Gay Race....It's Black and White...

We should have a full and frank discussion about race....but we never will.

Want to know why?

Because no one wants to start it.... because..... they could be seen as racist.

Basically - we're all walking / blogging on eggshells.  Well I am going to put my thoughts out there and let's see how much hate mail I get :) (PS I love hate mail/comments - keep that in mind:)

My 2 and a bit years in the USofA taught me that if you are white you are expected to NOT discuss race - especially regarding the black community.  As "the man" you have no credibility to talk on issues of race as it is White People who who are the racial abusers.

Now - that is certainly the rule and not the exception in my experience.  KKK.  Knights of the Aryan Brotherhood.  West Virginia White Pride. etc.  etc.  etc.  Believe it or not, I can actually appreciate this as a Jew.  My first month in Orlando (October 2002), I went out to Borders to buy some books and wore my Kippah (Jewish Skull-Cap).  I actually heard a woman say to her friend "Oh my god he's Jewish!".  I was later reminded by friends that "Yes Dorothy, you are still in the South.  Even in cosmopolitan Orlando, Florida."

Another trend was very OBVIOUS poor service on most occasions when the server / shop assistant / cashier etc was a black person.  Now I mentioned THIS and was told "Yeah.  A lot of the black people around here don't like the white people  But quite a few of the white people don't like the black people either."  I made a joke along the lines of "Well no one must like the Asians around here".  It was all of about 2 seconds until I realised that I was the only one chuckling.  Ahem.

Anyways - I decided to see if this sort of racial experience of mine was the RULE or the EXCEPTION.  As I was very fortunate to travel with Bubb when he went on work trips, I got to see many cities.  Boston.  Savannah.  Miami.  Ft Lauderdale. Omaha.  Chicago.  Atlanta.  Denver.  To name the most prominent.  And a clear pattern emerged......


None.


No pattern.  The black people in Atlanta and Savannah loved me.  Surprisingly, my most uncomfortable moment in Savannah was when a white, middle aged, southern woman refused me service at her beauty salon when I requested a mani-pedi by responding "We don't......do......  the men."  I found a diverse racial mix in Boston and it seemed pretty well mixed to my eyes.  In Miami, there was an obvious Cubano and Everyone Else divide.  But I didn't find that a NASTY divide, as more of a COMFORT divide.  I dined at my hotel in Chicago next to a table of equal numbers of black and white men (gayelles actually) who seemed to get on like a house on fire. 

And yet even today, if I ask any of the African American bloggers I know a question about their community and/or if I make an observation, it is often answered with a somewhat vague non-answer.  In some cases, it's been answered with a chill in the air that had me reaching for my shawl.

Why?

I'm an intelligent, articulate man.  I have genuine questions about the racial issues in my second homeland.  So why can I not ask them honestly and openly and safely?  Seriously people.  I am asking.

There is a TONNE of stuff about Black America that I would like to ask and know about.  Why?  Because I'm curious about, and interested in, the world around me.  I want to know why in "contemporary" America, there are still such issues.  And why there clearly has been the emergence of reverse racism towards whites.

(Oh god how I hate using these terms - black...white.... makes us seem like floor tiles rather than people)

So I am asking YOU all out there.  Why?  Why is race still such an issue?  Why did the black man at Walmart in Orlando practically spit on me.  And yet, my middle aged black female barber at Super Cuts (Ms Judy) and I got on like a house on fire and she had NO racial issues with anyone.  Actually, she found it all rather trying and stupid.  She recalled verbally putting her daughter in place when she made a disparaging remark about Latinos.

So....this is the START of a series of blog posts here.  I am certain that I will offend some, challenge others, enlighten some, and have some opening up.  But isn't it high time we started TALKING about this rather than simply BITCHING about it.

Over to you guys

Shalom n Blessings

D
xox

WTF... New York School's Nazi Assignment....

And some fuck-knuckle thought this would be ok?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

What the FUCK !!!


Albany, New York (CNN) -- An upstate school system apologized Friday after students got a writing assignment in which they were instructed to prove their loyalty to Nazi Germany by arguing Jews are "evil" and the source of that government's problems.

Students in three Albany High School English classes received the assignment, which was due Wednesday.  The assignment from the unidentified teacher was designed to flex students' "persuasive writing" skills.

But Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard, superintendent of the City School District of Albany, called the assignment "completely unacceptable."

"It displayed a level of insensitivity that we absolutely will not tolerate in our school community," Wyngaard said, "I am deeply apologetic to all of our students, all of our families and the entire community."

 

She told the Albany Times Union newspaper that one-third of the students refused to complete the work.  The teacher has not been in school since the district learned of the assignment.

The school district is considering disciplinary action, according to Ron Lesko, director of communications. Options include termination, but no decision has been made, Lesko said.

In the assignment, students were to pretend the educator was a member of the Nazi government.

"You must argue that Jews are evil, and use solid rationale from government propaganda to convince me of your loyalty to the Third Reich!" the teacher's assignment sheet said.

The assignment reiterated, "You do not have a choice in your position."

Wyngaard, according to the Times Union, said she did not believe the teacher acted with malice or "intent to cause any insensitivities to our families of Jewish faith." The assignment should have been worded differently, she said.

Wyngaard said the district has been in conversations with the Anti-Defamation League about future training programs for students and staff.

Earlier this year in New York City, a math homework assignment asked fourth grade students to tally the number of slaves on a ship, sparking outrage among parents and administrators.

Worded differently?!?! THAT would make it ok? 

Who the hell are these people?  It's like the Holocaust or Slavery didn't even happen!

If you do not teach the present of the past, the future will simply be a repeat of the same crimes.

This is absolutely abhorrent and the teacher/s should be fired and banned from the education system for life.