Haha…like a friend of mine would say, “fery vunny!”

The word “black” tend to be associated with anything negative -

black widow, blackmail, black sheep and furthermore ……

. The recent social research on such preference of white and black dolls among the African American young gals still come eerily nowaday despite of 40 years of societal/racial progress. This research seems conducted at the very wrong moment as the racial relations usually swing like a pendelum.

The PC incident at the Starbuck was kinda lurid within the so-called language militant. Was the service industry like the coffeehouse suppose to provide effective and quick service to customers without any questions? The customer did not refer to the Starbuck employee within racial classification.

If I were the customer at this very same Starbuck incident. I would say “You are not seen as a black to me. I know that there are different 22 skin colors among your people. What is yours, please? I just order the color of coffee itself. Do you sitll have any problem with my order? You should argue with the society at large for classifying primary color hues - red, white, blue, purple, yellow, green and pink. You forget the basic rule of business equitette - “Never argue with customer! Thanks! May I have my coffee?”

The pre-80s generation seems making a habit of saying things without being politically correct. My deaf (deceased) mother always loved to sew the “Aunt Jeminia” toaster cover which she thought that it was very exquistive and cute. Many deaf friends of her begged my mother to make those ‘Aunt Jemina” toaster cover. My deaf mother was not a racist or have any racist thoughts in her blood or bones. I finally persuaded my mother not to make more of “Aunt Jemina” toaster coast which was very socially outdated in the early 80s.

Am I white? I happen to have an mixed skin combination of olive and white skin.

Robert L. Mason (RLM)

Va. Delegate Proposes Juneteenth Measure
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....00958.html

By Amy Gardner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; B01

RICHMOND, Jan. 22 — The Virginia lawmaker who caused an uproar last week by questioning the need for a state apology for slavery proposed a measure Monday that would commemorate the freeing of the last U.S. slaves in June 1865.

Del. Frank D. Hargrove Sr., a Republican from Hanover County near Richmond, said he has been deluged with at least 4,000 phone calls and e-mails at his home and office since he inflamed the House of Delegates by saying that blacks should “get over” slavery and that apologizing for slavery was no more necessary than asking Jews to apologize for “killing Christ.”

Hargrove said the vast majority of people who contacted him said they support his views, but he also said that he never intended to offend blacks or Jews. He offered the resolution in part to reach out to those he offended, he said.

“I think we can all agree that the end of slavery was a good thing,” Hargrove said.

Black lawmakers said they are happy to support Hargrove’s resolution to celebrate Juneteenth, but not if it is meant to replace theirs, which calls for Virginia to apologize for its role in slavery. The resolution is intended to coincide with the state’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of the English settlement of Jamestown, where slaves first arrived in 1619.

“I can’t question anybody else’s motives,” said Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, a Richmond Democrat and a sponsor of the apology proposal. “But obviously that resolution doesn’t address the issues that we are trying to address.”

Hargrove’s resolution would celebrate Juneteenth, the widely observed name for the June 19, 1865, event in Galveston, Tex., in which federal troops are believed to have informed the country’s last slaves that they were free. A number of organizations and jurisdictions celebrate Juneteenth to commemorate the moment when emancipation, foreseen in President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, was finally recognized across the nation.

But Del. A. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond), another sponsor of the slavery apology, said it’s one thing to recognize the end of slavery and quite another to offer an apology for Virginia’s extensive role in it. McEachin thinks an apology is necessary to heal a state and a nation still divided by race.

Last week, the Richmond lawyer objected to Hargrove’s assertion that “not a soul in this legislature” had anything to do with slavery. McEachin said he still hears stories from his 102-year-old grandmother about her parents, who were slaves in Virginia and North Carolina.

“Virginia didn’t have anything to do with the Emancipation Proclamation,” McEachin said. “It had a lot to do with establishing slavery here.”

Hargrove said his measure is not intended to replace the apology. “I have no problem with that one going ahead,” he said. “I won’t vote for it, but I don’t intend to block it, either.”

I remember a time I was reading a magazine and Dale Earnhart just died, this gentleman, who happens to be black, I used to work with said “Man, I love nascar but I hate that I can never be a driver…” “why?” “see any black men in those cars?” “well gee, with that attitude you’ll never get into one, and there are some black drivers, but due to lack of interest there aren’t many.”

point is, I really wish people would get off the hang-up’s they have… “it’s cuz I’m Black, you don’t understand!” “it’s cuz I’m deaf, you OWE ME!” It all comes down to the individual and mutal respect for each other.

personally that all seems like a blatant excuse for not wanting to take the extra step.

Oh why this is one interesting posting.. Talking about P.C., personally, I was and still am very wary with what 18th century French philosophers called it ‘Abus des mots’ (Abuse of words) Not one day went by without me noticing an instance of ‘abus des mots’. One classic example here would be on CNN when President Bush insisting that we are going to Iraq to defend freedom and liberity.. The boardcasting were preceded by footages which show city of Baghad being bombraded and people running around screaming in terror..

My point here is that the usuage of words need to be constantly recified in order to restore its original means. It seem that P.C. may be considered as part of coscious process of doing it.

But.. yeah.. I agree with you.. As matter of fact another day at a coffeeshop I saw a black lady signed ‘vanilla’ in the same sign used to signfy ‘white man’. She was ordering a cup of french vailla.. Did it offend me? Naw.. Because like cup of black coffee, French vanilla itself as whole does not possess an essence that are universally percieved as negative.

Can you visualize what life would be like today if that was still the rule? Imagine going into Kentucky Fried Chicken and ordering a “grilled chicken bosum sandwich.”

ick! I have to go wash my hands now. You can probably think of more.

Vikki, I’ll never understand how Mayor Williams whitewashed himself when he let a guy go over protests of “niggardly” word usage.