Author Topic: Can you just imagine...  (Read 5089 times)

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sirs

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Can you just imagine...
« on: January 23, 2007, 11:57:35 AM »
...the absolute outrage if this were reversed?  So please explain to me why this isn't, and how they're overt racism is perfectly ok.  Perhaps Crane can place the best rationalization on this

Black Caucus: Whites Not Allowed

By: Josephine Hearn
January 22, 2007
 

Freshman Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, D-Tenn., is not joining the Congressional Black Caucus after several current and former members made it clear that a white lawmaker was not welcome.

"I think they're real happy I'm not going to join," said Cohen, who succeeded Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., in a majority-black Memphis district. "It's their caucus and they do things their way. You don't force your way in. You need to be invited."

Cohen said he became convinced that joining the caucus would be "a social faux pas" after seeing news reports that former Rep. William Lacy Clay Sr., D-Mo., a co-founder of the caucus, had circulated a memo telling members it was "critical" that the group remain "exclusively African- American."

Other members, including the new chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., and Clay's son, Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., agreed.

"Mr. Cohen asked for admission, and he got his answer. ... It's time to move on," the younger Clay said. "It's an unwritten rule. It's understood. It's clear."

The bylaws of the caucus do not make race a prerequisite for membership, a House aide said, but no non-black member has ever joined.

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who is white, tried in 1975 when he was a sophomore representative and the group was only 6 years old.

"Half my Democratic constituents were African-American. I felt we had interests in common as far as helping people in poverty," Stark said. "They had a vote, and I lost. They said the issue was that I was white, and they felt it was important that the group be limited to African-Americans."

Cohen remains hopeful, though, that he can forge relationships with black members in other ways.

"When I saw the reticence, I didn't want anyone to misunderstand my motives. Politically, it was the right thing to do," he said. "There are other ways to gain fellowship with people I respect."

Cohen won his seat in the 60 percent black district as the only white candidate in a crowded primary field. If he faces a primary challenge next year from a black candidate, as expected, some Black Caucus members may work to defeat him.

A similar situation arose in 2004 after redistricting added more black voters to the Houston district of former Rep. Chris Bell, D-Texas.

Although House tradition discourages members of the same party from working against each other, about a dozen black lawmakers contributed to Bell's opponent, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, the eventual victor. Even Bell's Houston neighbor, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, campaigned against him.

One black member who criticized his colleagues for sandbagging Bell was Cohen's predecessor, Harold Ford.

"You have an incumbent, and you don't support an incumbent? It was inappropriate," Ford told Congressional Quarterly in 2004.

Cohen has won high marks for hiring African-Americans. His staff is now majority African- American, he said, including his chief of staff.

 
Racism, alive & well
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

_JS

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2007, 12:08:52 PM »
Quote
So please explain to me why this isn't, and how they're overt racism is perfectly ok.

Security.
I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains.
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
   So stuff my nose with garlic
   Coat my eyes with butter
   Fill my ears with silver
   Stick my legs in plaster
   Tell me lies about Vietnam.

sirs

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2007, 12:41:08 PM »
Quote
So please explain to me why this isn't, and how they're overt racism is perfectly ok.

Security.

Sorry Js, you're going to have to elaborate a tad more, since that answer of "security" in and of itself, still doesn't justify overt racism
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

Brassmask

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2007, 01:30:50 PM »
It's racism.


Plane

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2007, 01:38:02 PM »
Could a White guy accept a junior membership , understanding that he will be subordinate even if he remains to be the most senior?


I was once asked to join BIG which does not lmit membership by race, perhaps I still should , but will I be a benefit to the group?


http://www.bignet.org/




sirs

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2007, 01:43:24 PM »
It's racism.

Thank you.  Now, why is it not condemned for such?  Why is this racism "accepted", which is going on, on a daily basis, with not a hint of condemnation, while folks like Lott get pillaried for a stupid comment?
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

Brassmask

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2007, 02:13:39 PM »
You tell me.  I don't know why its not condemned.  They're not as bad as say, the KKK but its clearly race-bias.  Is the Black Caucus funded by the government in any way?  It shouldn't be.

I'm sure lots of people have formed "White Caucuses", haven't they?

Amianthus

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2007, 02:20:16 PM »
Is the Black Caucus funded by the government in any way?  It shouldn't be.

Since they're all members of Congress, I'm sure they conduct their business in government facilities. In fact, I'm sure I've heard of them meeting in the Capital Building. They probably use their franking privileges for caucus mailings as well.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

Plane

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2007, 02:21:43 PM »
You tell me.  I don't know why its not condemned.  They're not as bad as say, the KKK but its clearly race-bias.  Is the Black Caucus funded by the government in any way?  It shouldn't be.

I'm sure lots of people have formed "White Caucuses", haven't they?


A White caucus would be pretty funny.

Who would want to join?

Members ready to retire?

_JS

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2007, 02:23:04 PM »
Quote
Sorry Js, you're going to have to elaborate a tad more, since that answer of "security" in and of itself, still doesn't justify overt racism

You justify the Israeli Government's overt racism with the word "security" so I thought it was suitable to every example of racist action.

Is it only justifiable when Israel uses it as an excuse for acts of overt racism? In fairness, their racism causes much more harm to individuals than this example.
I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains.
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
   So stuff my nose with garlic
   Coat my eyes with butter
   Fill my ears with silver
   Stick my legs in plaster
   Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Amianthus

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2007, 02:25:14 PM »
Is it only justifiable when Israel uses it as an excuse for acts of overt racism? In fairness, their racism causes much more harm to individuals than this example.

Israel is not a group of US Congresscritters.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

Brassmask

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #11 on: January 23, 2007, 02:27:23 PM »
Israel is not a group of US Congresscritters.

Boy, that's a lame reply.

Amianthus

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #12 on: January 23, 2007, 02:29:33 PM »
Boy, that's a lame reply.

Not really. Our racism laws apply to Americans (like Congresscritters) and not Israelis, unless they're in this country.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

BT

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #13 on: January 23, 2007, 02:30:27 PM »
Quote
Boy, that's a lame reply.

No more lame than excusing racism in the Unisted States House of Representatives because a foreign government exercises another form of racism.


_JS

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Re: Can you just imagine...
« Reply #14 on: January 23, 2007, 02:31:22 PM »
I don't recall excusing them.
I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains.
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
   So stuff my nose with garlic
   Coat my eyes with butter
   Fill my ears with silver
   Stick my legs in plaster
   Tell me lies about Vietnam.