Should We All Have Racial Amnesia? The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Swirl

When I think of the history of people, how they treated each other and then how I have hurt God, I must forgive ignorance, I must forgive prejudice, because I have made faulty chooses to. We must separate the person from the action, the action is bad and worst because it became a norm. It was a norm in medieval Europe, it was a norm in North Africa, it was a norm in Rwanda, it was a norm in the Western World. All people did it of all back ground to each other. We just have treat each other better as how we would like to be treated.

SO I FORGIVE!

I want "white" people to just hate their ancestor actions that is all, they do not have to apologize because if we are both God fearing people we would understand it is how you treat the person you are around that matters, better than yourself.

Forgetting is not a good idea at all. Jews always remember the holocaust - in fact they have a day in their calendar for mourning ALL the tragedies that have befallen Jewish people throughout history.

Somehow despite remembering the tragedy they have moved on. I think that is the balance everyone should have.

I am 20 years and I used to believe that color is not as much of an issue because I grew up in a VERY diverse environment . But since starting college at a predominantly white institution with other students from much less diverse environments, I have realized that not every would like to believe that they are the same as me despite my color. I am not saying it is everyone cause I have a few Caucasian who never seemed to care but I have encountered some who openly share their dislike for my "race" . It all depends on environment and parents and grandparents still have their versions of history that will pass on. Understanding the impacts of racism not just black/white related ensures that we all will still have an understanding of how strong and harmful it is

Tricky....the great forget strategy is a terrible idea. That's how history repeats itself and you get lost generations ( a la Australia & the whole rabbit proof fence thing) one of the great mantras of WWI, the great war, was "Lest We Forget" and the WWII happened and then.....I don't know anymore. But when white college kids dress like LiL' Wayne for Halloween and can't figure out why their black body make up is offensive something has been missed.

I hate to quote Katt Williams, but "we (blacks) aren't mad that people whom looked like you, did bad things to people who looked like us". We shouldn't take the pain with us, ut we should remember. Remembrance is how we keep the past right where it is. The problem of course is that it's not entirely in the past. With neo-nazi groups running around, ignorance of IR relationships and politcians talking about "blah" people on welfare a lot of this stuff is still very much in the present and it won't take much to slide backwards.

Perhaps the better idea is to remember history (on the basis, however distasteful, that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it), but shear away from it the emotional & rhetorical hatreds that now go with it - to make the history something to be studied and examined - not screamed, shouted, resented and made into a victim.

I've never really consciously thought about this, but I do adhere to the idea that both of my parent immigrated to America, and therefore were not directed affected by American slavery and racism. That is the thought that I get when I encounter people who say that have read this book or seen this program that explains the dynamic of racial relations in America that has lead them to develop a prejudice against white people. And especially women who use that as an excuse to not date white men. Granted, most black countries do have at least some kind of Colonial influence and probably smaller stints of slavery. But at least for me, I know my most recent family was not particularly affected by it. My mother always tells me how my grandfather refused to immigrate to America specifically because of racism and segregation and he was a powerful businessman in his own country, raising his four children with his wife in an upper middle class area. My father tells me about my grandmother who was an obstetrician and midwife and had her own women's clinic and was a very powerful and influential woman in her country. So when people look at me and say - what would your family have to say about you being attracted to someone who's ancestors enslaved your ancestors - I have to say not a damn thing because my family were movers and shakers and captains of industry. I do feel that connection because as a born American, that history is my history. But I also know my personal history that says my parent did not set foot on American soil until the 1980's so they definitely had nothing to do with any racial relations in this country. They did not march on Washington and they never ate at a segregated diner. Because I think like this, I find it easier to accept that not every white person I pass is the decedent of a slave owner. To this day I find it very interesting that most of the black people I know are not even black American, they are Caribbean, West Indian or African and are at least the 2nd generation American. The amount of actual, descendant from slaves African American that I know are very few and far between. And the same goes for most of the white people I know. Their families immigrated from Russia, Poland, Germany, Ireland, what have you. So for me at least, the bottom line is, America is not as black and white as we think it is.

"The most successful populations in America at Black/White interaction are adolescents and young adults. Our current black and white youth are connecting, befriending and romancing each other across the color line. But theirs has not been a story of overcoming differences and dealing with shared history. In fact, our youngest people usually aggressively deny that there are any differences, or any history to be interested in. It is axiomatic in their ideology that “we are all the same under the skin”. This “End of History” narrative offends my personal dream."<br><br>Well, as I've said a million times here, I'm 19. I'd agree, the lack of racism among my own age group is refreshing. I wouldn't necessarily say it's amnesia so much as a limited knowledge of the subject and plain old apathy, in most cases. People my age, for the most part, just don't care about race all that much until it's forced to become the subject by situations and small-minded (usually older) people. <br><br>In some cases, that sort of "amnesia" can hinder more than it helps, though. I'm in Texas, y'all-- my mother's white coworker was 50 years old and had no idea who Rosa Parks was until two years ago.<br><br> Another example: my boyfriend's hometown is 92% white, and when the topic of race comes up it's obvious he hasn't had much experience in debating it...he wasn't even aware of the negative history that "going natural" had. He didn't even know what "natural hair" was! Ignoring the differences is good to a point. But connecting AND talking about those differences, I think, helps the most. It's the most well-rounded approach.

Black people should take pride in how our people have survived and thrived despite the obstacles they faced (slavery, colonialisation, Jim Crow, apartheid, etc.). Take the good as a source of inspiration. And acknowledge the bad without wallowing in it.

And most of all, move forward and in a positive direction.

"The most successful populations in America at Black/White interaction are adolescents and young adults. Our current black and white youth are connecting, befriending and romancing each other across the color line." This is very good to hear as there is no reason to hold anyone currently alive responsible for what their ancestors did.

For me, Black history came about in snippets. Since my dad was in the Army, he and my mom decided we didn't need to know the dark history of slavery, of oppression, lynching and everything else that caused racial upheaval because we were living in a military community that thrived on working together despite racial differences. In fact, they hammered any sign of racism because it interfered with good order and discipline. My mom had the television on and since I was a child of the 60s, there was always something going on. When MLK did his "I Have a Dream" speech, I was four years old. My mom explained it simply to me and my three year old sister. When MLK was assassinated, I was going to a segregated school in Compton, CA. Needless to say, the bus trip home was harrowing; Molotov cocktails had started fires in riots, remnants of tear gas floated in the air. What was normally a 30 minute bus trip home to Gardena turned into three hours. My mom and dad were freaked out. My dad accepted orders to Germany and we were out of the US within 30 days. It wasn't until the book "Roots" came out that I was really aware of what happened. I was going to high school in Germany and everyone was reading it and talking about it; when I say everyone, I mean WP, BP, AP... every student had a copy of the book. It got a little out of hand when my White friends would come up to me and say, "God, I'm sorry!" I would reply, "Why? You didn't do anything." That's how I truly believed. How could I hold a grudge over something I never endured? Seeing it portrayed on the big screen was visceral but my hate was for the White people then. The WP I knew seemed to be embarrassed by it and sorry for it. What history should do is not continue the hate but inform so that it doesn't happen again. Unfortunately, we know that's not how it works because human nature is a b**ch mother and doomed to repeat itself. I read somewhere that the Western world sees time as linear while the rest of the world sees it as circular. I see it as a combination of the two, like a roller coaster. The straightaways are calm, moving forward but the loops are scary, making one's adrenaline rush. As humans, we seem to move forward only to get caught in a loop, doomed to repeat things that have already happened because there are those who fear the moving forward.

The old comments on this one are pretty interesting. But they are also rather linear, so start from the bottom (beginning).

My latest conversation: ForumPress

seeing where we don't have wayback machines or Quantum Leap tech... I lean towards 80% nevermind & 20% keeping an eye on where we're possibly messing up in the present.

my parents raised us mostly in a nevermind framework. They wouldn't let us watch Roots because they were suspicious of the media. my dad thought it was just something to depress or anger people.

I think @Pearl said this on a thread a few days ago and I think she's right. I think young ppl know there are differences in race but they just don't care. They just don't have all the racial baggage and hang-ups some of us supposedly enlightened adults have and all I can say is, lucky them.

"...The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Swirl"

OMG best title ever!! lolz

I do think we as black people in the usa, we have a racial memory, an anxiety that is passed on down through the generations, especially in women, i think it may be easier for a black men to "let go" in a relationship with a non BW in many cases. but sisters, hmm well we know what hte past was, and it was especially horrible for us, even though we didn't live through it.

my bf is Jewish and we were talking one time about why more BW didnt seem open to IR, and i stated that it may have something to do with an uncomfortable history between BW and WM at least, in the past. He of course understood but he pointed out that as a Jewish guy of Russian heritage, his parents ancestors came to Ellis Island in the early 1900s, and had no part in that history.

Honestly that did make a difference in the way i viewed things, It's nice to know he could not be the great great great grandson of some slave owner, etc. But no matter what ethnic background theh white guy is from, if you guys care about each other, you definitely have to understand that as horrible as the past was/ is, this person you are with does not reflect and resonate that.

My husband and I joke about this all the time. I'm Black and he's Jewish (Romanian and Polish) so our son has the most effed up cultural history. There's awesome in there, too, but between the slavery on both sides, the abuse and genocide... History probably won't be his favorite subject in school.

In our home, the past happened but we weren't there so I don't get pissy over it. As for Roots, I just don't watch it. Same goes for Halocaust movies. But we both LOVE Inglorious Basterds.

I wasn't bored by the details around the proposed amendment, either. It is all new to me and something I think needs to known more widely, especially in AA circles.

Thanks.

Although I gave birth to my son when i was young, I have always strived to
raise him with a deep sense of who he is and where he (and his antecedents) come from. I think that it is very important that everyone understands not only their history, but the history of others as well. With that said, I think, while well-intentioned and well-meaning, we (people) sometimes, while conveying historical facts and information to our descendants,can also pass along sentiment and bias, inadvertently. This is why some whites are convinced that ALL blacks hate them and why my brothers/family feel that not dating exclusively black, is tatamount to genocide and reason for repudiation of yours truly.

I feel that we are all human beings, irregardless of color or history, and should
treat each other as such, not as historical figures. What I mean is, my asian
ex-boyfriend is not the former automaker president who referred to black people as
shiftless and lazy; my slightly younger, handsome, and extremely flirty italian coworker is not one of the 3 italian youths who chased Yusef Hawkins to his death; my really sweet ex-egyptian arab boyfriend was not party to raids into the Sudan to collect slaves; my gay republican friend C does not agree with most of what has been done under previous republican administrations, which is why he voted for Obama in 2008; and the white off-duty cop who helped me with my flat tire back in winter '09 is not the same cop from back in the 40's who tried to pin a crime on my father, which caused him to flee his hometown and never return. The charges were false and never stuck, but it was the south- you could be killed for anything back then. All that stuff has happened in the past, history. We are now at a point in history where walls are actually being broke down, racially. People nowadays, especially the youth, are forging new bonds and relationships and some
of the stigma leftover from Jim Crow is being chipped away, albeit slowly. Real and lasting change won't happen overnight, we all know this. It is childish to think otherwise.

I sometimes wish, naievely, that we (AA) can put down some of this baggage that we have been carrying for far too long. It slows us down and makes us dull, because all we can focus on is how much pain this baggage is causing us, and not what we could achieve if we didn't have the baggage to begin with. Me? Damnit, I was tired of carrying my steamer trunk. I inherited it and I really didn't want it. It didn't fit my style. I prefer to travel light, taking only what's necessary and leaving the rest. Yes, admittedly, there have been times when I wished that
I'd packed a few extra pieces to shield me from a few harsh realities, but in the end I was better for not having done so, because i wouild have missed the bus (opportunities that arose afterward). As for my son, I taught him to pack light and keep a flexible itinerary. As a result, he has friends in every port.

As a people, AA, women especially, need to realize that there are people who benefit from misery, or keeping the problem a problem. These people stand to lose a lot. Some even realize that they might be exposed for the frauds they really are, and it scares them, so what do they do? The old smoke and mirrors trick- black women's be's the de-bil (Yup Christelyn, I stole that from you. hahaha). I honestly believe most of them do AA women a disservice and some AA women are beginning to realize it, which is what is bringing them to your blog Christelyn (and others like/similar to it). Of course there will be those who can't or won't fight their conditioning and for them I still hold out hope they will.
Hope for change.

randomthoughtsfromcali :
“But the Southern states didn’t take the deal, because they were so sure that they would prevail in their secession bid. They were confident they didn’t need to take the offer.”
Wow…just wow. Thank you, South, for your bravado. Whew.

It's not clear the Amendment would have cleared 3/4 of the state legislatures and been adopted.

Actually, the political analysis by the Southern leadership was that if they took the deal, the West would eventually spawn enough free states (in say 30 years) that the promised safe haven would legislated or amended away. By that time, the South would be at less relative power to the developing North and West, making secession impossible. So they decided to take matters in to their own hands, figuring this was there best chance at controlling their own destiny indefinitely. I think their analysis was correct.

So, in their minds, slavery was a big factor in their decision, in addition to other things such as taxes on cotton and tariffs on imports.

BlkQueenBee said:

"As late as the beginning of 1861, both the sitting President (James Buchanan) and the incoming President (Abraham Lincoln) endorsed the Corwin Amendment, which would have prohibited the abolition of slavery in perpetuity in the states where it was already permitted. In fact, Lincoln wrote a personal letter to every state governor, asking each one to support it.

Both the House and the Senate approved the Corwin Amendment. It went through the House on a 133-65 vote, and went through the Senate with equal ease on an intial 24-12 vote. Mind you, this was an amendment to the Constitution of the United States that would have left no ambiguity whatsoever about the legal right to own another human being."

I've actually heard of this. Sometimes people call it the "Ghost Amendment".

And if the Southern states had taken the deal instead of seceding, there would have been no Civil War, at least for awhile, and there might have been legal slavery well into the 20th century. And Lincoln would have been one of those presidents that no one can remember the name of.

Can you imagine this being the 13th Amendment, instead of the real 13th Amendment, which is the one that officially outlawed slavery? Can you imagine us as slaves in Alabama in 1910 or the 1930's? Or the 1950's?

But the Southern states didn't take the deal, because they were so sure that they would prevail in their secession bid. They were confident they didn't need to take the offer.

We almost got thrown under the bus (horse-drawn trolley?) in that moment.

Let me throw a little class arrogance in here.

The bulk of America, Black & White, don't know history and WON'T learn history. [Warning, very long sentence ahead.] In a nation where 2/3 of adults can't name a single supreme court justice, only 7% consume any national news at all, just about everybody thinks foreign aid is a big part of the national budget (actually 1%-2%, and most of that is military), 25% of citizens are certain Obama is a secret Muslim &/or socialist, and more entitlements but less taxes are DEMANDED while complaining about the growing deficit, it is obvious to me that understanding race to the level of sophistication that the commenters here (including me) desire is simply impossible for the bulk of the public. I rarely speak in absolutes, but I say "impossible" and mean it.

So do we let the perfect destroy possible? The general population really needs racial reconciliation. But, sadly, it will have to be done on their level. Sure, if we had decent public education or a culture that valued thinking and knowledge, we would have a chance. Kale (a bitter leafy green) is a fantastic source of nutrition, but try getting someone to eat it on a regular basis.

Interesting Post. It definitely should not be forgotten because it continues to be relevant in consequence. Understanding is essential towards healing, we've made strides, but still have long way to go.
Immigrants from Europe, their ethnicity having a significant effect on their experience in this country, maybe lasts a generation long, then all of the privilege that whiteness in this country afforded becomes accessible... especially through Jim Crow, and even post civil rights... there's only been less then 50 years of sanctioned participation for those of African decent. Assimilation is far more difficult when your background presents itself in all its brownness, before you do.
"we are all the same under the skin"... although a very true statement, being that race is a social creation, it is still in consequence true and integrated in all that we are in this country. Ignoring that is like ignoring a broken bone. It may be under the surface, but if not addressed will never be set right.

http://aaronstjuste.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/why-are-all-the-black-people-sitting-together-at-the-business-meeting-and-what-does-it-matter-a-discussion-about-the-colorblind-fallacy/