Life of a black man in the USA

[Gardener]

This is a question for all the black people in this forum.

What's it like to be black in the USA?

Do you feel discrimination? How often?

Did you in the past? Can you tell us about it?

 

[ScienceRocks]

A life of not trusting your brothers as cause 93% of 49% of all murders on their own people. Can you imagine that? Doesn't sound too good.

A people that have a culture that advances violence.

 

[Mr. H.]

Best ask this guy...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfAvQp-Uk5I]I Was Born A Poor Black Child - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Gardener]

A life of not trusting your brothers as cause 93% of 49% of all murders on their own people. Can you imagine that? Doesn't sound too good.

A people that have a culture that advances violence.

I asked for the views of black people, not folks who are racist against black people.

 

[BBCAmerica]

Being black in America is not all that bad. I had this conversation with some friends just yesterday. One friend said "It's always a white person that says race isn't an issue" and while sometimes it is, Most of the time it isn't. See I live in a town that is like 90% white. so being white, race most likely isn't an issue.
My friends are my friends they are not black or white, they are just friends.
I like explaining it like this. Race to me is like breathing. It's always there but you don't think about it until it becomes an issue.

Yes I have been discriminated against in the past in housing and employment. I did a few phone interviews back when I first moved here. Over the phone, they loved me and couldn't wait to have me be a part of their company. Then in the face to face things changed. There was one that was really quite funny. The guy was so happy to see me. He walks into the waiting room saying "Mr____, Mr____, Mr____ then he rounds the corner and saw me and the look on his face was priceless. The happy tone was gone and we sat down for him to tell me that the job was taken. I had an employer actually tell me after a phone interview that had he known I was black he would not have hired me and told me that I taught him something judging a person by their race.
I have been pulled over just because I was black. This was just a few years ago. Me and a friend who is black were on our way to work. We got pulled over by an obvious racist. I say that because he was an asshole from the start. I know there are certain you should never be assholes to. The people cooking your food, The people at the bank & the police. This is why I have never had a ticket. Any how he pulled us over because my bud had an OMVI,(He got the OMVI because the legal limit is .08 and he blew a .06. Go figure. .08 would have been DUI) but he could drive to and from work. The officer tells him he shouldn't be driving. He hands the officer a paper from the judge that states he can drive to and from work. The officer says "Sir this paper means nothing to me" The he proceeds to ask about where we are going, drugs, guns and the whole drill. By this time there is a another trooper with a drug dog. They tell us to roll up the windows and stay in the car. They walk the dog around the car. The trooper hits his rag on the window and the dog goes crazy. The officer tells us that the dog alerted to drugs and this gives him probable cause to search the car. They never asked to search.
They put me in one car and my bud in the other car. Now the start to interrogate me and I'm sure him too.
The officer ask me where the drugs are. I tell him "Look man, we are on our way to work. I don't mess with drugs and he don't mess with drugs. There ain't no drugs in that car. I know it, he knows it, you know it and that dog knows it".
So they keep going and going until finally they got all his and my shit all over the side of the road and they are done. Not even so much as a warning couldn't even give us a seat belt violation.
We were so pissed after that that we skipped work and got drunk.


I have done phone interviews for apartments then I show up and the apartment was all of a sudden rented.
I have noticed that the older I get the less it happens
But you also have to understand that this is just me. There may be people that have worse experiences than me and better than me. These are just mine.

 

[katsteve2012]

This is a question for all the black people in this forum.

What's it like to be black in the USA?

Probably no different than any other family man with a good marriage, and a happy home. First priorities are to provide for the young ones and support the elders as needed.

Do you feel discrimination? How often?

Not discrimination as much as a keen awareness of the ignorance and evil that exist in society. Most often when reading posts from some of the nuts in this forum who have no idea what REAL discrimination is.

Did you in the past? Can you tell us about it?

I grew up in the 50's and 60's. My parents and grandparents marched in the south during the civil rights movement and took me with them one summer in 1963.

That says it all.

 

[squeeze berry]

Being black in America is not all that bad. I had this conversation with some friends just yesterday. One friend said "It's always a white person that says race isn't an issue" and while sometimes it is, Most of the time it isn't. See I live in a town that is like 90% white. so being white, race most likely isn't an issue.
My friends are my friends they are not black or white, they are just friends.
I like explaining it like this. Race to me is like breathing. It's always there but you don't think about it until it becomes an issue.

Yes I have been discriminated against in the past in housing and employment. I did a few phone interviews back when I first moved here. Over the phone, they loved me and couldn't wait to have me be a part of their company. Then in the face to face things changed. There was one that was really quite funny. The guy was so happy to see me. He walks into the waiting room saying "Mr____, Mr____, Mr____ then he rounds the corner and saw me and the look on his face was priceless. The happy tone was gone and we sat down for him to tell me that the job was taken. I had an employer actually tell me after a phone interview that had he known I was black he would not have hired me and told me that I taught him something judging a person by their race.
I have been pulled over just because I was black. This was just a few years ago. Me and a friend who is black were on our way to work. We got pulled over by an obvious racist. I say that because he was an asshole from the start. I know there are certain you should never be assholes to. The people cooking your food, The people at the bank & the police. This is why I have never had a ticket. Any how he pulled us over because my bud had an OMVI,(He got the OMVI because the legal limit is .08 and he blew a .06. Go figure. .08 would have been DUI) but he could drive to and from work. The officer tells him he shouldn't be driving. He hands the officer a paper from the judge that states he can drive to and from work. The officer says "Sir this paper means nothing to me" The he proceeds to ask about where we are going, drugs, guns and the whole drill. By this time there is a another trooper with a drug dog. They tell us to roll up the windows and stay in the car. They walk the dog around the car. The trooper hits his rag on the window and the dog goes crazy. The officer tells us that the dog alerted to drugs and this gives him probable cause to search the car. They never asked to search.
They put me in one car and my bud in the other car. Now the start to interrogate me and I'm sure him too.
The officer ask me where the drugs are. I tell him "Look man, we are on our way to work. I don't mess with drugs and he don't mess with drugs. There ain't no drugs in that car. I know it, he knows it, you know it and that dog knows it".
So they keep going and going until finally they got all his and my shit all over the side of the road and they are done. Not even so much as a warning couldn't even give us a seat belt violation.
We were so pissed after that that we skipped work and got drunk.


I have done phone interviews for apartments then I show up and the apartment was all of a sudden rented.
I have noticed that the older I get the less it happens
But you also have to understand that this is just me. There may be people that have worse experiences than me and better than me. These are just mine.

so the cop was a racist b/c he pulled over your bud that had a OMVI ???

persecution complex on your part

 

[BBCAmerica]

Being black in America is not all that bad. I had this conversation with some friends just yesterday. One friend said "It's always a white person that says race isn't an issue" and while sometimes it is, Most of the time it isn't. See I live in a town that is like 90% white. so being white, race most likely isn't an issue.
My friends are my friends they are not black or white, they are just friends.
I like explaining it like this. Race to me is like breathing. It's always there but you don't think about it until it becomes an issue.

Yes I have been discriminated against in the past in housing and employment. I did a few phone interviews back when I first moved here. Over the phone, they loved me and couldn't wait to have me be a part of their company. Then in the face to face things changed. There was one that was really quite funny. The guy was so happy to see me. He walks into the waiting room saying "Mr____, Mr____, Mr____ then he rounds the corner and saw me and the look on his face was priceless. The happy tone was gone and we sat down for him to tell me that the job was taken. I had an employer actually tell me after a phone interview that had he known I was black he would not have hired me and told me that I taught him something judging a person by their race.
I have been pulled over just because I was black. This was just a few years ago. Me and a friend who is black were on our way to work. We got pulled over by an obvious racist. I say that because he was an asshole from the start. I know there are certain you should never be assholes to. The people cooking your food, The people at the bank & the police. This is why I have never had a ticket. Any how he pulled us over because my bud had an OMVI,(He got the OMVI because the legal limit is .08 and he blew a .06. Go figure. .08 would have been DUI) but he could drive to and from work. The officer tells him he shouldn't be driving. He hands the officer a paper from the judge that states he can drive to and from work. The officer says "Sir this paper means nothing to me" The he proceeds to ask about where we are going, drugs, guns and the whole drill. By this time there is a another trooper with a drug dog. They tell us to roll up the windows and stay in the car. They walk the dog around the car. The trooper hits his rag on the window and the dog goes crazy. The officer tells us that the dog alerted to drugs and this gives him probable cause to search the car. They never asked to search.
They put me in one car and my bud in the other car. Now the start to interrogate me and I'm sure him too.
The officer ask me where the drugs are. I tell him "Look man, we are on our way to work. I don't mess with drugs and he don't mess with drugs. There ain't no drugs in that car. I know it, he knows it, you know it and that dog knows it".
So they keep going and going until finally they got all his and my shit all over the side of the road and they are done. Not even so much as a warning couldn't even give us a seat belt violation.
We were so pissed after that that we skipped work and got drunk.


I have done phone interviews for apartments then I show up and the apartment was all of a sudden rented.
I have noticed that the older I get the less it happens
But you also have to understand that this is just me. There may be people that have worse experiences than me and better than me. These are just mine.

so the cop was a racist b/c he pulled over your bud that had a OMVI ???

persecution complex on your part

No the cop was a racist because he was a racist and an ass hole from the start. As I said he was an obvious racist. Nothing about the whole situation was about him just doing his job and us respecting that. I've been pulled over by many cops for many different reasons. None of them was like this guy. All he had to do was look at the paper signed by the judge and notarized by the court that states exactly what time he should be driving and where to and this should have been over. Not to mention you read all I said the cop did and you cant see that what he was doing was harassing 2 guys on their way to work..
So after so many times having dealings with white cops for one reason or another. I say 1 was a racist and that's just wrong? You weren't there, You don't know the guy. You don't know me. But just because I say that in my 46 years on this earth I had a run in with one racist cop it's automatically me? Then you say that blacks are the racist?

 

[Katzndogz]

I got a dose of how some black people feel about being black in America.

I had gone to the enrobing of a black woman DA who had just been appointed as Judge to the local court. After the ceremony the women lawyers took the new judge out for a drink. She had a few, maybe a few too many.

She talked about how hard it was for her to grow up deprived, fighting and struggling for every advancement. She had to go fight through law school, had to go through a grueling application process for the District Attorney's office, and had to grind away there for five years before she was recognized and appointed to the bench. It was all racism, all those years of poverty and want was due to racism.

Doesn't that sound like she was treated unfairly?

The truth is, and everyone knew it because this was a local girl, her mother was a very prominent attorney and her father a surgeon. She was born and raised in a mansion, in a gated community in Palos Verdes Estates. She went to private schools all her life, including the very prestigious Chadwick Academy. She had servants her entire life and never so much as washed a sock. She went to Harvard but came back to be closer to her family and went to law school at Davis. By the time she took the bar, strings had already been pulled for her to get into the DA's office. Yes, she did have to fill out an application. Unlike other District Attorneys who have to slog for decades before a bench appointment, hers came in five years.

What was her gripe?

If you read Big Moo's thesis from Princeton, it's right there. Both of them are resentful that they had to do anything at all. The law degree should have been handed over along with the bar license. Working as a lawyer should never have been necessary. Filling out the application should never have been necessary. Going to college shouldn't have been necessary to get the degree. The judge's parents were very rich, but they still had to work for it. It should have just been there for them.

The experience of blacks in the United States is one of frustration that they have to do something, anything. Nothing to express this better than Big Moochelle Obama when her husband was running for president the first time.

I know people are talking about how Barack is the frontrunner. That's a new title for us, because if you recall, Barack has been the underdog, and as far as I'm concerned, will continue to be the underdog until he is sitting in the Oval Office

And it started with raising money

But once he raised all that money, then all of a sudden, money didn't matter. It didn't count. His opponents said well, we're all going to raise money. So the next test was whether or not Barack could build the kind of political organization that can compete

But after it was built, then all of a sudden, organization didn't matter. But we're all going to build a political organization, was what they said. The true test, they said, was now Iowa. Iowa was going to be the measure

then what happened? Iowa wasn't important. All of a sudden, they said well, Iowa's not important because it's just a caucus

we're still living in a nation, and in a time when the bar is set, I talk about this all the time, they set the bar. They say look, if you do these things, you can get to this bar, right? And then you work and you struggle, you do everything that they say, and you think you're getting close to the bar and you're working hard, and you're sacrificing, and then you get to the bar, you're right there, you're reaching out for the bar, you think you have it, and then what happens? They move the bar. They raise it up. They shift it to the left and to the right. It's always just quite out of reach

Michelle Obama's depressing 'Moving The Bar' stump speech

It was inherently unfair that her husband had to do everything every other candidate had to do to be elected president. Why? Why wasn't it just handed to him? As a black man, he should not have had to reach those bars. Those are for other people who aren't entitled. As a black woman the new Judge should not have had to reach all those benchmarks either.

This is the experience of black people in America. It's called the politics of frustration. But it's a frustration born out of an erroneous sense of entitlement.

 

[hjmick]

This is a question for all the black people in this forum.

What's it like to be black in the USA?

Probably no different than any other family man with a good marriage, and a happy home. First priorities are to provide for the young ones and support the elders as needed.

Do you feel discrimination? How often?

Not discrimination as much as a keen awareness of the ignorance and evil that exist in society. Most often when reading posts from some of the nuts in this forum who have no idea what REAL discrimination is.

Did you in the past? Can you tell us about it?

I grew up in the 50's and 60's. My parents and grandparents marched in the south during the civil rights movement and took me with them one summer in 1963.

That says it all.

How many summers were there in '63?










Sorry, couldn't help myself...

 

[BBCAmerica]

I got a dose of how some black people feel about being black in America.

I had gone to the enrobing of a black woman DA who had just been appointed as Judge to the local court. After the ceremony the women lawyers took the new judge out for a drink. She had a few, maybe a few too many.

She talked about how hard it was for her to grow up deprived, fighting and struggling for every advancement. She had to go fight through law school, had to go through a grueling application process for the District Attorney's office, and had to grind away there for five years before she was recognized and appointed to the bench. It was all racism, all those years of poverty and want was due to racism.

Doesn't that sound like she was treated unfairly?

The truth is, and everyone knew it because this was a local girl, her mother was a very prominent attorney and her father a surgeon. She was born and raised in a mansion, in a gated community in Palos Verdes Estates. She went to private schools all her life, including the very prestigious Chadwick Academy. She had servants her entire life and never so much as washed a sock. She went to Harvard but came back to be closer to her family and went to law school at Davis. By the time she took the bar, strings had already been pulled for her to get into the DA's office. Yes, she did have to fill out an application. Unlike other District Attorneys who have to slog for decades before a bench appointment, hers came in five years.

What was her gripe?

If you read Big Moo's thesis from Princeton, it's right there. Both of them are resentful that they had to do anything at all. The law degree should have been handed over along with the bar license. Working as a lawyer should never have been necessary. Filling out the application should never have been necessary. Going to college shouldn't have been necessary to get the degree. The judge's parents were very rich, but they still had to work for it. It should have just been there for them.

The experience of blacks in the United States is one of frustration that they have to do something, anything. Nothing to express this better than Big Moochelle Obama when her husband was running for president the first time.

I know people are talking about how Barack is the frontrunner. That's a new title for us, because if you recall, Barack has been the underdog, and as far as I'm concerned, will continue to be the underdog until he is sitting in the Oval Office

And it started with raising money

But once he raised all that money, then all of a sudden, money didn't matter. It didn't count. His opponents said well, we're all going to raise money. So the next test was whether or not Barack could build the kind of political organization that can compete

But after it was built, then all of a sudden, organization didn't matter. But we're all going to build a political organization, was what they said. The true test, they said, was now Iowa. Iowa was going to be the measure

then what happened? Iowa wasn't important. All of a sudden, they said well, Iowa's not important because it's just a caucus

we're still living in a nation, and in a time when the bar is set, I talk about this all the time, they set the bar. They say look, if you do these things, you can get to this bar, right? And then you work and you struggle, you do everything that they say, and you think you're getting close to the bar and you're working hard, and you're sacrificing, and then you get to the bar, you're right there, you're reaching out for the bar, you think you have it, and then what happens? They move the bar. They raise it up. They shift it to the left and to the right. It's always just quite out of reach

Michelle Obama's depressing 'Moving The Bar' stump speech

It was inherently unfair that her husband had to do everything every other candidate had to do to be elected president. Why? Why wasn't it just handed to him? As a black man, he should not have had to reach those bars. Those are for other people who aren't entitled. As a black woman the new Judge should not have had to reach all those benchmarks either.

This is the experience of black people in America. It's called the politics of frustration. But it's a frustration born out of an erroneous sense of entitlement.

So this is how all black people are? Because I wasn't raised like that. We were not rich but not starving. Yeah I was raised that I would have to work twice as hard to get half as far but not to be bitter about it. But to me she sounds like your average rich person that thinks that because everything has been handed to them everything should continue to be handed to them. Her excuse for this just happens to be that she is black.

 

[Katzndogz]

True. It was her excuse. It was obama's excuse too and it's the excuse used by many people.

 

[BBCAmerica]

True. It was her excuse. It was obama's excuse too and it's the excuse used by many people.

How many of these people do you know personally? How many of these people told you that this is how they feel.
Frankly I'm around black folks everyday and not one of them talks like this. I have lived around black folks all my life and hardly do you hear black folks talk like this. Especially very successful ones.
Personally I don't know either of the Obamas but growing up rich and going to lawschool and becoming a lawyer and then a judge. If I complained about that. My mother would slap the hell out of me and then tell me how blessed I am and how thankful I should be. But hey that's just the kinda black folks I have been around all my life.

 

[Foxfyre]

I'll ask the originator of the OP: Does this discussion have to be limited to black men? Or can we include women?

One of the best friends I had in the whole world was a woman who happened to be black. We shared the same sense of humor, saw the same absurdities in situations, and just 'got' each other from the beginning. We worked together and we played together. And we saw the world through pretty much the same lens. I lost her to breast cancer about 20 years ago. I still miss her.

She was old enough to have experienced and remember segregation and all the civil rights turmoil quite vividly. We talked about that now and then. But she was quite adament that she was discriminated against because she was a woman far more than she felt discrminated against because she was black. Those who are very short or unattractive or fat or not particularly articulate etc. know what discrimination feels like.

She excelled and succeeded regardless. And enriched all our lives. And was not in the least handicapped because of the color of her skin.

 

[katsteve2012]

I got a dose of how some black people feel about being black in America.

I had gone to the enrobing of a black woman DA who had just been appointed as Judge to the local court. After the ceremony the women lawyers took the new judge out for a drink. She had a few, maybe a few too many.

She talked about how hard it was for her to grow up deprived, fighting and struggling for every advancement. She had to go fight through law school, had to go through a grueling application process for the District Attorney's office, and had to grind away there for five years before she was recognized and appointed to the bench. It was all racism, all those years of poverty and want was due to racism.

Doesn't that sound like she was treated unfairly?

The truth is, and everyone knew it because this was a local girl, her mother was a very prominent attorney and her father a surgeon. She was born and raised in a mansion, in a gated community in Palos Verdes Estates. She went to private schools all her life, including the very prestigious Chadwick Academy. She had servants her entire life and never so much as washed a sock. She went to Harvard but came back to be closer to her family and went to law school at Davis. By the time she took the bar, strings had already been pulled for her to get into the DA's office. Yes, she did have to fill out an application. Unlike other District Attorneys who have to slog for decades before a bench appointment, hers came in five years.

What was her gripe?

If you read Big Moo's thesis from Princeton, it's right there. Both of them are resentful that they had to do anything at all. The law degree should have been handed over along with the bar license. Working as a lawyer should never have been necessary. Filling out the application should never have been necessary. Going to college shouldn't have been necessary to get the degree. The judge's parents were very rich, but they still had to work for it. It should have just been there for them.

The experience of blacks in the United States is one of frustration that they have to do something, anything. Nothing to express this better than Big Moochelle Obama when her husband was running for president the first time.

I know people are talking about how Barack is the frontrunner. That's a new title for us, because if you recall, Barack has been the underdog, and as far as I'm concerned, will continue to be the underdog until he is sitting in the Oval Office

And it started with raising money

But once he raised all that money, then all of a sudden, money didn't matter. It didn't count. His opponents said well, we're all going to raise money. So the next test was whether or not Barack could build the kind of political organization that can compete

But after it was built, then all of a sudden, organization didn't matter. But we're all going to build a political organization, was what they said. The true test, they said, was now Iowa. Iowa was going to be the measure

then what happened? Iowa wasn't important. All of a sudden, they said well, Iowa's not important because it's just a caucus

we're still living in a nation, and in a time when the bar is set, I talk about this all the time, they set the bar. They say look, if you do these things, you can get to this bar, right? And then you work and you struggle, you do everything that they say, and you think you're getting close to the bar and you're working hard, and you're sacrificing, and then you get to the bar, you're right there, you're reaching out for the bar, you think you have it, and then what happens? They move the bar. They raise it up. They shift it to the left and to the right. It's always just quite out of reach

Michelle Obama's depressing 'Moving The Bar' stump speech

It was inherently unfair that her husband had to do everything every other candidate had to do to be elected president. Why? Why wasn't it just handed to him? As a black man, he should not have had to reach those bars. Those are for other people who aren't entitled. As a black woman the new Judge should not have had to reach all those benchmarks either.

This is the experience of black people in America. It's called the politics of frustration. But it's a frustration born out of an erroneous sense of entitlement.

Lol. So now blacks "are born" with an innate "sense of entitlement"? Some of this boards posters have produced /dreamed up some of the most outlandish theories I have ever heard in near 60 years on this planet.

The newly minted female judge that you describe sounds no different than a Bush, a Kennedy or a Romney or any other individual born into privilege who tried to glorify his or her path to success with self manufactured or percieved obstacles.

All of the above were born and bred in to the same sense of entitlement race not being a factor

Do you know a single black person who started with absolutely nothing and not only "washed their socks" but may have washed the socks of others as well?

How about any blacks who have done well in spite of oppressive and LEGAL systems like Jim Crow? Or genuine hiring polices geared towards their failure or denied access?

Or are your circle of black acquaintances limited to the type tht you described and do they by chance inhabit an insulated ivory tower of a world that you personally live in as well?

Just curious.

 

[BBCAmerica]

I got a dose of how some black people feel about being black in America.

I had gone to the enrobing of a black woman DA who had just been appointed as Judge to the local court. After the ceremony the women lawyers took the new judge out for a drink. She had a few, maybe a few too many.

She talked about how hard it was for her to grow up deprived, fighting and struggling for every advancement. She had to go fight through law school, had to go through a grueling application process for the District Attorney's office, and had to grind away there for five years before she was recognized and appointed to the bench. It was all racism, all those years of poverty and want was due to racism.

Doesn't that sound like she was treated unfairly?

The truth is, and everyone knew it because this was a local girl, her mother was a very prominent attorney and her father a surgeon. She was born and raised in a mansion, in a gated community in Palos Verdes Estates. She went to private schools all her life, including the very prestigious Chadwick Academy. She had servants her entire life and never so much as washed a sock. She went to Harvard but came back to be closer to her family and went to law school at Davis. By the time she took the bar, strings had already been pulled for her to get into the DA's office. Yes, she did have to fill out an application. Unlike other District Attorneys who have to slog for decades before a bench appointment, hers came in five years.

What was her gripe?

If you read Big Moo's thesis from Princeton, it's right there. Both of them are resentful that they had to do anything at all. The law degree should have been handed over along with the bar license. Working as a lawyer should never have been necessary. Filling out the application should never have been necessary. Going to college shouldn't have been necessary to get the degree. The judge's parents were very rich, but they still had to work for it. It should have just been there for them.

The experience of blacks in the United States is one of frustration that they have to do something, anything. Nothing to express this better than Big Moochelle Obama when her husband was running for president the first time.

I know people are talking about how Barack is the frontrunner. That's a new title for us, because if you recall, Barack has been the underdog, and as far as I'm concerned, will continue to be the underdog until he is sitting in the Oval Office

And it started with raising money

But once he raised all that money, then all of a sudden, money didn't matter. It didn't count. His opponents said well, we're all going to raise money. So the next test was whether or not Barack could build the kind of political organization that can compete

But after it was built, then all of a sudden, organization didn't matter. But we're all going to build a political organization, was what they said. The true test, they said, was now Iowa. Iowa was going to be the measure

then what happened? Iowa wasn't important. All of a sudden, they said well, Iowa's not important because it's just a caucus

we're still living in a nation, and in a time when the bar is set, I talk about this all the time, they set the bar. They say look, if you do these things, you can get to this bar, right? And then you work and you struggle, you do everything that they say, and you think you're getting close to the bar and you're working hard, and you're sacrificing, and then you get to the bar, you're right there, you're reaching out for the bar, you think you have it, and then what happens? They move the bar. They raise it up. They shift it to the left and to the right. It's always just quite out of reach

Michelle Obama's depressing 'Moving The Bar' stump speech

It was inherently unfair that her husband had to do everything every other candidate had to do to be elected president. Why? Why wasn't it just handed to him? As a black man, he should not have had to reach those bars. Those are for other people who aren't entitled. As a black woman the new Judge should not have had to reach all those benchmarks either.

This is the experience of black people in America. It's called the politics of frustration. But it's a frustration born out of an erroneous sense of entitlement.

Lol. So now blacks "are born" with an innate "sense of entitlement"? Some of this boards posters have produced /dreamed up some of the most outlandish theories I have ever heard in near 60 years on this planet.

The newly minted female judge that you describe sounds no different than a Bush, a Kennedy or a Romney or any other individual born into privilege who tried to glorify his or her path to success with self manufactured or percieved obstacles.

All of the above were born and bred in to the same sense of entitlement race not being a factor

Do you know a single black person who started with absolutely nothing and not only "washed their socks" but may have washed the socks of others as well?

How about any blacks who have done well in spite of oppressive and LEGAL systems like Jim Crow? Or genuine hiring polices geared towards their failure or denied access?

Or are your circle of black acquaintances limited to the type tht you described and do they by chance inhabit an insulated ivory tower of a world that you personally live in as well?

Just curious.

Remember Lady Romney telling her story of her and Mitt's beginnings? Like they were just so po, broke and lonely. Give me a break.

 

[squeeze berry]

I got a dose of how some black people feel about being black in America.

I had gone to the enrobing of a black woman DA who had just been appointed as Judge to the local court. After the ceremony the women lawyers took the new judge out for a drink. She had a few, maybe a few too many.

She talked about how hard it was for her to grow up deprived, fighting and struggling for every advancement. She had to go fight through law school, had to go through a grueling application process for the District Attorney's office, and had to grind away there for five years before she was recognized and appointed to the bench. It was all racism, all those years of poverty and want was due to racism.

Doesn't that sound like she was treated unfairly?

The truth is, and everyone knew it because this was a local girl, her mother was a very prominent attorney and her father a surgeon. She was born and raised in a mansion, in a gated community in Palos Verdes Estates. She went to private schools all her life, including the very prestigious Chadwick Academy. She had servants her entire life and never so much as washed a sock. She went to Harvard but came back to be closer to her family and went to law school at Davis. By the time she took the bar, strings had already been pulled for her to get into the DA's office. Yes, she did have to fill out an application. Unlike other District Attorneys who have to slog for decades before a bench appointment, hers came in five years.

What was her gripe?

If you read Big Moo's thesis from Princeton, it's right there. Both of them are resentful that they had to do anything at all. The law degree should have been handed over along with the bar license. Working as a lawyer should never have been necessary. Filling out the application should never have been necessary. Going to college shouldn't have been necessary to get the degree. The judge's parents were very rich, but they still had to work for it. It should have just been there for them.

The experience of blacks in the United States is one of frustration that they have to do something, anything. Nothing to express this better than Big Moochelle Obama when her husband was running for president the first time.

I know people are talking about how Barack is the frontrunner. That's a new title for us, because if you recall, Barack has been the underdog, and as far as I'm concerned, will continue to be the underdog until he is sitting in the Oval Office

And it started with raising money

But once he raised all that money, then all of a sudden, money didn't matter. It didn't count. His opponents said well, we're all going to raise money. So the next test was whether or not Barack could build the kind of political organization that can compete

But after it was built, then all of a sudden, organization didn't matter. But we're all going to build a political organization, was what they said. The true test, they said, was now Iowa. Iowa was going to be the measure

then what happened? Iowa wasn't important. All of a sudden, they said well, Iowa's not important because it's just a caucus

we're still living in a nation, and in a time when the bar is set, I talk about this all the time, they set the bar. They say look, if you do these things, you can get to this bar, right? And then you work and you struggle, you do everything that they say, and you think you're getting close to the bar and you're working hard, and you're sacrificing, and then you get to the bar, you're right there, you're reaching out for the bar, you think you have it, and then what happens? They move the bar. They raise it up. They shift it to the left and to the right. It's always just quite out of reach

Michelle Obama's depressing 'Moving The Bar' stump speech

It was inherently unfair that her husband had to do everything every other candidate had to do to be elected president. Why? Why wasn't it just handed to him? As a black man, he should not have had to reach those bars. Those are for other people who aren't entitled. As a black woman the new Judge should not have had to reach all those benchmarks either.

This is the experience of black people in America. It's called the politics of frustration. But it's a frustration born out of an erroneous sense of entitlement.

So this is how all black people are? Because I wasn't raised like that. We were not rich but not starving. Yeah I was raised that I would have to work twice as hard to get half as far but not to be bitter about it. But to me she sounds like your average rich person that thinks that because everything has been handed to them everything should continue to be handed to them. Her excuse for this just happens to be that she is black.

how do you know you had to work twice as hard to get half as far?

link?

persecution complex again?

 

[squeeze berry]

Being black in America is not all that bad. I had this conversation with some friends just yesterday. One friend said "It's always a white person that says race isn't an issue" and while sometimes it is, Most of the time it isn't. See I live in a town that is like 90% white. so being white, race most likely isn't an issue.
My friends are my friends they are not black or white, they are just friends.
I like explaining it like this. Race to me is like breathing. It's always there but you don't think about it until it becomes an issue.

Yes I have been discriminated against in the past in housing and employment. I did a few phone interviews back when I first moved here. Over the phone, they loved me and couldn't wait to have me be a part of their company. Then in the face to face things changed. There was one that was really quite funny. The guy was so happy to see me. He walks into the waiting room saying "Mr____, Mr____, Mr____ then he rounds the corner and saw me and the look on his face was priceless. The happy tone was gone and we sat down for him to tell me that the job was taken. I had an employer actually tell me after a phone interview that had he known I was black he would not have hired me and told me that I taught him something judging a person by their race.
I have been pulled over just because I was black. This was just a few years ago. Me and a friend who is black were on our way to work. We got pulled over by an obvious racist. I say that because he was an asshole from the start. I know there are certain you should never be assholes to. The people cooking your food, The people at the bank & the police. This is why I have never had a ticket. Any how he pulled us over because my bud had an OMVI,(He got the OMVI because the legal limit is .08 and he blew a .06. Go figure. .08 would have been DUI) but he could drive to and from work. The officer tells him he shouldn't be driving. He hands the officer a paper from the judge that states he can drive to and from work. The officer says "Sir this paper means nothing to me" The he proceeds to ask about where we are going, drugs, guns and the whole drill. By this time there is a another trooper with a drug dog. They tell us to roll up the windows and stay in the car. They walk the dog around the car. The trooper hits his rag on the window and the dog goes crazy. The officer tells us that the dog alerted to drugs and this gives him probable cause to search the car. They never asked to search.
They put me in one car and my bud in the other car. Now the start to interrogate me and I'm sure him too.
The officer ask me where the drugs are. I tell him "Look man, we are on our way to work. I don't mess with drugs and he don't mess with drugs. There ain't no drugs in that car. I know it, he knows it, you know it and that dog knows it".
So they keep going and going until finally they got all his and my shit all over the side of the road and they are done. Not even so much as a warning couldn't even give us a seat belt violation.
We were so pissed after that that we skipped work and got drunk.


I have done phone interviews for apartments then I show up and the apartment was all of a sudden rented.
I have noticed that the older I get the less it happens
But you also have to understand that this is just me. There may be people that have worse experiences than me and better than me. These are just mine.

so the cop was a racist b/c he pulled over your bud that had a OMVI ???

persecution complex on your part

No the cop was a racist because he was a racist and an ass hole from the start. As I said he was an obvious racist. Nothing about the whole situation was about him just doing his job and us respecting that. I've been pulled over by many cops for many different reasons. None of them was like this guy. All he had to do was look at the paper signed by the judge and notarized by the court that states exactly what time he should be driving and where to and this should have been over. Not to mention you read all I said the cop did and you cant see that what he was doing was harassing 2 guys on their way to work..
So after so many times having dealings with white cops for one reason or another. I say 1 was a racist and that's just wrong? You weren't there, You don't know the guy. You don't know me. But just because I say that in my 46 years on this earth I had a run in with one racist cop it's automatically me? Then you say that blacks are the racist?

being an "asshole" does not = racist

I run into black assholes frequently, including in this very thread

 

[katsteve2012]

This is a question for all the black people in this forum.

What's it like to be black in the USA?

Probably no different than any other family man with a good marriage, and a happy home. First priorities are to provide for the young ones and support the elders as needed.

Do you feel discrimination? How often?

Not discrimination as much as a keen awareness of the ignorance and evil that exist in society. Most often when reading posts from some of the nuts in this forum who have no idea what REAL discrimination is.

Did you in the past? Can you tell us about it?

I grew up in the 50's and 60's. My parents and grandparents marched in the south during the civil rights movement and took me with them one summer in 1963.

That says it all.

How many summers were there in '63?

Sorry, couldn't help myself...

I realize that small, petty minds usually can't, so no problem, I will humor you.

I was there ONE summer which was IN THE YEAR 1963, during the Civil Rights movement. And prior to that, several summers from 1959 to 1961.

Probably before you were born.


Anymore questions?

 

[katsteve2012]

True. It was her excuse. It was obama's excuse too and it's the excuse used by many people.

How many of these people do you know personally? How many of these people told you that this is how they feel.
Frankly I'm around black folks everyday and not one of them talks like this. I have lived around black folks all my life and hardly do you hear black folks talk like this. Especially very successful ones.
Personally I don't know either of the Obamas but growing up rich and going to lawschool and becoming a lawyer and then a judge. If I complained about that. My mother would slap the hell out of me and then tell me how blessed I am and how thankful I should be. But hey that's just the kinda black folks I have been around all my life.

Ditto. My parents would have done the same. First for being ungrateful, and second for lying.

I think that this poster had been exposed to a very limited number of black people in a real world environment.

That means working parents, family values, structure and discipline.