I don’t often share the email that I get from readers from my site, if only because I don’t get much in my mailbox. I get a lot of comments (as you all can see) but it’s seldom that there’s anything non-business related in the Inbox – seldom does not mean never. Below is an email that I got from one particular reader that calls herself “Sista_Respect”. I thought I’d share it with you all because a) my response is ever bit a potential post here on it’s own but b) she has yet to answer my reply, which has pissed me off, so I’ll out her publicly.
Sister_Respect writes: I just have one question. What is your problem with African Americans? Really?? You could either tell the truth, or lie, as your people are known to do. Pick one. Love grows, its not made.
I responded with: Um, I don’t have a problem with African-Americans… Why do you think I have one with them?
I might have a problem with people that have been born and raised in America that still feel that they have to declare themselves [Insert a Nation here]-American, but that goes for Italian-American or Anglo-American or Vietnamese-American. If you’re born here, you’re American: it’s that simple. I also have an issue with people that proclaim that they want to be treated “equally” by demanding extra favors or special treatment, but this too transcends gender and race. My annoyance with such proclamations can be applied to anyone, including the wealthiest and elitist groups in the world.
I did have a problem with any groups that would try to extort money from companies that dealt in a now-illegal business over 200 years ago, for a cause that was abominal, sure, but one that cannot be fixed with cash to victims unknown and unseen. Why shouldn’t I be pissed that a group wants to penalize me (or the companies I’ve invested in) for something that I, nor my ancestors, were guilty of? My ancestors didn’t even come to American until after 1900, so why should I be held responsible for things I had no ability to cause nor hinder?
I also have a problem with people hanging CD’s from their mirrors because this is a driving hazard, and while a high percentage of the people that do this are Puerto Rican, I don’t complain about them because they are Puerto Ricans – I complain about the people that blind me with their stupid swinging mirror on sunny days regardless of who they are or what their nationality is.
And now as I’ve answered your question, and rambled on, let me ask you a question of my own: What do you mean by “as your people are known to do”?
What people? Am I Moses [or Herschel the Star-Gazer,] leading a herd of freed slaves out of Egypt saying “Let my people go?” Am I Malcolm X and attempting to rally people to my cause and telling them that the only way to achieve freedom during the 1960s is through unity? Am I a liar because I write a blog or because I tend to speak my mind on a website that I run? Are you assuming that I would lie to you because I might not be African-American? Why are you already convinced that you know me by my skin color, or don’t you realize that this little statement makes you as racially segregated and biased as you’ve presumed me to be?
Love grows, true… but ignorance festers like mold.
I will never claim that I know how it feels to be a member of a minority, but also have observed that the quickest accusers are often the worst offenders themselves.
Humans are a cruel species. All each of us can do is to judge one another based on merit and raise our children to do the same.
“You could either tell the truth, or lie, as your people are known to do.”
This “person” sounds like the racist
Well that’s what I’m saying and that’s also why it’s here: the fact that she didn’t even respond to my email is what pissed me off the most.
How dare you? How dare you talk about egyptian slaves being freed?
More seriously, because your feed is so popular, I would love for you to publicly announce what history professors and egyptologists have been saying for years, that except for a very low minority of war prisonners, there were no slaves in egypt, that horses didn’t exist for egyptians when the pyramids were built (they were introduced much later) and that the jews working on pyramid constructions and on many more buildings were receiving a salaray and were on strike when not paid? Just historical facts.
Um, don’t take this wrong way, but what in the heck are ya talking about? The Moses reference? That’s not meant to be a political or historical statement, but a biblical reference. If ya don’t subscribe to a particular religion, consider it a movie reference from “Wholly Moses!” (which is where Herschel is from), “The Prince of Egypt”, or “The Ten Commandments”.
As for publically announcing anything, historical facts won’t be one of them because they can always be slanted or skew’d – look at the American Revolution, for example. Some say it was a bunch of rich greedy farmers that were tired of paying England taxes – others say it was a revolution to overthrow the tyranny of the English monarchy and declare freedom for all people in one nation. The English have a completely different view of it, too, if not two or three. All of it based on historical facts.