Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Race Relations.

Hi friends~
There’s a bit of brouhaha in blog-land about a friend named B who has been allegedly ‘race baiting’ other bloggers, ostensibly to draw traffic to his site. Several (including me) were lured by ‘bait’ only to end up ensnared in some of the most toxic, racially charged speech I’ve seen on blogs. This whole deal is not helpful, folks; not helpful to go there & certainly not helpful to participate. I tried very hard to leave carefully worded, respectful comments only to be ignored by the author. It seemed that only remarks which carried incendiary content were addressed, usually w/ equally toxic content from the author.

I've decided not to return to that blog, but did make one last trip to retrieve my comments. It’s important for me to state my case here, & below is one of them. (BTW, when my friend B decides to engage in authentic, productive discussion of ‘race relations’ I'll gladly return to his site. I invite him to comment here at any time, stating his intention to do so.)

Sus' response to B & P's comments:
B said: "All African Americans do not curse, listen to crazy rap music or dress in ways that are beneath me morally nor professionally. We do not run around the streets as drug addicts stealing and killing, and driving drunk." & then P said, "There is NO racism where we live. But in the South, racism is still prevalent."

Okay, I was pleasantly surprised to have B visit my blog & we had an interesting exchange in my comments. Regarding his comment above - of course not! Anyone who buys into that offensive stereotype is a boob. My Senior Pastor (a very kind & wise, Spirit-filled black man) would no doubt agree.

As for P's comment: Sorry, but do you live in the South? How would you know about which you speak except for the stereotype you've heard & perpetuated? I'd like to challenge your stereotype of 'The South.' To use B's template: we aren't all beer drinkin', redneck, KKK sheet wearing, hayseed, skinhead racists. My experience is that people go out of their way to dispel the stereotype. Maybe, just maybe, we're more aware & sensitive than the rest of the country. Ever contemplated that?

Folks could try to understand MY life perspective one of these days...I'm so weary of being lumped into such an offensive 'type' simply because of where I live. (MY ancestors were Scots - basically enslaved, brutalized, raped & murdered by the Brits for hundreds of years. Finally, we were stripped of our own culture -annihilated it, really- pushed out of our country & forced into indentured servitude in the 'New World' where we were unwelcome...sounding familiar??)

Sorry, but I am proud to be Southern, NOT racist, Master's level educated from a University who just lost (badly) in the NCAA Tournament. And I’m not complaining because nobody wants to try & understand me. I don't even care!

I'm living my life, serving my Savior, loving my husband & raising our family. I did NOT support Barack Obama, cannot abide what he & his friends doing to our country. But my politics versus Mr. Obama's has NOTHING to do with his race. NOTHING. And I will not be quiet about that.

Sad thing is, I'll be thought to be racist b/c of where I live & my politics. THAT's what really bugs me. Folks that are so quick to be offended @ perceived racism really don't see that they're doing the SAME thing to people like me - w/o even knowing who I am.

Whew! On my own blog, on a fresh day, I’m happy to share my true thoughts about race relations. Here it is in a nutshell:




People. The universe doesn’t revolve around humanity. It really isn’t all about us…
& thanks be to God for that!
~~~

17 comments:

Melonie said...

SO well said. I couldn't have said it better myself. Good for you. :-)

Anonymous said...

great blog Suz.. I was trapped into going to that hell hole myself.

Anonymous said...

Some people need anger because it identifies who they are, and what they represent. I think that when people step up to the microphone and proclaim some incident as representative of racial bias in America, they are racists themselves. I have no use nor patience for such people. But I do admit to being dismayed by those who empower the likes of Jackson, Sharpton, Farrakhan, and Wright -- people who have made millions by pursuing a racist agenda.

Stupid is what stupid does.

Semper Fi, Susannah; and thank you for your kind words at Right is Right.

JeffJottshole said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Susannah said...

Thanks for the support, Mel & JJ.
You're very welcome, Mustang. Well deserved.

Please folks, this is not a forum to belittle others. 'Happens again, I'll delete every time.

Thanks for stopping by, all.

The Holy Spirit said...

Oh, you only belittle others on OTHER people's blogs. I see. That explains it. There's a lot of dishing out but not being able to take it on these blogs. I notice all the "conservative" blogs either don't allow anonymous comments, they moderate or they delete. It seems to me you people cannot stand any form of debate or anything that contradicts you. Why is that? But you certainly feel free to skulk over to other people's blogs and make filthy comments. That's so interesting. I think there's a mental illness named after it.

Susannah said...

THS (or JJH):

"A" for use of dramatic imagery -'dishing out,' 'skulk' (that was particularly nice), 'debate,' 'filthy!'

"F" for application thereof. (Sorry, you'll not find evidence of this blogger or this blog doing such.)

If you'd like to "debate" here, you're welcome to do so, with civility. If you've got a beef w/ some of my visitors, take it up elsewhere, or I'll delete again.

Promise.

:)

"It's my blog & I delete if I want to..."(I think there's a song named after it...)

Joe said...

Great post!

As for THS, all I can say is, "Whew!"

I love the Newsboys.

Never had a deeper worship experience than the one I had when they came to town a couple of years ago.

Anonymous said...

I love the way the GHB goes around giving race lectures, then when you visit his site everything is basically "Whitey sucks". Seems he's more interested in generating visits to his vile blog than anything else.

Barry O said...

Couldn't agree more. It's not about "us". It's about me- Barry O!
(Nice piece!)
PresidentBarryO.blogspot.com

Susannah said...

Hi Joe, PJ & BarryO~
Thanks for coming by & for the comments! Hope you all have a good weekend~

(Oh Joe, some of us are going to see Chris Tomlin next week ~ yippie!)

Elm said...

Bingo! I also live down South and I never cease to be amazed at how people elsewhere regard us Southerners. Most people here would never in a million years want ANY person, be it black, white, Hispanic, Jewish, Muslim, whatever, to be hurt. Yet I still see people who believe white people hate black people. I just don't get it.

Anonymous said...

Time to party, the Gray Headed Brudder has bitten the dust

Z said...

"Conservatives..don't allow anonymous comments, they moderate or they delete" That's funny, I know two which moderate and I've only deleted two lefty comments because they were that foul...I wish that more leftists WOULD read the conservative blogs, at least they might realize there are two ways of looking at things in America? Just a thought. At least conservative blogs allow the other side, is the truth. Try leaving a conservative thought at moveon or Daily Kos sometime! Sad.

Great piece, and wonderful song, Susannah, I'd never heard that! Thanks so much. As for racism?
I wonder what kind of people honestly believe that because we disagree with obama we are racist. THAT is a new low in TRUE LEFTIST RACISM, isn't it.

Anonymous said...

Great job here, I never had the diss-pleasure of reading that guys blog but from what I hear, I didn't miss too much

Susannah said...

Elm~ thanks for coming by! It's good to know there are some other Southerners out there willing to say, 'Hey, wait just a minute...'

R/R ~ Glad you came by. Wonder what happened?

Z ~ typical, eh? I learned that song just recently in rehearsal. We're singing it in a few weeks. Very cool! My kids love it, too. (Great for singing in the car!)

NY Guy~ You're right, you didn't miss a whole heck of a lot, except maybe a few headaches! Glad you came by~

USA_Admiral said...

Eloquently put.