OUR MANIFESTO
Let’s talk about race. Allaboutrace.com is the place on the web to talk about race in America. And by talk I mean share, discuss, argue, learn, teach, laugh and understand. This is a place for personal stories about how the vagaries of racial conflict affect each of us. Too often, race is the unaddressed “elephant in the room,” even at a time when our “melting pot” is spilling all over the stove.
I’ve always enjoyed talking about race even if getting the conversation started was uncomfortable. We comfortably talk about sexuality, gender issues, and money, but just mention a story in the paper with a racial component, particularly in a mixed race crowd, and everybody clinches. Many times I’ve avoided racial topics because I was afraid to discover that someone I like has racial views completely incompatible with mine. It hasn’t happened often, but it has. Like the time I found out one of my good friends at the time was “passing” because she thought it would help her career. Or the couple of times I chose to explain to a white friend why they could not use the “n-word” and had to strike it from their vocabulary. Look for posts about these encounters in the future.
As the creator and editor of this site, what I bring to the table is an amalgam of life experiences that although not completely atypical, are outside the lock step expectations one might have of a strong, black female, “boot strapper” like me. I’ve lived in projects and affluent neighborhoods. I’ve experienced poverty and abundance. I was fiercely bullied in early grade school, but thrived at Yale (the first person in my family to attend college). And I had life changing experiences traveling all around this country as a producer for ABC News. And throughout all of it, my foundation has been the world view and intellectual curiousity my mother and grandmother provided while I was growing up. Wherever we lived, we always had apartments filled with books, magazines and constant, candid discussions about issues of the day and their historical context.
As far as labels, I am an Independent with moderate political views. I am also a social liberal with strong opinions, always open to a good argument. I am deeply patriotic and passionate to create a place where we can come to grips with and talk through the hard stuff about race. Because race in America still influences how we see each other and limits how we empathize with each other and what we will do for one another.
America faces a tougher future. As I see it, we need EVERYONE in America who supports self-determination and the pursuit of happiness for all, pushing to make sure everyone has access to that dream. From my experience, many gang leaders for example, be they black, white or Latino, have similar and formidable skill sets. As a patriot I think what if those skills had been nurtured in the classroom and then applied to study, then to legitimate entrepreneurial pursuits or even national security efforts? We cannot afford to write off kids in Appalachia or South Central. We will need them all thinking and productive to help ensure our future.
as an italian american male i want to declare that for the past century, both i and my family have been systematically descriminated against. doesn’t this mean i should get have a national pity party? dont believe me?
April 13th, 2007 at 6:44 am -my grandfather worked in new york cities iron smelters to earn the money for college. the only school that would accept an italian was villanova (catholic school) he had to go back to italy to go to medical school because no U.S. school would accept an italian. my grandfathers side of the family had a semi olive complexion and dark black hair. on trips to the south, they routinely had to ride on the back of the bus because they were mistaken for black.
my mother told me that in the wall street office where she met my father, the manager asked everyone if they minded him hiring an italian i.e. my dad. after graduation from college, i was flatly turned down in my first four job interviews. three of them were braizen enough to tell me “sorry, we are only hiring on E.O.E. and would love to hire you if you were a black or hispanic woman”. two said
“i’m sure your dad can get you a job at the grocery store” an assumption that all italians
that aren’t in the mob work as grocers or bakers.
i eventually became a professional musician. my family attended the first gig i had with a national act that was close to home. it was at a prestigerous jazz club with a predominantly black clientele. the band leader,who was an african american, complemented me on stage by saying to the audiece “look at casper go, yessir he dont sound white does he?” my family, who were very obviously there to see “casper”, were they upset? offended? enraged? of course not. some of us realize that freedom of speech and freedom of thought require a thick skin and a certain amount of common sense when determining what fights are justified. pushing back just to push back will create alot more ill will than its worth. words without malice are just words. it is our differences under a common flag that makes us american. my family has dealt with this fact for a century now. can yours?
Andrew, as always your post is enlightening. I am going to email you directly. I would like you to be a contributor on this site.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:57 am -[...] First Time Readers [...]
November 21st, 2007 at 8:28 am -Carmen - full disclosure for me: A white conservative evangelical Christian Republican. However, I grew up in a DC suburb that went from mostly white to mostly black to (now) all black over the course of the late 60’s - 70’s - 80’s. My final high school class was about 80% black, 20% white and other (latino / asian / etc). All this means is that I grew up with black people on my block, in my school, as my friends and co-workers all my life. While I won’t pretend I’ve never had racist thoughts, views or expressions, my personal opinion now after many many years is that it’s really all about class, not race. I grew up fairly poor in a lower class neighborhood, where white and black folks together were trying to earn their way into middle class respectability. Have I met lots of racist whites? Oh yeah. Do they make me sick just to hear their uninformed opinions? Oh yeah. But the same can be said of some of my black friends too. So let’s talk about race (or class) because we all DO have a lot to talk about. Thank you, Carmen for hosting such a site. May God continue to bless your efforts.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:07 pm -[...] OUR MANIFESTO [...]
March 27th, 2008 at 8:50 am -[...] OUR MANIFESTO [...]
March 31st, 2008 at 8:19 am -thinking and boxing yourself in as a racial group means you are defined and will define racially. every race does this and every race suffers from color affiliation—the domination just depends on the country. free yourself by freeing your thought and becoming colorblind. evil and greed is colorblind and it kills anything (yes including whites who hate the machine in america). let your love be colorblind to counter it. Christ bless
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:09 pm -The trouble about the ‘dialog’ about race is it usually goes something like this:
White: I think that race-based quotas have to eventually end.
Black: You’re a racist.
White: OJ was obviouly guilty given the DNA evidence.
Black: You’re a racist.
White: The DC school system has had a black superintendant for years, and a majority of its school principles are black; further, it has a very high percentage of black teachers and spends upwards of $15,000 per pupil per year. Yet it is among the worst performing districts in the country. Something has to change.
Black: It because of racism, and, btw, you’re a racist.
White: I think what Bill Cosby says about blacks and education makes a lot of sense.
Black: He’s an Uncle Tom Oreo and you’re a racist.
White: Given the dirty tricks Obama pulled to get his State Senate seat and win the US Senate seat, and given his woeful lack of any relavent experience, if he were white, we’d all be laughing at the idea of him being president.
Black: You’re a racist, Nazi, Hitler.
Black: Let’s have a dialog about race.
May 30th, 2008 at 3:11 pm -White: Gee, I’m kinda busy right now; I’ll get back to you next week.
Greetings pteranodon, welcome to the conversation. You know what? We feel EXACTLY the same way…except in reverse. Often when I try to engage in a fully dimensional dialog about race some white person shows up vomiting tired generalizations, non-specific examples or lamely imagined fantasy exchanges.
Clearly, we are both frustrated with that status quo.
So instead,what constructive suggestions do you offer? I would like to hear them and this is a place to share them. And as for me, you’ll find many of my ideas sprinkled throughout these pages.
May 30th, 2008 at 7:09 pm -Well, I don’t want to waste your time with my tired generalizations, non-specific examples, and lame fantasies. And I surely do not want to vomit on you.
Do you really wonder why whites avoid talking about race with blacks after a comment like that?
May 30th, 2008 at 7:46 pm -And yours was any less insulting, pteranodon?
Fearless conversation happens on both sides of the keyboard here.
Still you are welcome here. And I’ll ask you again,what constructive suggestions do you offer? I would like to hear them. You are invited to participate in the discussion we are having on this site and have been having for more than a year now.
May 30th, 2008 at 8:11 pm -My post was constructive; it layed out in a brief form the kind of ‘dialog’ whites hear over and over. You make a logical argument based in documentable facts. You get back that you are a racist or what you are saying is hate speech. The purpose of this name calling is to close off any debate.
Contrast that to the examples you gave. Did the boorish whites you speak of move to keep you from speaking? Did they call you an offensive name or suggest that you are inherently mean spirited? Probably not. You considered them ignorant or maybe insulting. Regarless of ignorance, insensitivity, or irrational thought, dialog means that you consider what they say and respect that they have a right to their opinions.
Finally, when I hear blacks say we need to have a dialog on race, I know that I am going to get a lecture on how all my opinions are wrong, that white people are the cause immense oppression, and that nothing will change until whites admit all these crimes and write reparation checks. Don’t think so? Go see Ms. Secours essays. From the little I have read here, I get the feeling that yor attitudes are no differenct than hers.
As a white person who was quite optimistic about race relations when the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, I have to say that I have not just become disillustioned, but apathetic. When I am told that the only way for there ever to be equality in the US is for white grade school children to be indoctrinated into a state of self-hatred, I draw the line.
Good luck with your website.
June 1st, 2008 at 12:10 am -I accept that the intent of your comment was to be constructive, pteranodon. Thank you for reading.
June 1st, 2008 at 12:24 am -Interesting site Carmen. I agree that America needs to have an honest dialog on race. We are shaped in this country by the history of race relations, past and present. To assume that the conversation will be easy is unrealistic, to assume that everyone will agree, also unrealistic. In my work life (social work field)I was part of an executive committee. When discussions of diversity training would arise, my question was, “will the staff be uncomfortable” and I would be assured that this was a {good training} and we would not be made to feel uncomfortable….my response,”then it will not be of any value. I felt that if you are going to provide training on a subject this sensitive, it needs to presented from truth and with a facilator prepared to handle whatever came up. To have this discussion people are going to be uncomfortable. When you talk about something that is so weighted down in pain, anger and fear you get a topic that people tiptoe around. In the U.S., race has always been the elephant in the room wearing lip stick and a lamp shade.
I find pteranodon statement irratating. (”When I am told that the only way for there ever to be equality in the US is for white grade school children to be indoctrinated into a state of self-hatred, I draw the line.”) Don’t draw the line there, demand that NO CHILD in the U.S. should be indoctrinated into a state of self-hatred, DRAW THE LINE THERE. Draw the line that states, NO ONE should be demoralize, deminished, marginalized etc….based on something as trival as the color of their skin. I find it to be true arrogance when folks who have limited personal experience define my life experience as a Black person and become offended if I am angry or hurt. Harriet Tubman said “aint I a woman” ….well “ain’t I a human being” with the right to express my feeling. If my Dad were alive he would say yes to pternodon, “white folks are the reason for my oppression.” Contractor, electrician, painter with no license because he was Black and unable to join the Unions. There are many stories like this in many Black families. Stories that don’t always reference how wonderful it was to be Black in America. I have my own, I am a child of the 50’s. Do you know what it’s like to travel cross country to California with your Black grandmother? Do I think the state of race relations in this country rest soley on the shoulders of White America, no! Do I think that White America has to be accountable, yes! Does this mean reparation, hell no, taxes would eat that up. However, just as there is drive to never forget the horrors of the holocaust, we should never forget the horrors of slavery. When we right the history books could it be more inclusive of all the Americans that built this country, not just the special few that are mentioned to appease the black folk. When we create new communities can they be inclusive vs. exclusive. When we enforce the laws of the land can we work from the same book,chapter,page, and not use the special subchapters that are based on gender, race, social-economic status. When equality is part of the discussion can it be equality for all. Let’s have a dialog..
Carmen thank you for allowing me to rant……
June 9th, 2008 at 11:43 am -Excuse typos and grammer errors.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:46 am -BrownBaby, thank you for your thoughtful post. We have a lot of work to do and voices like yours are essential if bridges are to be built.
June 9th, 2008 at 6:22 pm -Brown-Baby, what you really mean is that diversity training isn’t any good unless white people are made to be uncomfortable. Making black people (or any other ethnic group) uncomfortable is an actionable offense these days. So, the ‘dialog’ only goes one way. The same is true in this website where black commentators are allowed to use disparaging remarks and name-calling on white commentators, but not the reverse. Race ‘dialog’ in this country is really a race monologue with whites now just smilin’ and noddin’ ’til the conversation (diatribe) ends.
Kind of like blacks used to do in the Jim Crow days.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:34 am -White, black, brown and gold people sometimes call names on this site. Read the threads, get your facts straight. Why do you feel the need to continue playing the “v-i-c-t-i-m” - a role you claim to abhor? If you are sure this arena is so biased, what is your goal in participating here?
June 11th, 2008 at 7:25 am -Let’s not play games pteranodon, I am very clear on what I mean when I speak. Diversity addresses more than just the issues of race. Gender, age, disabiities, GLBT, religion, to name a few. Should {all} people in the room be uncomfortable, hell yes!!! These are subjects that impact how we stand in the world. We must learn how to have dialogues about diversity,equality and multiculturalism. How do we grow from simple tolerance of one another to embracing and celebrating our differances. How do we grow into the potential of a truly global world with out these dialogues. We don’t. I prefer uncomfortable vs. fearful. Fear has given us many wars, the Holocaust, slavery, hate crimes and other atrocities. So if you want to sit in the room simply “noddin your head and smilin”, instead of having a voice, your choice. You see, I think you walk in a very fearful place, which makes you dangerous. You see the battles that are fought for equality, equity, tolerance, and freedoms take place first in our heads and among our personal views and our private attitudes and thoughts. Peranodon, I know where I stand in the world. Where do you stand??
June 16th, 2008 at 5:31 pm -Many apologies for not reponding sooner, but, as it turns out, I live in Iowa and have been spending my spare time filling sandbags.
First, my point is always that there is no ability for whites to engage in dialog about race with non-whites, because as soon as a white person expresses an opinion that is not to the listener’s liking, someone will move to shut the white person up. Dialog only goes one way. If any non-white is insulted, offended, made uncomfortable, or just plan disagrees with what the white person says, the non-white has many avenues to end debate without addressing the issues.
Brown Baby; suppose a white person in one of your diversity meetings expressed the opinion that he felt that affirmative action was counter productive because it encouraged blacks to shirk the real hard work needed to get ahead–in school, in college, and in the workplace–leaving them unprepared to lead as managers. Would you discuss this very uncomfortable idea in a civilized way, or would those opposed to it gang up and pile on with name-calling and threats? Would you consider discussing it? Or would you reject it out of hand?
June 18th, 2008 at 10:44 pm -pteranodon … as a fellow white guy may I ask you to ask yourself what the hell you are so damn angry about that you seek the conflict?… I have seen folks regardless of their race rise to the apex of the social and financial ladders as well as dive to the depths of the gutter… To a certain extent I share your views on the verbal double standard BUT… I also understand the hows and whys of history that have made it so… trust me, chastising an audience of upwardly mobile, successful black folks isn’t gonna score any points, nor will it make white folks look unquestionably erudite… there are some things that we are not going to see eye to eye on… resign yourself to that and in the words of the illustrious marion barry, “get over it!”. if any of you saw the
June 19th, 2008 at 2:54 am -way Carmen and I go back and forth off site… you would think the hatfields and mccoys were best buddies… we just agree to disagree and try not to offend one another…
and thats how the bridges are gonna be built…
and by the way.. kudos on the dignity with which your community has been handling a tragedy … you make me proud to be an American.. I wish you luck and dry weather!
We’ve been through this before, in 1993. Didn’t expect it again so soon, but, that’s weather in the midwest. In both cases, Iowa had disaster plans in place long before the disaster happened, so shelters were already identified, stocked, and provisioned before it happened. Our cities also have their Civil Defence organizations prepped and ready. The mayors of the towns are perhaps the unsung heros. These men and women are for the most part ordinary Joes (Joettes?) who at some point wanted to ensure good government in their home towns. They aren’t rock stars or media darlings but they aren’t about to embarrass themselves and their towns by standing on a soap box yelling “Where’s FEMA? Where’s Bush?”. They accept that God helps those who help themselves and so they roll up their sleaves and lead by example. Our governors (Republican Terry Branstad in 93 and Democrat Chet Culver in 08) accepted that, while no one can control the weather, how we respond to it is up to us–us here in Iowa. If there’s a basement to clean out, we’re going to have to do it, it’s our basement. It isn’t the job of Federal bureaucrats or out-of-state volunuteers to do it for us. FEMA’s best job is to get grants and loans into the hands of the affected, but it is our job to take care of our community. Too bad not every state is like Iowa.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:34 pm -Reparations will enable us to have in depth discussions on race. You are right, Carmen D, we need to have these discussions if we are to ever see “A More Perfect Union.” And, it is our duty as Americans to continue the process started by the Founders of our Country…to buld upon this ideal that is a Republican Democratic form of government.
Come and Get Your Reparations!
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:15 pm -Pternadon it was expected in my family of orgin that hard work, and education, would get you through the door, but you had to be thrice as good to make it to the top. This was modeled and expected of us. My sisters and I were never taught that goverment would take care of us.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:16 pm -We were taught to be responsible for ourselves. Affirmative action was not something our parents presented us with as the magic carpet to an easy life.
Pternadon I have been in the minority my entire work life. I don’t think you grasp the concept of having “a voice”. It does not have to be laced with name calling, threats or carry a less then subtle slur against a group of people.
The “agency” sponsored diversity meeting were directed to a staff of just under 140 people with about 30 of those being Black. At the management level I was one of 2 Black Americans. At the State level, I was one of 2 Blacks in the Boardroom at the Governor’s Council, I was one of 5. If affirmative action came up in the manner that you presented it, most assuredly, there would have been a “civilized” conversation.
Pternadon, you remind me of a child that has been told the stove is hot, don’t touch and does it anyway and gets burned.
fcg#p I appreciate your statement ” to agree to disagree and not offend one another”.
Baby Brown, you’re gonna have to connect the dots for me. Are you accusing me of threatening someone? Is your “hot stove” comment just a another way of telling me to shut up? I guess your slurs are too subtle for me.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:09 am -