Ethnically Speaking, November 22
by Larry Meeks
Dear Larry: Just because Barack Obama has been elected president, it does not mean blacks should think that racism is gone and that they don't need to continue to fight against racism from white people. Whites still hold the black man down. I think black people such as you, who say institutional racism is gone, are very damaging to our struggle. It is obvious that you do not know what is really happening in the world and that you are out of touch with the black race.
First of all, whit ...
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Posted by: Matt
Comment: #1
Sat Nov 22, 2008 6:32 PM
I'm completely disgusted by this letter writer and only wish Larry had written an even stronger rebuke. I'm pretty tired of hearing minorities (especially blacks) blame their struggles on whites...especially today in 2008. For some, it seems like it is forever Selma, AL, 1965. It's like the clock stopped and no progress in race relations or equality has been achieved in over 40 years of social progress. Electing a black man president doesn't prove that racism has been eradicated, no...though I'd better not have to hear about it any more since it does prove that the institutional barriers are long gone. Such a thing would have been unthinkable even 20 years ago, much less 40 or 60. I especially was amused by the writer's prevailing sentiment: "Many of those chef jobs should have gone to me, and I didn't get them because I'm black." How the f--- do you know that, buddy? Maybe the other chefs fit in better personality-wise, or for other reasons unconnected to their color. Maybe they had more of the kind of experience the restaurant wanted? Good golly, get a grip and buy a clue. Maybe you didn't get hired because you're an angry, hate-filled human being who blames others for his problems? It's not an attractive trait in an employee. Seriously...I'm tired of hearing this. I'd love for this man to spend a day seeing how ethnic minorities are treated in most non-Western countries.
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Posted by: BB
Comment: #2
Sat Nov 22, 2008 7:07 PM
Hey, guy. I doubt that Larry got his job as a token black writer. If he benefited from affirmative action, his ability kept him in the job and insured that people like me sign up to read his weekly columns.
As a Jew, I can recount a grim catalog of sins against my people. My great grandmother had to bury her sewing machine when she heard the Cossacks were coming because they would have smashed it just for the fun of it. There were signs posted in the lobby of hotels in the US saying: No Jews or Dogs. Not all the Nazis who participated in exterminating Jews were ever brought to trial, and not because they weren't known, either.
On the plus side, in this country I could go to college, working my way through, to become a teacher. I did not go to prestigious high schools. I read everything I could get my hands on and realized that education doesn't just happen while a teacher is in front of you. You have to listen and do the work and learn many things on your own. We had no books in our house. I used the public library and the school library. As a woman, I was passed over sometimes because the men above me never even considered me a candidate for leadership. I was lucky my grandparents came here because only in America could I have had the opportunities I had. I just had to reach for them.
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Posted by: Laurie
Comment: #3
Wed Nov 26, 2008 6:43 PM
well if racism hasnt been erradicated yet and neither has sexism, should I go off on how sexism has held me back? Should I sit here and blame all men for it? I could even blame Larry, he's male! I read a great article once about a woman who wanted to be a chemist but she couldn't succeed because she was a woman and the men put lots of barriers in place. Today she is a successful 50 something year old woman. Does she regret not going where she wants to go, you bet! But she said. I took what I learned and I put it to use, even if I didn't get to use it exactly for what I wanted and I still became successful! Instead of becoming a chemist (I think it was) she became a scientific consultant and still made great money. Crap happens, people try to limit other people for all sorts of reasons. I've seen plenty of parents be their child's worst enemy. I'm sorry the writer had such a crappy life that he still holds so much anger. let it go. I know people with disabilities who are so angry that God let them be born like that, that they cannot find any happiness. Do you think life is any easier for them then it would have been had they been born black 40 to 60 years ago? Has sexism affected my life, you bet, but I'm not going to let it alter the big picture of my probable future, and neither should anyone else.
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