[Grovenet] A few excellent thoughts on what it means to be an "American" . . .

[Holly T.]

Sure, Steven, like you, equal opportunity has made it harder for me to compete for jobs against those who are members of racial minorities during my career that spans over 30 years. Equal opportunity also prevented my daughter, who had a 3.7 accumulative GPA in her first four years of college, from getting accepted into the free-ride Doctorate program that she wanted because students who were inept at the nuances of the English language were chosen over her because they were from foreign countries that were on the quota list. 

But, when my grandmother was born in Tennessee, she was actually suckled by a Negro mammy wet nurse because my great-grandmother didn't have enough milk to feed her. Had that very special Afro-American woman not been willing to feed my grandmother, I very likely wouldn't be here today. My grandmother grew up on her father's plantation that was far away from the closest neighbor. The share croppers who worked my great-grandfather's plantation were the children and grandchildren of slaves who remained because they couldn't get jobs to feed their children following emancipation. 

So, I've always done my best to be extremely nice to Afro-Americans for that reason, and I tend to look the other way and figure that minorities deserve whatever they get when I see them being given preferential treatment. Especially when you consider what our imperialistic ancestors did to destroy many of their cultures. 

The only thing that bugs me is that you'd think I might've gotten a little more rhythm out of the deal than I did, but no such luck. Anyway, it's not how well you dance in life--just that you dance, right?!

Holly




________________________________
From: Steven <NoSpam03 at comcast.net>
To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 11:29:39 AM
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] A few excellent thoughts on what it means to be an "American" . . .

Sure rings true about white guys.
I don't think that white guys wrote the book on American Culture. It was
just that there were more of us and we were the ones required to go out and
get the jobs in that culture.
White guys were mostly in charge in European Culture, or British Culture.

The equal opportunity stuff sure ruined my advancement in the 70s and 80s. I
suffered yet my ancestors fought for the north in the Civil War. Why was I
punished?
  -----Original Message-----
  From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com]On
Behalf Of Bob Browning
  Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 10:26 AM
  To: Grovenet
  Subject: [Grovenet] A few excellent thoughts on what it means to be an
"American" . .

  A: Yes -- although the problem is that white people, men in particular,
are not allowed that same opportunity. Until we can figure out if “American
culture” means “white culture” or something new, this problem will remain.

  -Michael Giarrusso, AP regional news director

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