A Concise History of Black-White Relations In The USA

Otto;

Is your definiation only based on whether the person was hanged or would you consider any deliberate killing of someone by a mob because of bias as lynching?

 

Isn't February Black History month?



Now, before I bringout my first guest, I just want to say that February is Black History Month. Isn't that nice? The Man gives us February because it's the shortest month of the year! Now, I'm not complaining, but I think we deserve at least a thirty-day month. It's also the coldest month of the year, just in case we wanted to have a parade.

 

The first and most important thing to realize is that lynchings are extra-legal dispensations of justice. But, while extra-legal they were legally protected as legitimate forms of justice in many states until the 1920's or 30's. In fact, there was a series of notorious "racially unkind" filibusters in the Senate to block legislation making the practice illegal where the southern senators talked for days on end about all the white women that the wild southern black men were itching to rape.

True lynchings are seen as legitimate and righteous acts of justice by the people who commit them. From Wikipedia, here is the history:

[rquoter]
Lynching is violence, usually murder, conceived by its perpetrators as extra-legal execution, or used as a terrorist method of enforcing social domination. Victims of lynching have generally been members of groups marginalized by society.

The term "lynching" is believed to come from Charles Lynch, whose vigilance committee, an irregular court, tried and punished petty criminals and supporters of the British during the U.S. Revolutionary War.
[/rquoter]

The noted element of "social domination" is also important which makes white lynching a difficult thing, because the whites in the typical southern American setting must be "race agitating" or doing something else which upsets the social order. Obviously this won't happen often because the whites benefit from this order.

Perhaps the prototypical depiction of the lynching mindset would be the excellent Gregory Peck film (and Harper Lee book) To Kill A Mockingbird . Though the lynching doesn't happen the type of situation that generates one occurs when a black man is convicted after being accused of raping a white woman with whom he was actually having consensual relations. Gregory Peck plays the lawyer who defends him, though he knows (and everybody tells him) that a conviction is a foregone conclusion.

A lynching would in this case occur if the townspeople decided to forgo the trial and kill the accused. Also a white lynching of Gregory Peck would be possible because he is defending the black man, thus defying the social domination of the underclass.

The instance that I sited above that I didn’t think qualified fails on several points, IMHO. First, the croud is described as “illegal voters, Irishmen and some Negroes”. This description hardly qualifies as the “establishment” anywhere in the USA in the 19th Century. Secondly, the process wasn’t particularly targeted at Mr. Look Young and he wasn’t murdered for any particular slight, just being Asian in the wrong place at the wrong time. Next, it’s clear that this is not government sanctioned, as the fire department was brought in to hose down the crowd, not something the government does to people of whom the government approves. Finally, the murder was only an offshoot (albeit a significant one) of the greater story of the anti-Chinese riot.

 

You are so right dude.


Dec. 27, 2005, 3:03AM
HURRICANE AFTERMATH
Survey finds bias in evacuee housing
66% of white callers got better deals in Houston and 16 other cities
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/05/katrina/3549091.html

By THOMAS KOROSEC
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

A fair-housing watchdog group says it found discrimination against black Hurricane Katrina evacuees at two out of three apartment complexes it surveyed in Houston and 16 other cities.

Between mid-September and mid-December, the National Fair Housing Alliance had callers pose as hurricane victims seeking information at mid-priced apartment complexes in Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. At 66 percent of the apartments, white callers were treated more favorably than blacks, the group reported.

"I was surprised at the amount of hostility that came out over the telephone when apartment managers could discern the caller was African-American," said Shanna L. Smith, the alliance's president. "I expected to see the same outpouring of support you saw for the evacuees, with the millions of dollars of donations, the volunteers, white families opening their homes to black families."

Instead, she said, the group found white callers often were quoted lower rents, or agents informed black callers that no apartments were available moments after telling white callers of vacancies.

"Managers lied about availability of apartments, they lied about incentives that were put in place for evacuees," Smith said. "Sometimes, security deposits were waived for whites and not for blacks, or they were lower for whites than for blacks."

At one complex in Dallas, she said, "to whites it was, 'We'll give you a 26-inch TV set.' No mention of that to the blacks."

The group's 12-page report, which was released last week, gives no specifics of how apartments in Houston handled the alliance's test calls.

 

did i say they weren't discrimnated against? please point out the part of my post. all minorities are discriminated against, but blacks as a whole do get shafted the most because of the image they typically glorify (and perpetuate) to society. i have a black friend - educated, dresses well, comes from money - and what do some other "real" black guys say about him? that he's "white", he aint "black", he acts like a "cracker."

sorry, they get no sympathy from me. racism and discrimination suckm but african-american popular culture has to change if they want to be treated better.

 

if he's so educated why does he hang out with people who make such sweeping generalizations in their posts.

 

Pgabriel,

Sorry bro, didn't see your earlier post. So a late Merry Christmas to you too.

 

You're a moron.

 

the only thing keeping black america down is black america itself.


I suppose you have two choices. You can either retract or modify your completely ignorant statement or you can explain how discrimination doesn't keep black people down. Personally, I hope you go with option two for I'd enjoy reading how you come to that conclusion.

 

on my way home from work, I was listening to that new Lil Jon song


"Don't go to school b****"

and then I went home and watched, "College is for Idiots" starring Bill Cosby.

You do know its black pop culture responsible for the lack of education in the black community don't you?

 

Fair enough. I just wanted to clarify what you meant by "Lynching"

 

did ya miss this part???

look, i just got through working a job at a mall in houston for 2.5 months. i'd say 90% of all african americans i saw/dealt with:

a)dressed like a "thug"
b)spoke like a "thug"
c)acted very uneducated

i also dealt with a lot of other undesirable/trashy people of all ethnicities and races, but not at the rate of african-americans. is that a coincindence?

now im not saying that makes them bad people, but the image that they've been perpetuating isn't helping their cause. most people dont want to deal with anybody that walks, talks, and dresses like a gangster - whether they are one or not. and african-american culture - more than any other - glorifies that. is that not the image you see blasted all over the radio, and television, and movies, etc.???

if you want to represent yourself in that manner (not saying any of you do), be my guest. but to acknowledge a widespread discrimination, and yet continue to perpetuate it in that way isn't going to help. everyone has to do their own part in alieviating it.

 

You're a moron.

Unfortunate to see that your head is so far up your ass that you will make broad sweeping generalizations based on your experience at a f*cking shopping mall because some people didn't conform to some sense of "whiteness" that you deem acceptable enough to give them the time of day.

 

When I went to my last job interview, I was wearing doo rag, gold teeth, and a white tee. because you know, that's what's keeping us down.

 

I've heard very similar accounts from non-Americans that that is what they supposedly see with Blacks.

Apparently, the media does a great job hitting that home as well as abroad. I'm not sure what Mr. SWTsig's problem is, but getting out more could change his mind.

 

Did you spend the same time working in the same environment as he did? Did you walk a mile in his shoes, so to speak? There ARE some environments where white people are made to feel threatened by African Americans. Not everywhere, and I certainly don't think a majority of African Americans act this way, but there are places where certain elements congregate, and if you "don't belong," you shouldn't be there. It's pretty damn sad that a shopping mall in America could become such a place, but how many people have heard a white person say, "I'm just not going to Sharpstown anymore." I'm sure there aren't too many African Americans who would want to be in the white trashy parts of Vidor after the sun goes down, so this isn't something that only plagues African American culture, but American culture. Still, he was talking percentages. His perception based on his life's events are that a greater percentage of African Americans perpetuate and glorify the gang culture than other segments of society perpetuate and glorify the negative sides of their cultures.

He brought a very legitmate point of discussion to the table. Sure it wasn't wrapped up in the pretty political correctness that rules the day, but it sure as hell didn't warrant the outright attack on him that you came back with.

I know you liberals are trying your best to do the right thing and move us forward out of the dark ages of racism, but you are going to have to realize this is a two way street and there are problems on all sides. Giving only blacks a free pass to act however they want because of a perception that the rest of society owes them this only alienates the people you need to bring to the table. It only perpetuates the problem, and it is probably the main reason why SWTsig--and others--think the percentages are out of whack.

I've watched this thread for a few days and I'm just dumbfounded at the attitudes taken here. I guess you guys feel like you smell blood because Bush has been such a crappy president, so you feel like it's okay to attack someone's legitimate issue if you don't think it is PC or "left" enough. But sure enough, you guys are always the ones scratching your heads as to why more Democrats weren't elected at any given election. Go ahead and pat yourselves on the back at how noble and "right" you are, but just remember, you're only convincing yourselves.

 

Oh d*mn SWTsig...you've got a lot to learn.

 

If swtsig wants to make a legtimate argument about blacks being ill prepared for the work force because of the way they dress and talk then that's fine but the I have a friend who's called a cracker posts are ignorant. they're not worthy of discussion. everyone in this thread hasn't been screaming its all the white man's fault. people with opposing views have been engaged in serious discussion.

the guy has brought nothing to the table but I don't feel sorry for black people because the way I see some blacks acting. seriously, is that worth even addressing?

 

Oh.. so working in a mall grants one the rights to make generalizations about an ethnicity?

I haven't noticed any black 'thugs' at my mall ... but there are a bunch of white transients on the way panhandling. Two white transients were just arrested yesterday for beating another with a pipe and sexually assaulting him ... not a first. Should I draw conclusions about whites?

As for whites feeling threatened by blacks, there are areas where blacks feel threatened by whites. Or whites feel threatened by hispanics, or hispanics by whites, or white by whites, or blacks by blacks, or rich by poor or poor by rich or ... what's your point? Should all of these threatened people suddenly put their racist blinders on?

 

If he's young, IMO, yes it is.

Empathy (which helps lead to understanding) is a learned skill for many.