tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840053.post117104253653198894..comments2023-11-02T05:27:51.229-05:00Comments on THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BILL FISHER: JIM CROW REMEMBEREDAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08751070111937957444noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840053.post-1171301216169380612007-02-12T12:26:00.000-05:002007-02-12T12:26:00.000-05:00As an African American (from Zimbabwe) I always ap...As an African American (from Zimbabwe) I always appreciate the words of well meaning white liberals and I find myself saying "awww, how nice" as they opine about the follies of the American South both yesteryear and today. <BR/><BR/>What is usually missing from such a sentimental solliloquy's (sp?) is an acknowledgment of the historical perspective of racism beyond southern boarders i.e. in the north, west and east both codified and uncodified. <BR/><BR/>I lived in Western Pernnsylvania in from 1990 - 1994 and once was told by my white photographer roomate that I should not be alarmed to see developing photo's of a local KKK rally. Of course, she was only there for the magnificent black and white color contrast photo's that would be her prize. To be fair I sensed more anxiety from my white friend about what she was to witness and less on my behalf of how I would react. Had I not sensed her anxiety, I would have probably moved out. I believe she had a genuine disdain for the KKK but until faced with having to articulate her disdain to her new black friend, she had not quite known what that kind of disdain felt like, thus her loss for words.<BR/><BR/>While my African American perspective is infused with a southern african colonial twist, I find the minimizing of Jim Crow in terms of north versus south much like the minimizing of effect of colonialsim between the different continental powers. Where the French worse than the Portuguese who ravaged Mozambique or were my own English Rhodesian colonials who begat Ian Smith the worst? What about the Italians and of course the centuries old Arabs who intermarried with African and co-opted African culture in order to achieve religious longevity?<BR/><BR/>Southern racism may have been overt, and crude much like apartheid, but the sublties of northern racism were much more difficult to navigate. The police station you described could just as well have been in downtown Pittsburgh, Oklahoma City or even Chicago or Detroit. The verbage may have been different in th 1950 based on dialects but an understanding of Jim Crow was not.<BR/><BR/>I enjoyed reading the article and I too lament over what we call progress when it comes to African Americans. Perhaps it all comes down to a truism - talking about things openly can lead us far. I have to believe that's what Mandela and Bishop Tutu had in mind with the truth and reconciliation committee.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840053.post-1171302274339694112007-02-12T12:44:00.000-05:002007-02-12T12:44:00.000-05:00Well, the Jim Crow convicted felon vote disenfranc...Well, the Jim Crow convicted felon vote disenfranchisement law in Florida in 2000 made George W. Bush president of the United States. And in 2004, most of the same people were being disenfranchised by the same law. The problem in that swing state seems to be far more immediate than you want to believe.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840053.post-1171302534483843502007-02-12T12:48:00.000-05:002007-02-12T12:48:00.000-05:00Jim Crow in now called Fighting Terrorism. The fun...Jim Crow in now called Fighting Terrorism. The fundamental actions<BR/>are the same, the targets very similar. Those who are seen as beneficiaries of the NEW SOUTH are<BR/>nothing more than agents. The sense<BR/>of our Congress makes no concessions to the Congressional Black Caucus. Though some 16,500<BR/>African Americans hold public off as compared with 350 or so in 1972,<BR/>the locus of American activity remains the same, who ever get elected/selected as President. Even<BR/>if a person who looks like Tyler is favored you will know he or she is an agent spawned by American<BR/>thinking. In that sense, nothing has changed from the 1950s.mzaliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13548249362831226559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840053.post-1171302840534639232007-02-12T12:54:00.000-05:002007-02-12T12:54:00.000-05:00JIM CROW IS NOW CALLED 'FIGHTING TERRORISM.' NOTHI...JIM CROW IS NOW CALLED 'FIGHTING TERRORISM.' NOTHING HAS CHANGED.<BR/>THE SO-CALLED NEW SOUTH FOLKS ARE<BR/>SHARING THE LARGESSE WITH AGENTS<BR/>WITHOUT PORTFOLIO. "BLACK LIKE ME" REMAINS THE SEMINAL WRITTEN WORD ABOUT AMERICA. IT IS SAD THAT <BR/>EMMITT TILL'S DEATH HAD NO IMPACT ON NANCY PELOSI AND HILLARY CLINTON.mzaliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13548249362831226559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840053.post-1171293672109790492007-02-12T10:21:00.000-05:002007-02-12T10:21:00.000-05:00I am not forwarding this column to anyone, nor rec...I am not forwarding this column to anyone, nor recommending your columns, because (1) they're almost impossible to read, with that wimpy print on a stupidly-decorated background, and (2) you make it very difficult to respond.<BR/><BR/>It isn't about race in Florida, and I defy you to claim there is no racism "up north." A very dark-skinned friend of mine lives in Boston, and I have seen her subjected to more harassment there than she ever was in Orlando.<BR/><BR/>It's about money.<BR/><BR/>The gap between the rich and the just-making-it is -- as in the neighborhoods decimated by Katrina -- what let John Ellis and his band of thieves get away with disenfranchising hundreds of thousand of voters, while the media remained silent about his mistress Katty Harris.<BR/><BR/>I'm white, with a doctorate in engineering, and for many years was one of the "privileged," although I tutored poor kids on the side, so I knew what their reality was. As soon as Chicken George deported my job to India, I became a target of the fatsos in green, because I could no longer be considered a campaign (or "correct church") donor.<BR/><BR/>Economic disparity is not a topic for one month. The concentration of massive wealth in fewer and fewer hands, while more and more people live on the edge of not just poverty, but slavery, is not "Jim Crow." It's the BushDicks.<BR/><BR/>Go to any hotel around Mouseworld, and your maid is as likely to be white or Latino as black. Same for any restaurant. Same for any gas station. Same for ANY job that hasn't been sent overseas, or squatted on by fatcat managers (like the incompetent yes-boy inner circle at NASA).<BR/><BR/>Most of the people in jail are white, and I don't mean just the guards. But most of the people in jail, unlike Ken Lay, hadn't stolen enough to be able to afford lawyers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840053.post-1171250208990360062007-02-11T22:16:00.000-05:002007-02-11T22:16:00.000-05:00Thanks for your comments prompted by Bob Herbert's...Thanks for your comments prompted by Bob Herbert's series<BR/>on Gary Tyler.<BR/><BR/>Below is a link to Free Gary Tyler web-site.<BR/>FYI: We have permission from Gary and his family for this web-site.<BR/><BR/>For more information on Gary Tyler<BR/>and to sign the petition<BR/>to Free Gary Tyler go to:<BR/>www.freegarytyler.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com