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Farewell
Dear Larry: You are the sanest man in America! I look forward to your columns because I ALWAYS agree with your answers. Great work! Thanks for speaking the simple truth about all issues — racial, political, parental, common sense, etc.
I often …Read more.
Hate Groups
Dear Larry: I want to forget for a moment that it is their constitutional right, because I detest the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and all other groups that preach hate. A long time ago, they came into cities across America without any protest. Now …Read more.
Troubles With Raising Teenage Son
Dear Larry: I am African-American and a single mother with three children, ages 15, 10 and 8. All of them are boys. I am having a lot of problems with them, especially the eldest.
He argues with me about almost everything. He thinks he is the man/…Read more.
How To Get Race Relations Back on Track
Dear Larry: So many of my friends are upset with the way things are going, especially race relations. They are not saying anything openly, but among themselves there is constant complaining and fear. There is something simmering and brewing that …Read more.
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Award Named After Accused Killer
Dear Larry: I know it should not make any difference, but I must admit I am white. I am critical of people's bad behavior regardless of their ethnicity. I live in an area that is fully integrated. Many years ago, there was a white family who was murdered — both parents and several children. The only survivor was their daughter, who happened to be 2 years old at the time.
A black man was arrested some months later for the murders. It is not absolutely certain he was the killer, because he committed suicide while he was in jail. The trial never was finished, but there was overwhelming evidence of his guilt.
As there are after every high-profile crime, there were people who didn't believe he did the crime, and there are some who think his death was not suicide. Most logically thinking people believe he was guilty of the crime and the suicide.
A few years after the murders, a black minister caused an uproar because he came up with some kind of award and named it after the accused murderer. This man not only was associated with the brutal crime but also had a long criminal history.
I don't have a problem with naming an award after a black person. What I object to is the fact that this award was named after someone who had a criminal history and was not the kind of person others should admire.
I know that if I came up with an award idea and named it after Richard Speck, the mass murderer who raped and killed eight nurses, or Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer, the manure pile would hit the fan and I would, for good reason, be raked over the coals. — Sarah
Dear Sarah: You are right. The system and standards are not equal when it comes to race standards. Minorities and so-called disadvantaged people are many times not held to the same expectations.
The minister is given a pass because people are afraid to be classified as that dreaded name — a racist. In this society, that is the worst label a person can be given, followed closely by sexist and homophobe. People will modify standards and give passes to anyone who is apt to hurl this vocal bomb.
The only way we are going to have true equality in this society and hold everyone to the same standard is to be willing to be so labeled and challenge the perpetrators. I know this is difficult because most people do not want to be bothered, hate confrontation or have too much to lose in a challenge. Unless people who are tired of this behavior are willing to speak, it will continue.
It is time for America to speak up and demand that everyone be held to the same expectations.
To find out more about Larry G. Meeks and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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Comments
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16 Comments | Post Comment
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I think the problem here isn't so much racism, but a tendency in American society to value emotions over facts when the emotions are held strongly enough. In this case, the emotions connected to the case -- and the narrative of oppression that it communicates -- are causing this group of people to ignore mountains of evidence that runs contrary to their pre-conceived notions. You see the same thing in many other segments of society, like gender feminism (which regularly ignores any research that runs contrary to the "women are always victims" doxology) and most definitely the teabaggers, whose belief in everything from "death panels" to "birthism" defies all logic. The entire society is falling prey to the disease of "truthiness" to the detriment of clear thinking.
Comment: #1
Posted by: Geoffrey James
Sat Jun 12, 2010 4:03 AM
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In my first year as a high school teacher, the Principal considered having a special memorial service for Tookie Williams. I asked if we could also have one for Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez, and Al Capone, becuase they're outlaw0heroes for troubled white kids the same way Tookie Williams is a role-model for some Black youth.
Needless to say, the project was scrapped, along with plans to name a wing after him. Though I was more than happy to name the school bathroom after Tookie.
Comment: #2
Posted by: Roger
Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:57 PM
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Meeks' column just isn't complete without Geoff weighing in with his usual horse crap. Way to go, idiot. Keep telling yourself that it's "racist" to expect black people to be held to the same standards as everyone else. Keep denying that many of the problems in the black community are a direct result of the culture there - lionizing criminals while hard-working, accomplished blacks are called "Uncle Toms" or accused of "acting white." Just keep on being part of the problem rather than the solution.
Comment: #3
Posted by: Matt
Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:45 PM
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Just for the record, Geoffry, what you call "gender feminism" and claim is based on the idea of women as victims is part of a much larger movement that as a whole does not accept that ideology. Many if not most feminists, and I strongly suspect this is true of all minority movements, see women as different but equal- women are not men, and there are both societal and biological differences, but this does not make women (or insert minority group) inferior. On any issue, the member of the minority group is more like the member of the majority group in a comparable place on the spectrum than a member of their own group on the opposite end. Bottom line-we're all different, and using one characteristic to define a person is guaranteed to lead to false conclusions. I think it's facinating when someone uses radical, one sided, and overly simplistic ideology to denigrate others for being radical, biased, and overly simplistic.
Comment: #4
Posted by: Nichole
Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:14 AM
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I think that if someone was holding a memorial service for Tookie Williams, it would be in honor of his turnaround, i.e., the efforts he made to turn kids away from violence and the gang life, in the last years of his life. These actions had nothing to do with his race. Whether a criminal is white, black, purple or green, I think if he or she repents and tries to do good in the world, that's something to honor and respect. (But then, I was raised in a faith that believes in forgiveness and redemption.) I would hope we would all agree that when someone with a terrible history turns around and tries to stop others from following in his footsteps, that is something to support. One gang member, or leader, renouncing the gang life and violence, CAN change kids' lives. It can have a tremendous impact on youth who were idolizing him for the wrong things. I would agree that Williams should not be blindly memorialized, any more than Bonnie and Clyde should be. But an honest memorial would have looked at his whole life, the good and the bad, condemned the bad things he did but acknowledge that he had changed his life and done some good things toward the end.
Comment: #5
Posted by: sarah morrow
Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:26 PM
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Matt, what's racist is your tendency to take a negative behavior that's widely shared throughout segments of society and turn it into a stick to beat up "black people." The type of thinking that allows some black people to ignore contrary evidence is the same kind of thinking that allows other people to ignore contrary evidence. It's quite common. But, you naturally only see the behavior in this case, and attribute it as something unique to blacks. You believe that black people behave worse than other people and need to be "held to the same standards." The problem is that you're not willing to admit that many other groups exhibit the exact same behavior elsewhere. That is why you are a racist. For you, everything comes down to race. Textbook case.
Comment: #6
Posted by: Geoffrey James
Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:08 AM
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Let me provide an example. The "birthers" believe that Obama is not a U.S. citizen, despite the fact that he has a Hawaii birth certificate and newspaper announcements in two contemporary newspapers. They believe this profoundly silly nonsense because their narrative is "a black guy could only become president through some kind of trickery." Therefore, they ignore the mountain of evidence and instead pretend that there's a conspiracy to suppress the "real" evidence. It's exactly the same thing that happens when some segments of the black population refuse to believe the evidence against black defendants. Their narrative is "black men can't get justice therefore that black guy must be innocent" and so they ignore the evidence and instead pretend that there's a conspiracy to suppress the "real" evidence. I'm all for holding people up to the same standard, but let's make the standard something "evidence trumps narrative." That way racists can't run around criticizing "blacks" for letting their narrative get in the way of the truth but continue cling to their own goofy narratives even when those narratives conflict with factual evidence.
Comment: #7
Posted by: Geoffrey James
Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:55 AM
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Re: the suggestion that blacks, as a group, tend to idolize gangsters -- while this may be true of some black folks, I don't think it's accurate to generalize it. As a counter-example, I grew up hearing stories about a bank robber named D.B. Cooper, who was idolized by the folks in my neighborhood. Cooper was white, and the folks I heard talking so admiringly about him, were almost all white. (People told admiring stories of how he committed a robbery from inside a jetliner, using dynamite as his weapon, threatening to kill everyone on board if he wasn't paid a ransom.... he did achieve his goal, got the ransom, jumped out of the plane without killing anyone, and was never caught.) He was very much of a folk hero in the U.S. And both British and Americans have told admiring stories about a robber named Robin Hood for several centuries. My point isn't that "white people idolize gangsters" --- it would be silly to generalize from my experience and claim it's evidence of the attitudes of a whole group. But it's equally silly to generalize in the same way about blacks or latinos other groups.
Comment: #8
Posted by: sarah morrow
Mon Jun 14, 2010 3:44 PM
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Re: the suggestion that blacks, as a group, tend to idolize gangsters -- while this may be true of some black folks, I don't think it's accurate to generalize it. As a counter-example, I grew up hearing stories about a bank robber named D.B. Cooper, who was idolized by the folks in my neighborhood. Cooper was white, and the folks I heard talking so admiringly about him, were almost all white. (People told admiring stories of how he committed a robbery from inside a jetliner, using dynamite as his weapon, threatening to kill everyone on board if he wasn't paid a ransom.... he did achieve his goal, got the ransom, jumped out of the plane without killing anyone, and was never caught.) He was very much of a folk hero in the U.S. And both British and Americans have told admiring stories about a robber named Robin Hood for several centuries. My point isn't that "white people idolize gangsters" --- it would be silly to generalize from my experience and claim it's evidence of the attitudes of a whole group. But it's equally silly to generalize in the same way about blacks or latinos other groups.
Comment: #9
Posted by: sarah morrow
Mon Jun 14, 2010 3:44 PM
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I wonder if Meeks or Matt is going to explain how a prominent South Carolina Republican can call Obama a "raghead" and yet still maintain that the party doesn't attract a certain number of white racists.
Comment: #10
Posted by: Geoffrey James
Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:09 PM
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Re: Geoffrey James. I wonder if you're going to explain how Jesse James calling New York "Hymietown" (in reference to Jews) doesn't make him and his crummy organization anti-Semitic. (Why don't you just go jerk off to The Boondocks or something, and leave the debate here to the adults?)
Comment: #11
Posted by: Matt
Fri Jun 18, 2010 12:31 AM
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Re: sarah morrow. As always, your perspective is mature and refreshing. I enjoy your comments in all the threads where I find them. It's clear that you're a Christian; nobody else would speak the way you do.
Comment: #12
Posted by: Matt
Fri Jun 18, 2010 12:34 AM
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Er, Jesse JACKSON, not Jesse James. I'm referring to Rainbow/PUSH. You know what I meant.
Comment: #13
Posted by: Matt
Fri Jun 18, 2010 12:34 AM
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JACKSON, not James. Oops.
Comment: #14
Posted by: Matt
Fri Jun 18, 2010 12:35 AM
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is Obama African american or Afmerican African ? We know he is not black he is biracial by the choice his mother made. He should have made his choice at the age of 21 as to which one he should put first America or african If it is Africa then he has no business being president of the US. So lets stop calling him African-American and call him an American
Comment: #15
Posted by: doris
Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:14 AM
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WHAT? How did one woman's (justifiable) displeasure of some crackpot creating an award for an alleged killer become another meaningless referendum on race relations in this country? You dropped the ball on this one, Mr. Meeks.
For 'Sarah': I don't know enough of your situation to make an informed opinion, but what I can say is that a) the public should decry the establishment of the award, and b) any recipient should have the good taste to decline it. Anything else is unacceptable.
For Matt and everyone else: this isn't a racial issue; it's a matter of what is socially acceptable. Nothing else to see, folks; keep it moving.
For Doris: This has even LESS to do with President Obama; why did you go there? He checked the BLACK box on his census form, and that should be more than enough for you. And as a quick geography lesson: Africa is a CONTINENT, not a country. Blacks haven't been classified in this country as African for about 300 years. The CORRECT annotation would be Kenyan-American, BUT since he's had next to no ties to his father's native land until well into adulthood, and having grown up mostly in Hawaii and Illinois, I think he made his choice. Besides, his mother was an American, and by that virtue so is HE. But in the end, as an American, he is ENTITLED to define himself as HE SEES FIT, and not in any manner that would be palatable to whites (and I hate it when white folks want to choose what to call me--We don't think all of you should call yourselves PINK!). He's a black man. Biracial, certainly. But most descendants of African slaves are at least part European, anyway. We're still black. Get over it.
Comment: #16
Posted by: Therren Dunham
Wed Jul 7, 2010 6:31 PM
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