Comments on: Black Like Us

By: John Shore

John Shore — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:52:24 +0000

Thanks, AA. I read your bio on your blog. Interesting stuff!!! I'm glad you dropped me a line. Thanks.

By: angryafrican

angryafrican — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:47:44 +0000

Excellent piece mate. I grew up the same way you did. Just in South Africa. But it seems as if our path has been similar. Enjoy the ride.

By: tavdy

tavdy — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:05:02 +0000

The year I started at high school, there was a Black guy in the top year who would beat up White or Asian guys if they got into a fight with a Black guy – even if the Black guy started it. One Black guy took advantage of this and would even bully guys older and bigger than him – because he knew they didn't dare retaliate.

The next year the guy in the top year wasn't around so during the second week the bully was cornered by a group of about 30 kids and beaten to a pulp – and then he had the audacity to claim that the guys who attacked him were racist!

Racism works both ways.

By: Dan Harrell

Dan Harrell — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:11:00 +0000

John,

Great Post, as always. I'm on facebook to keep up with the kids. Anyway, on the train to work this morning and read the transcript of Obama's speach, and started to get all teary.

I believe we all have the same hope. Safety, freedom from hunger and want, and community. When you read how Obama feels, it seems like he gets it too, and is going to try to deliver it to us.

It should be a wild ride.

By: Afshaan

Afshaan — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:05:21 +0000

Hey again, John,

Thanks so much for your comment on my blog! I feel as though a celebrity has visited my humble home! Haha.

I've actually been following your blog for quite a while–it's even on the toolbar link-thingy at the top of my Safari page (you know what I'm talking about, right?)–but haven't had the courage/energy to comment on it before. I just felt the need to say something on this one, which of course I did, and now we're, like, totally BFFs.

Just kidding. Anyway, I do want to assert that I think it is understandable for America to take a breather, now that this whole insane race is over, to reflect a little on what this election means and revel in its symbolic significance. Let us rejoice in it if we can, while holding that sense of victory in tension with the harsh realities of racism still in our midst; keeping in mind that while the election race is over and that is a HUGE relief, Obama's hard work of actually being president has only just begun! And we need to be on our knees for him (in prayer; not worshipping the man, although I'm sure someone's going to start a religion dedicated to him eventually).

OK, I'm done now! That is all.

By: Diane L. Harris

Diane L. Harris — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:41:25 +0000

John, I’ve posted this to my facebook page and gave it a thumbs up on StumbleUpon.

My earliest memory, by the way, is of being called “nigger” by a 5 year old white boy named Chester when I was 4 years old.

Diane L. Harris
http://www.steppingintothelight.net

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:13:21 +0000

I have two black cousins. I’m also from a very conservative background (my grandparents were Amish), so I have been to family reunions with black faces and black bonnets. I guess I’m what the news media calls “post-racial”.

Even so, I started crying while watching the Obama rally, because I realize how far our country has come in a few short years.

And it can go further, too.

By: b4dguy

b4dguy — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:37:43 +0000

Maybe the place is here. It was summer 1975 and I was visiting a distant relative in Charlotte, NC. She was an elderly lady. One day I heard her speaking to someone at her front door. By the tone of her voice, I assumed she was speaking to a small child; she was using very slow and deliberate speech, and carefully enunciating each word. I was in the living room. When their conversation ended, I looked out the front window to see an elderly black man shuffling down the path back to the sidewalk. (I’d never seen someone shuffle before). When he got to the sidewalk, the man turned to see if anyone was looking—and then, when he saw no one was, he picked up his pace and began walking down the sidewalk in a very normal manner.

By: Latoya

Latoya — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:50:52 +0000

Hey John,

I bumped into your blog a couple days ago and I’ve been trying to read from the beginning so I can catch up. Been really enjoying every moment of it so far. I can’t even begin to imagine life having been this way in the past since I haven’t been around for that long(I’m a 23 yr old Jamaican girl), but I am very happy that it has changed. I only just got the chance to listen to the victory speech on youtube, and I dont know how to explain how I feel.

By: tavdy

tavdy — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:28:59 +0000

“We have come a long way in 40 years.” – Ric Booth

There’s still a long way to go. According to the most recent counts I’ve seen, over 17% more Californians voted in favour of improved animal rights (prop 2) than against abolishing existing equal rights for LGB people (prop – it’s not nice being upstaged by a chicken. And the group that voted most heavily against equal rights? Black women, by 75% – so much for learning from the mistakes of the past.