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Lobby Okay Activist Archives topic #11848

Subject: "Thank You !!!" This topic is locked.
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gee
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194 posts
Sat May-20-00 12:03 AM

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57. "Thank You !!!"
In response to In response to 0


  

          

I must admit when I first saw the title I came with a negative attitude. Not because I think of myself as white but because I thought you were going to come with a piece against whites. Which you did but it was truly something from a different place and when I finished I didn’t feel diminished just educated.

I’ll try and make myself clear hear. I have no clue how you define my heritage, not because I’m not interested but because it’s too dammn complicated to hang a simple label on me. I live in England; I am a mixture of English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish blood but it gets more complicated. I bring this up at a time in the UK when the question of what it is to be English is being brought up due to the devolution of our political processes. There have been Welsh and Scottish assemblies set up and people have noticed the strong national identities present in these counties and are asking what about us? The problem is that when people start talking about the English our colonial past, rule Britannia and the great Anglo-Saxon Englishman are the things that are the most commonly talked about. I heard a musician called Billy Bragg talk about this at one of his concerts; one of his songs was about the most important part of Anglo-Saxon being the hyphen. There is no such thing as a pure bred Englishman; they are a mix of Celtic, Scandinavian, Saxon and various Europeans. Why does this upset them? Because the kind of person who believes in this lie is the kind of xenophobic person who hates all Europeans, Asians and blacks but yet they have no idea of where they truly come from. I have witnessed this in the flesh, at the moment I live in a halls of residence in Cambridge and we have a broad range of nationalities and colours represented in the building. There is a guy who perpetuates this xenophobic attitude, he will start talking all sort of rubbish at the foreigners and talk shit about race but he is a product of his upbringing and environment. There is no way to communicate with him on this because he is set in his way and there is no point in brow beating him. Now where am I going with this?

Well, labels are dangerous because they are simply words used to define people and a person is a very complicated thing to describe with a single word. There is too much room for interpretation and misinterpretation, unless we educate people about open-mindedness early how are we going to persuade people that colour or geography or whatever else sets you apart as different doesn’t matter. That celebrating our differences and knowing our history as it applies to the world today is important.

At the time of the Stephen Lawrence enquiry Spike Lee was over here and was interviewed about the report. He was asked whether he was surprised about what was currently going on in Britian and he replied why shouldn’t it happen to us in Britain? I can’t remember exactly what he said so don’t quote me on this but I’d like to ask a question. Have you got any idea how we move forward? If a guy who is black looks at me and discounts me because of my colour that is unfair on me as a person but I can’t blame him considering his probable experiences. Just how am I personally meant to deal with this? Sorry for the length but I am as confused on this issue as anyone is and while you have been concentrating on the American issues I thought that as it is a universal problem I’d drop my two pennies worth.

PEACE

gee

gee

The key is complexity

  

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White Lies [View all] , KoalaLove, Tue May-16-00 05:07 AM
 
Subject Author Message Date ID
part one
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
1
The white girl
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
2
RE: part one
May 19th 2000
46
RE: part one
biggs1777
Aug 29th 2001
71
All Whites are Racist
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
3
Thanks K.
May 16th 2000
4
You ask why?
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
6
Reading is Fundamental
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
5
I was wondering ...
May 16th 2000
12
      Havent even looked
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
13
Other Conversations
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
7
more
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
8
      the end
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
10
The Census
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
9
Wow
KoalaLove
May 16th 2000
11
Up dammit
May 16th 2000
14
Double Wow
May 16th 2000
15
      The key
KoalaLove
May 17th 2000
16
RE: White Lies
blue
May 17th 2000
17
The truth is...
KoalaLove
May 17th 2000
23
Propoganda
KoalaLove
May 17th 2000
18
RE: Propoganda
KoalaLove
May 17th 2000
19
      RE: Propoganda
KoalaLove
May 17th 2000
20
RE: White Lies
WRAY
May 17th 2000
21
Its in there
KoalaLove
May 17th 2000
22
peep White Lies by Maurice Berger
May 22nd 2000
60
embracing ethnicity
Isis
May 17th 2000
24
You got it
KoalaLove
May 17th 2000
25
      RE: You got it
Isis
May 17th 2000
26
           tell me more
KoalaLove
May 17th 2000
27
Reaching out
KoalaLove
May 18th 2000
28
One guy said...
KoalaLove
May 18th 2000
29
So i said...
KoalaLove
May 18th 2000
30
Then another guy said
KoalaLove
May 18th 2000
33
      so somebody else responded...
KoalaLove
May 18th 2000
34
      ...and then I said...
KoalaLove
May 18th 2000
35
      What I said to this guy was...
KoalaLove
May 18th 2000
36
race is a social construct........
May 18th 2000
31
Thats what bugs me
KoalaLove
May 18th 2000
32
      RE: Thats what bugs me
Aaron
May 18th 2000
37
           that was me!
May 22nd 2000
61
my question
May 18th 2000
38
my take
Aaron
May 18th 2000
41
Nature of the threat
KoalaLove
May 19th 2000
42
koalalove, thankyou...
May 18th 2000
39
Im so flattered
KoalaLove
May 19th 2000
43
Thank You...but...
BeeFred
May 18th 2000
40
Hell naw
KoalaLove
May 19th 2000
44
      Boo-dah PLEASE KEEP THIS UP FOR A FEW DAYS
May 19th 2000
45
           It's not going anywhere
May 19th 2000
51
                You know me
KoalaLove
May 19th 2000
52
                     You my homie and all but...
May 22nd 2000
64
                          I was wondering..
KoalaLove
May 22nd 2000
65
next question
May 19th 2000
47
RE: next question
KoalaLove
May 19th 2000
48
      RE: next question
May 19th 2000
49
           RE: next question
KoalaLove
May 19th 2000
50
Whew**
May 19th 2000
53
It is sad
KoalaLove
May 19th 2000
54
      But you know what...
May 19th 2000
55
           I'm glad you feel its not enough
Aaron
May 19th 2000
56
Standing ovation for koala n/m
SheRise
May 20th 2000
58
If
iluvmaxy
May 20th 2000
59
refer to post #48...n/m
May 22nd 2000
62
      Thank You
KoalaLove
May 22nd 2000
63
Okay K I'm here...
May 23rd 2000
66
this dude's right
May 29th 2000
70
Up....
May 25th 2000
67
up!
May 26th 2000
68
up!
May 26th 2000
69

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