Saturday, March 20, 2010

A "teachable moment"?

*
Today I had one of those personal teachable moments about race relations here in A-merry-ca.
I won't front. When the weather breaks, I usually play tennis with a group of guys on weekends in a club here in Northeast Philly. One of the regulars in the group is a very fine Italian- American fellow who made a shit load of money in construction. (At least I thought he did)

I hadn't seen the guy since last November, so in between games we are shooting the breeze about whatever. We finally get around to the economy, and, to my surprise, the guy is telling me about his three kids in college and how their tuition is killing him. He is going on and on about his youngest daughter whose tuition is going up 11% this year, and how tough it is going to be to come up out of his pocket to pay it. Not really caring, but just to make conversation; I ask him where she is in school. Now I am expecting to hear Rutgers, Temple, Penn, Vanilla-nova, or some large out of state land grant university. What I sure as hell didn't expect to hear is what he told me next: "Howard University." I tried to be cool and act like I wasn't phased by what he said; just like he was. My man might as well been talking about working on his back hand or his second serve. He was that matter of fact with his statement. He didn't even give me a second look when he said it. "Yeah, 11%, you believe that? All in one year. "

Now I am thinking: Howard? Hell isn't that an HBCU? And I know that a lot of those schools are becoming more integrated, and many of the grad programs in these schools are loaded with folks from the majority population. But, given the age of his daughter, I knew that she was still in undergrad. And , since pops lives in Philly, she obviously lives on campus or is on her own down in D.C.

Field, I am thinking, you really have to start giving folks in the majority more credit with this race stuff. You have got to make stories like the latest one from Arizona stop getting to you. Maybe some white folks in A-merry-ca really do see everything in non -racial terms. Maybe, just maybe, we are living in post racial A-merry-ca.....maybe.

"Hey man, good luck with the tuition." I tell him. "Yeah right, and you know the worst part?" "No, what?"" She wants to be a doctor."
*Pic courtesy of gerrymay.com

80 comments:

  1. First, before the hijack!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ~
    Some Italians do not deny their Negroe, Moorish, ancestry.

    By-the-by, conservative Negroes:
    Tea Partiers Call Lewis 'N****r', Frank 'F****t', At Capitol Hill Protest
    http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/tea-partiers-call-lewis-nr-frank-ft-at-capitol-hill-protest.php#more
    `

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great story. No, I wouldn't say it's a "post-racial America." It's not even close. Yet there are a great many post-racial Americans, many of whom I claim as family and friends. Loving it.

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  4. Anonymous8:52 PM

    Field, of course we have been wrong about the term (Post Racial America)all is well with the Races's.

    By the way, did you hear about what happened to Senator John Lewis today? the TEA PARTY HEATHEN'S called him the N word and Spit on him! this is the Senator that fought with Dr. King during the Civil Right's Movement!

    Tell me, why should I care about your White friend with MINOR Money problem's! don't you think it's time, for the other side to feel what it's like, to REALLY Struggle to try to make end's meet, they have had it too easy for TOO long!



    ISEEISEE

    ReplyDelete
  5. mellaneous9:01 PM

    Sup Field? Thanks for the well wishes. I did in fact give what I thought was a decent discourse on why those who have conscience have to keep up the fight though it may seem hopeless, it is how all change for the better ultimately begins.

    Had a great time,our local protest brought out over 500 people, thats right 500 in these depressed and confusing times.

    Your friend is interesting indeed good for him that he saw past color and got his daughter in one of the better undergrad schools. (It did also cross my mind that the daughter could be black, just thinking out loud)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Field, this is like giving white people a prize for doing the right thing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous9:07 PM

    ISEEISEE, "By the way, did you hear about what happened to Senator John Lewis today? the TEA PARTY HEATHEN'S called him the N word and Spit on him! this is the Senator that fought with Dr. King during the Civil Right's Movement!"

    They called Senator John Lewis a nigger, but did not spit on him. They did spit on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a black congressman from St. Louis.

    John Lewis was shocked that they would do that around the halls of Congress. But as I mentioned before, racism is a permanent stain in the psyche of America. Be prepared for much more IF this healthcare bill passes. There are Whites who don't care about the bill, they just hate Blacks.

    I think we are headed for very dark times.

    ReplyDelete
  8. [quote]He is going on and on about his youngest daughter whose tuition is going up 11% this year, and how tough it is going to be to come up out of his pocket to pay it. Not really caring, but just to make conversation; I ask him where she is in school. Now I am expecting to hear Rutgers, Temple, Penn, Vanilla-nova, or some large out of state land grant university. What I sure as hell didn't expect to hear is what he told me next: "Howard University."[/quote]


    Filled Negro:

    I love you man.
    I do. You come from the same place that the woman that has borne me children came from.

    I am force to ask you one thing as a result of your passage up above:

    Do YOU think that YOU suffer from "Non-White White Superiority"?

    Is the product of education from Howard University LESS THAN what Temple or Brynmar University officers?

    Whereas YOU would not bat an eyebrow upon hearing that a Black dude from West Philly High chose to go to "Shippensburg State" (a White school) you seem to be shocked that a White person chose to go to Howard (with the Negroes).

    Did it ever cross your mind that Howard provides a QUALITY education?

    Did you think that instead of this White person LOWERING themselves and going to school with the NEGRO (or doing a domestic "Peace Corps" expedition in DC) that she is ENHANCING herself with the EDUCATION that she is receiving by the EQUAL TEACHERS at Howard?

    ReplyDelete
  9. By the way, did you hear about what happened to Senator John Lewis today? the TEA PARTY HEATHEN'S called him the N word and Spit on him! this is the Senator that fought with Dr. King during the Civil Right's Movement!"

    Yep, I am seriously pissed off about that. JL is my man.
    I haven't heard about it in the MSM. Figures I guess.

    Mel., you might be on to something. I have never seen his daughter. And, his wife might be a sister. I have never seen her, either. Now see Mel. why do you have to have a brother thinking about these things?

    "Field, this is like giving white people a prize for doing the right thing."

    Alright Bennie, you got me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous9:15 PM

    Mellaneous, "Your friend is interesting indeed good for him that he saw past color and got his daughter in one of the better undergrad schools. (It did also cross my mind that the daughter could be black, just thinking out loud)"

    Of course, there certainly is a story behind it but we'll never know because Field didn't have the courage to ask his tennis playing friend why his daughter chose Howard U? It would have made for a better post.

    But maybe next time he goes to play tennis Field will have the courage to ask?

    Btw Field, what school did you go to?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Whereas YOU would not bat an eyebrow upon hearing that a Black dude from West Philly High chose to go to "Shippensburg State" (a White school) you seem to be shocked that a White person chose to go to Howard (with the Negroes).

    Did it ever cross your mind that Howard provides a QUALITY education?

    Did you think that instead of this White person LOWERING themselves and going to school with the NEGRO (or doing a domestic "Peace Corps" expedition in DC) that she is ENHANCING herself with the EDUCATION that she is receiving by the EQUAL TEACHERS at Howard?"

    Huh? You do know what an HBCU is, right? And you do know how they came into being, right? I think it is you who suffer from some kind of inferiority complex. Who said anythig about some "dmestic Peace Corps" or "LOWERING" herself? Now that was a moronic statement. How does that thought even cross your mind? And you dare you compare Ship State to Howard? Come on man, get a grip.

    "Did it ever cross your mind that Howard provides a QUALITY education?'

    Ahh yes. And your point is what, exactly?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Johnston9:24 PM

    You heard wrong. I've made the same mistake. He said Harvard.

    ReplyDelete
  13. But maybe next time he goes to play tennis Field will have the courage to ask?

    Btw Field, what school did you go to?"

    Hey man, sometimes I just want to play tennis. Is that OK with you? Geez.

    I went to the school of life. In fact, I am still enrolled there.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You heard wrong. I've made the same mistake. He said Harvard."

    Nope! I am pretty sure he said Howard. In fact I think he actually made some kind of reference to D.C. But nice try. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Trapped in SC10:12 PM

    You knew The Black Frank Drackman had to comment.

    "Did it ever cross your mind that Howard provides a QUALITY education?"

    Oh, how I know you wish that Howard didn't provide a world-class education. You probably would be more comfortable with Bob Jones University, down here in good ole' South Crackerlina.

    Lumping the notion of a black person being surprised about a population that normally does not go to a HBCU attending one while at the same time using that knowledge as the basis for an accusation that a person suffers from a made-up, nonsensical bullshit malady as "Non-White White Superiority" only serves to show your distinct lack of understanding of the concepts you're trying to talk about.


    I wonder what CF would do if a person actually called him a nigger, like U.S. Congressmen were today.

    Would he get angry? Nah. He would tell them, "Hey! I'm on your side! I hate black people too!"

    DO? YOU? EVEN? KNOW? WHAT? YOU? ARE? TALKING? ABOUT?

    Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous10:24 PM

    Field, how many years have you been playing tennis with your Italian acquaintance?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous10:30 PM

    TSC, "You knew The Black Frank Drackman had to comment."

    Yes, but YOU always have to comment with your spewing hatred also. Bitch, bitch bitch. Is that all you have to offer?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Mack Lyons10:50 PM

    "By the way, did you hear about what happened to Senator John Lewis today? the TEA PARTY HEATHEN'S called him the N word and Spit on him! this is the Senator that fought with Dr. King during the Civil Right's Movement!"

    I'm not surprised. The health care bill has been a trojan horse for a bunch of hateful loons who only want to see a black president get destroyed and disgraced. And quite a few of them wouldn't mind if blacks got "back in their place", either.

    I feel it's time to tell these teabagging idiots that such acts have dire consequences. I hate to get all Bush with it, but the guy did have some ideas and the stones to carry them out. I say we limit the teabaggers to "free speech zones" (aka caged pens well away from the Capitol or any other place of congressional or presidential business). Thump on some skulls if you have to. I'd rather see Obama survive as an asshole President than go down as a saint.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Mack Lyons10:52 PM

    Yes, but YOU always have to comment with your spewing hatred also. Bitch, bitch bitch. Is that all you have to offer?

    You do know he's not gonna give a fuck about your comment, right? Neither will anyone else.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Trapped in SC10:55 PM

    Anon. 10:30,

    I don't care about you, fuckstick.

    Stop whining about me, since you haven't the foggiest idea what a blog and comment board is.
    It's for..........ding! ding! ding! Comments!

    Put up a handle, so I can direct to you as you direct to me, then we can dance.

    Otherwise, get the fuck off the library computer. That little girl behind you who has the book report on Dinosaurs is getting pissed.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous10:57 PM

    The Irish came to this country to escape the potato famine. They immediately began illegal rum running and made their fortunes in crime. And everything was dandy, as a matter of fact somehow they became heros and politicians.

    The Italians came here, they started in with the heroin running, prostitution, loan sharking, you name it! And again everything was dandy, as another matter of fact, they also became heros, politicians, glorified in movies, plays, books, etc!

    The Black and Latin come here, sell a dime of pot,steal an apple and they get 30 years in prison! WTF!

    Can anybody please explain this to me???

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous11:07 PM

    catusrose, "Can anybody please explain this to me???"

    Blacks and Latinos are not White. You must be White to get away with shit. Welcome to white folks {stolen} land.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous11:09 PM

    The Italians came here, they started in with the heroin running, prostitution, loan sharking, you name it! And again everything was dandy, as another matter of fact, they also became heros, politicians, glorified in movies, plays, books, etc!


    That's because the italians came here with organizing skills. The used those skills to build organized criminal groups that have never been equaled among blacks or latinos. Even American businessmen and politicans entered into alliances with them. That's how they came to be seen as larger than life.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Low & Country - Your act is tired. Carry on though. You are providing much content for those who are not among the bigoted and can see through you.

    [quote]Huh? You do know what an HBCU is, right?[/quote]

    Filled Negro:

    Do you consider "Penn" or "St Joe's" Historically White Colleges?

    Do you know how "Girard College" (a high school) came to being?

    Please tell me the difference?


    [quote]And you do know how they came into being, right? [/quote]

    Sadly, Filled Negro - despite the constant calls for paleo-conservatives to EVOLVE it is these institutions, seeking to cleave to their foundings from DAYS PAST which has seen too many of them close due to insolvency.

    I should also note that of the quasi-Civil Rights Organizations - the ONLY one that I give money to is the United Negro College Fund.

    Indeed a "Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste". Sadly the person who believes that mind is INFERIOR as he is of "The Least Of These" will never go up to this person and seek to reconsile his WANTS with his CAPABILITIES, suggesting that by ordering themselves - THEY can be the SERVICE PROVIDERS in their community, employing the MINDS of the masses first - the ECONOMIC situation will blossom later.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous11:16 PM

    TSC, "Stop whining about me, since you haven't the foggiest idea what a blog and comment board is.
    It's for..........ding! ding! ding! Comments!"

    Yeah, stupid ignorant comments from morons like you, dumbshit.

    ReplyDelete
  26. It's a HBCU school sucking him out of his cabbage. No wonder the guy is complaining. If he was making his contribution to Yale...

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous11:17 PM

    @Cactus

    MOST of the Irish worked in laboring jobs such as building rail roads and MOST of the Italians worked in laboring jobs such as mining....

    AND probably MOST of the Blacks and Latins are just working to make their families a better life.
    Don't concentrate on the worst of times , stop and see the reality.

    Aloha from Makaii

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous11:22 PM

    CF, "Indeed a "Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste". Sadly the person who believes that mind is INFERIOR as he is of "The Least Of These" will never go up to this person and seek to reconsile his WANTS with his CAPABILITIES, suggesting that by ordering themselves - THEY can be the SERVICE PROVIDERS in their community, employing the MINDS of the masses first - the ECONOMIC situation will blossom later."

    Very true.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Low & Country:

    I think that you are mistaken.
    What John Lewis heard was a WHITE MAN singing the lyrics of Jay-Z's "NEW YORK" song out loud. Since the White boy sang it word for word Lewis hear the THREE TIMES that Jay-Z said the word "Nigga" in this SONG THAT IS POPULAR AMONG WHITE FOLKS.

    I wonder what in your mind makes this anonymous yet IGNORANT WHITE MAN who lypsynched more SUPERIOR than Jay-Z who is worth more than $250M and has a wife who has more money than he. Same word - different SUPERIORITY rating all based on WHO said it.

    [quote] The health care bill has been a trojan horse for a bunch of hateful loons who only want to see a black president get destroyed and disgraced. And quite a few of them wouldn't mind if blacks got "back in their place", either.[/quote[

    Mack Is Lying:

    As a Black man I am more interested at noting that after the PROGRESSIVE POLICIES that the MACHINE THAT THIS PRESIDENT SITS ATOP OF were implemented in:

    * Milwaukee
    * Detroit
    * Cleveland
    * Newark
    * Camden

    that THE CITIES GOT DESTROYED along with the people WHO USED TO LIVE THERE.


    You say "Blacks In Their Places"?
    I had thought that you were intent upon having BLACK PEOPLE IN OUR PLACES in the CLASSROOMS. With you having STRUGGLED to take over these institutions - REMEMBER? - We were gonna get educated and become the Doctors, District Attorneys, Business Men, and Trash Hauling Company Executives that our communities needed to prosper.

    Now it seems that YOU are "back in your own place" - knowing that YOUR STANDARD OF LIVING is centrally dependent upon legislation FAR OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMMUNITY than it is based upon what you convince the people in aggregate to do as a means of addressing these needs.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Trapped in SC11:46 PM

    Because when you are brown skinned, A baseline of mistrust, fear, scrutiny and low expectations is automatically placed upon you.

    Why do we have something as stupid as sentencing for crack cocaine that is 100 times more severe that a sentence for a person caught with the same amount of the same drug in a different formulation?

    Because the theory is that powder cocaine is used by affluent white folks who can afford it, while crack is cheap and used by weak-willed, dangerous blacks that need to be controlled because they are threats, hence the harsher law enforcement treatment.

    Your skin places you under scrutiny, whether we want to believe it, accept it, or not, Latin and Black criminal networks are just as intricate as Irish or Italian criminal networks. But the reason that we get most of the harshest treatment, the longest sentences and a lower chance of true rehabilitation is that for blacks and browns, we simply have less room for error.

    The conundrum is that in a lot of communities, to survive, you have to engage in a lot of illegal behaviors and acts that put you in the cross-hairs of the law enforcement establishment.

    In other words, we do what we have to do sometimes, and it's dangerous, because they are already watching us, even when we aren't doing anything wrong.

    ________________________________________________

    "Low & Country - Your act is tired. Carry on though."

    Don't have much left in the tank, do you?

    That was the internet equivalent of saying, "No Mas!"

    Constrictive Wingnut, what truly is tired is the internet-based stylistic homages you pay to Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry on a daily basis.

    Don't recognize the name, do you? But i'll bet you'll know his stage name though.

    Stepin Fetchit.

    Dude, you are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy. It's like a Ph.D playing with a preschooler. The fucked-up part is, somewhere along the line, probably some Foghorn Leghorn sound-alike in Atlanta was blown away at the notion that you understood basic conservative economic theory. It went to your head. Now you think that you can show all us ignorant niggas to the promised land. Funny.

    Go take a poli-sci class or two, then get a newspaper subscription, then we can talk shop.

    Otherwise, Stormfront needs you.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous11:46 PM

    Stay in your place, Mack. By now, you are old enough to know what your place is.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous11:52 PM

    TSC, your comments have no substance..you are one ignorant lost soul.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous12:15 AM

    HBCU had been accepting non-black students for years. The schools cannot discriminate and like all colleges and universities HBCU need the money wherever the source. Spelman has white students as well. It is not easy attending a college where you are the only white or black person in a lot of the classes you attend. People like to be comfortable with others who have similar interests and culture. It is not easy being the person who is different from the others in the group. If I had a dollar for each time I was the only black person in the group, where I would almost as wealthy as Warren Buffett.

    ReplyDelete
  34. We had an influx of white students come in with this years freshman class (c/o 2013). Not sure if that can be attributed to anything specifically. Still, Howard hasn't seen the number of white students increase the way it has at a number of land-grant state HBCUs. It doesn't surprise me that she wishes to become a doctor. Many students/families have recognized the great education and even greater value of going to Howard to pursue a medical career as opposed to a private majority institution. Our med/dental school is predominately non-Black.

    -Howard undergrad

    ReplyDelete
  35. @ANON 11:52
    I don't always agree with TSC but I feel he is right this time.

    It would be nice if the justice system was in fact equitable, but its not. Racism is still a fact of everyday life, it's just not as overt as it once was.

    Case in point last weekend: my son has a second job selling some high end car wax at car shows, car washes, etc. They work in teams, and his senior member is black -- very nice guy, works hard, has been a great mentor and friend to my son.

    The last weekend they were at a car wash doing a promotion, and had rained. In this case, they can't "demo" the wax on a wet car, so they are instructed to ask the car owner to open the car door and they can demonstrate on the inside of the door panel the wonders of this product.

    Anyways, they were in what is considered an "upscale", "educated" area, and guess what? Not a single person would open their car door for the black. Not. A. Single. One. For my son, no problem. Every single car he approached opened up their car door and let him demo, and most bought. His colleague? Zip.

    Needless to say, it was an education that even the so-called "enlightened" ones still harbor misplaced stereotypes.

    ReplyDelete
  36. @CF
    I didn't read that into FN's blog post at all.

    There are lots of "majority" people who are aware that Howard offers a great education.

    My daughter applied to Howard for pharmacy, because the first pharmacist she worked for and had the most admiration for was a Howard grad.

    My concern about whether or not she should go to Howard was not based on it being a HBCU but its location in DC (and yes, I know the area well because we used to go to Walter Reed up the road). Likewise, I had similar concerns about other good "white" schools in crappy neighborhoods. You never stop being a Mom, and campus safety to me was just as important as the syllabus and the profs.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Gregory12:39 AM

    Trapped in SC,

    I was thinking about your earlier comparison of CF to FD. On further consideration, I think you give Frank far too much credit. He is just another incarcerated cracker, albeit slightly more clever than his peers. The smartest 'neck in the trailer park is still a 'neck.

    A more apt comparison might be Clayton Bigsby.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous1:16 AM

    ANON!11:52, why is TSC a lost SOUL? No! he is Tuned in to YOU! and he is far from Ignorant, I notice you can't wait to call him (SLAVE MASTER'S name's) in other word's, you try to belittle his Intelligence! as a matter of fact, you Hate the fact, that a Black man has a right to Speak without limitation! cause one thing is sure, he is all in your face, telling you what you don't want to admit! which is, there is a Segment of White American's, that are RACIST! they are not hiding it! they are making a LIE out of the people that say, this is POST RACIAL AMERICA! NO! this is the REAL AMERICA!

    MELLANEOUS, enlighten me, can you tell me, why Black people are Roaming around MEDDLING in the WAR! White folk are going STARK WAVING MAD in America, yet, Black people are adding to the President's problem's, the RACIST TEA PARTY folk on one side and (War folk on the other side)all this happening on the same day! do you think the President need's this? or do you care? well, I don't think you do!

    Mellaneous,I read the BLOG at HUFFPOST, Cindy, Screaming!!!!! (Impeach the President!!!! so, you was a part of this MADNESS? and you say, you are a (Christian)? Check yourself! cause it ain't no way, God want's a Christian to be in the mist of avoidable Discontent! in other word's, you should be someplace Praying for peace on this Land! for surely, you see the RAGE of the TEA PARTY HEATHEN'S! do you? their RAGE is aimed at African American's here in America, not the IRAQ nor the AFGHANISTAN people!

    ISEEISEE











































































    Mellaneous,

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous2:29 AM

    The John Lewis racial slur story was a hoax. Next time don't your news from the Huffington Post.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Nah, it wasn't a hoax. It did happen and newspapers are reporting it too. Those teabaggers have found out that the majority of people did not like their actions and behavior today and the teabaggers call themselves trying to clean it up, do a little damage control, and claim that it was an hoax. Spin...spin...spin, but they won't be able to spin themselves out of this one. It's over for the GOP Party, they can hang it up because they went entirely too far today.

    Smh!

    ReplyDelete
  41. StillaPanther25:04 AM

    brother Field....Howard University School Of Allied Health Physician Assistant Class of 79. Even then we had an influx of non-Blacks. During this period a large percentage of instructors were foreign. The schools have to fill seats so I quess they welcome all. An alum of NCCU-76, I can say that SOME Blacks surrendered their seats at these HBCU by placing education on the back burner. I DID NOT SAY ALL BLACKS. The education at both schools were the best in my OPINION for me. The racial pride that I took from my being there is what I still use to this day to encourage my people to be productive. Like Brother Field, I can only pass IT on. PS..bby the way the actions of SOME requires me to keep my beret at "at the ready".

    ReplyDelete
  42. Red Devil5:48 AM

    Dude, they just spit and used n-word against two civil rights leaders in congress rep. lewis and rep cleaver.

    these teabaggers.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Red Devil5:51 AM

    my apologies. add CLYBURN to the list, and carson,

    ReplyDelete
  44. I wonder what motivated his daughter to chose Howard. That is interesting. Years ago at Morehouse there was one white guy and he typed papers for a dollar a page. He was getting an actuarial science degree, which he had to make the curriculum for because it wasn't a common major. He was a badass and made the best of his time there! He also made some money off of me for typing up my labs!

    ReplyDelete
  45. i can't find anything to indicate that howard is going up 11%. last year it went up 7% and there were protests over that, surely 11% would cause an outrage.

    harvard is going up 3.6%. so not harvard.

    DC schools have quite a range of tuition.

    http://collegeexplorations.blogspot.com/2009/11/dc-colleges-and-universities-increase.html

    if his daughter did plan to go to medical school enrolling in howard as a undergrad would be a good idea as howard has a medical school, and it's pretty cheap. however, it does not have the greatest reputation as a medical school.

    http://www.residentphysician.com/Medicalschool_rankings.htm

    btw, howard U was named for a white man. and it was begun in 1867 so this wasn't exactly a civil rights move.

    ReplyDelete
  46. No Anon. It's not a hoax. I just read it on MSNBC's web site from a very reputable reporter. Sorry.:(

    Thank you Malik, and StillA Panther2, please explain to the [un]constructive one what an HBCU is.

    Damn TSC, remind me to stay away fomr e-fights with you my man, you are rough. Go easy on my friend CF, when the revolution starts I will protect him from the rest of you radicals.:)

    Now when the wingnuts start acting up (as they already have) he is on his own. I know that he thinks he is down with them, but I am pretty sure that they won't even let his black ass start talking before they start shooting.

    "Wait, I am one of you, I hate those n*&&%$s too"...let me stop.

    CF, I still love you. Hey, it's Sunday morning is that Yawdie wife of yours going to hook up some ackee and saltfish and roast breadfruit for breakfast? Or is it too hard to get that stuff in The ATL?

    "Field, how many years have you been playing tennis with your Italian acquaintance?"

    What's with the 20 questions?
    You can't believe I know any white people? :)

    I have known him awhile.(Strictly from playing tennis)Still,it's not like we visit each other for dinner, or spend summers at the Jersey shore together.

    ReplyDelete
  47. http://medicine.howard.edu/about/history/default.htm

    history of howard U.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Anonymous7:52 AM

    If she's a white female at an HBCU, she would be in 'minority status'; entitled to special financial privileges. I was a student at an HBCU, and observed anglo students receiving 'special' treatment. Just saying....

    ReplyDelete
  49. "can't find anything to indicate that howard is going up 11%. last year it went up 7% and there were protests over that, surely 11% would cause an outrage.

    harvard is going up 3.6%. so not harvard"

    Well maria, that confirms that he didn't say Harvard. :) I didn't know that their med.school has a bad rep. I have a friend that went to med. school there and he is very proud of it.

    My dentist went to their dental school and he is all that.

    ReplyDelete
  50. oh, field, we're not white, remember? that's what the racists on this blog say--as if we aspire to be "white" and saying we're not is supposed to be an insult.

    ReplyDelete
  51. i didn't say bad--i said not great.

    the link i posted has rankings. it was 95th out of 123.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Anonymous8:04 AM

    @ Karen

    "Needless to say, it was an education that even the so-called "enlightened" ones still harbor misplaced stereotypes."

    Hmmm ... I wonder why that is???

    To me, this is an education on why White (AND Black) people have stereotyped black youth this way. It is sad, but experience speaks louder than words. And physical self-protection is more important than hurt feelings.

    Leila

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  53. NSangoma said...
    ~
    Some Italians do not deny their Negroe, Moorish, ancestry.
    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    And I've met a few that didn't. But they are in the minority, the rest just wanna be real white folks, LOL!!!!

    About Howard Med, I was accepted there many years ago and when I decided not to attend to care for a terminally ill parent, very few people Black or White, thought it was a bad idea based on their rep, i.e. the high percentage of students who flunk their boards, the fact that most of the students don't match into "good" residency programs, ect.

    Personally, I found the faculty and students to be among inspirational of all the ones I'd met interviewing for medical school.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Anonymous10:10 AM

    Okay, those teabaggers yelling N%% and F%%% are the minority and should not represent all teabaggers.

    Just like in OUR community, white folks see a few thugly acst and paint all of us that way.

    Let's not be like them.

    ReplyDelete
  55. FN,

    I feel ya with regard to giving white folks a second look..I am always tentative yet at end of the day I want to believe white folks really do value my personhood..

    Having the courage to still reach out....

    ReplyDelete
  56. [quote]I wonder what CF would do if a person actually called him a nigger, like U.S. Congressmen were today.[/quote]

    Low & Country:

    Growing up in the quickly race shifting West Philly during the 70s and 80s I have been called a Nigra several times.

    From walking down Landsdowne Ave, past "St Calistas" as the WHITE BOYS who waited on the other side of the street made sure that I never miss the #31 SEPTA Bus to the rock throwing episode by 3 White boys near Cassidy Elem school where though I fronted no fear - my heart was pounding out of my chest.

    Here is what you have to understand Low & Country. As an Anti-Racism-Chaser I REFUSE to bestow POWER to those who have no POWER over me.

    Thus there is a matrix which has:

    POWER OVER ME (Economic/Political)

    and

    IMMEDIATE PHYSICAL THREAT


    Though the Old White Man in Montana with a "hanging Black man" on the tree in the back of his house is worthy of front page coverage on the Filled Negro blog) after he saw it on HuffPo - this man FAILS to move me.

    ONE IGNORANT WHITE MAN with no power of me can only CONSUME MY TIME as I go chasing after him. If distance precludes his threat to me - I will choose to go after the Street Pirates that are more proximate with their actual throat slashing of Black people about 15 miles from where I sit.

    Now, Low & Country when we talk about those with AUTHORITY OVER ME then indeed they must be held to a higher standard. If they can arrest me in the name of GOVERNMENT yet are motivated by racial hatred - this is fair game.

    My problem with you, Filled Negro, Mellaneous and others is that while the Street Pirate has NO OFFICIAL AUTHORITY, their quantity of "deaths by one thousand cuts" don't seem to allow them to EVER be seen as an EQUAL THREAT to that of the White man in Montana spoken of before.

    This is the issue of Inferiority that YOU need to be dealing with Low & Country. There are gangs in Durham and Columbia SC that are terrorizing the community just as the Red Shirts used to do.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Anonymous11:15 AM

    It's a HBCU school sucking him out of his cabbage. No wonder the guy is complaining. If he was making his contribution to Yale...

    _____________________________________________

    You black racist on this board should be glad white people are helping you financially sustain your backward collages.

    ReplyDelete
  58. IProfess11:30 AM

    Field: I was ABOUT to complain that his daughter -- IF she's phenotypically white -- was one of those white students getting over via "affirmative action" money for being minorities on campus. I'm a professor; I've visited at HBCUs for years; I've seen how such white students roll: getting free money, bringing superior attitudes, and scramming with the degree.

    Now: I've also visited at Howard and what happens there isn't QUITE what happens elsewhere: white students may stumble into classes with "struggling" Black students; however, those whites are more likely to have their asses handed to 'em by BRILLIANT Blacks who CHOOSE Howard, despite other choices, including Ivy. (Full Disclosure: I was one of those; my parents -- who didn't attend college and were a bit clueless to the process -- would've KILLED me, had they know how much free Ivy money I ignored to go to my beloved H.U.!) Last year, I taught a Howard class that was overwhelmingly Black, but also contained several South Asian/Indian students and a few whites. Those groups were quite good and tried to hang with the Black students. They rarely could, at least in their classroom participation and analysis (they did better while writing their finals; STILL). In fact, some saw just how out-brained they were. Not all of the Black students were super-bright; however, many were, as they (unlike Blacks I've encountered at other schools) were HAPPY and PROUD to identify as, live as, and learn as Black Americans.

    Back to your tennis partner. Don't assume his daughter is white, first of all. She may be his daughter, but may also be phenotypically Black, either via the popping up of "hidden" (but not unexpected; NSangoma has it right re: some Italians) genes, her Mom may be Black, she may be a "step" and he's a "Blended Family Dad," she may be adopted, etc., etc., etc. But, I'm STILL not mad at him, as he's PAYING for his daughter, vs. stealing -- sorry, I know why affirmative action was created and it wasn't for whites -- money from those for whom it was intended. Also: don't forget, Field, that YOU are Black and such a comment innocently dropped into your conversation could've been done to let you know he's "down" and/or desires more race-infused communications with you. All in all? I appreciate someone living and walking the talk. Kudos for his risk-taking in the conversation and for your not taking what may've been bait to begin an offensive exchange (as he could one of THOSE who uses an "in" to verbalize a parade of horribles); make him come on out further, if he wants to SHARE and take your passing interaction to the next level!

    ReplyDelete
  59. Anonymous12:51 PM

    And I've met a few that didn't. But they are in the minority, the rest just wanna be real white folks, LOL!!!!


    It's no different than blacks who want to deny their white heritage because it was the usually the end product of rape. That's very similar to Moors who raped their way across parts of Italy.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Trapped in SC12:59 PM

    Obama's got the votes. Stupak and his bunch are voting yes.

    Health care is going to pass.

    I see wingnuts all over America exploding.

    ReplyDelete
  61. IProfess, thanks for the 411 from Bison country. I have been to a couple of symposiums at HU, and I must concur that the kids there are pretty sharp.

    Now now TSC, don't go pissing off the wingnuts just yet. It aint over till the fat lady sings.

    "You black racist on this board should be glad white people are helping you financially sustain your backward collages."

    If by "collage" you meant that black and white kids are getting together to produce some fine art work, fine, I am with you.

    If not....well,you might want to consider joining that group. Just a thought. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  62. "Though the Old White Man in Montana with a "hanging Black man" on the tree in the back of his house is worthy of front page coverage on the Filled Negro blog) after he saw it on HuffPo - this man FAILS to move me."

    CF,is that a true story I blogged about? Or did you just make it up to make your point?

    ReplyDelete
  63. Anonymous2:41 PM

    Jeez Field, talk about bein behind the Curve..You seen that rookie for the Bulls??? Michael sumthin.
    Seriously, White Boys be been goin to N-Word Schools for decades...Its one way to get in Med/Law school with average intelligence, OK, Med School, I mean even Joe Biden got into Law School...
    Its that whole Big Fish/Small Pond thing. In fact I almost went to Morehouse till I showed up for my Med School Interview wearin Confederate Gray...
    Didn't matter that I had the Malcolm X tie and glasses...

    Frank

    ReplyDelete
  64. Anonymous3:04 PM

    The person yelling racial insults at Rep. Lewis was a leftist plant. This is standard operating procedure. Many people are all too willing to fall for these Alinskyite tactics. Please follow up on this.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Anonymous3:27 PM

    Since the actions of ONE black person is representative of all blacks in the mind of those who spat on Congressman Lewis, I am going to PURPOSELY view the action of the teabagger who spat on Lewis as representative of the Tea Party movement.

    ReplyDelete
  66. anon3:04,
    You mean to tell me that not one of the tea baggers could shut these people down. Such an undisciplined protest group. You don't let outsiders come in and distort your message.

    Maybe instead of faux outrage, the Tea Party leaders could study John Lewis' organization skills.
    But I guess any misstep for them would never be a life and death moment.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Field, man, let that girl get her HBCU on! lol

    I just hope shes having a good time there. When I was in grad school, there were a few white students, and most of the Black students didnt treat them too well. I was one of the only people to befriend them.

    What can I say, Ive gone to prep school. I know what it feels like to be the only member of an ethnic group in the room.

    L

    ReplyDelete
  68. [quote]Maybe instead of faux outrage, the Tea Party leaders could study John Lewis' organization skills.[/quote]

    Hathor:

    As a resident of Metro-Atlanta I would be more impressed if John Lewis would do something to remove the stain from his district as having the "Most DEADLY Block In Atlanta".

    Sadly it stands at the corner of "Rev Jospeh E Lowery Blvd and Rev Joseph E Boone Rd". The renaming of these streets drew to a close the campaign in which the Atlanta Political Establishment teamed with the Civil Rights Machine to remove all streets named after Confederate Generals and replace them with Civil Rights heroes.

    Joseph Lower said a few years ago: "How do you expect people to have pride in their community and do their part to make it safe when they look up on the pole and see the name of their FORMER OPPRESSORS on the street sign?"

    Hator despite all of the ribbon cutting ceremonies - where none of these Black Establishment leaders were called the "N-word" or beaten as they were in Selma - the violent crime rates on these streets honoring these heroes who died so that we would live as were are today it is the Street Pirates who DON'T GIVE A DAMN about this history because many of them were not taught to read in the schools that the establishment has taken over.

    If anything that John Lewis needs to do it is RETIRE from the Congress, allowing new blood to take over. Then he will be free to do a daily bus trip from ATL to Selma so that he can tell the masses to NEVER FORGET the beating that Black people received 45 years ago on the Edmon Pettus bridge.

    Sadly the street pirates living in his district don't wait for people to walk across the bridge before beating them. They are a mobile set - going anywhere the opportunity to assault exposes itself.

    Hathor I get the feeling that a White Man calling you the N word is worse than any physical assault that a Street Pirate could ever do to you. After all your physical wound will heal. The mental issues take much longer.

    ReplyDelete
  69. [quote]The Irish came to this country to escape the potato famine. They immediately began illegal rum running and made their fortunes in crime. And everything was dandy, as a matter of fact somehow they became heros and politicians[/quote]

    CactusRose - please don't be the "Snarling Fox White Liberal" that Malcolm X taught us to watch out for. (Filled Negro still likes your smile).

    This type of history lesson is not going to do ONE DAMNED THING for the Negro of today.

    The worst thing that can happen to him - PER HIS PRESENT CONSCIOUSNESS - is to be LEFT ALONE inside of this nation - the law fully protecting him from the physical assault of a White man and the departing Republicans handing him the KEYS TO CITY HALL.

    Ted Kennedy was an Irishman. Despite being the biggest threat to BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS and SELF-SUFFICIENCY elected in the past 50 years - those who practice "The Least Of These" policies saw his efforts to keep the Negro molified from street riots by feeding them government programs as the GREATERST THING for Black folks.

    From my perspective, CactusRose - Ted Kennedy did more to knock the Black man unconscious than any Irish police man in Boston or New York with a knight stick has ever done. The cop can only beat down one Negro at a time.

    ReplyDelete
  70. [quote]CF,is that a true story I blogged about? Or did you just make it up to make your point?[/quote]

    Filled Negro;

    DOES IT MATTER?

    1) If he is real or imaginary - he lives in MONTANA you and 99.99% of Black Americans will never see him

    2) You will never see the DA in Jena LA yet that didn't stop several bus loads of Black folks who were seeking to do their own "60's era Civil rights march" to exit their communities and defend males who 95% of them would never allow their own daughters to marry

    3) These same people look past the real world threats that are documented in their own communities because they can't leverage the 'UNIFYING' force that scapegoating otherwise offers to them.

    WHY DOES IT MATTER Filled Negro?

    ReplyDelete
  71. Trapped in SC5:30 PM

    If anything that John Lewis needs to do it is RETIRE from the Congress, allowing new blood to take over. Then he will be free to do a daily bus trip from ATL to Selma so that he can tell the masses to NEVER FORGET the beating that Black people received 45 years ago on the Edmon Pettus bridge.

    Hey Rhodes Scholar, It's the Edmund, not Edmon.

    Just give up man.

    I guess you're back here because Stormfront turned down your application to be an adjunct online commentator of conservative ethics and builshittery.

    Wonder why.

    Try this one on for size buddy.(careful, you may learn something about yourself):
    ___________________________________

    Four researchers who culled through 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism report that at the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:

    Fear and aggression
    Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
    Uncertainty avoidance
    Need for cognitive closure
    Terror management

    The avoidance of uncertainty, for example, as well as the striving for certainty, are particularly tied to one key dimension of conservative thought - the resistance to change or hanging onto the status quo, they said.

    The terror management feature of conservatism can be seen in post-Sept. 11 America, where many people appear to shun and even punish outsiders and those who threaten the status of cherished world views, they wrote.

    Concerns with fear and threat, likewise, can be linked to a second key dimension of conservatism - an endorsement of inequality, a view reflected in the Indian caste system, South African apartheid and the conservative, segregationist politics of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.). (figures)

    Hitler, Mussolini, and former President Ronald Reagan were individuals, but all were right-wing conservatives because they preached a return to an idealized past and condoned inequality in some form. Talk host Rush Limbaugh can be described the same way, the authors commented in a published reply to the article.

    While most people resist change, Glaser said, liberals appear to have a higher tolerance for change than conservatives do.

    As for conservatives' penchant for accepting inequality, he said, one contemporary example is liberals' general endorsement of extending rights and liberties to disadvantaged minorities such as gays and lesbians, compared to conservatives' opposing position.

    This intolerance of ambiguity can lead people to cling to the familiar, to arrive at premature conclusions, and to impose simplistic cliches and stereotypes, the researchers advised.
    ___________________________________

    Do you see that bald spot in the mirror, Constructive Feedback?

    That was where your ethics used to grow.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Anonymous5:49 PM

    "HBCU had been accepting non-black students for years. The schools cannot discriminate and like all colleges and universities HBCU need the money wherever the source."

    It's true. And they are upping the ante in terms of academic achievements and brains. Just a few years ago a white student was valadictorian at Morehouse.

    Some Blacks on the order of TSC and Mack Lyons are worried that it might not be long before it will be the "norm" for Whites to be valadictorian at most HBCU's.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Anonymous5:55 PM

    @TSC, have you heard the latest on the healthcare bill?

    Will you explode if the bill doesn't pass? just asking. Oh wait, you have been childishly exploding like a high-chair two-year old all of your life. lol.. you are a funny country 'negro'.

    But hey, it takes all kinds to make a world, right? LOL Watch where you go in SC cause you don't want to end up in stormfront territory-which is most of the state. Don't want anything to happen to your colorful lying black ass. ha ha ha

    urbrother

    ReplyDelete
  74. [quote]the core of political conservatism is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality, and that some of the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:[/quote]

    Low & Country:

    If only these same researchers were to show the results of the BRILLIANT IDEAS, when implemented in the region called the "Rust Belt" they would have you looking in the mirror and hating the image that you see.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Anonymous7:15 PM

    HATHOR: " You don't let outsiders come in and distort your message."

    It was a public protest.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Anonymous8:17 PM

    Field, how do you know that he is Italian and not Black?

    ReplyDelete
  77. Anonymous8:22 PM

    Frank, "Its that whole Big Fish/Small Pond thing. In fact I almost went to Morehouse till I showed up for my Med School Interview wearin Confederate Gray...
    Didn't matter that I had the Malcolm X tie and glasses..."

    Frank, I don't care what some Blacks might think, sometimes you are funny.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Anonymous11:32 AM

    Years ago I had a friend who went to an HBCU in Atlanta for his law degree. He had cut his dreds by then; I had found the long blond locks a bit odd looking. As a minority, he got a break on the tuition, and though I've lost touch, I heard he's doing well. I talked with a friend then who taught at Spelman and she told me to c'mon on, it was the same there. Instead, here I am in NOLA, but I keep looking at Xavier and Dillard. Now, I'm not only white, I'm old! What kind of deals could I get returning to school?

    naomi

    ReplyDelete
  79. Just stopped by to say I feel your tennis buddy's pain, but at least for me, as of December 2009, the pain is over. Both my kids went to state schools, in Texas and Nevada respectively (we live in California.) Because I used my American Express card to pay tuition and buy books, I earned over 105,000 membership rewards points, and sisterbrown and I will be cruising this fall.

    So my payoff is a cruise, an empty nest, two kids with college degrees, and the ability to smugly tell other people it's possible to rear black children in the hip hop era and have them both earn BA/BSs before making us grandparents. But our cars are 10 years old.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Anonymous2:20 AM

    lemme deconstruct the post slavery economic reconstruction of this one...

    let's suppose the whole purpose of attending H. in DC amongst us colored folks is that:

    a] girls grades would rank her C average amongst her own peers;

    b] at C average, she would certainly be "better" poised amongst even Africans/blacks with B+ to A averages at such a University

    c] her prospects of becoming magna cum laude at H amongst the "colours" would be a shoe in

    and d] its got to be cheaper given its historical demographics, right?

    Thoughts from the back side of her daddy left hemisphere on espresso.

    i post this insight given the recent problems African immigrants have been experiencing in Naples and Lampedusa island when they arrive from across the way from the continent.

    ReplyDelete