tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post295296137224749830..comments2024-03-06T08:29:13.333-08:00Comments on stuff white people do: rewrite u.s. "history" so that white people look better than evermacon dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07795547197817128339noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-66192672965366442532010-07-09T09:53:02.146-07:002010-07-09T09:53:02.146-07:00This is probably how the far Right really looks at...This is probably how the far Right really looks at history...sooo sad.linnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-62390108269194481752010-06-13T22:20:10.272-07:002010-06-13T22:20:10.272-07:00It's really sad but it's not surprise nor ...It's really sad but it's not surprise nor is it new. People have been trying to "whitewash" the history of this country for a very long time, and then teaching kids the BS. History tries to make slavery and Jim Crow, genocide of Native Americans, trying to attack Chinese immigrants (in the late 1800s), Putting Japanese people in camps during WW2, and etc like it's really not a big deal... *sigh*TakaWuKid91noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-14084796560826978262010-05-28T16:14:59.987-07:002010-05-28T16:14:59.987-07:002010: BP, its operational efficiency hampered by o...<i>2010: BP, its operational efficiency hampered by onerous government regulations, takes an enormous blow on the stock market as they are unfairly blamed for the administration's failure to respond to the relatively minor environmental disaster of a month-long release of freedom juice into the Gulf of Mexico. </i><br /><br />Walawall, I have been creatively discomforted, and I am happy about it. Thank you.Valkyrie607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-53602353631519630382010-05-24T11:20:47.815-07:002010-05-24T11:20:47.815-07:00@Willow: That's an excellent point. Ugh. (Alth...@Willow: That's an excellent point. Ugh. (Although upon thinking about it, I disagree that it's a Swiss Cheese reading - there's plenty in the Bible that makes it clear that having slaves is fine, and exhorts slaves to obey their masters, etc. It's not like there's only a few tiny passages that they're cherry-picking to support the idea of slavery as acceptable. I suppose anyone who is a Bible literalist would need to accept slavery.)<br /><br />Re: college, it would also leave out those that go to fundie Christian colleges, where the curriculum is already Creationist-based and such. I don't think those kinds of colleges are going to have any problem supporting this form of revisionism.Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08775402675080387821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-70022678642289433052010-05-24T09:37:27.219-07:002010-05-24T09:37:27.219-07:00@ Robin,
>> "That they're able to ...@ Robin,<br /><br />>> <i>"That they're able to take their convictions about how things are, and their belief in the wrongness of slavery..."</i><br /><br />But the thing you have to understand is--<i>they don't all believe slavery is wrong</i>. Oh, sure, they say "The treatment of slaves in the Americas was inhumane", but their Swiss cheese method of interpreting the Bible <i>requires</i> them to accept that it is fundamentally okay to own another human being. Thus they view even American slavery from the perspective of, even if subconsciously, "not enslaved human beings, but property".<br /><br />@ 7thangel,<br /><br />How much it affects the SAT II and AP tests depends largely on textbook publishers now. The AHA *needs* to get its shit together and start lobbying the industry *not* to, um, adapt. It would be great if they would push for greater accuracy than what is currently out there, but given how blah the response to the Texas change is, I wouldn't expect anything grand.<br /><br />Also, most colleges don't require US history (mine required 2 semesters of world history, but I think even that is rare), so maybe the AHA could lobby colleges to add USH to their core curricula. But that still leaves out anyone who doesn't go to college. :(Willownoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-11133594741762640632010-05-23T20:14:46.639-07:002010-05-23T20:14:46.639-07:00@Colorblind, ok, I'll reword what I said. Your...@Colorblind, ok, I'll reword what I said. Your comments annoy me in the same way comments from many white people who are unwilling to own up to their racism annoy me. And your dismissal of PoC anger at white behavior as "hate" offends me, just like white people dismissing Jeremiah Wright's sermons as "hate" offended me.richenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-44296253400344166252010-05-23T16:13:25.449-07:002010-05-23T16:13:25.449-07:00riche,
I did not choose the name colorblind. Maco...riche,<br /><br />I did not choose the name colorblind. Macon created that name after I posted for the first time. I would respectfully ask that you forget your little fantasies and demeaning attitude.Colorblindnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-87570679795284868452010-05-23T14:09:11.407-07:002010-05-23T14:09:11.407-07:00well, the changes passed, and the changes last for...well, the changes passed, and the changes last for at least 10 years before they can be changed again.<br />http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100521/ap_on_re_us/us_texas_schools_social_studies<br /><br />besides the despicable revisionism that will be in the textbooks (in the best case scenario, still horrible, it won't go beyond texas) and dumbing down k-12, how will this effect things like the sat tests and post secondary and the kids unfortunate to be in any state that adopts this?7thangelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-21418194741550641722010-05-23T13:48:59.624-07:002010-05-23T13:48:59.624-07:00Glad you liked it, Robin, but just to be clear, I ...Glad you liked it, Robin, but just to be clear, I didn't write it. It's a guest post by Chauncey DeVega, who blogs at We Are Respectable Negroes.macon dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07795547197817128339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-23625899870867489342010-05-23T12:14:43.500-07:002010-05-23T12:14:43.500-07:00Well done, Macon. I actually choked on my cereal a...Well done, Macon. I actually choked on my cereal and had to have a coughing fit at <i>Triangular Atlantic trade continues to bring wealth and prosperity to America while giving opportunities to new immigrants.</i><br /><br />Every time I've thought about this for the past week or so since reading that article in the Guardian, I feel incredulous. I still can't quite wrap my head around the idea that people have become so disconnected from slavery that they're able to downplay it like that. That they're able to take their convictions about how things are, and their belief in the wrongness of slavery, and then go, "Well, yeah, slavery was wrong. But my convictions about what children should learn are more important, so I'm going to pretend the horrors of slavery didn't really exist, because otherwise it'll damage the message I want to get across."<br /><br />There are some things in history that should never be minimized, ever. No message is important enough that it becomes ethical to minimize things like slavery and racism, the Holocaust, the genocide of Native populations*, etc. <br /><br />* I decided not to say "Native Americans", because it isn't only the Natives in America who were brutalized, killed, and oppressed. It's also the First Nations in Canada, and the Aborigines in Australia, and many others. None of it should be glossed over or ignored.Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08775402675080387821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-23318506619832095392010-05-22T23:39:58.291-07:002010-05-22T23:39:58.291-07:00I bet they'll include Dennis Stanford's So...I bet they'll include Dennis Stanford's Solutrean theory to propose an all-white occupation of the Americas before the usurpation by American Indians. Seriously, people actually believe in that despite it being advocated by Stanford himself and Bruce Bradley while the majority of anthropologists look at it with quite the skeptical eye. I guess once Kennewick Man was proven not to be Caucasian but more of a Polynesian/Southeast Asian extraction they've been cornered into using Stanford's "Smithsonian" background. I feel ya, Walla.Queequegnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-51812354667096230502010-05-22T19:15:28.216-07:002010-05-22T19:15:28.216-07:00the texas textbook controversy angers me so much. ...the texas textbook controversy angers me so much. i am planning to be a history teacher. we need more minorities to be history teachers since they will teach history as it really happened as opposed to the white glorification we are already seeing in classes. <br /><br />i don't think i will be teaching by the book and i can only hope current history teachers are smart enough not to teach by the book. conservatives do not have much knowledge in the history department or anything for that matter.<br /><br />i wish the south would just secede already.lifeexplorerdiscoveryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10784242218298485014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-20563473615262091442010-05-22T06:47:55.175-07:002010-05-22T06:47:55.175-07:00@lucy: Don't worry, it was my fault for jumpin...@lucy: Don't worry, it was my fault for jumping to conclusions. My view of home-schooling is as a very privileged, white institution. Obviously that's a very limited view so I'm happy to hear your perspective.<br /><br />@Walawell: I'm white and I don't expect any apology for what you said. It was honest and on-topic. Colorblind (the name says it all, doesn't it?...) is just the typical annoying "I'm not racist!" white person we get here from time to time.richenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-23698285451264519372010-05-22T05:37:48.924-07:002010-05-22T05:37:48.924-07:00Uggh, yes! The middle name thing bugs me so much! ...Uggh, yes! The middle name thing bugs me so much! It's like...are you really going to play dumb and pretend that you just refer to all presidents with their middle names? I can count the presidents who've been popularly referred to with all 3 names on one hand, and in every other case it's either because of an initial-based nickname (JFK, FDR), or for clarity (John Quincy Adams). <br />Do they always refer to him with his middle name in order to tell him apart from all the other Barack Obamas who've been presidents of the United States? And the "What? It's his name! I can't possibly understand what your problem is" reaction bugs the heck out of me.Melissahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12874792076331648983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-86849524013368266622010-05-21T22:36:40.539-07:002010-05-21T22:36:40.539-07:00@marissa
how would they react if they were told t...@marissa<br /><br />how would they react if they were told that they didn't actually win the war, they just didn't lose? or how they lost to canada, the only one to actually 'win'?<br /><br />folks should check out the latest on this. crooksandliars.com has been covering the recent live sessions (i.e. one far right dude tried to add an amendment that requires the children to learn president obama's middle name, hussein. it was defeated when it was pointed out how obvious his intentions were and the fact that no one is required to learn the middle names of the other presidents. jefferson davis will be on equal footing as lincoln, as well as, confederate soldiers and figures being elevated as heroes, and of course the cause for the civil war being sectionalism, states rights and slavery...in that order)7thangelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-38227245143986645082010-05-21T19:00:14.082-07:002010-05-21T19:00:14.082-07:00walawell,
Thank you for your follow up. I think I...walawell,<br /><br />Thank you for your follow up. I think I ended up talking around you, and for that I apologize.<br /><br />All the best.Colorblindnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-7781243594411789722010-05-21T16:18:28.619-07:002010-05-21T16:18:28.619-07:00Haha! Hilarious! Its American history for the uber...Haha! Hilarious! Its American history for the uber-Patriotic and pro-Capitalist crowd. Great! Would love to see this as a Mad TV or Saturday Night Live Skit!Aanhttp://www.ignoringoccupation.00page.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-79266829487565769412010-05-21T12:58:56.700-07:002010-05-21T12:58:56.700-07:00Far more common are the people I've encountere...<b> Far more common are the people I've encountered as adults. Mostly co-workers who, even in my presence, have expressed bigoted or outright racist sentiments - but they endeavor to treat me or other minorities by what they consider is their measure of "equality" or "fairness" and honestly, that's the best that can be expected of them. Other whites call them "good people" - I treat them as I would a sleeping tamed animal - wake them up and they may or may not bite you. It's best to give them a wide berth or handle them with kid gloves lest they turn on you.</b><br /><br />Do we work at the same place?modest-goddesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02349577841986972240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-59129179939620133052010-05-21T12:58:56.699-07:002010-05-21T12:58:56.699-07:00Walawell, there is no need to apologize. What you ...Walawell, there is no need to apologize. What you said came from the heart. What you said needed to be said AND heard.Blaque Inkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18044177158819953392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-48479154685265591012010-05-21T11:09:47.292-07:002010-05-21T11:09:47.292-07:00@Walawell
There is no need to apologize. I hope t...@Walawell<br /><br />There is no need to apologize. I hope that you continue to comment.Genevahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11089208459716563319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-35029297718327366422010-05-21T10:32:57.466-07:002010-05-21T10:32:57.466-07:00Dear Walawell: Your "name" is new to me ...Dear Walawell: Your "name" is new to me here, so in case it is not obvious, I'm white. I want to say to you that what you said is not offensive to me or to any white person who has been paying attention to racial issues. The inhumanity of the world we live in is very real and part of that reality is the emotional toll it takes on all of us who live in it, each of us in different ways depending on our place in the world and our openness to awareness of the lives of others.<br /><br />Ironically (or perhaps not?), I was off at a meeting last night where a local legislative body passed an implementation resolution to a racial disparities report. A bunch of us who'd showed up to speak in favor of the resolution were talking afterward. Despite being happy about the resolution passing, the conversation in this mixed-race group moved quickly to how bad things are, how angry people are about how much there is to do, and how hard it is to keep the faith and keep moving forward. People were telling stories of biased racial encounters in stores and expressing anger at white privilege. This is where we are, this is where we live. A roller coaster of emotions as we celebrate victories and get angry and despairing at how much there is to do.olderwomanhttp://sociologicalconfessions.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-4525654218533912612010-05-21T09:46:51.567-07:002010-05-21T09:46:51.567-07:00In the words of a former favorite therapist, your ...<i>In the words of a former favorite therapist, your post seemed like a normal response to an abnormal situation. That the abnormal has been so thoroughly normalized by whiteness must be crazymaking.</i><br /><br />Q4MFT!!<br /><br />"Everybody got that?" - Lord Helmet, <i>Spaceballs</i>RVCBardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06481089855894764409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-12587424578251292622010-05-21T09:41:44.342-07:002010-05-21T09:41:44.342-07:00In solidarity with what walawell wrote: http://qu...In solidarity with what walawell wrote: http://quirkyblackgirls.blogspot.com/2010/05/today-i-hate-whitey.html<br /><br />For the whiney-ass White folk that were bothered by that and what's in the above link, WAAAAHHHH, WAAAAAHHH, FUCKIN' WAAAAAHHHH!!!<br /><br />Try not to fail so damn hard!Witchsistahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01603586060096649666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-7332055115516369322010-05-21T09:37:32.030-07:002010-05-21T09:37:32.030-07:00Walawell,
of course you should do what feels best ...Walawell,<br />of course you should do what feels best to you, but honestly, I don't want you to feel like you have to apologize. in my opinion, you have nothing to apologize for. (In fact, I feel a little like you're employing the tone argument against yourself :) )<br /><br />I really appreciated your candor and, while I of course can't speak to what you were feeling when you wrote your post yesterday, I did not hear hate. (Though I would be okay with hearing hate, FWIW). I heard anger, and sorrow, and pain, and I thought it was all totally justified. [In the words of a former favorite therapist, your post seemed like a normal response to an abnormal situation. That the abnormal has been so thoroughly normalized by whiteness must be crazymaking.]<br /><br />Also, I thought your post was very brave, and I wish I'd said all of this yesterday--if maybe part of what happened is that you didn't get enough validation and then began to second-guess yourself.<br /><br />I don't think I speak for only myself when I say that listening respectfully to whatever feelings POC here have--including hate-- about the racist crap they encounter all of the time is the very least white people can doJulia/the other Juliahttp://nobody-asked-you.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-528074983146803930.post-54549095032464138142010-05-21T08:49:23.778-07:002010-05-21T08:49:23.778-07:00I'm sorry. What Colorblind said earlier was ri...I'm sorry. What Colorblind said earlier was right. <br /><br />What I wrote was hateful. I meant it to be. I tried to temper it a little and honestly, I didn't expect MaconD to publish it. I thought it would be censored and I wouldn't have blamed him if he had.<br /><br />But when I wrote it, what I felt was hatred. And while I wrote it, the only saving grace is that, when I wrote it, although there are for me, moments where I despise whites collectively, I tried to actively get through that moment the way I always get through those moments: by naming, one by one, whites who I feel are an exception to the rule.<br /><br />There are whites I've known who truly had proverbial "racist bone in their body." People I've encountered who were such gracious human beings that they did not merely transcend racism, they simply embraced humanity. M.A., N.M., S.G., C.W.<br /><br />People I had as childhood friends who were so very wonderful that even today, they have never crossed the boundaries that can be the crushing disappointment & failure of friendships with whites.<br /><br />Far more common are the people I've encountered as adults. Mostly co-workers who, even in my presence, have expressed bigoted or outright racist sentiments - but they endeavor to treat me or other minorities by what they consider is their measure of "equality" or "fairness" and honestly, that's the best that can be expected of them. Other whites call them "good people" - I treat them as I would a sleeping tamed animal - wake them up and they may or may not bite you. It's best to give them a wide berth or handle them with kid gloves lest they turn on you.<br /><br />So when I wrote it, it was hateful. And right now, I don't feel as hopeless or defeated. I'm not so much sorry for what I wrote but the hatred behind it & I honestly wish I could have expressed it another way.walawellnoreply@blogger.com