From: peewee@infoserv.com (Philip Stromer)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: Who cares what whites think about racism ?
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 92 23:09:02 PST
Distribution: world
Organization: Friends of Lenny Bruce

	>In article <1992Dec23.195421.26421@news.acns.nwu.edu>,
	>dowdy@tochtli.biochem.nwu.edu (Dowdy Jackson) writes:
	>So do you know how a women who has been raped must feel?  
	
Physically, of course not.  No male can, unless he's been raped.        
But that doesn't mean I can't have all the compassion in the
world for her.  What's your point?
	
	>Ohhhhh...I see.  Since you are married to an AfAm you MUST know 
	>what it's like to be an AfAm...
	
It gives me SOME idea, doesn't it?  She's as AfAm as YOU are, and when        
she recounts her day to me, every day, it gives me SOME idea.  Why is
this so difficult for you to comprehend?
	
	>I also guess that spending time with at least 30 or perhaps 40 
	>AfAms means that you now know what its like to be an AfAm.

Knowing someone very well for 15 years is hardly "spending time" as
you put it.  You're trying to minimalize my life experiences.  My
life experiences are just as valid as yours.

	>Boy, you sure have taught me alot.  I guess spending time with 
	>40 pilots means that I know what it's like to fly an airplane. 
	>Hell, United should hire me next week.

If I pick the brains of 40 pilots, it won't qualify me to fly a plane,
but it will give me enough knowledge to write a helluva magazine
article, based on a true-life composite of the 40 pilots.  But I sure
wouldn't whine when United didn't hire me as a pilot, in that I have
no flying experience (unless my LSD trips of yesteryear count).  :)

	>Mulatto ????  Every Afam in this country who has roots in slavery 
	>could say that he/she is mulatto.  I can tell you this, when your 
	>child runs into some white person, who doesn't know that his father 
	>is white, will probably see him as a black man.....

Perhaps.  Perhaps he'll run into some black person, who when he finds out
that I'm white, will probably see him as a white man.  The shoe fits both
ways.

	>Ohhhh.  Once again you have educated me.  So if not every single 
	>AfAm agrees with what every other AfAm says, then that invalidates 
	>the opinion of the many other AfAms....
	
Not only didn't I say anything of the sort, I didn't even IMPLY it with
any posting I've ever made.  *You're* the one suggesting that because
I have white skin, if by chance my opinion on a particular issue happens
to agree with, say Clarence Thomas, I don't have a clue.  But Clarence
does, even though we might see eye-to-eye on the very same issue.  You're
the one making race the issue, not me.

	>Not all of the slaves embraced the end of slavery with open arms, 
	>so I guess that somehow invalidates the other AfAms who wanted to 
	>see the end of slavery ?

Not at all.  All opinions are valid.  Even white peoples'.  I've never
said that anyone's opinion was "invalid".  I'm interested in hearing
what EVERYONE has to say, even people I totally disagree with.  Even
more interesting, is WHY they feel a certain way.

	>We are still waiting for you to give one [an example of
	>constructive criticism] as well.

I've already given a very detailed one.  I outlined how the war on
drugs is being waged as a war on blacks, and how drug legalization
will bring about a dramatic turnaround, in a very short amount of
time.  You can disagree with me, but it's still a REAL SUGGESTION
for change, dealing with relevant issues.  It's not simply sitting
on my butt, complaining about everything.

For the effort I made to present my case, I had to listen to Fred
tell me that "I only wanted to avoid prosecution of myself."
I wonder what he says to other people who favor drug legalization,
such as Kurt Schmoke, Larry King, Bill Buckley, Dr. Dean Edell, 
federal judge Robert Sweet, the recently retired AfAm Congressman from 
central Detroit (with a 71% AfAm constituency), George (forgot his last 
name), Milton Friedman, George Shultz, Hugh Downs.  The list goes on
and on.  I'm not the only person who favors legalization, and the
list varies widely from liberals to conservatives.

	>I don't care if you choose to fight against racism or not.  I 
	>am more concerned with helping other AfAms succeed in this 
	>country.

So donate $20 to Louis Farrakhan.  Maybe he'll make a donation in your
name to the KKK.  Then you can feel proud of yourself for "helping
other AfAms succeed" (you'll be furthering the career of Farrakhan,
and he's certainly an AfAm).  Just don't call *me* racist when I go
out and protest his presence if I'm ever near him.

The bottom line is that 80% of the U.S. population is white.  You're
not helping your cause by turning a blind eye to the 80%.  A better
tack, IMO, is to take them head on when you disagree, rather than
simply dissing them, just because they're white.  But hey, that's 
just my opinion.

	>I guess since you are an all knowing white man, 
	
Now you're being redundant.  :)             

	>I guess you know that I am a pretty awful person even though you 
	>have never met me.  I guess any AfAm who says that he/she doesn't 
	>like seeing their people being mistreated and disrespected is a 
	>black racist.  
	
When did I say that I DO like seeing black people mistreated and dis-        
respected?  A white person that doesn't like seeing white people mis-  
treated and disrespected isn't automatically a racist, either.  

I also never said you were an awful person.  I think you've made some
very sweeping generalizations about white people.  This is EQUALLY
good/bad (take your pick) as a white person making the same kinds
of sweeping generalizations about black people.  Hey, it's only talk,
and it doesn't bother me, but some readers will feel as if they're
having their pubic hairs plucked, one by one, when they read that
kind of stuff.

	>I haven't called you a racist directly even though your views 
	>say otherwiese.
	 
I haven't called you a schmuck directly, even though your views say 
otherwise.  

Gee, you'd have thought we could-a had a friendlier closing.  :)

--Philip Stromer (peewee@infoserv.com)