I used a lot of really racist terms, 50 years ago.

[Archae]

I was just a kid, and when playing with friends, we didn't have a "dog pile?"
We used the n-word.

We also used it in "Eeenie, meenie, meinie, moe," instead of "tiger."

We were young, and we could be really stupid.

So now, when is Steve King going to resign, for his clear still-racist attitude?

[EffieBlack]

1. What's your point?

[PJMcK]

13. Did you read the last sentence of the OP?

I think that's the point.

[EffieBlack]

32. Yes, I read the OP, including the last sentence.

I still would like to know what's the point.

[oberliner]

2. Seriously?

Where did you grow up?

[maxsolomon]

48. I grew up in Cincinnati

and I learned that same rhyme in the early 70s.

we weren't supposed to say it, but the kids that didn't go to Catholic Mass with us, the kids that had parents who'd moved from Appalachia? they had no such restrictions.

my Grampa used bigoted terms like "lawn jockey" and "schwarzes". my Dad didn't. we didn't.

[backabby-blue]

3. We're not republicans.

Whataboutism regarding Steve King should not apply to us. I'm glad you are not a Governor of a state.

[peacefrogman]

4. By the time I was 6 or 7 I knew better. I was fighting it at 8, 10.

Before we are even cognitive of racism is not the discussion. This man started using the nickname coonman by teenage years. Even way back then I certainly knew how very offensive that is and what it would be saying about me. I am not going to sign up with the "we all do stupid stuff" crowd. I want no part of that.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. Whew, these threads from white people talking about racist terms, items and actions from their

childhood. Like...okay??

[wasupaloopa]

7. It isn't for your benefit but for your education. Ignore them if you want but don't shit on them!

Don't tell me you have it all down. You are as one dimensional as all of us. You are not the only one with feelings. Get off my back!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. My education? What do I need to learn?

[wasupaloopa]

12. I would get tombstoned if I answered that.

Think of the term empathy. Can you have it for me? No because I have white privilege. Only white people can be racists because we have the power.

We have read it all here over the years. We take sides here as our parents did back then but with reversed roles. We will never be equal until you can have empathy for me.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. .

Removing gif in response to your edit.

Honestly though, I'm confused. We know people grew up surrounded by racist imagery and terms and costumes. People to this day still do, because e live in a white racist country. But some people NEVER used those terms. And a lot of people were ACTIVELY HURT by those terms and the world those terms built. So for people to recite the terms and rhymes and things they said, as if that excuses elected officials, is odd to me.

We have read it all here over the years. We take sides here as our parents did back then but with reversed roles. We will never be equal until you can have empathy for me.

We who? Why do you not think I have empathy for you?

[wasupaloopa]

21. You are the wounded one. I'm the one with the gun.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

23. You're speaking in riddles. What is the wound?

[Squinch]

29. Time to step away from the keyboard now.

[Codeine]

15. Hard to be white.

[wasupaloopa]

18. Your the wounded one and no one can try to treat you because they are damned it they do and damed if

don't. Soon you will have a log on your shoulder.

[Codeine]

20. The hell did that word salad mean?

Seriously, that’s an unparsable sentence.

[wasupaloopa]

24. In your eyes I always have to be wrong and you are always the inocent victim.

[Codeine]

25. No, in my eyes

you’re just an angry old man screaming at a changing world, fearful that you won’t automatically be considered the good guy anymore.

Anyone who considered themselves “victimized” for being white is pathetic.

[Polly Hennessey]

46. "You are"

[EffieBlack]

33. I mean, really?

Explains a lot.

[wasupaloopa]

6. Probably every early Boomer said and did racist things. Not out of spite but out of ignorance. We

didn't give other people's feelings a thought. We wanted to be accepted by our peers so we did what everyone else did.

[Archae]

11. We were ignorant, and we picked up those words from our peers, and our parents.

So why is Northam being slammed for a stupid thing he did DECADES ago?

Are we getting too "politically correct," as the right-wingers claim?

Sure looks that way.

[njhoneybadger]

28. He didn't just fall off a turnip wagon at the time. He was in medical school

And now he's lying his ass off.

[wasupaloopa]

34. People were hurt and still hurt by that picture and action. The intent was not to hurt I believe.

I say that because in the sixties or eighties awareness of the consequences of the actions was not there.

The punishment sought does not fit the crime.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

37. But awareness WAS there. Black people were fully aware of the hurt these actions caused,

whether it was 1890, 1920, 1950, 1984 or 2019. Black people know. To say that the awareness was not there erases black people's experiences.

[wasupaloopa]

41. Yes I realize that now.

I could not see the hate or hurt in the rebel flag. We decorated everything with it. Cultural awareness is a hard thing to gain.

[ariadne0614]

47. Exactly.

To paraphrase Simone de Beauvoir, “Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of (dominant white culture) men. They describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with the absolute truth.”

[ZZenith]

8. Perhaps you shouldn't be governing a state either.

[Squinch]

10. And when was the last time you went out on the town in a KKK hood and robes?

For that matter, when was the last time Steve King did it?

[marble falls]

16. Sure you want to use Steve King?

[Squinch]

19. Just saying, this was something even HE hasn't been seen to have done.

[marble falls]

26. I would not be a bit surprised if he did, too. Rural Iowa.

[Squinch]

27. No, me neither.

[ProudLib72]

44. Well, duh, Squinch. Because he was under the hood and robe

My God, he is so blatantly racist, outspokenly racist, I have a hard time not believing he doesn't wear a KKK outfit.


He doesn't really excuse his behavior, though, does he?

[Codeine]

17. And if photos of you in blackface,

Klan regalia, or an SS uniform emerged then rest assured I would not want you in charge of a state either.

[cyndensco]

22. Yeah, I remember when white kids used to recite eenie, meenie, miney, mo.

I would be so relieved when it was a tiger that they caught. A few of the white kids used the n-word - like you did - and it was beyond painful to me.

If I ran into one of the little white kids who used the n -word in front of me (though I do not remember any of them), I would want nothing to do with them. Even if they have grown up and are no longer young and stupid, I do not think they would be worth my time.

[wasupaloopa]

38. I think you know what we called the licorice that was shaped like a black baby. I called it that.

I said the n word not tiger. We also called some dark nuts N toes.

Also a very bad rhyme I won't use here.

To us it was funny and I would go as far as saying we meant it to be hurtful. Though the object of our meanness was not around.

The "Our Gang" comedies were a special favorite and showed us the stereotype to make fun of.

It was a part of our everyday life.

Racism was taught to us. Spoon fed to us. We were conscientious and un conscientious of it.

The movie Mississippi Burning has some very good lines that are relevant to this discussion.


edit:



Mrs. Pell : It's not good for you to be here.

Agent Anderson : Why?

Mrs. Pell : It's ugly. This whole thing is so ugly. Have you any idea what it's like to live with all this? People look at us and only see bigots and racists. Hatred isn't something you're born with. It gets taught. At school, they said segregation what's said in the Bible... Genesis 9, Verse 27. At 7 years of age, you get told it enough times, you believe it. You believe the hatred. You live it... you breathe it. You marry it.

[cyndensco]

45. If the object of your meanness was not around, well good.

I am glad you did not subject some child to the racism you were spoon fed. Good thing there were none of us around you and your friends. Or that those who were around knew enough to avoid you.

I have always assumed (some) white folk say worse things when I am not within earshot. To be honest, I don't really care what they might say in private - what I don't know won't hurt me.

As such, no, I do not know what you called black licorice and don't give a shit.

[Brawndo]

30. We should hold ourselves to a higher standard than republicans

Just because they excuse/endorse Steve King for his bigotry does not mean we should emulate that and cede the moral high ground. You said those things as a child, Northam made a choice as a mature sentient adult with an awareness of history, it is disqualifying in the extreme for any public office.

[virgogal]

39. Not all Rebubs are racist.

Ed Brooke from MA was a Republican.

[Brawndo]

42. Ok so Ed Brooke and Tim Scott, does that make a trend?

Not all republicans are racists, but you wont lose money betting on which political party a racist identifies with. I'll amend my viewpoint when their actions make me question my conclusion and not before.

[virgogal]

49. It depends on the decade.

Back in the 50s the southern Dems were the racists,but not ALL Dems.

We only hear from the troublemakers on both sides.

[JustAnotherGen]

31. My rec is for the last line

Yep - Steve King is ANY different?

Guy is a racist who supports racist legislation - and he gets to stay?

The GOP can shut up on Northam. He's our issue. Their hands aren't clean.

[uponit7771]

35. Would you tell someone about all this before you ran as governor?

[Clash City Rocker]

40. I used that word a couple times when I was a little kid, before I knew what it meant

I thought it was just a word used to insult people. Luckily I used it within earshot of my mother once. My mom, who is the gentlest person I’ve ever known, screamed at me that we don’t use that word, then she told me what it meant. I was appalled, and I never used it again. Thanks, mom.

My parents were certainly not liberals, but they taught us to be moral people. This isn’t about right and left, it’s about right and wrong.

[Blue_true]

43. I never used racists name calling in my life.

For some reason, I could never bring myself to call people racist names, even when I was a boy. I did not have any cross race friends in college, but once I started working I did. It is easy for a person to fall into racist name calling when that person lives in an insular world. I was fortunate that I got enough exposure to other races not to fall into that trap as a boy.