Newsgroups: misc.education,soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: What A White Person Learned in College About AfAm Culture
From: galan@netlink.cts.com (Greg Gross)
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 20:59:33 PST
Organization: NetLink Online Communications, San Diego CA

mfriedma@uucp (Michael Friedman) writes:

> In article <RZuaVB3w165w@netlink.cts.com> galan@netlink.cts.com (Greg Gross) 
> >mfriedma@uucp (Michael Friedman) writes:
> 
> >> Let me point you to the examples of Catholics, Orientals, Jews,
> >> Italians, and Irish.  All of these groups once faced prejudice in the US.
> >> Does anyone remember the line from Blazing Saddles when the railroad
> >> workers want to live in the town?  "We'll take the niggers and the
> >> chinks but no deal on the Micks."  Also, unless you are a historical
> >> ignoramus, you are aware of the anti-Catholic riots in the 1800s.
> 
> >> Today, although there are still problems, all five of these groups are
> >> pretty much accepted into American society.  They intermarry with each
> >> other and with the original WASPs.  No one seriously claims that they
> >> need affirmative action or much in the way of special protection.
> 
> >> This was all done without Catholic Student Unions, Oriental History
> >> classes, affirmative action for Jews, anti-discrimmination laws for
> >> Italians, or anti-hate crime laws for the Irish.  And it has taken.
> 
> >I wonder why whites persist in lumping together every ethnic or religious 
> >minority in the country and talking about their experiences as if they 
> >were all alike?
> 
> I challenge you to find anyone who does this.

Challenge accepted. Answer: Look in the mirror and at your own original
post: "...Catholics, Orientals, Jews, Italians and Irish. All of these 
groups once faced prejudice in the US."

> 
> What you will find is people who compare different religious and
> ethnic minorities and their experiences in order to draw more general
> conclusions and make judgments about appropriate courses of action for
> the future.
> 
> After all, if you aren't basing your conclusions about what ought to
> be done on past human experience what are you basing it on?
> 
> >Catholics, Asians, Italians, Irish, Jews have all encountered their hare 
> >of problems in the great American "melting pot," Michael, but please 
> >don't try to sell me on the idea that all their experiences were equal in 
> >scope or degree.
> 
> I never did.

See above...again.

> 
> >And for God's sake, don't insult people's intelligence 
> >by trying to suggest that the oppressive legacy of ANY of them was the 
> >same as ours, or even all that similar. 
> 
> The same?  Of course not.  Similar?  Definitely.  Moreover, the
> situations they had to deal with, although very different from that of
> Blacks 150 years ago, bears great similarities to the problems Blacks
> faced from WWI or so until today.

Such as?

> 
> >The history says otherwise.
> 
What you believe is your problem. I know about the anti-Catholic riots of 
the 1800s. I also know that the Ku Klux Klan originally included 
Catholics on their hate list -- although when it came to lynching, they 
usually showed a decided preference for dark meat...

You say that'sd only four lines? Aw shux...
G.
> I'll believe you know enough to say that if you give me five lines on
> anti-Catholic prejudice in the US from 1800 on.
> 
> 
> -- 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> I am not an official Oracle spokesman.  I speak for myself and no one else.


--
Gregory Alan Gross      Welcome to life, where no good deed goes unpunished.
San Diego Union-Tribune         (619) 293-1270 (voice)
P.O. Box 191                    (619) 293-2333 (fax)
San Diego, CA 92112-4106        galan@netlink.cts.com (Internet)
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