Pioneer1

This thought was inspired by a few questions Xeon raised in another thread: "Well, tell ya what...why don't you give me the name of one black African country in 2016, that leads the world in technological, medical and scientific development. Give me the name of one black African nation that is a global leader in engineering, economics, agriculture and education. How many black African nations are totally and completely free of technological assistance, infrastructure development and economic assistance from China, Europe or the US? And when you finish that list, give me another list of "non-Negro nations" and governments that are dependent on "black African countries" for technological advisors and developers. " 　 Hypothetically speaking..... What if it were proven beyond any doubt to both Blacks as well as Whites that the Black race is somehow intellectually inferior to Whites? How would that knowledge affect our outlook on life as individuals as well as collectively? How would it affect our social and political decisions? Perhaps some proud ones would argue in favor of mass suicide. Others for sure...infact many already are..would become open conformists submitting themselves to Whites as faithful servants and possibly even slaves. Would there then be a political movement by some Conformist negroes to convince the masses that their best bet is to humble themselves into docile servitude as a way of best getting along in society? How would it affect our relationship with OTHER races such as Asians and how we relate to them? How would it affect the LAWS? Could you no longer sue for discrimination since it would be "justified"? Would all the civil rights laws we fought for then have to be REVERSED? Or would Black people no longer be held accountable for certain crimes with the defense of mental deficiency...lol? Judge: "Ordinarily I'd give a person 25 years to life for such a heinous crime, but knowing how YOU PEOPLE are I'm sure you probably didn't know too much better. I'll let you go with a warning this time. Just make sure you apologize to his family at the funeral"

Sara The operative word is "considered." Doesn't negate the FACT that no one is born with chains. What DOES negate the "considered" part is that should the expectant mother follow the call of "Moses" and "slip away"; once in "the promised land," the newborn is NOT "considered" to be anyone's "property This is true indeed....except for being the property of her/his mother, lol. But as long as that mother is in the care of her "owner" then her and her unborn baby are considered his propery and both are in bondage until one or both are freed. However let me ask you...... Since you chose to call our ancestors ENSLAVED rather than SLAVES, this insiuates that after being born free they at some point in time were MADE slaves. So my question is at what point in their life do you recon most made the transition from freedom to "enslavement"? Birth? Puberty? Adulthood? According to your argument, if they weren't born slaves but rather started life free and were EN-slaved, then there HAD to be a set point in which their bondage began.

Sara I wasn't talking about black people. I was referring to Roman Catholic priests of all races, some of whom it is an "open secret" have sexual relations with women out of which are produced illegitimate children. I know you weren't just talking about Black priests. I figured you were making a point that sexual indiscretion happens among all races of priest and not just Black. Not only was I agreeing with you but also added that I didn't see them as problems pertaining ONLY to Black people incase you felt that this was what I was implying.

Sara As for 'clandestine' marriages - but MOSTLY illegitimate children - of Roman Catholic priests, that's an open secret. And it occurs on every continent in the world. Ofcourse promiscuity, cheating, and out of wedlock children occur all over the globe among all cultures and races. I'm in no way saying those are Black issues. However given our sensual nature that I believe is due in large part to our genetics/natural gifts, we need a culture that SUPPORS our heightened sexual activity...not one that represses it. We need a social and moral infrastructure that supports our strong sexual nature. -Extended families to take care of the many children -Effective birth control options for those who want to engage without children -Kama Sutra type philosophies to promote better and healthier sexual activity .....adopting the sexually repressive moral customs of hypo-sexed outsiders has and will continue to spell disaster for us because it was designed by and for people lacking sensuality to begin with and those are the only type of people it would work for.

Sara And one could also make the argument that we are all "born free." Afterwards, i.e., after drawing our first breaths, some of us are forcibly enslaved That's why I called it an argument, because I knew there were those of the above opinion....lol. Under the old Arab and Persian system of slavery, children of slaves were often free and accepted as full members of society absolved to not suffer the fate of their parents. Not all were, but many where...so under THAT system we could argue that many if not most children were born free with the OPTION of being put under the yoke of slavery. But there was no such option under the American system of slavery. Especially in the United States. Black people were specifically born and bred FOR the purpose of being slaves. The Black baby was considered "Massa's" property while yet still in the womb and was expected to earn him money some time in the future.

Xeon It seems that your argument SHIFTS from time to time. In one post you argue on how ridiculous it is that Blacks deserve reparations. In another post you argue on how ridiculous it is for Blacks to EXPECT reparations. So which position are you arguing from: Whether or not we DESERVE them, or whether or not we should EXPECT them?

　 Xeon To be fair, having lived on the West Coast the Latinos there have their own type of speech that mixes the corrupted Spanish of Mexico along with the corrupt English of America. And like you said many older Whites in the North East from Boston down into Pennsylvania still have that strong Eastcoast dialect though it doesn't seem to be as pronounced in the younger generation of Whites. I've met White people who claimed they were born and raised in Brooklyn who didn't have the slightest "Brooklynese" dialect. But as you've pointed out, that southern drawl of Black youth from the South (and Chicago for some reason) seem to stand out from the rest. I wouldn't even call it Ebonics. Ebonics I believe has a scientific explaination to it involving the West African syntax that seems to be genetically inherited. I attribute the vast majority of Black southern youth's desecration of human speech directly to the rap music so many have been listening to the past 15 or so years. I remember back in the early 90s you had southern rappers like Arrested Development and TLC who didn't sound ANYTHING like these slaves dominating the airwaves today. You couldn't tell them from Black youth who came from Detroit or Los Angeles. But then OutKast and Nelly (who's not even from the South) came out pushing that deep southern drawl in thier music and then New Orleans rappers and it's been downhill since. It seems that life started imitating art as Black youth from the South began to purposely drag and slur their words just to create a distinct sound they could call their own. But if only they knew how sloppy and uncivilized it sounds. Instead of saying, "Over there"....they started saying "Oba durrr". Straight up retarded. One of the most embarassing moments not just for hiphop but for the Black American community in my opinion was when Three Six Mafia came on stage to accept an award back in '06 and people could barely understand what the hell they were saying:

Sara Please give a source for the above contention. I've done a search and can find nothing that says the Pope gives a special dispensation to African continental priests to marry and have children. Thanx. The source is ANECDOTAL information that I've heard from numerous Nigerians, Ghanaians and other Catholic Africans over the years. Since you put me to the test I went to do a quick research on it myself and the only information I found showed that Catholic priests in Africa and Latin America that OFFICIALLY got married had to leave the church and start their own sect and now the Catholic church is considering allowing it. Perhaps the many Africans who told me this meant that the priests were married clandestinely instead of out in the open. They didn't mention anything about having children.

Xeon Nice try but the analogy will not work. It's like comparing apples and refrigerators. There is no logical nor intelligent argument for reparations -only an emotional one rooted in bombast, politics for racial grievance and fantasy. I understand this is an affront to your race pride and a sincere belief of the absurd. I got that. But trust me my friend -it's simply not going to happen! Well if you won't listen to me, listen to Dr Martin Luther 'da King's arguement as to why we need reparations: This man was a highly educated borderline genius and world renowned social reformer. Are you telling me YOUR argument against the idea of us getting reparations is more powerful than HIS argument for it? Are you telling me that when Dr King made his case for demanding from Washington what America owes us he was doing nothing more than entertaining an absurd fantasy?

Troy & Sara I would encourage you to read some of the titles on the Ben-Jochannan, Clarke & Van Sertima’s Reading Lists which help you understand why Africa has degenerated to the state you see it today. I would add to Troy's excellent list, "The Destruction of Black Civilization" by Dr. Chancellor Williams. In fact, I would suggest it be the FIRST book read. EXCELLENT RECOMMENDATIONS! Especially Chancellor Williams. I remember as a teenager spending hours in the Shrine of The Black Madonna bookstore in Detroit reading books by those authors. Books like: Destruction of Black Civilization They Came Before Columbus The African Origins of Civilization Troy 　 @Pioneer1, your reasoning is predicated on some questionable assumptions, one of which being a family structure based upon genetic makeup as a differentiating factor between Black and white people. Given the fact that there is no such thing as race the whole premise is flawed. Even if we were to buy into the assumptions (which I don't) the conclusion don't follow. For example; "Some men have very high sex drives but because they are limited to only one wife they begin to cheat with other women married and unmarried producing "outside" children in dysfunctional families" This assumes that men are like animals and unable to exert any influence over their own behavior. It also assume that the only way to relieve this urge is to impregnate another woman and that that woman brings the child to term. What happened to masturbation, prostitution, or just using a damn condom? The results you describe, simply don't natural flow as you've described. Well number one... The idea that there is no such thing such as race is a flawed theory in and of itself.....lol. It's like saying there is no such thing as sex when the difference between males and females are self evident. The CLASSIFICATION of "race" may be questioned, but the fact that racial differences exist is beyond any reasonable doubt. Number two...... We know that CULTURE is in part influenced by one's GENETICS. Races who have more tastebuds to taste with tend to produce foods with more spices and more flavor. Races who have more rods in their eyes allowing them to see more colors tend to produce more colorful clothes. The men of polygamous societies tend to have a higher testosterone rate (thus a higher sex drive) than men of more monogamous societies. It's scientifically proven across the globe that Black and Arab men (and women) on average have a higher testosterone rate than Northern European and East Asian men (and women). And their respective cultures reflect this as Northern European and East Asian cultures have been predominately monogamous through out history....most African and Arab cultures tend to be predominately polygamous either inside or outside the boundaries of marriage. Infact, even the Catholic Church recognizes this difference which is why they had to make an exception and allow priests in Africa to get married or keep their wives. It's not a matter of self control. It's a matter of allowing people to be who THEY are instead of demanding they live by standards established by those who have a different nature than then. As long as Africans in Africa OR the Americas insist on living by Northern European social standards they will continue to suffer from social and family problems as most of those standards go against our very genetic make-up. Rather than asking one group of men to control themselves in a sexually repressive society, why not flip it and demand that the other group be MORE SENSUAL and in accord with the dominant human nature?

Perhaps the first Africans who were brought overhere would most appropiately be called "enslaved" because they were taken from a free state of being and put under the yoke of bondage. However an argument could be made that those BORN in slavery weren't actually EN-SLAVED....they were born in bondage.

I still use the word "nigga" like it's going out of style. it's part of my everyday vocabulary. The only difference between my generation and most Black youth today is that we only said it when we were around eachother, rarely did we say it infront of White people. We instinctively knew the dangers of doing this. Until rap music came out, most Whites didn't know Black people called eachother nigga unlessl they heard it from Black comedians like Richard Pryor My mother used to constantly warn me about saying it so much but I still said it. And as karma would have it, I often cringe when I hear so many younger Black people saying it in public infront of White people. Now they have to constantly try and explain why it's ok for THEM to say it to eachother but it's not cool for Whites to say it. I also believe there is indeed a difference between "nigga" and "nigger". The two words hold two separate definitions. They may not have been initially, but WE as AfroAmericans have invented that difference and made it a reality. As far as differenciating between "slave" and "enslaved African". I think it's mostly semantics. For all intents and purposes if you don't have any power to prevent your kidnapping and subjegation then it doesn't matter WHAT you call yourself....you still are what you are....a slave.

Actually, I believe that the introduction and acceptance of non-African scientific theory and religious dogma contributed to the degeneration of sub-Saharan African culture. Can I prove it? No. Who CAN prove ancient history But just as one particular CULTURE of bacteria can change SWEET CREAM into SOUR CREAM or spoil it all together....I believe practicing a foreign CULTURE can take an advanced African people and turn them into self-destructive scientifically backward barbarians. For example if the Dogon people of Mali had a science that promoted astronomy, particular herbs for healing, and had ways of communicating with the spiritual realm that effectively solved their problems.... but adopted a Christian or Islamic culture that told them all of these things were either wrong and/or of the "devil" and then began practicing ritualized prayer and quotations from "holy scripture" to solve their problems. - that would collapse their society very quickly. Infact, just adopting a FAMILY STRUCTURE that is foreign to your people and goes against their very genetic make-up can prove disasterous. For centuries most African family structures were based on a type of polygamy that allowed men to have as many wives as they could AFFORD. But marriage wasn't required, nor was their a limit on the number of wives a man could have. The higher his status, the more wives he had....and he could take care of them and his children because his high status allowed him to afford it. Men who couldn't afford wives had to pay local/village prostitutes for sex. Now replace that with an religion that: a ) REQUIRED a man to get married whether he could afford to or not and b ) Limited him to only one (or in the case of Muslims 4) wife. Now this causes turmoil and social instability in a number of ways: 1.Some men have very high sex drives but because they are limited to only one wife they begin to cheat with other women married and unmarried producing "outside" children in dysfunctional families. 2. Children who grow up as "outside" or "illegitimate" feel unwanted and are often ostracized by the community. 3.Some men have plenty of money and married but are actively PURSUED by other women in the community who are single and need a man to provide for them which produces conflict between his wife and the other women. 4. Men who don't want to get married or aren't financially able to take care of a wife are forced to anyway by religious obligation and when they can no longer support their wives and children they often abandon them make more dysfunctional families. Now imagine the impact on society that will come from so many "illegitimate" children growing up in dysfunctional families! -Increased aggression from the anger of being thought of as "unwanted" growing up -Not being able to hold certain positions in government because of one's family status -Continuing the cycle of out of wedlock births Can you now see how just this one factor of adopting a foreign practice can lead to chaos and the eventual collapse of your society and send you into a state of backwardness? And the family structure is just ONE aspect of a culture, imagine what the outcome would be when the ENTIRE culture (diet, language, morality, ect....) is replaced by a foreign one as has been the case through out much of Africa.

I've seen it a few times. Game of Thrones isn't a bad show, it's well scripted and I enjoy the nudity it features...lol. But like said before, in my opinion it's just another advertisement for White Supremacy. Over the past decade I've seen a huge surge of these "mythological European past" shows like Lord of the Rings and Hunger Games popping up all over the big screen that seems to take the dark old days of Western Civilization and promote them as some sort of exciting adventurous time for which the White population should be nostalgic for. Where the men were "men" and the women were "naked and blond". Kind of like the obsession many Whites had a while back for the 50s and how they used to push the 50s music and cultural themes. It's as if the present world where Whites are forced to live and work around Blacks and other people of color and treat us as equals is so intolerable to them that they need some form of ESCAPISM to take them back to the "good old days" where you almost never saw any Black people....lol. These mythological past movies seem to do the trick. Most of the White women in them are super-model beauties and most of the White men are well-built super heroes. When I look at shows like this and the Lord of the Rings series, I really see it as a way Hollywood gets to feature movies with all or mostly White casts and justify it by claiming historical accuracy as an excuse for their lack of diversity. Sara 　The richest man who ever lived was Mansa Musa of Mali in the 14th century who founded Timbuktu which National Geographic described as the "Paris of the Medieval World": In the fifteenth century in Timbuktu the mathematicians knew about the rotation of the planets, knew about the details of the eclipse, they knew things which we had to wait for 150 almost 200 years to know in Europe when Galileo and Copernicus came up with these same calculations and were given a very hard time for it. Much of that knoweldge probably was in existence BEFORE Timbuktu was built by King Mansa. Africans probably knew more about science and astronomy BEFORE the invasion of the Arabs than afterward. Mansa Musa had a brother Abubakari whom he financed who sailed over to and explore the Americans CENTURIES before Columbus. I believe all those Olmec Heads they found in Mexico belonged to Abubakari and his crew.

　 Still I appreciated the opportunity to give a actual kiss on the cheek, something that still can't be done virtually Now WAIT a damn minute...... Neither one of you mentioned ALL OF THAT in your first few posts about the encounter. With every post more and more seems to leak out.....LOL. First it started with a tap on the back. Next a big hug is included in the story. NOW I'm hearing about Troy kissing her all over the cheeks and carrying on....... I wonder how much will we know by Memorial Day???

Concerning Kamau Bell having a white wife..... Kamau takes me as the type of brother who probably had a hard time attracting Black girls growing up. I'm not the best at judging how attractive other men may appear to women, but his looks and his demeanor/personality probably didn't appeal to too many Black girls and it probably led to him having better "luck" with White females. I don't really KNOW how Mr Bell grew up so I'm only guessing because I've seen it among Black men of his type so often. And vice-versa with many Black women who probably got more attention from White males growing up than from Black boys who may have seen them as unattractive.

No, I'm not big on Game of Thrones I put it in the same category as the movie that came out a few years ago "300". I'm not the type of person who sees a conspiracy around every corner but I see it as a tool of White Supremacy. It seems to do a lot of embellishing on medival European culture making it seem more technologically and socially advanced than it really was. And it features far too many supermodel looking naked White women and unnaturally virile White men for me to be entertained by it.

Early on in the Civil Rights Movement there were scoffers who declared that White people would NEVER give Black people the right to vote, or go to the same schools as their children, or live in their neighborhoods. NEVER...NEVER...NEVER. And to talk of having a Black (half Black?) President in THOSE days qualified you to be chased down these guys: But look at what we've accomplished in the past 50 years! The only limits we have are the limits we place on ourselves. I saw on the news a couple days ago where IRAN is demanding that the U.S. pay them reparatiosn for the years they had an embargo on their nation.

I saw more topless Black women in the first 15 minutes of Shaka Zulu than I saw in the ENTIRE Coming to America movie! They rarely show it on television today. And when they do they seem to edit much of it out. I remember when Shaka Zulu would come on it took 5 nights for them to conclude the series. Ofcourse this was back in the day when only WHITE breast were banned on television. All others were acceptable. I remember watching PBS and they thought nothing of showing naked tribal women from Africa and South America with no censoring what so ever. I remember asking as a kid about those little patches below their navel...lol. Almost every night you could find Ethiopian women sitting in the middle of the desert breastfeeding their babies and swatting the flies away while Sally Struthers is walking around in Khakis begging the public for money to help them. Back then it was considered natural that Black and Brown breasts should be exposed for the world to see. Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake were just a little too late with their Superbowl stunt.

Cnn Has Kamau Bell He was Interviewing The KlAn.Those Terror Idiots Some Had Their White And Green Hoods On. I remember brother Kamau had a show on CNN years ago and he seemed pretty "real" to me. However I must say..... I have a slight problem with the loose and flippant way he seems to portray the Klan in his new show's advertisement. As Harry pointed out, this is an organization of TERROR. The KKK has a well documented history of torturing and slaughtering men, women, and children that goes back well over a hundred years. For him to portray these clowns in a funny entertaining way such as singing along in the car with other passengers, or jumping rope, or shaking hands with a Black man almost seems to "clean up" their image or even make them look benign in the minds of an ignorant public. If one didn't know their history, from looking at those commercials one would think the KKK is just some fraternity that dresses up in robes and has lodge meetings from time to time. Troy The above picture is the face and attitude of "corporate America". The boardroom is overwhelmingly White and overwhelmingly female, and this is one of the main reason that Black men rarely can be found in executive positions in corporate America and if they are they're usually gay or so passive they're too scare to take a leak without asking for permission first. Except for the shareholders themselves who just invest and stay out of the day to day administrations; one generally will not be successful inside most corporations unless one is well acquainted with Middle Class White female CULTURE.

The only question I have is..... Will there be any NUDITY in this series???? This is why since a kid even to this day Shaka Zulu is STILL one of my favorite t.v. movies. Never had I seen so many naked Black women on television in my young life, lol. Sara And I agree, no need for a remake.... of another "the history of black people in the U.S. is limited to slavery" movie. I hear you, I think the story of the Black holocaust needs to be told so that no generation ever forgets it. But I really do get tired of constantly seeing our people portrayed as slaves and criminals living on the bottom of Western Civilization. I'd like to see more Black directors come out with movies that glorify our past BEFORE the Transatlantic Slave Trade. How about a movie on the Moorish Civilization? Or on Timbuktu? I want to see beautiful Black woman and tall Black men gliding around in silk robes and gold chains making love to eachother and eating good food. If they can't find history of us doing this....hell....MAKE IT UP ! Like they do with the Game of Thrones. At this point, I'd settle for a sci-fi picture of African glory than to continue seeing movies portraying dumb-ass greasy negroes shuffling around grunting and getting whipped.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that with the hell so many people have been catching these past 7 years in urban areas....from mass joblessness and loss of property resulting form the '08 financial crisis, to so many well publicized cases of police executing people, as well as a general increase in crime and homelessness in certain big cities.....that the Black suicide rate would magically drop. Like Dr Umar Johnson and certain other Black psychologists, I too question many of these statistics. Who's doing them? What are they calling "suicide"? Spirits soared in the Black community directly after Obama took office. But hopelessness and despire have been pretty high in Black America these past 4 or 5 years because of his indifferent or inept social policies.

Of course, what I failed to mention is that there are others categories besides the either/or "educated" and "intelligent" ones with all of their variations. Some people are neither. They're just dumb. They let others do their thinking for them. This is why Donald Trump has such a large following. That, and Donald Trump is smart enough to speak the language of the masses, unlike President Obama the Harvard Law Professor who too often SPEAKS like one. Trump lies and exaggerates and even speaks DOWN to the public in an insulting way (like Sara Palin with her Joe six-pack examples) , but he does it in a way that even the most simple redneck can easily understand. People don't support what they don't understand and Democrats must learn this. Republicans from a Federal level all the way down to the local level have DUMD DOWN the public and now they can eastily lie to them and fool them. But speaking of dumb people........ This may sound a little "counter productive" for the good of society, but I don't believe in penalizing stupidity or laziness. I don't believe in ENCOURAGING it, but people can't help it if they are born with low intelligence. Ofcourse people can engage in reckless behavior like drugs and alcohol abuse as well as daredevil stunts that can cause brain injury, but for the most part intelligence is something you are born with and unless we want to be like Nazi Germany where Hitler wanted to kill off all Germans who's intelligence fell below a certain IQ level, I don't think they should be punished for an unfortunate state of intellectual being. I've talked to those who think people of very low IQ should be held to the same standards as everyone else in society and not only work but should hold jobs like nursing assistance and work in the fast food industry. But do you really want "stupid" people taking care of you or a loved one in a hospital when they're in a state of vulnerability and one little slip up by the nurse's assistant could cost the patient their life? Do we really want a "stupid" person handling food that must be eaten by the public....raw meats and dairy products at fast food resturants? I believe ONE of the reasons that there has been so many cases of food contamination in different resturants lately is because you have too many "stupid" people who can't or won't go by the established methods of washing their hands and making sure food is properly separated and refrigerated. I envision a society where those who are between retarded and normal....so-called "stupid" people....can atleast find some simple job that doesn't put the public in danger. But I would much rather see my tax dollars go to supporting a stupid or lazy man to spends his time dodging work and hanging out at a homeless shelter with a clean bed, bowl of oatmeal, and a piece of fresh fruit, than risking him fixing meals that people have to eat or be responsible for bathing and feeding loved ones in a nursing home......or trying to rob someone.

(I think, therefore I am) I haven't heard that term in Latin in a while An old girlfriend who was a paralegal and studied a little Latin used to use that phrase a lot. I learned a while back that most people have gifts or talents (such as writing, public speaking, music, painting, ect...) that only need a little enhancement through perhaps a simple apprenticeship. There's not need to spend a fortune on a 4 or 6 year degree. That highly structured regimented environment you described is the very thing that beats the creativity out of so many young people when they join the academic world. It's too left-brained. There's not enough room to allow one's creativity to flourish. Something I find pretty strange........ I just got through reading a book that describes how much of Asia is suffering today because for the past 40 or 50 years they've been so focused on left-brained activities like studying, test taking, science, ect....that they've lost their creativity and have looked to the West to INVENT things so that they can copy them and improve upon them. But the problem now is because they were beating America in test scores and science for so long, the West decided about 15 years ago to push for more left-brained agenda in their schools also like standardized test scores and STEMS programs. And that shift to a more left-brained cirriculum has led to a drought in creativity through out much of America now! Today's academic culture does a lot to stifle individual creativity BUT if one is aware of this, then they can participate in projects that help maintain it. ....or just take LSD like Mr Jobs, lol.

Part of healing and uplifting the Black community is breaking out of the old sexually repressive and patriarchal structure that was imposed on our people and figuring out a social structure that works for US. One of my partners actually helped me understand the pain so many women and especially Black women go through in this society. Not that I'm a super macho guy, but I just don't cry much. I think the last time I actually cried was when my father passed away, and before that when my mother passed years earlier. However a few years ago we were just sitting around after a meeting sipping on coffee and she told me something that for some reason almost brought tears to my eyes. She was telling me about how her and her 2 older brothers grew up and how she routinely got better grades than them and when they all went off to school her brothers got new cars for graduating college and all she got was a new DICTIONARY. Apparently her Preacher father didn't believe so much in girls getting an education as he did boys as he figured men should be the maintainers so the emphasis should be on THEM getting a good education and finding a good job. I know there are worse examples of sexism in the world, but for some reason everytime I hear that story it brings up a mixture of sadness and anger . All the years of hearing about how women were abused and killed in the Middle East...though sad...still didn't produce that type of reaction in me and I'm STILL not sure why. But everytime she tells me or another this story she says it with a laugh and talks about how it's just a small example of the routine sexist treament she's had to deal with for her 50 plus years in this world. I've heard similar stories....some even worse...from other Black women about how they were treated in their own families. She and other women around me have helped me to recognize the pain that woman, homosexuals, and even just passive men have had to deal with much of their lives in such a type-A society where it's all about strength and results. Often times men take things as simple as being able to walk to the store at 2 am to get a snack for granted not realizing that most women can't do this without the fear of being sexually assaulted or accused of being a prostitute walking the street at that time of night. From time to time I wonder do White people see the priviledges of being White the same way I see the priviledges of being a man? Or does it have to first be brought to their attention that they actually ARE priviledged, and then afterward receive a reminder from time to time to keep them in touch with the reality experienced by others?