Do you have to be white to be racist?

"However please make sure that when you are locking up those people, that you include the teachers in Mississippi, I believe it was, that were just court ordered to teach their "inner city" students the same level of education that the rest of the state received, and please be sure to put away the employers that even with current affirmative action in place still receive cents on the dollar compensation for the same work as their white counter parts, and while your at it please lock away the store keepers that follow them around the store and insist on putting them away from good window seats in restaurants all the way to the back (because that just get's old)... So if you've noticed a chip, or distrust - understand that it wasn't formed over night and it's not going to vanish overnight. But if you go into situations with an open mind and the do-unto-others rule you will be doing your part to heal, you will probably be surprised at the response you get - plus your karma will be through the roof- hehe"

RASSSSSSSSSSSTAFAR I robin-joy

well said indeed

guidance
Sis Irijah

Mistrust, hate, jealousy, envy of all things different..........its a deeper wound then will ever heal if it keeps festering inside & we pick at it from the outside.
1st we should say I'm sorry for all the bad our fore fathers then in return a thank you is needed for all the good our fore fathers have done, many have died to right the wrongs!
As long as we continue to play the blame game, nothing is ever going to happen, just deeper more infected wounds of hate.
Money isn't the answer..........we'd just spend it !!!
EDUCATION and FAMILY are key!!!!
If you have a strong loving family,that supports you, has both female & male role models, and stays involved in every aspect of the family you have a solid foundation to start building.
Then the teachers should teach & be involved with the kids & parents (parents need to get involved w/the teachers). If the schools don't have money to fix little things...............teachers, parents, students get your hands dirty & fix the problems.
Finally show someone everyday a lil love.........smile at your neighbor, hold the door open for someone......its infectious, just like yawning, once you start......everybody does it!
The world is soooooooooo full of hate, it would be nice if we on these tiny islands could get past our differences and become loving & supportive to everyone. After all once you get past our exterior, we are all the same inside & no matter who you are you have feelings. Not to mention, you only get one chance on this planet..........why waste it!!!!

Robin~ I hear your pain, but here's the thing. I was never a slave owner. You nor anyone you know was ever a slave. You think that blacks don't get paid what whites do for the same work. I see my son digging 8 holes for palm trees one morning while the 5 black workers dug 3 between them. I see whites arriving to work on time, staying at their stations, getting the work done. I see blacks coming in to work, an hour or more late on a regular basis, leaving for prolonged periods to get their hair done or shop on company time, stealing supplies and dawdling when they actually do work I see their fellow black workers smiling and encouraging this. I seee whites concerned about the environment and getting out there to clean up the mess. I see blacks dumping trash all over the place. I don't have to worry about a white or an asian pulling a gun on me while I walk home. 2 young black guys coming towards me on a street represent a possible assault. (Just read the papers) Blacks are all impressed with themselves that "dey run tings hyah" Look at how messed up it is.
Now before you get any madder, understand that most of my friends are African Americans here or Indian or Asian or Hispanic. All of them are hard working and do not fit the patterns that I mention above. Understand, too, that I am duly unimpressed with the pathetic (white)politicians and CEOs so recently in the news.
It is not a matter of color. It is a matter of culture. If the black community wants to continue to excuse a culture of deplorable behavior, condone it, and, in effect, encourage it, don't be surprised that shop owners will continue to protect their merchandise and that they get paid less for their "work." Instead of having the likes of Farrakhan come to speak, you might ask someone like Colin Powell, or Alan Keyes. Success comes from hard work, not hand outs. It comes from vision and gumption. Those people of all colors, stripes, and cultures who recognize this tend to succeed in life. Prejudice against blacks now is no worse than it was for the Amerindians, Irish, Polish, Chinese and others who came to America to make something of themselves. The past is the past and in many ways it was really bad. I am truly sorry it ever happened the way it did but I cannot change that. Let us encourage each other to strive harder, to see the good things in each other. Let us recognize that cultures are different and what is important to one group may not be so to another. Still we can live together here in harmony if we can respect each other. Our skin, I think, should be a bit thicker and we should not be so easily offended. Iron sharpens iron and when one culture sees itself being the recipient of prejudice, it would be wise to sit back and try to discover why that should be. Perhaps there are things that need to change.

Dear Antique, you will undoubtedly surprised to find that I am an Irish, blond haired, blue eyed woman, who grew up in an all white community. So I did not understand many of these prejudices either, until I married my lovely Guyanese husband and we had our beautiful little 2 year old. I am not in your home but I have a feeling that if that is all you see you are short sighted. Because I watch my husband, his family, and many of the black people that I work with arrive early and leave last or they are chastised. I work with black people that work 3 jobs to cover their cost of living and send their kids to school. I see the willingness to overlook a white counterparts follies or errors by the business owners where as everything a black person does is scrutinized and measured. If you go to a country that is almost exclusively white, such as Russia, then who do you point the finger at for crime? What you will find is that it is not the nationality but the economic condition that plays the key factor. In this and every environment it is the poverty stricken that you will find committing those type of assaults. So perhaps again we need to turn to our system for assistance, because if it takes 3 jobs to meet the financial demands due to sub standard wages and refusal to hire them to the top positions (list as many top black CEO's as you can, is it over 20??) maybe there are more underlying factors that are not being addressed. Now please bear in mind that I am not in any way shape or form justifying crime, I am merely pointing out that it is not a race problem but an economic issue- who would Norwegians clutch their purse from? You say your friends do not fit that mold, and their friends don't fit that mold, and their friends friends don't fit that mold. You are making a board stoke and painting the entire African American community with the behavior of a small portion of its society, you would not use that same stroke for our white community even though these same behaviors exist in here too. As far as the environment goes, he is an environmental engineer, and if 13% of the countries population is doing the polluting, than they have been a very very busy crew... I understand that you are not attacking my family personally, I am just saying that your findings are shallow and like all prejudices become something that you have decided to see and there fore you do not notice the others. I could go on to list plenty of examples of my white colleges that fit your above negative examples, but it is not the point.
You did go on to hit "the point" exactly. That we have to be willing to come together and love one another. Someone else said on this post that black or white we bleed red. Until we can all accept each other as members of the human race, and extend our humanity and understanding to all equally you will continue to see hard feelings, hardships, and harsh implementations. If god created us in all our beautiful colors shouldn't we then embrace those differences and appreciate his work the way we appreciate both lion and lamb.
We are all someones daughters/ sons, husbands/ wifes, mothers/ fathers. We all want better for ours and truly believe that they are deserving, we should interact and care for each other under those prefaces without discrimination.

Geez, antiqueone...

What you see is what is in front of you, but just as the group of blind men each described an elephant differently based upon what he could perceive, you pull examples and think that explains the whole lot of us. The whole post contradicts itself. And, you probably would not hire me, given the choice between me and an equally qualified White person, because you don't expect much from me, based on what you just wrote. *If I may be so bold as to characterize you due to what I myself perceived*

We would be well advised to take people on their own actions and not ascribe to them the misdeeds of others. I think that is what you are trying to say and I applaud you for it, but cut ME some slack. We are on the same side here.

The generalizations could have stopped me, even insulted me, but I know you wanted to make a point. You finally did, but what a thrashing I had to take to get to it!

[soap box]
I love America. I think that the worst thing that is happening in America is creeping socialism. I think that if you work hard you will succeed if you don't you should fail. THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT YOUR MAMA! I think that the worst thing that has happened in the US over the last 75 years is all of the massive welfare programs. On STX I see families living in public housing with a single mother and 5 kids and I think ARE YOU CRAZY? Why have 5 kids when you can't even afford to support one? Don't you understand birth control? What will be the future for those kids? I grew up poor in the south. My father was a postman. Postmen don't make a lot of money. I am a product of public education in Tennessee. Public schools through high school then state university. I think that the advantage that I had was that I was raised by two parents who both supported me and stressed education. My father worked most of the time and my mother was a housewife but they stayed together and they supported my sister and I.

I grew up in a 1000 square foot two bedroom one bath home and shared a bedroom with my sister until I was 10. We then finished out the attic and I moved up there. I got my first job at 13 (a paper route) and worked from then until I retired. I never collected welfare, never even considered it. I always considered welfare something that you only considered if you were unable to work. I always worked.

I was a hiring manager at several large corporations. AT&T, Burroughs Corp., Digital Equipment Corp and Microsoft Corp to name the big ones. We never had a policy to discriminate against minorities, quite the contrary. We had AA/EEOC quotas and compliance reviews regularly. The biggest problem was finding qualified minority candidates to hire. No company should be forced to hire someone who is not qualified for the job. I think that it is the individuals responsibility to prepare themselves for the job market. NO ONE OWES YOU A JOB! If you don't like the jobs that are available then start your own company.

I have lived here for 10 years. I keep hearing local people blame all of their problems on the white people moving down here. Even though they control the government, the white people run all of the businesses and have all of the money. I don't understand! I know many Arab people who moved here in the 60's and 70's. They had nothing when they came here. They did door-to-door sales to make a living then pooled their money with friends and family and now own all of the gas stations and grocery stores on the island. THE AMERICAN DREAM! Why haven't local Virgin Islanders done the same thing? Who's fault is it that local people don't own more businesses? If you sit around waiting for someone to give you something you will never succeed. It's all about education. Who runs the local school system? If the quality of education here is substandard whose fault is it? I can't believe that in the recent democratic primary all of the incumbents were reelected except for Juan. That means that the local people who make up the majority are happy with the status quo. I wouldn't be but then I expect more.
[/soap box]

Interesting article.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26803840

Another take on reparations.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=%7B23D875B0-65A3-44A3-A27B-14831CCB4107%7D

I agree that no one owes anyone a job. I know the reason for these programs, but I feel that they are missing the point and are past their time.

On the other hand, I once obtained a job based upon my resume and work sample long-distance. Once hired, I was called by the general manager of the radio station and asked to provide a picture and bio for the local paper as they wanted to introduce their new midday person. I sent them only to get a phone call from the GM, stating, "I didn't know you were Black!". I asked him if that was a problem. He sputtered some and finally said it was not, but he just did not know. If I had applied in person, I wonder if I would have gotten the gig.

No all minorities are applying for entry level positions at huge corps, but everyone must start somewhere. I still resent being lumped in with the ill-prepared. And I was raised on welfare and got off when I was able, at 20 years old.

Another good point you raised, the difference between achievers and undesirable employees is environment and support. If you come from another country to America with a goal of succeeding financially you are going to fill your children's heads with different things from someone who was born on welfare and simply knows nothing else. If you have heard of the tabula rasa, you know what I mean. One comes to the table with what one is given. There are things that we recall from childhood as mantras, and we often pattern our behavior accordingly.

There is a difference between hearing "the White man will never let you have anything" and "failure in school is not an option". So, where did the first theme begin? It began a long time ago (it was the LAW, and it was true), and continued in many states through Jim Crow laws. This totally discounts the fact that many Whites fought and died for Civil Rights in America but generalizations happen on both sides of this aisle. I wish they could be reconsidered.

We must crawl before we can walk, and there will be a lot of falling down on the way. But we don't tell a baby to stop trying or that it will never walk. We hold out our arms and encourage forward movement.

The whole picture is being missed. I've been told that I could not likely afford the rent for an apartment by a woman, when I first moved here. "And who is going to pay the rent?", she asked suspiciously. I guess I was expected to do it the old fashioned way. I did not get that apartment. She'd likely been burned by a young lady in the past, but she missed out on a good tenant. Don't judge me by the actions of others, is all I am saying. No one has any idea what is on my mind or in my heart, let my actions speak for me. Thanks.

This note was sent to me a few days ago. I know it is a little off topic but somehow seems to fit in this thread.

🙁

CORA GAIL GUNN'S DAUGHTER
Dear Editor,

I am a nurse who has just completed volunteer working approximately 120
hours as the clinic director in a Hurricane Gustav evacuation shelter
in Shreveport , Louisiana over the last 7 days. I would love to see
someone look at the evacuee situation from a new perspective. Local and
national news channels have covered the evacuation and "horrible"
conditions the evacuees had to endure during Hurricane Gustav.

True - some things were not optimal for the evacuation and the
shelters need some modification.

At any point, does anyone address the responsibility (or
irresponsibility) of the evacuees?

Does it seem wrong that one would remember their cell phone, charger,
cigarettes and lighter but forget their child's insulin?

Is something amiss when an evacuee gets off the bus, walks
immediately to the medical area, and requests immediate free refills on
all
medicines for which they cannot provide a prescription or current
bottle (most of which are narcotics)?

Isn't the system flawed when an evacuee says they cannot afford a $3
copay for a refill that will be delivered to them in the shelter yet
they can take a city-provided bus to Wal-mart, buy 5 bottles of
Vodka, and return to consume them secretly in the shelter?

Is it fair to stop performing luggage checks on incoming evacuees so
as not to delay the registration process but endanger the volunteer
staff and other persons with the very realistic truth of drugs, alcohol
and
weapons being brought into the shelter?

Am I less than compassionate when it frustrates me to scrub emesis
from the floor near a nauseated child while his mother lies nearby,
watching me work 26 hours straight, not even raising her head from the
pillow
to comfort her own son?

Why does it insense me to hear a man say "I ain't goin' home 'til I
get my FEMA check" when I would love to just go home and see my
daughters who I have only seen 3 times this week?

Is the system flawed when the privately insured patient must find a
way to get to the pharmacy, fill his prescription and pay his copay while
the FEMA declaration allows the uninsured person to acquire free
medications under the disaster rules?

Does it seem odd that the nurse volunteering at the shelter is paying
for childcare while the evacuee sits on a cot during the day as the
shelter provides a "daycare"?

Have government entitlements created this mentality and am I
facilitating it with my work?

Will I be a bad person, merciless nurse or poor Christian if I
hesitate to work at the next shelter because I have worked for 7 days
being
called every curse word imaginable, feeling threatened and fearing
for my personal safety in the shelter?

Exhausted and battered,

Sherri Hagerhjelm, RN

We are talking about a human problem, not a Black/White problem. I know some well-to-do and some middle class who also don't rub the brain cells together too well. But, they have the cushion of cash. If they are rich enough, they may even be called "eccentric".

Dysfunction is equal-opportunity. But if you have enough money, you can hide it. I think that we are ALL dysfunctional to some degree.

I hope that the nurse took a good rest, she needed it. I'd like to think that she is still nursing somewhere.

I think that some of the stereotypes are worth considering a bit more:
- "the poor single mom on welfare, with 5 kids (US mainland)"
------ is it possible (as A Davis says) that welfare is all they've known? If so, how do "we" turn this situation around?
------ each family would need a job
-------- a job would require education
---------- schools are dangerous places in poor neighborhoods because of guns in the schools and crime around the schools.
---------- it's tough to learn in schools when trouble kids disrupt classes
---------- it's tough to attract good teachers when schools have lots of trouble kids and there are guns
---------- OK, so realistically, the chances of getting an education are probably 10x harder than it was for "us"
-------- a job requires transportation, a healthy diet, work clothes, sleep at night (I can see potential problems with each of these)
----- So.... ummmm, who is going to solve all of this? It certainly might be true that a welfare system ran a muck, and possibly contributed to this mess... but, it can't just be abolished; and turning this around is going to take some real vision. It's easy for us who went to decent schools and lived in crime-free neighborhoods to say "just get out there and get a job".... I just don't think that we're all living in the same "world".

- "the poor single mom on welfare, with 5 kids (USVI)"
----- I don't know, but I think about Herman Wouk's line that I think Trade gave us a while back... is it possible that this culture is not like a mainland culture? The cultural norms about work, pay, etc just don't apply the same way? Therefore, it may be unfair to judge based on mainland norms.

- "the lazy black workers that sit around all day"
----- again, the cultural differences may be more at the heart of this (for the USVI).

- "I grew up poor, never used welfare, and worked hard to succeed"
----- yes, but the entire culture around you probably didn't have to live in fear of being shot every time you left the house (or were in the house).
----- your schools probably only had one or two trouble makers per class and those guys got suspended or expelled eventually so teachers ran the class and you had to learn (or at least sit and try to learn).
----- your parents didn't have to worry about you getting shot at school so they "strongly encouraged" you to go to school every day. (OK, I know many high schools and colleges are having mass murder sprees, so this argument is losing weight.... maybe that's why homeschooling is gaining even more popularity) .
----- your resumes for jobs always showed that you went to school and lived in a low-crime neighborhood, so you were a pretty safe candidate (reliable, intelligent, etc) for a job.

Rotorhead, I know you're going to think that I'm singling you out. I didn't mean to (I really enjoy your thought-provoking, honest and sincere posts) ... I've just heard these points raised many times by many folks and you just reminded me of them in your post. I just wonder if the picture that we paint, in order to judge a scene, is always big enough.

A Davis, thanks for giving us another perspective with great humility and objectivity... I'm guessing that you've been biting your tongue or screaming behind the monitor before finally offering a reasoned response (I'm guessing that you're either a lawyer or a teacher:-))

Anita, EngRMP,
I agree with you and I appreciate your feedback. I did not mean to imply that welfare and problems with the education system are a black/white problem. As Anita points out it is a human problem. I only mention the problems on STX because this is where I live and experience them. I should have started a new thread to rant in.

I agree EngRMP, I am probably being pretty naive. That's why I mention my background so you know where I am coming from. I think the advantage that I had over many kids today is that my parents provided a stable environment and encouragement. They took an active part in my life. I suspect that makes more difference than how much money you have. Though I agree with Anita that money smooths the bumps when you make mistakes. And Anita you are right, the things that you are told by your parents makes a big difference. I was always told "you will get good grades or you are grounded and you will stay in school, no option!"

Thanks, I enjoy sharing ideas.
John

“But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.

“The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

“Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.

That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years.

“For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

“In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper.”

Excerpts from Barak Obama’s speech, “A More Perfect Union”

That is the most profoundly wise observation of the situation that I have heard to date. Obama can be pretty smart at times. I think he needs more experience and active leadership before he would make a good president, but his sentiments are on target. Thankyou for sharing.

Thanks for posting that... I didn't get a chance to hear all of his "race speech".

It's powerful stuff. He gets close.... but it kind of fades out (up in the clouds) at the end IMHO. He makes a great link between the misguidance of both sides. But then, at the and, the path forward is a bit muddy. It would have made more sense to me if he would have singled out education as the most important factor to bind all races, insure hope and opportunity for the future, and to combat injustice and prejudice. Well, I just read it again, and he kind of says that... but, it's not in a voice that all of us can easily relate to (well, maybe I'm just having a hard time seeing a clear thread through it). I think he's on to something powerful, he just needs a little more time to craft the words a bit...

EngRMP, I am neither a teacher nor a lawyer, but thank you for the compliment. High School is the formal education I have, but I love to read and learn.

A Davis, I was actually thinking the same as EngRMP. You have an amazing amount of good sense and judgment. I didn't add anything to this thread because you had already said everything that needed to be said!

Anita, although you obviously possess great intelligence (and "good sense and judgment") I was really marveling at your composure, given such a potentially heated subject. OK, that's a lot of compliments at one time.... please don't get a big head... just keep the perfectly good head that you already have.

Anita: It was great to hear your voice back on Radio One! I would be very glad if you were there on a more permanent basis! 😀 And did I hear you mention this forum? 😉

EngRMP, *I think my head is anatomically large, it doesn't need to get any bigger!* LOL! However, it is always nice to be engaged in good conversation, which this very much is.

I am wanting to "be the change" that I wish to see. I cannot expect that which I am unwilling to give. I want to apply this to all aspects of my life, if I may.

East Ender, It was fun being on the air again; and I did make an oblique reference to this thread, particularly on the "collectivism" (thanks stiphy) post. I was trying to encourage being willing to stand on unpopular ground for the betterment of all. I was talking about the "Freedom Riders", who tested the free ability (per federal law) to use rest rooms, waiting areas and water fountains during interstate travel in the early 60's. These were both Black and White young adults who risked their reputations, family accord and educational futures to participate.

Google or Wiki that sometime - a very proud moment in the history of these United States of America... even with the discord necessary to make it happen.

Another proud day for race relations in the Virgin Islands.

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17628854

And if there is any doubt.

"Delegate Adelbert Bryan was more blunt with his reason for supporting the requirement - no matter what Congress may think. He reiterated that the constitution delegates are writing is for the people of the Virgin Islands.

"Why we in here wondering about what little handful of white people not going to like it?" Bryan asked."

Doesn't he make you proud?

The politicians appear to distrust their own constituency. VI voters are going to elect people they believe will work for the interests of people in the Virgin Islands. It seems ludicrous to be worried that a) some white individual will convince the majority of voters, almost all of whom are black, to elect that white individual, at which point b) the elected individual will reorganize the VI government agenda to preference white interests. This fear suggests that VI politicians think VI voters are ignorant, which is offensive to VI voters and lacks any grounding in reality.

Adelbert Bryan can only truly speak for himself, as a delegate to the 5th Constitutional Convention.

He certainly does not speak for the full body of the Convention. I agree with dntw8up on this one... not all of the registered voters of the VI are buying in.

He gets too much attention, that one.

Oh, and Sabrina... thanks for lurking!!!

and yet the measure passed 27-4! That simply stuns me. Perhaps the US should cut off all funding for this little bunch of rocks and let us fend for ourselves for a bit. Perhaps we'll decide that retrogressive racist thinking wasn't such a hot idea after all. Why not join the 20th century! (I know, the rest of us are in the 21st century, but you gotta bring dem racist crucians along slowly)

Doesn't reading this forum tell you that all Crucians (and Virgin Islanders) do not think alike? You are insulting those who would stand beside you on an intellectual and political level.

You know, there is a process in place, and the people of the Virgin Islands (I am among them, though not born here) elected this group. They vote as they vote. The final vote belongs to US, the citizens. If this group creates a document that is not agreeable, it will not pass.

Register to vote. Keep your nose clean so you don't lose that right.

Do your part in keeping aware, and sharing with others. It is better to act than to react, especially now. It's like a comfortable blanket after a time. Put it down and get to work. Help to inform, not to incite, or you will be just like what you rail against.

I am not afraid.

Anita~ Of course I don't mean you nor do I mean to insult. I meant racist crucians and there seem to be enough of them to keep St. Croix isolated and backward thinking despite those of us who would like more than anything to see St. Croix become what it could be.... a place where everyone respects each others differences and works together to improve our home. I frankly get very tired of retrogressive thinking and sometimes it gets the better of me. I apologize. I am registered and I do vote. I am not worried that this constitution might pass. I just wish we didn't have to pay these people for wasting their time with such foolishness. I wish we had voted in people who actually knew something about law and constitutions and fairness and wisdom.