 70s, those words were used out loud and to white people in anger, but by the 80s, as housing integration expanded, blacks stopped using these words to whites, because of fear of retaliation and because we were being instructed by our elders to be more civil, and/or as a way of surviving and advancing in the work place. After the 60s and even today, only the most uncivil whites call blacks nigga to our faces, while many whites are reported to use the word amongst white only gatherings without penalty from other whites. During this same period, Other whites wanted to say the word so bad, that there was a whole lot of, “I was with my friends or family or group and they used the word nigga.” You never heard a black person say to whites that they were with anybody and they used the cracka or hunkie words. In fact even today we just say, “there they go acting white,” as oppose to acting humane. Through the 80s, blacks started beating whites up for their use of nigga, and then the university community started using the “n” word as a suggestion that they were being sensitive and polite, but they still have to say it. Blacks don’t need whites to say what negative word whites call us, we already know. Many blacks were/are even convinced that if blacks don’t use the word nigga, that whites won’t. Some of those same blacks reference the word “niggardly” from the dictionary, suggesting the word describes a way of acting, so that whites can be a nigga as well. I think they are hopeful but confused. Whites may not call blacks nigga, but we are treated like niggas by getting only 1% of contracts or messing with our ability to vote, as just two of many ways whites quietly call and loudly treat blacks as niggas. Then there are those whites, including a good and long time friend of mine who didn’t think anything of calling another black person a nigga, and was mad, thinking he had the right to use the word around me until I hit him in his home. When he complained that he was not talking about me, the example I gave him was “if I told you a cracka or redneck was coming down your driveway, but you couldn’t see him, you won’t know who it is, but you will know they are white because you like other whites only refer to whites as crackas , rednecks, etc.” He finally understood that whites are mad because we say blacks can call ourselves and each other nigga based on relationship and the situation, but nigga is never good out of the mouths of whites. The “n” word isn’t either, they just need to be more civil and acknowledge this to themselves and each other. Just tell us that the person you are referencing does not have the best interest of black people in mind, we will understand. When he took me to his mother’s house to meet her, he reported back that most of her neighbors stopped talking to her. No such situation when met my mother, family and black friends. Wow, that took a long time to say, but I must also comment on the KKK symbolism…and the person who said “it doesn’t reflect the town,” because they are related to the above culture. First, in 2013 as a general rule think about who has the major money and authority, and who provides the most opportunities to get some. Who decides the quality and type of education one will get? Why is there still so much of America where blacks can not only not live, but should not drive through, much less try sleeping in a hotel? The fact that during this depression blacks lost a higher percentage of wealth than whites is because we received the largest percentage of predatory loans…even from black lenders following the instructions of white managers and executives. This is the same in every profession. And while all white people know and many depend on it to secure their position and/or advancement, only a few speak and act out against what is now called “subtle racism,” that is not so subtle to us, because, they “don’t want to start trouble or lose privilege.” It never occurs to them to say that they are not starting trouble, but that they are trying to stop trouble and reduce hostile work and living places. Finally, I believe the reason President Obama is getting so much resistance on things no other president in my time has experienced is because he is black and they want him to be seen as a failure, and they hope to convince the majority of voters never to vote in another black person as president. Even in the article "Sequester 101" by Bentley Davis, she never mentioned that race is a major factor in spite of everybody knowing that what these Republicans are against now, they were for before a black President said he was for them. Honesty about race, civility and humaneness from whites about using this “n” word thing and “n” word behaviors needs to evolve upward and out. ............................................... Excerpts from article (in last week's Virtual Salon, quoting the Oberlin Review). “After midnight on Sunday, someone reported seeing a person dressed in a white robe and hood near the Afrikan Heritage House. Mr. Krislov and three deans announced the sighting in a community-wide e-mail early Monday morning. “From what we have seen we believe these actions are the work of a very small number of cowardly people,” Mr. Krislov told students, declining to give further details because the campus security department and the Oberlin city police are investigating. A college spokesman, Scott Wargo, said investigators had not determined whether the suspect or suspects were students or from off-campus. “They’ll be addressing ways to publicly respond to the bias incidents with what I call positive propaganda, and let people know, whoever the culprits are, that they’re being watched, and people are taking care of themselves and each other,” Dr. Gadsby said. “The opinion of many students was that the incidents did not reflect a prevailing bigotry on campus, and may well be the work of someone just trying to stir trouble. “It seems to bark worse than it bites,” said Cooper McDonald, a 19-year-old sophomore from Newton, Mass. “I can’t see many of my classmates — any of my classmates — doing things like this,” he said. “It doesn’t reflect the town, either.” Morris
From Jane Auer, re. Anna's anniversary video HERE:
WOW!!!!!
From Jackie Millay:
Hey Ellen, So glad your CT scan was A OK. I was at Wholecare Chiropractic last night!! Ended up telling them about our farmers' group/raw milk/organic egg set up & leaving a brochure on Laminine. Dr. Jack was presenting a speech on inflammation and what foods to eat/avoid. Nice man. Glad he was helpful to you. Let the blessings and good health flow. LOL, Jackie
P.S.
Hi, In case you'd be interested, I've put a lap loom I used probably 2 times on Craigslist. No tools are necessary to assemble an Erica loom. Portable/storable/easy to use. Originally, $35.00. In good condition, asking $17.00. Let me know or if you know of anyone else who may be interested, please pass on the email. Thanks so much, Jackie | 
I despise the horror of that war, and the anger I feel, the disjointed rage, is from the sense of responsibility I have, I whose country is doing these things on my watch. In the late 60's I felt the same, but then I was out in the streets, demonstrating, and publishing the Independent Eye from my dining room ... because I had to do everything I could to oppose the attrocity. Under the rage there is weeping, and there is shaking in fear. 
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