Really?
Well I ask you as well .. how is what I said racist? As far as this knockout game goes most of the reported cases have been black on white. There have been some black on black cases as well but most of the reported and recorded cases that have come to light have been black on white. How does saying that make me a racist? Where did I damn young African American men? Where did I make a blanket statement concerning African American men? I also stated that the same type of behavior is done by other young men of other races under a different name. You like the previous poster who labeled me a racist know absolutely nothing about me. You know what ... if my opinion of this crime makes me a racist .. then what does it make Invalid Link Removed who agrees with me. I don't agree with everything that Reverend Sharpton says .. but the man is no fool and I share his take on many issues of a social and/or political nature.. not all but many and this is one of them.Just to diffuse this racist nonsense in it's tracks let me enlighten you .. I am from the Bronx.. I grew up in the 60s and 70s.. I remember when Julia first hit the airwaves and how exciting that was, Alexander Scott was my first African American action hero, I remember when being called black was an insult.. and I also remember when blackness was embraced to the point where even a white Christmas was frowned upon. I remember the riots.. I remember the freedom rides.. I remember my grandparents and their siblings gathering around the table talking in hushed tones about what was going on down south.. I have had relatives killed by the Klan.. harassed by the Klan and I myself was chased out of Bensonhurst Brooklyn in the 70s as a young teenager with bottles, bricks and cries of "Get the f*** out of our neighborhood n*****!" ringing in my 15 year old ears. I had a similar experience in Fordham in the Bronx before the Bronx was as ethnic as it is today. If you want to get an idea of the climate I grew up in check out Invalid Link Removed. I lived at the other end of Webster Avenue though not in the projects.. and when we moved from that neighborhood in '72, my senior year of H.S. we moved up to the Fordham area on Belmont Avenue just below Little Italy, which was the area portrayed in A Bronx Tale. The #3 bus was rerouted in those days so that it went straight up Crotona Avenue on it's current route rather than through Little Italy across Arthur Ave because of the racial tensions of those days. I was in N.Y. for Crown Heights, the Central Park Jogger incident, Eleanore Bumpers, the Rodney King fiasco .. where Manhattan became a ghost town by 1500 because.. "They were going to riot.. They're on Broadway at Herals Square!!
" and I had to suffer through the whole O.J. Simpson verdict aftermath ... For anyone who has no clue what I am talking about and I think most African American men of about 40 or older who were adults and in the corporate work place at the time will know exactly what I am talking about.. ask any of your African American friends who worked in a corporate environment in particular but just about anywhere about some of their experiences during this incident. Some of them may have some interesting stories to share to a greater or lesser degree. I have seen the aftermath of every single cop shooting.. and plunging.. up until 2000 when I left N.Y. to move to where I am now and I have experienced racism in the workplace and in the military first hand. I have grandchildren of mixed Hispanic and mixed white parentage and I have two daughters who are engaged to men of a different race. .. and lastly .. this is me.
If saying what I said makes me a racist in your eyes or anyone else's for that matter I could really care less. You do not know me .. now you know a little bit more about me.. if that means anything great.. if not .. well that's great too as far as I am concerned because it changes nothing about me or who I am or where I have been or where I am headed.
We as African Americans need to get off this super sensitivity nonsense and start dealing with our own issues because yes we know that racism is still a fact.. we can see it every day on multiple fronts but there are other facts that are equally as obvious and one of those is that we need to own up to and stand up to those in our community who bring shame upon it. This "Knockout Game" is criminal behavior with a racial component and I personally see no reason why it should not be treated the same way that any similar crime should be treated.. If the reverse were the case more black folks would be in an uproar however I don't know any who think this is acceptable behavior. Thank goodness.
