Let's talk about Race and Assumptions

[ladymccool]

Hey,
I'm having an irritation here that's been there for quite awhile, and I think we should discuss assumptions that come with race and ethnicity. For me, because I don't look like a full Latina, I look white, I feel that I can relate to Naima off of America's Next Top Model who is Black and Indigenous Mexican when she had to deal with an arrogant fellow contestant telling her she wasn't black. It's an irritant to me that just because I don't look or act like a bad stereotype that people arrogantly shrug me off, too. But that's not the real kicker. The real kicker is that because I come from suburbia, am light skinned, am not into substance abuse, I have to deal with people acting like I don't know what drugs are, and that I'm some sort of prude who should be belittled. That really bugs me, as if i'm not a real latina because I don't smoke weed. Are people aware of how they are shooting themselves when they use such stereotyping?

[Dine'Luvlee]

There are many people out there who can be very much ignorant and I know that we hate it. It seems that ignorance with race and stereotyping is in a lot of those who think they are 'cool' because of their race and the things they do. In my opinion, it is very childish because they are judging you because of the color of your skin and the little things they see you do. These ignorant people did not see what you have been through to get where you are or what kind of a person you really are. They have nothing on you.

I also get the same impression from people who drink and do drugs, they talk to me like I am weird. I am different from they are because I am Native, I am into Hip Hop , but I don't drink and do drugs. They are always on my back telling me that there is nothing wrong with drugs and that I was just being uptight. Damn, and I do not have to say anything but ,"No thank you, I am okay." I do not let their ignorance get to me. I usually brush it off and remind myself that I have good reasons why I do not drink or do drugs and that's all that matters. It is important for me to be drug free, be a mother, a wife and a sister. If no one understands...F**k THEM!!!!

Girl, do not let them get to you....You are far more better than that, to let the little things people say bother you. I know you are a strong woman, a good mother and have goals and dreams ahead of you. Think positive and brush off all the ignorance, hate, jealousy, and what ever you may come across that is negative. Keep smiling too! ;D

[ladymccool]

THX Luvlee! Yeah, it can be a killer sometimes! A choctaw-dine' friend of mine and I were talking about that yesterday because he's lived in LA and San Diego his whole life, so he's Urban...he's a lot better at letting that go than I am! (you can find him at www.myspace.com/john_da_ndn, he DJ's too). Anyway, he was telling me about how on his Choctaw side, he has a lot of relatives who are half black, who throw people off by speaking fluent Choctaw, and preferring to be identified as such. He told me about a Black-Choctaw friend in California who checks Native American on the race box, looks black, but speaks fluent Choctaw, and gets very annoyed at assumptions.
We also talked about Radmilla Cody, about how what happened to her had a lot to do with her being half black, and we discussed how he knew people who felt the need to point out how they just knew that would happen because that's how black people are and this that and the other.
I do get bugged when people assume that Native Hip Hop is something that it's not. Yes, there's still A LOT of work to be done in terms of finding style, however, if you listen to any early NB Ridaz recordings when they were Nasty Boy Klick, they were using the black style as a template, too. I think people ignore what many Native groups discuss, and they forget that hip hop is about social statement, not about excessive negativity. That came into play when big business saw how white kids ate that up like candy which in turn generated huge sales...so that's why we've got exaggerated mainstream characters today.

[Marks - the Earth's Sun]

this is some thing that came across and just wanted to share.

Colored or Not

A black man walks into a cafe one early morning and noticed that he was
the only black man there. As he sat down,he noticed a white man behind
him. The white man said, "Colored people are not allowed here."

The black man turned around and stood up. He then said:

"When I was born I was black,"

"When I grew up I was black,"

"When I'm sick I'm black,"

"When I go in the sun I'm black,"

"When I'm cold I'm black,"

"When I die I'll be black."

"But you sir..."

"When you're born you're pink,"

"When you grow up you're white,"

"When you're sick, you're green,"

"When you go in the sun you turn red,"

"When you're cold you turn blue,"

"And when you die you turn purple."

"And you have the nerve to call me colored"
The black man then sat back down and the white man
walked away...

[Marks - the Earth's Sun]

Bennett Under Fire for Remark on Crime and Black Abortions

By Brian Faler
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, September 30, 2005; Page A05

Democratic lawmakers and civil rights leaders denounced conservative commentator William J. Bennett yesterday for suggesting on his syndicated radio show that aborting black children would reduce the U.S. crime rate.

The former U.S. education secretary-turned-talk show host said Wednesday that "if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett quickly added that such an idea would be "an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do." But, he said, "your crime rate would go down."

Bennett's comments, flagged by the liberal news media watchdog group Media Matters for America, were quickly condemned by Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who issued a statement demanding that Bennett apologize. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) circulated a letter, signed by 10 of his colleagues, demanding that the Salem Radio Network suspend Bennett's show.

Wade Henderson, the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, demanded that the show be canceled.

"Bennett's statement is outrageous. As a former secretary of education, he should know better," Henderson said. "His program should be pulled from the air."

A spokeswoman for Salem Radio Network did not return three calls requesting comment.

Bennett, education secretary under then-President Ronald Reagan and director of drug policy during George H.W. Bush's administration has written a number of books stressing the importance of traditional values, including the 1993 bestseller "The Book of Virtues."

In 2003, he admitted he was a heavy gambler after news reports that he had lost millions of dollars in casinos.

Bennett's comments came Wednesday, during a discussion on his talk show "Morning in America." A caller had suggested that Social Security would be better funded if abortion had not been legalized in 1973 because the nation would have more workers paying into the system.

Bennett said "maybe," before referring to a book he said argued that the legalization of abortion is one of the reasons the crime rate has declined in recent decades. Bennett said he did not agree with that thesis.

"But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down," Bennett said, according to an audio clip posted on Media Matters for America's Web site. "That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, you know, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky."