Is this Racist Speech?

Is Professor Gates Making a Racist Speech

  • Yes that speech was racist

    Votes: 5 71.4%
  • No that speech was not racist

    Votes: 2 28.6%
  • He is Black, He can't be racist

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    7

PLYMCO_PILGRIM

Gold Member
Jul 3, 2009
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America's Home Town
YouTube - Henry Gates Rant In 1996 On "Racist White Institutions"

So what say the USMESSAGEBOARD forum members?

Is this racist or not? Take the poll and post your opinions.


EDIT:

TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO:
The only reason we have so many people doing so well, the only reason, is because of the civil rights movement and its child, affirmative action. Without affirmative action, we would have never been able to integrate racist historically white institutions in American society. And to me, the first fundamental question that we have to address is how to protect, preserve, and expand affirmative action.

When I went to college, instead of going to Howard like three generations of my family, which is certainly a great thing, I was able to go to Yale University, because they were trying to diversify themselves. They wanted a class that looked more like America. They let in women for the first time. They let in black people for the first time. The class of '68 at Yale had 18 black kids.

My class, the class of '73, had 96 black kids. You know, I was lucky enough to get a fellowship to go to England after I graduated. It's called a Mellon Fellowship. My daddy called it the Watermelon Fellowship, because I was the first black person to get it. That's true. Cornel knows my father. He knows I ain't lyin'.

And then, I taught at Yale for 9 years. I taught at Cornell for 5 years. I taught at Duke for one long, painful year. And then, uh ... that ain't lyin'. I don't even like the airplane to fly over North Carolina.

(Addressing someone off camera) Oh, that's true. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And they got good barbecue, too. So maybe it's OK.

And now I've been, thank God, at Harvard for 5 years. Now each of those things was enabled, each was made possible, by the existence of affirmative action. It didn't mean I wasn't qualified. It meant that because of racism I never would have been allowed to compete on a more or less level terrain with white boys and white girls. And for me, for someone who has benefited so much from the opportunities of affirmative action, to stand at the gate and try to keep other black people out would be to be as hypocritical as Clarence Thomas.

...

And we in the academy have to know that our people, we, those of us who practice African American studies, have to know that our people are under assault. Newt Gingrich and company, that Contract for America is serious. You know what those guys have said? 'All right, somehow, while we were asleep, all you white women and all you black people got into the middle class. We're not sure how it happened, but the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna shake the tree, and any of y'all who can't hold on, y'all goin' back. And the second thing, we're gonna set up barriers so that no more of you all can get in here.'

...

And what we're trying to do is end your mama and your daddy criticism, which is what African Americans, quite frankly, have mastered in for 250 years. We're also trying to end what we used to call the "One ****** Syndrome." You know, this place ain't big enough for more than one of us.
 
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Wish I could hear it.

Do I think Gates is a racist?

Hell yes.

I don't know anyone who isn't to some degree or the other.
 
You really need to define racist. Is it a discussion of race and how race exists in America, yes. Is it true, very true. I realize you who have buried your racism in a reverse racism that dwells on the exception or the quota have an impossible time realizing these truths.

Tell you personal story, when EEO started I worked for the largest corporation on earth. And they ask me, a hispanic white kid who never once told anyone I was a half ****, why I thought there were no Blacks anywhere except in janitorial service. Now what would you answer. Tell me.
 
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You really need to define racist. Is it a discussion of race and how race exists in America, yes. Is it true, very true. I realize you who have buried your racism in a reverse racism that dwells on the exception or the quota have an impossible time realizing these truths.

Tell you personal story, when EEO started I worked for the largest corporation on earth. And they ask me, a hispanic white kid who never once told anyone I was a half ****, why I thought there were no Blacks anywhere except in janitorial service. Now what would you answer. Tell me.

Sure:

Racism is racial prejudice or discrimination

racism - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary


EDIT: My answer would be because you haven't hired any darker toned people for those positions.
 
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Racism is racial prejudice or discrimination

racism - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

EDIT: My answer would be because you haven't hired any darker toned people for those positions.

Yes, but dictionaries hardly carry enough content to capture something so complex.

And I doubt that would be your answer to a serious query. The question was asked by the EEO rep. They are tasked with understanding why. In those days discrimination was more obvious and blatant. It is why the companies lost the suits. Just as Walmart does today over unfair working conditions or discrimination.

My answer was, it just isn't the way things are done. I am not bragging about the great insight of my youth, but that was the way it was. Discrimination was normal. There were no Blacks, even on TV then, unless in role. Today racism is deeper, as you and others display. One has to like William Joyce for no other reason than that he is honest.
 
he is telling his personal story....and like many of us...has a racist parent...love the watermelon comment...is he racist...is he human..as ed said we all are...do we go out of your way to see and spot light racism...yes we do.. people ask if a black man can be racist...i see the flip side...how can a black man not be racist?
 
Racism is racial prejudice or discrimination

racism - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

EDIT: My answer would be because you haven't hired any darker toned people for those positions.

Yes, but dictionaries hardly carry enough content to capture something so complex.

And I doubt that would be your answer to a serious query. The question was asked by the EEO rep. They are tasked with understanding why. In those days discrimination was more obvious and blatant. It is why the companies lost the suits. Just as Walmart does today over unfair working conditions or discrimination.

My answer was, it just isn't the way things are done. I am not bragging about the great insight of my youth, but that was the way it was. Discrimination was normal. There were no Blacks, even on TV then, unless in role. Today racism is deeper, as you and others display. One has to like William Joyce for no other reason than that he is honest.

You dont know me ;). Hence why I lost my corporate management job, I have trouble not stating the obvious truth when I'm asked stupid questions (not calling you stupid, I'm calling the people who asked you the question stupid).

The reason is they haven't hired any darker toned people for those positions. Why? Well that could be anything, maybe the population of the area doesn't contain a lot of darker toned people, maybe the people hiring have a preference for light toned people, maybe the job/pay suck and darker toned people dont want it. It could be anything but in the end it comes down to one thing....they didn't hire any thats why none are there working.

EDIT: Explain your sentance more please before I make the wrong assumption
 
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Never seen anybody that taught a class on African American Studies that wasn't a racist. As a black man, Gates is just as much of a racist as the fellow who founded the KKK. The only difference is he is black instead of white and I'm sure he's more of a smooth talker. Both are equally ignorant. I think the big problem in this country is simply this. A significant number of whites are racist in this country and the same is true for the black people. Each group is like pouring oil on water. Just won't mix no matter how hard you try to blend them together. Sometimes the whites don't try hard enough to end racial practices and the blacks exploit every failure on the white side of the problem to draw attention to their plight. In other words, they keep stirring the pot. The military has done an excellent job of blending the two races into a community that gets along well. Unfortunately, that can't be said for the civilian population. I don't see an end to this problem easily at hand, especially when we have a President that makes obvious racial statements on national TV such as the Cambridge Police Department acting stupidly when he admitted he didn't have the facts of the case. I think that single comment set back a lot of progress.
 
It is racist solely because of the terms "white boys and white girls". Those terms when used about grown adults who happen to be white, are racist and meant to demean.
 
And it sure sounded racist.

I keep imagining his words as if it was all flipped around and replacing all the white people references with black people references and vise versa. Then I put a white guy saying them in my mind.


Yup its a bunch of racist comments now that i've done that.
 

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