LA- Reunion party for "whites only"

[Quiche]

Well, maybe it's no loss... Gee, I'd be totally crushed if I couldn't party with a bunch of people who have considered it below their dignity to have anything to do with the persons of different color in their class for nearly 40 years.


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/class-reunion-letter-lists-white-graduates-only-party/

Exactly my thought, Donj!

They probably didn't even know one another. What really surprised me was that it was the class of 1973 instead of 1953-- or older. Eh, maturity really doesn't know a number, does it?

Tact is a wonderful trait of civilized people... some folks still need to try it out. mo


Tact noun

1. a keen sense of what to say or do to avoid giving offense; skill in dealing with difficult or delicate situations.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tact

 

[kgeaux]

Sorry, not sure what you are saying. Are you saying this thread should be stickied to show how ugly and racist white Southerners are?

If you read all the links it should be pretty darn obvious that this was a SET UP! <modsnip>. But hey it got the expected response! And as I mentioned, this guarantees they will not have integrated reunions anytime soon.

I am here to tell you this is not a set up. Separate proms and reunions have been the status quo in New Iberia. I work with a African American graduate of SMHS. She is a good friend of mine. She has educated me on this topic. Basically it boils down to these somehow related facts: it has always been this way; everyone accepts it because this is how it has always been; it isn't right, but it is.

Yeah, and I am sure the Black graduates really wanted to listen to old time Southern rock or even Country music and hang out with a bunch of 60 year old Southern whites at a potluck right? Sure they did! Big fun!

Really? Blacks and whites have such different tastes and preferences that it follows that it is OK to separate them for a high school reunion?

What is happening in New Iberia is simply an example of racism. We can try to color it with every beautiful color that exists, but it remains racism.

New Iberia is just down Highway 90 from me. I just can't accept that in 2012 the South is allowed to get away with this.

 

[sharkeyes]

Whites do not need white-only groups, pageants, caucuses, etc, because they are the privileged group in this society.

Really? I'm not going to argue the way you obviously feel...that's your cross to bear. However, I disagree with the statement that whites are "the privileged group in society"...not where I come from...I grew up in a housing project (with lots of whites and blacks), we weren't on welfare, but we were poverty level, nothing was handed to me, no financial aid to further my education, no daddy warbucks in my family that's for sure, if we wanted to eat, we had to work, you want to go to college - you work/take out loans, not grants, loans, and pay them back. I DO believe that there are some incredibly affluent whites who perpetuate the idea that "whites get all the breaks", but I can say first hand that it's not true.

If someone were to re-post your statement changing "white" to "black" they would no doubt be labeled a racist, and that's not fair, you wouldn't want to hear "blacks don't need the NAACP"...

 

[kgeaux]

Really? I'm not going to argue the way you obviously feel...that's your cross to bear. However, I disagree with the statement that whites are "the privileged group in society"...not where I come from...I grew up in a housing project (with lots of whites and blacks), we weren't on welfare, but we were poverty level, nothing was handed to me, no financial aid to further my education, no daddy warbucks in my family that's for sure, if we wanted to eat, we had to work, you want to go to college - you work/take out loans, not grants, loans, and pay them back. I DO believe that there are some incredibly affluent whites who perpetuate the idea that "whites get all the breaks", but I can say first hand that it's not true.

If someone were to re-post your statement changing "white" to "black" they would no doubt be labeled a racist, and that's not fair, you wouldn't want to hear "blacks don't need the NAACP"...

I think it is all wrong. White only and black only are equally wrong.

 

[Gardenlady]

Really? I'm not going to argue the way you obviously feel...that's your cross to bear. However, I disagree with the statement that whites are "the privileged group in society"...not where I come from...I grew up in a housing project (with lots of whites and blacks), we weren't on welfare, but we were poverty level, nothing was handed to me, no financial aid to further my education, no daddy warbucks in my family that's for sure, if we wanted to eat, we had to work, you want to go to college - you work/take out loans, not grants, loans, and pay them back. I DO believe that there are some incredibly affluent whites who perpetuate the idea that "whites get all the breaks", but I can say first hand that it's not true.

If someone were to re-post your statement changing "white" to "black" they would no doubt be labeled a racist, and that's not fair, you wouldn't want to hear "blacks don't need the NAACP"...

Privileged doesn't mean you are affluent, or well connected. It simply means that, in hundreds of different ways, weather you notice them or not, you are privileged, and given opportunities that others are not, because of your skin color.

When you went to the bank to take out that loan, you were more likely to receive one because you are white.

If you took a taxi to the bank, you weren't refused a ride because of your skin color.

When you applied to college, you had an advantage on standardized tests because they are geared towards you.

When you applied for a job, your resume wasn't tossed aside automatically because you have an "ethnic" or culturally black name.

Privilege also exists for socio economic status too, of course. So even though you are privileged because you are white, you lacked privilege that the rich or middle class have because you grew up in a lower economic group.

It also exists for sexual orientation - a white gay man has privilege because he is white, and a man, but heterosexuals are the privileged group, so gays suffer discrimination.

Black women are doubly hit - neither their skin color or their gender are a privileged group.

It's not about making anyone bear a cross, as you put it. It's simply recognizing that in many ways, many of us are privileged whether we acknowledge it or not, and through no merit of our own. Simply by an accident of birth.

 

[sharkeyes]

Privileged doesn't mean you are affluent, or well connected. It simply means that, in hundreds of different ways, weather you notice them or not, you are privileged, and given opportunities that others are not, because of your skin color.....

Points well taken...touche!

 

[gitana1]

Gardenlady, you rock!

Yeah, and I am sure the Black graduates really wanted to listen to old time Southern rock or even Country music and hang out with a bunch of 60 year old Southern whites at a potluck right? Sure they did! Big fun! Apparently someone DIDN'T want to combine the parties, and I sure don't think it was the White Graduates, and they would have just said "No thanks" and not caused themselves all of this grief by agreeing!

So surely if the "incorrect invite" only listed ONE of the parties, saying "Whites ONLY!" instead of "White Graduates" and "Black Graduates" that was just tiny little accidental typo oversight! Alert the MSM!

Such an obvious ploy and it gets so many frothing at the mouth! Sad.

Underlined by me.

Wow. How stereotypical is that? "Oh, we're doing the blacks a favor, really. They don't want to listen to 'our' music, or eat 'our' food or hang out with old people (who happen to be the same age as us)."

Are you kidding me? Chances are, the alumni going to that reunion liked the same music and like the same food. Are we seriously categorizing people here on websleuths based on their skin color? And that's okay?

Let me tell you something. Both my brothers were in the army. They both told me that guys from the same region, including regions that are thought of us having more racism than others, like places in the south, were most likely to bond together and be fast friends, regardless of skin color, precisely because they had more in common than people from different regions.

So please tell me a different story than that people from the same state, from the same city, who went to the same high school together, are the same age and graduated in the same class, would not enjoy spending time together years later, solely because of the color of their skin. because that sounds very prejudiced to me.

Minority-only and minority-focused groups and organizations are formed because these populations have been and continue to be marginalized. Whites do not need white-only groups, pageants, caucuses, etc, because they are the privileged group in this society.

The only people that get bothered by things like Miss Black America, or the CBC, are the privileged, who absolutely HATE the fact that they might miss out on dominating yet another arena. :twocents:

That is 100% correct. The ruling group in our nation is made up of white people. These black and other minority groups formed because minorities were denied entrance to many colleges, were burnt out of their businesses, were denied voting rights, denied the right to marry outside their race, were denied participation in the political process, were denied the right to live in certain areas, etc.

Until blacks (and others) are not denied jobs because of the sound of their names http://papers.nber.org/papers/w9873, or pulled over solely because of the color of their skin http://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/dwb01.htm, or given an unequal shot at justice due to their race, http://www.letsgetfreethebook.com/jurorsforjustice/unequaljustice.html, or prevented from being part of the political process via nonsensical voting laws passed solely to keep poor minorities from the polls http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/06/amelia-boynton-robinson-dnc_n_1863273.html, etc., etc., then these groups are necessary.

These groups were created to help support a people who were marginalized and treated as less-than by the majority in ways that affected their ability to succeed and sometimes even survive. They were not created to separate minority groups from the majority or to promote ideals that state certain groups are better than others. They were created to foster a sense of unity and pride and a dedication to justice, while they try to bridge the gap and become a more included part of the larger society. Clearly, despite the fact that we have a black president, that has yet to happen.

I think our collective outrage over things like this - stories about lingering pockets of serious, almost par for the course racism - can help bridge that gap. But as long as we still have many people defending this kind of conduct or justifying it or trying to rationalize it as no different from what minorities do to whites, or really not so bad, or a "set-up" or whatever, minorities will continue to get the short end of the stick.

Racism, sadly, is natural. We have limited resources - jobs, housing, education, oil, water - and too many people such that everyone can have what they actually need. So, we tend to form groups, first family groups, then larger groups, to fight for a piece of the pie and to justify why we deserve something more than they do. We start to tell ourselves how we are more worthy and how they are not as worthy (they are inherently criminal, they are greedy, they want to kill us, they follow a false religion, they are sinners, whatever separation we can create). And ultimately, we develop a distrust and hate big enough that we feel justified in taking what they also need or what used to be theirs, via war, treaty, even via guards on a bridge keeping the desperate from being rescued from a storm.

So yeah, I understand racism. I just hoped that we had evolved enough, that we had become educated enough in this country to recognize it for what it is, re-examine our motivations and change our behavior. Perhaps not.

 

[Jacie Estes]

Gardenlady, you rock!



Italicized by me.

Wow. How stereotypical is that? "Oh, we're doing the blacks a favor, really. They don't want to listen to 'our' music, or eat 'our' food or hang out with old people (who happen to be the same age as us)."

Are you kidding me? Chances are, the alumni going to that reunion liked the same music and like the same food. Are we seriously categorizing people here on websleuths based on their skin color? And that's okay?

Let me tell you something. Both my brothers were in the army. They both told me that guys from the same region, including regions that are thought of us having more racism than others, like places in the south, were most likely to bond together and be fast friends, regardless of skin color, precisely because they had more in common than people from different regions.

So please tell me a different story than that people from the same state, from the same city, who went to the same high school together, are the same age and graduated in the same class, would not enjoy spending time together years later, solely because of the color of their skin. because that sounds very prejudiced to me.



That is 100% correct. The ruling group in our nation is made up of white people. These black and other minority groups formed because minorities were denied entrance to many colleges, were burnt out of their businesses, were denied voting rights, denied the right to marry outside their race, were denied participation in the political process, were denied the right to live in certain areas, etc.

Until blacks (and others) are not denied jobs because of the sound of their names http://papers.nber.org/papers/w9873, or pulled over solely because of the color of their skin http://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/dwb01.htm, or given an unequal shot at justice due to their race, http://www.letsgetfreethebook.com/jurorsforjustice/unequaljustice.html, or prevented from being part of the political process via nonsensical voting laws passed solely to keep poor minorities from the polls http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/06/amelia-boynton-robinson-dnc_n_1863273.html, etc., etc., then these groups are necessary.

These groups were created to help support a people who were marginalized and treated as less-than by the majority in ways that affected their ability to succeed and sometimes even survive. They were not created to separate minority groups from the majority or to promote ideals that state certain groups are better than others. They were created to foster a sense of unity and pride and a dedication to justice, while they try to bridge the gap and become a more included part of the larger society. Clearly, despite the fact that we have a black president, that has yet to happen.

I think our collective outrage over things like this - stories about lingering pockets of serious, almost par for the course racism - can help bridge that gap. But as long as we still have many people defending this kind of conduct or justifying it or trying to rationalize it as no different from what minorities do to whites, or really not so bad, or a "set-up" or whatever, minorities will continue to get the short end of the stick.

Racism, sadly, is natural. We have limited resources - jobs, housing, education oil, water - and too many people such that everyone can have what they actually need. So, we tend to form groups, first family groups, then larger groups, to fight for a piece of the pie and to justify why we deserve something more than they do. We start to tell ourselves how we are more worthy and how they are not as worthy (they are inherently criminal, they are greedy, they want to kill us, they follow a false religion, they are sinners, whatever separation we can create). And ultimately, we develop a distrust and hate big enough that we feel justified in taking what they also need or what used to be theirs, via war, treaty, even via guards on a bridge keeping the desperate from being rescued from a storm.

So yeah, I understand racism. I just hoped that we had evolved enough, that we had become educated enough in this country to recognize it for what it is, re-examine our motivations and change our behavior. Perhaps not.

Ethnocentrism lives. Any American Indian can tell you that. We are categorized as drunks, lazy, ignorant...etc. I laugh because I rarely drink, work hard and I am Phi Kappa Phi, so, those who want to stereotype me can KMRA.

Yes, there is racism based on skin color and ethnicity. I would like to believe it will end one day but I don't think so.

 

[Gardenlady]

Gardenlady, you rock!

I have screenshotted this to show one of my teens, who currently thinks I'm just about the worst person on the planet. :innocent:

 

[ktgirl]

Ethnocentrism lives. Any American Indian can tell you that. We are categorized as drunks, lazy, ignorant...etc. I laugh because I rarely drink, work hard and I am Phi Kappa Phi, so, those who want to stereotype me can KMRA.

Yes, there is racism based on skin color and ethnicity. I would like to believe it will end one day but I don't think so.

It certainly does, as does sexism and lots of other types of discrimination.

Those who think these things don't exist have been lucky enough not to have faced them in their lives (yet).

 

[Jacie Estes]

I have screenshotted this to show one of my teens, who currently thinks I'm just about the worst person on the planet. :innocent:

But do they think you are *gasp* intolerant?

 

[Gardenlady]

But do they think you are *gasp* intolerant?

:floorlaugh: :floorlaugh: :floorlaugh:

 

[reportertype]

The post that the black members of the class - who I'm guessing are roughly the same age as the whites - have such different tastes in music equaling a reason for separate parties made me laugh. I doubt musical tastes are that different - we are talking about people of different races, not an entirely new species.

 

[Nova]

Exactly my thought, Donj!

They probably didn't even know one another. What really surprised me was that it was the class of 1973 instead of 1953-- or older....

Schools weren't even integrated in my county in Florida until 1965, so classes before then couldn't have held joint reunions. And we were fairly progressive for our state! Our governor was still blockading school doors in some counties in the early 1970s.

 

[TrackerSam]

Minority-only and minority-focused groups and organizations are formed because these populations have been and continue to be marginalized. Whites do not need white-only groups, pageants, caucuses, etc, because they are the privileged group in this society.

The only people that get bothered by things like Miss Black America, or the CBC, are the privileged, who absolutely HATE the fact that they might miss out on dominating yet another arena. :twocents:

No one said whites need white only groups, you always rewrite others' posts, but there is always a hissy fit when there is one even suggested. It's you who are afraid you might miss out. Your the privileged ones who get to have it both ways. Racism isn't going away but it's due more to those who are unwilling to give up the 'race card', a powerful club.

 

[gitana1]

No one said whites need white only groups, you always rewrite others' posts, but there is always a hissy fit when there is one even suggested. It's you who are afraid you might miss out. Your the privileged ones who get to have it both ways. Racism isn't going away but it's due more to those who are unwilling to give up the 'race card', a powerful club.

BBM.

Wait...really?

I keep hearing that from white people. Essentially, that's, "It's the minorities' fault. They ask for it."

Wow, wow, wow.

 

[TrackerSam]

BBM.

Wait...really?

I keep hearing that from white people. Essentially, that's, "It's the minorities' fault. They ask for it."

Wow, wow, wow.

I never said they ask for it. I just don't think racial harmony is a priority since they wouldn't be able to wield the race card, essential when your performance is being critisized. And I'm hispanic for the record.

 

[gitana1]

I never said they ask for it. I just don't think racial harmony is a priority since they wouldn't be able to wield the race card, essential when your performance is being critisized. And I'm hispanic for the record.

So am I. And unless you are also Latino, Hispanic generally means white.

 

[Gardenlady]

No one said whites need white only groups, you always rewrite others' posts, but there is always a hissy fit when there is one even suggested. It's you who are afraid you might miss out. Your the privileged ones who get to have it both ways. Racism isn't going away but it's due more to those who are unwilling to give up the 'race card', a powerful club.

A hissy fit? really?

No, more like merely pointing out that white-only groups are unnecessary.

I feel certain we've had this discussion before, because I remember using the example I'm about to use lol. Groups that are marginalized form clubs, orgs, scholarships, pageants, etc because it is a way to come together, help one another, when society at large discriminates against you. Here in the northeast there are still various ethnic clubs that all have their roots from times when those particular immigrants were discriminated against, were often stuck in lower socio-economic situations, and found camaraderie and support by coming together: Italian clubs, polish clubs, Portuguese orgs, etc. they all still run various functions, outreach programs, scholarships, networking.

But yet I never hear people complain about those groups. Only about the black ones. Why is that?

 

[sharkeyes]

For the record...yes, racism is alive and well, and I witnessed it first hand when we were bussed from our inner city school out to the suburbs...what a joke it was dumping us poor kids into a "white kids school "...the black kids were shunned but I "passed "at first (being white) until the others realized I was a "bus kid "...then I was "a "n" lover " and realized that when people feel threatened they'll use whatever tactics to maintain their perceived superiority ...usually by putting others down. Maybe it was more enjoyable having separate reunions ...it was obviously ok on some level seeing how it went on for years. In any case, I can see why threads like this bring out strong points of view. I appreciate the opportunity to express myself as well as reading other's posts and gaining insight into how we perceive things. Good day all!