From: U49146@uicvm.uic.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: F**k y'all
Date: 14 Apr 92 15:06:20 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago

In article <92105.074857KRB104@psuvm.psu.edu>, <KRB104@psuvm.psu.edu> says:
>
>  I think now I have your attention.  Why don't we just change the name of
>this
>network to soc.culture.african.american.discrimination, because unless someone
>is dissing us because of our color you people don't seem to care or respond!

Well you had gotten -my- attention before, but I did not have anything useful t
o say.

>I posted something about Arthur Ashe and the fact that this network is
>silent about the AIDS issue. I have also posted a while back about drugs and
>guns and what it is doing to us and again, little to no response.  But let
>someone come on here and call us names, incompentent or say that we are
>"not cost effective" and one hundred posts come out of the closet.  OUR
>BIGGEST PROBLEM NOW IS OUR INABILITY TO LOOK PAST DISCRIMINATION AND LOOK
>INWARD.

Okay, I agree with you here.

>  Aids is something that we are doing to ourselves.  I, in this post, do not
>care if it was an experiment gone haywire (which I believe to be the case),
>the
>fact is WE are getting the disease in numbers that are disproportionate to our
>representation in the population.  Why is it our fault?  Well except for cases
>like Mr. Ashe's, the ways to contract AIDS can be avoided.  As I said in the
>previous post, our teen pregnancy problem and AIDS go hand in hand, if our
>teens continue to practice unsafe sex, AIDS will eventually kill us off.

Right again.

>Drugs
>and guns are killing us off.  If a 14 year old kid is asked "what do you want
>to be doing at 25?" and he answers "Be alive", then something is really wrong!
>(Washington Post, this past Sunday, or maybe last Sunday).  Is that all
>we have to hope for.  We can't blame "Uncle Charlie" and "The Conspiracy" for
>everything!  I have lost a Godfather due to AIDS and a brother due to Black
>on Black crime and I am sure there are many of you out there who can likewise
>attest to the fact that if we don't WAKE UP we aren't going to survive far
>into the next century!  It is up to us, the future leaders of the Black
>community to do what the current leaders of the Black community are failing to
>do, and that is address the problems that are plaquing us.  Yes, we should
>still fight racial discrimination whereever it rears its ugly head, but we
>should also look within and fight Black on Black violence, we should educate
>our people on the dangers of AIDS and how to prevent catching it, we should
>inform our young boys and girls about the shortsightedness of having babies
>before you are emotionally and mentally ready, we should inform ALL our people
>of the fact that by doing drugs we are playing into "The Conspiracy's" hands,
>and finally we should impress on our young that EDUCATION is the way to uplift
>the race!   I am disappointed in this network for our failure to talk about
>these issues.  Discrimination against us should be fought at all times, but
>is that all we are about?

I hear what you are saying.  Unfortunately, I can't alleviate your disappointme
nt as I have nothing to add and no solutions to propose.  Let me just say that
you can't see AIDS, drug problems, and black on black violence separately than
the rest of the problems that plague the black community here.  You mentioned t
hat we should tell people that education is the way to uplift the community.  T
here have been plenty of discussions on this net, at least as much as I can rem
ember, about why academic achievement seems to be perceived as a singularly whi
te(or other) thing.  Now if you can get to the root of this,  I believe it will
help do something to improve conditions in the areas of AIDS and drug use.

As a side note on Mr. Ashe and the media involvement.  I believe everything tak
es a back seat to sensational news and money with the media.  And of course thi
s would not happen if there was not a hankering audience out there.  I seriousl
y doubt they will change there ways, so I think it is just left for us to hope
that other victims do not fall prey to this kind of thing.

Sofia