when will white folk stop telling black folk how to act?

[grasswire]

Isn't it a bit ridiculous that so many white folk on television this evening are pursing their thin lips and tsk-tsking over the "ungracious" and "unseemly" commentaries at Mrs. King's funeral? Mrs. O'Beirne was particularly haughty. Tweety Matthews could barely restrain himself.

[Mythsaje]

1. Sooner or later they're going to chew their lips right off...

It's like the pundits have gone rabid and have completely lost their tiny little minds.

[FreedomAngel82]

42. They should bring Al Sharpton on there

I'd love to see him smack their asses down!

[shanti]

125. what lips?

*cheesing*

[KingFlorez]

2. I agree

They get in an uproar over harmless comments, but defend Ann Coulter calling for a public official to be poisoned. They just can take that people are slamming their President.

[Tigress DEM]

63. It's the truth that makes them ill. Interacts with the koolaid.

All the REV said was that we know there were no WMD but there is misdirection here at home.

If *ush can get up and lie to the people in his SOTUS, then the REV can tell the truth at a funeral for a woman who stood for Justice and Freedom.

[ulysses]

3. never, evidently. n/t

[SharonAnn]

36. When men stop telling women how to act.

[sasha031]

4. being white is getting to be an embarrassment

but these freeps don't speek for me

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. Getting? They don't speak for me either.

[Tigress DEM]

64. Sorry they ain't white. They are the HUTAP.

Head Up Their Ass People

They do come in every shade of skin tone, but IQ is usually close to that of a chicken hawk. Their sheer stupidity causes them to live their lives with their heads up their own asses, or if they feel ambitious, some rich and tryranical ass.

These people are sell outs to their own people, because there is ONLY ONE PEOPLE --- HUMANKIND.

Beneath the skin we all breathe and bleed, feel and dream.
Beneath the skin we all know how to be better people.
Some choose not to. Some choose to wallow in their ignorance.

The HUTAP are an abomination in every shape and form.
Those that would despise instead of admire people who stand for justice and truth
Are just wired backward and spend most of their time hiding their heads in shame
And getting very little information except from FAUX.

Pity the fools.
Don't give them a minute of your time.
They stink. They are foul.
They ain't MY People.

Proud to be a gringa, but I ain't no HUTAP.

[enfield collector]

102. Wow, well said!

[bliss_eternal]

106. Please forgive me, I've got to use this--

HUTAP Well said!
:applause:

[Tigress DEM]

123. Feel Free.

Glad it works for you.

I just had to come up with a suitable epitath that explains why not all white is like them.

[xultar]

5. We never get a world wide audience and when we do they bitch.

FUCK'EM Fuck the mutherfuckers to hell.

They did right by CSK and right by Black America. SO FUCK the 2 faced white conservative media. FUCK'EM ALL!

[Dunvegan]

10. What xultar said.

*

[Jim Sagle]

50. Fuckin' A.

[Tigress DEM]

65. What made me cry was how they kept applauding for Clinton.

His comments were simply stated and to the heart, but even before he spoke he got so much applause that he got teared up.

I guess he is the last President who really had the door of the White House open to Black America.

I thought it was good of him to direct his comments at Correta and Martin's kids and their grief and their enormous burden of the legacy.

Many were there to celebrate and remember, but he seemed to want to reach out to the family and help them get through it.

[itzamirakul]

85. Have you all REALLY looked at Bill Clinton and what he stands for now?

As for "Bill, 'Yes, children, I sold you down the river, but believe me, life will be better for ALL of us if you poor black people will just sacrifice a little more...Do it for Ol' Daddy Bill! '" Clinton...I don't know who told that sob that he had the right to talk to black people as though he was the kindly, paternal planation owner, but he had better get his head together quick. In just a very short time, he will be as hated and disdained by black democrats as he was by white Republicans....many of whom now love him to death as Bush's new son.

When I see what Bill Clinton feels he owes black America for their support and unflinching loyalty by his attitude and behavior with Bush Sr, I am totally sickened and he had better believe that black Americans are becoming aware and turning against him.

I am a black democrat who backed Clinton and his wife at the voting booth and I detest what they have turned into.

As for Hillary, she is my Senator now and I will never again vote for her even is she was running for the job of laundry matron at the nearest laundromat. She is the most self-serving, incompetent piece of GOP-lite trash that I have ever had the misfortune of being misled by.

[beaconess]

104. It's a shame black people are too stupid to know they should hate Clinton

Instead they rise to their feet and cheer him, not knowing that he's really treating them like a plantation owner. Too bad they're too dumb for their own good.
:sarcasm:

[Tigress DEM]

122. I hear what you're saying... really, I was somewhat surprised.

But what surprised me is that even with what you have just stated as obvious reasons he might be given a cool response, that isn't how it was. The people there at the funeral applauded him and kept on and kept on.

I have a theory about Bill. I see him as someone who did a lot of good for the country and when he was up with Pappy *ush even for Tsunami victims I was enraged. Then I realized he probably had been convinced that GW was in over his head and was working to keep the America he had turned over to *ush from crashing and burning. It was like he was going in to work for a co-worker that was too hung over to safely do the job. I see he enabled *ush, but I think it was for US or so he thought.

At the dediction of the Clinton Library, Bill asked, "Am I the only one here who still likes GW?" My answer was, "Duh, what's to like and why don't you see it?"

That was when I realized that Bill and a lot of the people in Washington DC might be a lot more insulated from the truth that we on the internet were. So I started sending both him and Hilary and senators information. She's hopeless I think, btw. Her thing is a definate choice deal.

However, when GW dragged his feet on Katrina, Bill found reason enough to quit liking him and protecting his scrawny ass. He started slamming him for tax cuts to the rich while letting people suffer.

The people at Coretta's funeral are movers and shakers in the political world, so if they still like Bill, maybe there is something left to like.

But I am with you on Hil. Couldn't even listen to her talk. I know she paid her dues putting up with Bill's affairs, but the respect that earned her from me is now gone. She dropped off of the Vote Reform radar and is part of that crazy DLC lite agenda that made me sick to my stomach and mad as hell. I just don't get her. I don't trust her.

[Katherine Brengle]

6. screw them--she would have been proud. n/t

[Tigress DEM]

67. It WAS beautiful.

The choir was HUGENORMOUS! One of the soloists I heard sang just beautifully.

Maya Angelou did a little spiritual as she walked up with her cane and gave a real touching talk and a few sideways glances at *ush, I think.

How terrible was it to have the oppressor & his pappy front and center though?

[Kahuna]

7. Right here on DU when Randal won The Apprentice (Trump) there

was a bunch saying how he should have acted. It was sickening. I didn't expect that on DU.

[Spazito]

8. Yep, as someone already commented, "It is mighty WHITE of

them." Why is it people who wouldn't cross the street to shake Mrs. King's hand at one time now feel they know what she would have wanted, etc.

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. These are the same people who knew how "Terri" felt.

[Tigress DEM]

66. The are closer to "brain dead" than "civil rights pioneer"

So I guess, I can see how they could "think" they "knew" how Terri felt. BUT they were wrong on that one too.

So there is no way that their simple minds that can't even get through one full day without lying about 5-10 major events could comprehend the beauty of a person who dedicated her life to truth and justice and walking the walk not talking the talk.

[PBass]

75. Wow, that is a great observation

"These are the same people who knew how "Terri" felt."

DING DING DING!!!!!

[Spazito]

100. Yep, exactly! n/t

[Sabriel]

9. When white folk lose the power of speech, apparently.

I can't believe the vitriol I've heard since the funeral. Who are they pissed at, the eulogists, or Scott King herself? I guess a strong black woman still makes them squirm even after she's dead.

[Tigress DEM]

68. I haven't listened because those people don't count.

What is important is that so many people who really cared about her were there celebrating her life and that what happened was beautiful even if some people don't get it.

People came together for Wellstone and they did the same type of screeching about a white boy from MN.

It is the power of her passing and her legacy and the fact that they are entitled to none of it because they have worked against it.

There ARE white people who love Corretta and Martin Luther King for their great contributions to our country. It isn't only black people who benefit when there is racial harmony and equality. Peace and prosperity for all is better in every way than working our asses off for rich folk. You don't have to be black to be oppressed.

Not every black person has lived under the oppression of poverty and in some instances that makes it a harder sucker punch for them when someone looks at them only in terms of their skin color. Dianna Ross being frisked at the airport comes to mind.

I do get tired of being lumped into this whole "whites don't care" crowd because I do care, but I'm tired of having to explain it. The world will know when I'm gone what I've been about and hopefully those I've touched will explain it better than I can.

[anitar1]

81. Mrs. King was a lady in every sense of the word. She never lost

her cool, to my knowledge.I will never forget her or MLK.Some of his phrases still run through my brain.There will never be another like him, imho.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

11. I want a funeral celebration like that when I go...

With laughter and smiles and jokes. Not some stuffy lutheran funeral like my family is so fond of.

Except at mine, there needs to be beer.

I'd request male strippers too, but what good would they do me after I'm dead. :shrug:

[Tigress DEM]

70. Beer is definately a Wake kind of thing.

Yet to have a funeral like that we'd have to do something great.

Well if we are all part of the movement that brings down *ush, dick, rove, libby, delay...
maybe then we would rate.

Well at least Fitzpatrick will rate this kind of funeral. Maybe we could get in as his body guards. Does he have enough you think?

[MadMaddie]

12. Tweety and O'Beirne can go Cheney themselves

You are so right...perhaps they haven't attended black funerals. That's normal at black funerals...

This is part of the neocon problam...if others don't act like them, walk like them, and talk like them...then they are heathens unworthy of fitting in with the neocons...well screw them. One day they will be on the outside looking in and wondering what happened..:grr:

[Tigress DEM]

71. Best funeral I saw in a long time.

Cept for those bushes upfront.

Was the old lady there too? I only saw part and I saw GW, Laura and Pappy. I hope she had a headach or something. After her comments in the days after NoLa and the Katrina victims being better off in TX she probably would have gotten a few choice words from someone in that hugh group of people.

Thing is it would have been insulting for *ush NOT to be there and it was disgusting to have him there too. BUT at least it kept from directly causing trouble for several hours.

[sandnsea]

13. It's who was attacked,

If it had been a corporate approved target group, there wouldn't have been a word said at all. We would have been hearing about how "articulate" everyone was instead.

[MadMaddie]

15. What the hell is that by the way...

I am black and when people describe me...the first thing out of their mouths is you are so articulate...:wtf:

I was fortunate enough that my parents were Air Force and we traveled the world, lived in England for awhile...when we came back my sister and I were two little black girls in an all black community in Wichita Kansas with British accents..."Good Times" let me tell you.


Sorry that always has bothered me...just ranting...:rant: :sarcasm:

[sandnsea]

23. Well yeah, Good Times

Don't ask me what happened between 1955 and 1975, but JJ and George Jefferson are the only frame of reference for 90% of white America, apparently. I'd actually never heard that until Colin Powell, then pretty soon "articulate" was the compliment d'jour; like telling a fat person they have a pretty face. Dumbness knows no bounds it would seem.

[Tigress DEM]

74. Be careful not to buy into neocon propoganda.

Now if you are talking a small town that has 1 or 2 black families, then maybe your analysis is correct. But most of us have real black people we know and respect for starters. Neighbors, teachers, doctors, nurses and friends.

Even before February became Black History Month us poor dumb white folk learnt about George Washington Carver and Harriet Tubman and Langston Hughes, listened to the Jackson Five (Hey, no one knew how he'd turn out back then), Dianna Ross & the Supremes, BB King, Aretha, Anything Mowtown, watched Soul Train. OK so not all of these last are necessarily a lot better than JJ or Jeffersons, but the variety of talents among a group of people is beginning to show up.

I remember Rosie Greer was as Daniel Boone's friend in the TV Series and how terrible it was that he'd get captured and put in chains and beaten a lot, but in it's own little way the show was trying to talk about the struggle to be a free black person in early colonial America. In real life he could pick up a VW and liked to crochet and was a star football player. It gave a lot of guys permission to be cool with their softer side.

It really DOES serve the neocon establishment to take a day like today and just inflame the hatred. Yet to me and my limited white person understanding of Corretta Scott King's life mission, that would be the last thing she would like to see happen on this day in her name.

I can only do my part and love for the sake of love and fight against those who would dishonor her memory.

I don't care what color your skin is, just what is in your heart. So why am I a pariah today just because people who look like me are acting like jerks. Don't I get to be human too?

[sandnsea]

80. Truth is truth

Somewhere along the line white people started acting as if their only frame of reference for African Americans was JJ and George Jefferson. I absolutely think the image serves to continue the inferior portrayal of African Americans, to the extent of the white superior "recognition" when "one of them" rises to the ranks of "articulate". There is something peculiar about the relationship of white and black America. I grew up with plenty of racism in California, but the Mexican culture is alive and virbrant and appreciated. What is it about African culture that causes whites to shake at the very thought? Italian, Irish, French, Asian, Latin, all relatively accepted racial distinctions in this country. African-American??? Anger and outrage, why can't they just be American!!!

Inflamed hatred? I don't think so. Being on the side of truth, even uncomfortable truth, that's what I think the Kings' life mission was all about.

[Tigress DEM]

121. Truth is Truth, but we all have our filters ...

and it's easy to compare our insides with other's outsides and come up with and incomplete answer.

Let me hit your second point first. What is inflaming the hatred is not the truth spoken at the funeral, but the right wing's offensive attempt to polarize the opinion into this "white's feel this way" and "blacks feel that way" thing with their screaming pitt bulls frothing at the mouth representing (supposedly) white America. AS A WHOLE the MAJORITY of white people I have ever met respect Coretta and the truth (even an uncomfortable truth) far more than these attacks would allow anyone to believe.


Now the JJ thing:
I personally know a lot of people who could be more racially sensitive, but I don't think I know anyone who thinks of blacks in terms of JJ and George Jefferson. And some whites would feel inferior to George Jefferson because he represented the kind of man who had the guts to go for his dream and got a better life for his family.

If you hear the whole "articulate" thing a lot lately, I would think it is more in appreciation of your intelligence and a cultural aversion to "rap lyrics" because of all the profanity. My son got me into Tupac a bit and if it were just the groove and the social commentary, I could really listen more, but the "f this" and "b do what you're told" and "kill the m-fing cops" peppa that gets added to a lot of it really gets on my nerves and you hear it playing loudly everywhere. Give me Sweet Honey In The Rock over that any day, but I'm probably showing my age a bit.

I still think an intelligent person can find more to say about someone they meet than, "Gee you're articulate." But it is a valid comment, especially if your comments are politically astute. My husband's Aunt who lived in the South said the same thing about me when I started up on *ushco when we were on vacation and I decided to let both barrels go. Hey if she was dissing me, I didn't take it that way and if so, so what? That's the worst she can say? Bring it on.

THIRD the Mexican thing...

I lived in California, in a barrio, where I personally knew 2 people who were murdered by the time I was in high school. My next door neighbors on both sides were good people and Mexicans. The son of one of them bought a nice Impala and made it a low rider. Cops stopped him day after day accusing him of having a stolen car even though they went over the whole - my dad helped me with the down payment, I'm on my way to work - which is how I can afford this car, you wanna follow me there and talk to my boss? Routine every time. Same cops. Power trippin'

Chicanos have the same rep/rap as Black Panthers because they decided this passive shit wasn't working and started banding together - which was a good idea, then they decided to not just defend themselves but to put fear in the hearts of the previous oppressors. Chicano gangs formed in California because their people came up to work on farms in California and wound up as indentured slaves instead. The would be stuck in ramshackle housing on the farm as part of their wage and had to buy their necessities at the "company store" at outrageous prices and wound up working hard and owing more than they could pay off. Oh, then the white bosses started in on their women. Game over. Slam down. Mexicans know a lot about discrimination too. Ask them how they feel about detention centers being built right now at the borders and being called wetbacks.

If you want to know how WHITE people had this shit going on with each other, check out GANGS OF NEW YORK. It gives you an idea of what it's like to be Irish in a country that doesn't want your kind here.

Italians and Asians were set up to work on the railroad in the same way the Mexicans got to work on farms, substandard housing, company store, no where else to go, pissed on for being different.

French were definitely thought of as prissy pants by most even though they saved our asses on more than one occasion and showed their leaders the guillotine when enough was finally enough. But even the recent "formerly known as french fries" deal didn't fly because the French don't rely on other people's opinion of them to feel good about themselves.

So, being black in America could definitely be better and the history of slavery and the recent disrespect is un-tolerable, but don't feel like you are alone in this. We ARE all Americans and we ALL need to get along, but we really need to have the grownups in charge again. These immature fools are wrecking it for everyone.

Peace.

[madeline_con]

31. It means...

You don't speak Ebonics. ;)

[sandnsea]

69. And isn't Jimmy Carter just articulate

because he doesn't speak redneck, ahuk ahuk, git 'er dun. :eyes:

[Tigress DEM]

73. Probably the accent -- and your intelligence.

Even if you were white with a British or Aussie or French etc... accent many people find the exoticness of it quite appealing.

Of course, being easy on the ears, people probably actually find themselves listening to what you have to say. But if you weren't well educated and world traveled then your intelligence wouldn't shine through and people would just say you are interesting.

[anitar1]

82. Well, I wouldn't call Boosh articulate. It is just the

asses who are running their mouths. Consider the source. They are trash.

[jbnow]

98. I doubt they mean it the way it sounds

I hear eloquent speakers (or writers!) who are white described as "articulate" too.

But maybe they mean it the other way. You don't "sound black". My best friend for decades would sometimes answer my phone when he's here or call me when I am elsewhere. People knew we are close, know of him, would talk to him. When they'd meet him the first time they'd look startled. Later they'd tell me I never "warned" them he was black. So, why would I? They'd say well, he doesn't "sound black".
Oh Lord I have some fun responding to that, though I am not even sure what it means. There are so many gentle ways to mock them for it.

I'm sure people don't put it that way to him.

I always thought how we sound is about where we grew up, not what color we are. I am an Italian woman. I don't sound Italian, but my grandmother sure did. My Japanese friend grew up in Hawaii. Should she sound Japanese?

Did you keep your British accent? When my grandmother moved here my dad was 16, my uncle was 5. My dad still has his Italian accent my uncle has none. I assume age is the factor.

[beaconess]

105. Don't you HATE that?

As if it's a big deal that a black person is articulate.

I think that whenever I hear Condolleezza Rice described that way. "She's so ARTICULATE!"

I want to scream "You're damned right she's articulate! She's a fuc*ing PhD, former provost of one of the top schools in the country, and the Secretary of State. I can't stand the woman and think she's a menace to civilization - but I don't think it's a remarkable thing that she's can AR-TI-CU-LATE!!"

White politicians are never described as articulate - it's assumed they are. It's only remarked upon when they're INARTICULATE, like W - Folks seem so shocked that a white boy can't put two words together that they comment on it and are so amazed that that black girl sure can talk good that they have to point it out to the world!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

126. I recall some country club Republican women interviewed after

Rice spoke at the 2000 Democratic convention.

"She dresses so well and is so articulate," one of them trilled.

To me that said a lot about their default image of a black woman. They were surprised that Rice wore nice clothes and could speak standard English.

[beaconess]

130. That colored gurl talks so good and dresses so pretty!

Why can't the others be like her?

[Marr]

22. God, that's the truth. "Class warfare" is simply unacceptable.

I mean- unless it's the rich attacking the poor. That's just fine.

[Tigress DEM]

78. Class "as in having some" was what opened up both barrels today.

The Reverand Larry? and Maya Angelou and former President Clinton came up to the plate and spoke real words about her life. They showed some real class.

It's like the rethugs are out of ammunition in these types of skirmishes.

Battle of Wits. Out of Ammo.

Handle the truth. I don't think so.

Stand up to real class and think of something to say that isn't childish and stupid? Ain't going to happen because they don't have what it takes to bring to the table - which is class enough to respect the memory and give hatred a rest for one fuckin day. just one.

[EFerrari]

14. LOL! Exactly.

:)

[Talismom]

16. She was obnoxious! Where does she get off complaining about

Carter's lack of class. He's shown more grace and class than the Bush's blue blood and money will ever give them.

[grasswire]

17. all I can think about....

....is the way black folk were forced to dance a certain way for the master's guests, or play the banjo a certain way, or even to show their damn teeth on an auction block, to prove their health. Don't be gettin' too uppity! Damn!

[MadMaddie]

18. Just another sign of disrespect to blacks...

They don't know anything about black traditions, the same people were criticizing blacks for not getting out of New Orleans.

They claim that people were making political statements at the funeral...did they even listen to what the speakers were saying..they heard what they wanted to and then salivated to get it on the airwaves distorted as usual...Screw them...

[FreedomAngel82]

44. More than likely

My Mother told me about the reverend guy and I showed her what he said and she than understud since she read the whole thing. They more than likely just played certain parts to manipulate the situation. Don't forget Paul Wellstone's funeral. (I read about it in Al Franken's "Lies" book).

[recovering democrat]

19. Well Done

Do these idiots have any idea whose funeral this was? And what her whole life stands for, and that of her husband? "Ungracious" and "unseemly". I just can't find a word strong enough to express the level of insanity this demonstrates - Bullshit!!!! is the sadly insufficient option.

One of the best memories I will ever have in my life is listening to Rev. Lowery's remarks while watching George and Laura looking at his backside! Knowing, all the while, there is a camera focused on this scene taking it all in for the world to see AND HEAR.

A fitting memory for Mrs. King's homegoing -

"Goodnight, my sister -- well done, well done."

[Catherine Vincent]

20. They are showing their hypocrisy yet again.

Ron Reagan Jr. politicized his father's memorial. You didn't hear them complain then.

[me b zola]

21. When will white folk quit rewriting Black folk's history????

Maybe it's corporate Amerika, not white folks (I'm a white folk), I don't know.

Before the death of Coretta Scott King, I noticed the bastardization of the legacacy of Dr King in the media. I cannot think of any examples right now, I just recall how recently I was outraged at how the media portrayed Dr King's message, it was as though they had 'uncle tommed" Dr king.

God, somebody, if they have noticed it too, please speak up. I wanted to write a thread when I saw specific things on the news, but I am not a good poster so I let it go. /regret/

[Nevernose]

30. Like SOCIAL justice for ALL people? Ending illegal and immoral wars?

The stuff MLK worked for AFTER the voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed? That stuff is even scarier to White America (which I belong to in skin coloration, though not necessarily in thought processes) than letting black people marry white people.

[hatrack]

51. The quotes from Dr. King you never hear in January . . .

EDIT

Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: "Why are you speaking about the war, Dr. King?" "Why are you joining the voices of dissent?" "Peace and civil rights don't mix," they say. "Aren't you hurting the cause of your people," they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.

EDIT

They ask if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.

For those who ask the question, "Aren't you a civil rights leader?" and thereby mean to exclude me from the movement for peace, I have this further answer. In 1957 when a group of us formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, we chose as our motto: "To save the soul of America." We were convinced that we could not limit our vision to certain rights for black people, but instead affirmed the conviction that America would never be free or saved from itself until the descendants of its slaves were loosed completely from the shackles they still wear.

EDIT

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

[Nevernose]

57. Usual flippancy aside: I'm surprised "they" let him live that long

Thanks for the link. I'd read the words before, but never heard them.

[me b zola]

58. Thank you for those examples of who Dr King was

The media has "softened" Dr King so that one would not know who he is by listening to them.

[hatrack]

61. Yes, he's been so softened by the media spin cycle he's hard to see

It's like trying to read War and Peace through a wall of Mr. Bubble.

[Tigress DEM]

127. King is still so awesome.

Somewhere I have his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and I remember how awed I was to read the actual words because so much of what he stands for is taken out of context a lot, but he was a man on a mission, not to be dissuaded by anyone or anything.

He SO understood not just being American and being a Free black man in a time of trial by fire, but he understood that being a Free Black American removed from the shackles of oppression by his own recoginition of his right to be free and enough support externally to live it day to day was for an even higher purpose.... to fight not just for the rights of blacks, but for what is right and just and good for all Americans. To not just make it better for black people, who surely deserve it, but for all of us.

Despite his love for his people, I think MLK was color blind. I think he loved everyone as who they were under the skin. At least that is what I see whenever I actually get to his actual words.

[mitchum]

59. And THOSE were the reasons that he was murdered in Memphis...

not his race activism

[FreedomAngel82]

46. I also remember one time

someone here told how some conservatives were saying if King were a live today he'd be a conservative. My head exploded then.

[bobbieinok]

72. anti affirmative action people in CA claimed MLK would support them

[never_get_over_it]

24. This isn't really a race thing because the did the same thing

for the Wellstone memorial - they can't take the criticism of the boy king....too freaking bad for them.

[OneMoreThyme]

25. On another note

has anyone ever noticed that white people are only called "folks" or "folk" when people are talking about black "folk"? Otherwise they are simply "white people"... The use of "folk" is weird because white people only use it when they are trying to portray a sense of kinship with black people.

Must be a southern thing; but we have plenty of "folk" in the north - folk art, folk music...

?

[me b zola]

34. Sometimes white folk are called crackers

:shrug:

[Mabus]

55. I disagree

Bush referred to the terrorists as folks on 9/11 and I don't think kinship with black people was on his mind at the time.

True to form, Bush was horribly off-key in Sarasota. "Today we've had a national tragedy," he said, as if announcing a weather report. But then he got more than just the delivery wrong. "I have spoken to the vice-president, to the governor of New York, to the director of the FBI and have ordered... a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act," he said.

It's worth taking a good look at that sentence. Perhaps we should let pass his immediate reference to the vice-president, offered as if - in confirmation of his critics - it is Dick Cheney rather than himself who is truly in charge. ("Don't worry, I've spoken to the big guy and he says we're all gonna be OK.") But look at the end of the sentence, the bit where Bush dared look up from his text for a second and ad lib. We're going "to find those folks who committed this act." Folks? Folks?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/wtccrash/story/0,1300,551678,00.html

[Carni]

97. Bushit calls everyone of all colors "folks"

CONSTANTLY!

Why? Who knows-

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

26. I realllllllllly don't see this as a race issue.

More of a political crap talk issue.

[incapsulated]

53. I agree, they pulled the same shit over Wellstone's funeral

This is all politics. Boo-hoo, they made the Chimp all uncomfortable. He had a nerve setting foot in the place after Katrina.

[Tigress DEM]

76. It's a race issue, but it's also a neocon sham.

If the rethugs can keep pissing off the blacks so much that they can't stand the site of white folks, how the hell are we supposed to work together?

Years of people putting aside cultural differences to get to the core of the issues they face together, gone. All those white people who put their lives at risk in Montgomery and Selma - wasted.

It's just more fear mongering. Make the blacks fear whites so much that they effectively build a wall between us. God knows that if today brought us together the reasonable people might move forward feeling solidarity, instead we all get to feel wounded.

The blacks because whitewing America pretends to speak for us all and the regular joe whites because blacks hate us for being white today.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

91. I Have No Idea What You're Talking About.

There was no racial fear mongering here. It is no more than their typical political smear crap whether white, black, purple or male, female etc.

[Tigress DEM]

120. Well, when we get to a "crap free" society you'l know what you're missing

While it is true that their screaming faces of hatred really spit and snarl at anyone who doesn't bend over and assume the position, there is a racial component here that was missing at Wellstone's funeral for example -even though there are simularities - and WHENEVER Uptight White Folks start screaming hatred at blacks it's racist and you can take that to the bank.

What is bothering me is that this WHITE FOLKS GONE HYSTERICAL about truthfull things said at a funeral for a Civil Rights LEGEND is that people think they are immune to this by now, but we are NOT. (1)

The fact that "COPS" is still on TV and that ANYONE still thinks Racial Profiling is Necessary is not unrelated.

The fact that "WHITE FOLKS GONE HYSTERICAL" is on every channel screaming at blacks for speaking the truth and calling anyone who stands with them "partisan hacks who sullied the sacred day of the funeral" is a subliminal way to make it seem like some white folks is just too crazy for words, most white folks just don't care and a few show up.

The thing is there are a lot of people who care, but the screeching heads would have you think that the whites working in the next protest for the same basic goals aren't really "with" you because they weren't "with" you at this moment or that one.

The right wing is trying to make it go away by putting their fingers in their ears and screaming their lies because we are all building a momentum that will cause the walls to come tumbling down as long as we realize we ARE together even if our feet hit the pavement days or months apart.



(1) It's more like working at a nursing home or on a farm. There is a real stench that you notice when you walk in from the fresh air or from a town away, then your brain says, hey, if we are going to be in this for the long term, I'm turning that sensor off for now so if anything worse comes along we can respond. Doesn't mean the shit don't stink as bad as it always did.

[Balbus]

95. Doesn't matter if it is or not.

It can be made into a race issue if we try hard enough...

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

112. Sorry, I Don't Quite Feel The Need To Deceive Right Now.

Check back with me when hell freezes over and I turn into a right-wing dishonorable moron.

[jeffrey_X]

131. Here's an interesting take on this subject....

From Tim Wise:

http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/rebelsclue2.html

First, pick a white person, pretty much any white person; then go up to them and mention the subject of slavery, and its consequences for blacks in the United States. Then pull out a stopwatch and time how long it takes for them to say something to the effect of, "All that was a long time ago. Why can't we leave the past in the past and move on?"

And here's the second part: come and spend a little time in my neck of the woods -- the American South -- and watch how long it takes for you to spot someone waving, wearing, or otherwise displaying (perhaps on their car) a confederate flag.** Now, having seen several, go up to their respective owners and tell them, "All that was a long time ago. Why can't you leave the past in the past and move on?"

And as they look at you blankly, or even angrily, and perhaps call you a Yankee or some such thing that they consider the vilest of slurs, ask them about slavery, and watch how quickly they turn to the very same "all that was in the past" line you just used on them--not realizing the irony, which was, after all, the point of this experiment in the first place.

You see, white Southerners (and, truth be told, whites generally in the U.S.) love to live in the past, so long as it's a past that makes us feel good and venerates us as heroes. So whether its waxing emotional about the greatness of our founding fathers, or waving an American flag on Independence Day, or prattling on about some ancestor who died in battle at Gettysburg, the point is the same: to lift up the past and to remain stuck there, at least for a while. But let anyone suggest the less noble side of that same past and watch how quickly history gets relegated to the ashbin of the irrelevant.
<snip>

[kevinbgoode]

29. This is just one more reason to contact the advertisers

and ask them why they support white supremacists on Hardball?

[LittleClarkie]

32. Sit down ya damn darkies! Oh, and don't forget:

Vote Republican!

[stepnw1f]

33. Good Point!

I swear... inherently bigots....

[Greyhound]

35. Once we're all brown. Give it another millennium.

[grasswire]

37. I read a news article recently...

....telling how scientists had found the key to the fact that white skin was a genetic mutation from the "base stock" (my words) of humankind. So the news isn't that we'll all be brown. It's that we'll all be brown again. Okay by me. I'm quite jealous of the obvious spirit of community apparent in the African American existence. I've got nothing like that in my white life.

[Greyhound]

39. I was taught that it was an adaptive recessive gene that took hold

because of the terrible environment we chose to call home. Sounds logical to me, but we are going to get back to some shade of brown, unless something dramatic happens, of course.

[mondo joe]

38. Why should the skin color of either party matter?

Don't we talk about how a lot of people should act?

Are we allowed to cross color lines?

[UTUSN]

40. K&R #5 n/t

[FreedomAngel82]

41. I agree

I think they've deserved their rights. And they're there speaking for a purpose. Don't the family members usually ask people on who to speak at the funeral? Maybe THEY wanted it that way? I remember when my grandfather died one of his best friends spoke and then the preacher at their church spoke.

[rateyes]

43. I'm a white guy...

but, I've got to say, I loved that funeral service. No one said anything in front of Dubya that Mrs. King wouldn't have said to him had she been face-to-face with him. When I die, I hope that whoever speaks talks of the things that were important to me, regardless of who is in the room. This was HER funeral, and her memory that they were honoring, and to act any differently than they would have had Dubya not been there would have been the insult, IMO.

Thank you, Mrs. King for your stand for the dignity and worth of every individual, your fight for civil liberties for all, and for the grace with which you carried yourself. You are a credit to the human race. I wish that I could have known you personally.

[AtomicKitten]

45. white folk should start acting like black folk

and say what's on their mind. There is no direction right now in the Democratic Party.

[Cleita]

47. I don't think all white people associate themselves

with Tweety and O'Beirne. At least I hope not.

[Ksec]

49. I find this thread a bit offensive

Whats this white people crap, as if all white people are the same. How the Hell are we going to get past this crap if we stereotype anyone? All white people should stop telling black people what to do? WTF? Sounds racist to me.

[radio4progressives]

56. op didn't say ALL white people - i'm a whitie and I'm fucking FINE with OP

[Ksec]

62. Naturally.

Its fine to say racist things as long as its about a certain race, right?

I tend to think that is the very definition of racism.

[radio4progressives]

128. Well uh... that is in fact the nature of White Supremacy isn't it?

White Supremacy is about a certain race being superior over all others.

[SixStrings]

103. It's only 'racist' when a non-white is being denigrated. Silly.

One of the most offensive threads I've seen in a while.

[Gregorian]

48. Right after men stop making decisions regarding women's rights.

Oh, and my 82 year old dad was elated over the commentaries at the King funeral. He was really pissed off at the smirk on Bush's face during the ceremony.

I am continuously amazed at the lack of equality in the world. Not even equality. Just the lack of leaving people alone. Letting them be them. Just letting them be them. As far as I'm concerned, there are a lot of things in this world that are special. They should be treated with respect. I feel so alone.

[Cleita]

52. I was amazed that he and the wife showed up at this funeral

and won't attend at least a few funerals of the men and women who died in Afghanistan and Iraq for his crazy war.

[radio4progressives]

54. send this to that stupid white punk

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x355176

[QC]

60. They did the same thing to Paul Wellstone, who, as I recall, was white.

I'm not sure if this particular bit of GOP assholery is particularly racial in nature.

[radio4progressives]

129. Wellstone another Assasination job just like MLK, JFK, Malcolm, RFK

In the case of Wellstone, it was about offing a populist that championed the cause of the working class. it's the GOP's class war waged against the working people, the working class people of all colors & ethnic groups.

Which is also rooted in the White Supremacist/Colonialist/Ruling Class attitude.

Classism and Racism are both at the root of what the GOP are about.

in the case of Coretta Scott King's Home Going celebration yesterday, well, that was a racist attitude flying through the msm through and through.

[angee_is_mad]

77. When Hell freezes over?

As black woman I can't imagine a day when white people will stop telling blacks how to act and to vote. It's all about making white people feel comfortable and not feel guilty about America's Ugly past.

The hell with how a black person feels because we all know that racism no longer exist. Its all about classism baby, not racism.

[bumblebee1]

79. I remember telling a man that I worked with.

I grew up in a town with no black families. I didn't encounter any blacks in school until I moved to Reading. I told this gentleman "The only exposure I had to blacks were the entertainers and athletes that I saw on tv." He replied, "I'm not surprised."

[IntravenousDemilo]

83. Tuesday week. n/m

[Zookeeper]

84. Heaven forbid anyone should speak the truth to Smirk! n/t

[Skittles]

86. I heartily approve of they way "they" act

:thumbsup:

[Judi Lynn]

87. DU'er Dawgs found MSNBC asking if politics should have been

discussed at Mrs. King's funeral. Here's Dawg's thread, with link to poll:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x350534

I also saw the wildly out-of-line Chris Matthews and evil crone Katie O'Beirne yammering about the inappropriateness of discussing politics at the funeral of a woman who was, with her husband, personally acquainted with the Kennedys and other outstanding Democrats in ways that transformed our way of life, by working with the political system to bring desperately needed change.

[rman]

88. if we'd believe the RW, Dems have no business in politics

what had you expected?

[Skidmore]

89. It is ridiculous, isn't it?

It will only stop when people lose the "us" and "them" mentality that permeates this land. Goes for both sides too. When people start valuing the range of human experience and loving each other for the richness and fullness of the cultural manifestations of human adaptability.

This funeral was a loving send off of a great lady who embraced all of humanity. A great soul like that shines on long after the petty little people who felt the need to sit in judgement yesterday.

Go in peace, Coretta Scott King.

[Behind the Aegis]

90. I don't care for this post.

In your title, you ask a question about an issue of racial concerns. Then, in your very first sentence, you make your own racial comment. I find that problematic. As other posters have pointed out, the same comments were made about Wellstone's funeral, who was white, and nothing was said about the politicization (and pomp) of Reagan's funeral.

When I first saw this thread, I thought it was about something entirely different. I was disappointed to see what it was really about.

[bpilgrim]

92. I don't care for this post.

obviously you are missing the point... it goes beyond just this important funeral.

fyi

peace

[Behind the Aegis]

111. I missed nothing.

The original topic does, indeed, go beyond the funeral, but the post itself only deals with the funeral.

[bpilgrim]

116. you missed everything

per usual

peace

[Behind the Aegis]

118. Just in your eyes...

...per usual.

[radio4progressives]

113. The Title of this Post is PERFECTLY APPROPRIATE

And maybe it should be posted every single day until we have REAL justice and equality in this country, and a MEDIA that reflects it!

[Behind the Aegis]

119. Which is why I said:

"When I first saw this thread, I thought it was about something entirely different. I was disappointed to see what it was really about."

[Hubert Flottz]

93. 98% of us "white folk" are "white trash" to the elitists in control now

I'm a gray folk and they want to set me outside hungry and without my meds, to freeze to death after I've worked all my life and paid into my social security! The Haves and the Have Mores want to tell 98% of the population how to be! And according to them, how to be is submissive and forever beholden to them, simply because they were blessed with lots of loot and power. The PNAC wants to revive slavery, for 98% of the world's population. We are All in the same boat and if we don't all start to bail together we will soon all sink together.

The Hard Right Fat Cats, drive every wedge that they can find, into the "lower 98% of the income bracket" and they try and make us fight each other, so that we have nothing left to fight them with. They own the media. They Own Tweety and his ilk. Don't take their bait!

I thought the funeral was beautiful and I'd bet you money, that Mrs. King did too.

[BR_Parkway]

94. The lack of applause was my first clue how unseemly it all was -

those poor people, forced to hear all this political stuff they didn't want there in the first place.

:sarcasm:

Actually, Shrub's applause level really did seem to indicate they didn't want him there.

[savemefromdumbya]

101. I don't think they really wanted Bush there

do you?

[jasmeel]

96. I don't watch and am just left with the beautiful memories of great

speeches-it's great.

[brainshrub]

99. Very true. Here's the proof that white people are dangerous:

White people are dangerous to elect as Mayor.

Tom Bradley of Los Angeles, Maynard Jackson of Atlanta and Norman Rice of Seattle were all great african-American mayors who served their respective cities with distinction; and yet, the first image that comes to the mind of many white Americans when you say "Black Mayor", is that of Marion Barry in a hotel room smoking crack.

Therefore, in the interests of fairness, let's go ahead and take a look at the most corrupt mayors in recent American history. What do they all have in common? (Hint: It isn't gender, age or political affiliation.):



Many more examples here: www.brainshrub.com/white-mayors

[in_cog_ni_to]

107. Well, IMCPO, I find it highly INSULTING that those WHITE people

have the GALL to question the King children and their decision on how their mother's funeral would be portrayed! It's NONE OF THEIR FUCKING BUSINESS! It was THEIR Mother's funeral. Not Chris Matthews' or Kate O'Beirne's mother...IT WAS THEIR MOTHER. If they wanted political commentary ar their mother's funeral, then that is exactly what they should have done. The King family have been in poitics their entire lives. It's not like Mrs. King was not a political and PUBLIC figure. The Rwers are just pissed that the world had to hear some TRUTH about their King George. Too damn bad! It's about time he heard what the people think and KNOW about him and his administration. Kudos to Rev. Lowery and President Carter! They did the right thing. They honored a grand lady from their hearts and I'm sure she's thrilled about it. :)

[radio4progressives]

108. yes it is..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=355176

[itcfish]

109. When We Have

More than 1 Black Senator and a President and/or Vice president.

[Blue_Roses]

110. You know--I think this is one of the best posts I've seen in a long time!

How true. How true. How true.

[radio4progressives]

115. i agree..

n/t

[radio4progressives]

114. Not Just Racism, But White Supremacy is at the root of all of this..

too many of us whities just don't get it. we think we should remind people of color of their proper place every single day and every single hour.

we should remind people of color that no matter what terrible injustices they think they've suffered, they should just keep their damn mouths shut and don't complain about it.

this is amurika, we'll "tolerate" the presence of people of color, even promote a few in high places - but always remember that this land belongs to the white man and we shall make the laws, and call the shots, and set the rules of social behavior. It belongs to us and we aim to keep it that way!

:sarcasm:

[DanCa]

117. When will conservatives stop telling me how to pray? (nt)

[shanti]

124. heh

i post regularly on a black message board, and maintain a fairly low profile there (me being white). however, the board is continually overridden by (racist) whites who insist on telling black people what to do and how to do it! sometimes i just want to slap them!