LOIE
Gold Member
- May 11, 2017
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I just posted a response to someone saying that Blacks are full of hate. I would like to expand on that post. I believe there is a big difference between anger and hate.
Most married folks have been angry with their spouse at one time or another. Most parents have been angry with their children. But being angry at them does not mean that we hate them.
Lots of black people are angry, and with good reason. But how free have they been to express that anger? How much have they held back and for how long? When black people express their anger over slavery they’ve been told to forget about it. That was years ago. We’re tired of hearing about the past. Stop blaming your troubles on somebody else. Pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps, etc., etc.
I think that eventually many people stopped expressing themselves and held it in because they always got the same answer. They were told how to think, how to feel and how to respond to something that was done to their ancestors. And all the while they watch other groups hold annual prayer vigils in order to “remember the past, so that we do not repeat it.”
While some folks think we should forget the past, others, like me, believe we should apologize for it. The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution apologizing for supporting racism for much of its history. It reads in part, “We unwaveringly denounce racism in all its forms, as deplorable sin; and that we lament and repudiate historic acts of evil such as slavery from which we continue to reap a bitter harvest.”
I think Black people have good reason to be angry. I, as a White person, have never felt the pangs from the stares, the negative vibes from the body language, the rejection from the crossing to the other side that many black people have felt. Every time a white person inches away, screws up their face, follows customers around the store, pulls someone over because he looks suspicious, assumes a child can’t learn, passes over someone for a promotion, pays someone less money for the same job, clutches a purse or quickly locks a car door, it is a reminder that for many white people, color still matters. And I don’t think we can get past it until we face it.
I must finally say that I see a big difference between placing blame and telling the truth. People who refuse to hear and accept the truth have no hope of finding solutions to their differences. People who embrace the truth, no matter how painful or self-revealing it may be, will ultimately find themselves set free.
Most married folks have been angry with their spouse at one time or another. Most parents have been angry with their children. But being angry at them does not mean that we hate them.
Lots of black people are angry, and with good reason. But how free have they been to express that anger? How much have they held back and for how long? When black people express their anger over slavery they’ve been told to forget about it. That was years ago. We’re tired of hearing about the past. Stop blaming your troubles on somebody else. Pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps, etc., etc.
I think that eventually many people stopped expressing themselves and held it in because they always got the same answer. They were told how to think, how to feel and how to respond to something that was done to their ancestors. And all the while they watch other groups hold annual prayer vigils in order to “remember the past, so that we do not repeat it.”
While some folks think we should forget the past, others, like me, believe we should apologize for it. The Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution apologizing for supporting racism for much of its history. It reads in part, “We unwaveringly denounce racism in all its forms, as deplorable sin; and that we lament and repudiate historic acts of evil such as slavery from which we continue to reap a bitter harvest.”
I think Black people have good reason to be angry. I, as a White person, have never felt the pangs from the stares, the negative vibes from the body language, the rejection from the crossing to the other side that many black people have felt. Every time a white person inches away, screws up their face, follows customers around the store, pulls someone over because he looks suspicious, assumes a child can’t learn, passes over someone for a promotion, pays someone less money for the same job, clutches a purse or quickly locks a car door, it is a reminder that for many white people, color still matters. And I don’t think we can get past it until we face it.
I must finally say that I see a big difference between placing blame and telling the truth. People who refuse to hear and accept the truth have no hope of finding solutions to their differences. People who embrace the truth, no matter how painful or self-revealing it may be, will ultimately find themselves set free.