just call me blue eyes

[jk the sooner fan]

so a few minutes ago, i'm on the phone....taking a "supervisor call", an older black woman is complaining about this and that, she starts wandering off in her conversation, so in an effort to take care of her, i tell her what i need to help her....and she says "i dont appreciate blue eyes telling me to shut up, i feel like my civil rights have been violated"

at first, i had no idea what she was talking about, then it hit me.....she's calling me "the man".......she says "you've got this "ceo voice", the president of the company trying to push me around"

so i let her ramble on for 5 minutes, and waited till she asked if i was still there (didnt want to interupt her again)......i tell her "ma'am, i dont have blue eyes, and the color of yours or my skin doesnt have anything to do with how i handle this claim"

i should have said "you mean you're black? well that means your claim is denied..."

by the way, i do have blue eyes, but she doesnt know that.....but i AM the man ;)

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

Hey!

I'm The Man, too!

[KABOOKIE]

Did she have a "black" voice?

[jk the sooner fan]

yes, they all sound alike you know......

[Tear Down This Wall]

Ah, you've experienced the Liberal Black American M.O. - I don't get my way, I inject race into the matter.

Let me tell you something else. It's old. It doesn't play anymore. Slavery ended over 160 years ago. The Civil Rights Era ushered in great changes in the early 1960s.

Well, I was born in 1969. I went to school and church with black people. There were black people in my neighborhood. I played football, baseball, soccer, and ran track with black people. We ate at the same public places, drank out of the same drinking fountains, and crapped in the same crappers.

So, the "we're oppressed/discriminated against" line has worn thin on me. Shut up and accept life as it comes at you, good and bad, just like us white folk do, m'kay.

[Partial Qualifier]

Look at successful or well-adjusted black people.. they don't have that ****ed-off, "whitey holdin' me down" attitude. And perhaps more importantly they don't worry about other black people accusing them of "acting white".

Jesse Jackson has made a fortune out of validating that old "We's is persecuted" mantra. He's a smart guy... he's not doing anyone any favors except himself and his accountant, but he's a smart guy.

[TUSooner]

Just yesterday I wrote a nicely critical letter to a Times-Pic columnist, a young-ish black guy whose stuff I usually read with pleasure. He had accused a mayoral candidate (whom I didn't support) of talking in racist "white code." What did the candidate say? He said that New Orleans meeds to change from a culture of dependency to a culture of self-reliance. The columnist construed this sensible remark as "code" for "whites work, blacks are lazy." Sheesh!" Who was making the racist assumption in that exchange?! If what the candidate said can be written off and ignored as racist dogma, then conversation is over, and we'll never get anywhere together. Maybe I'll post my letter... if it makes any sense today.

[yermom]

i'm torn between "Cynthia McKinney called you?"

and "maybe you should have offered her a 40"

[TUSooner]

Pardon the self-indulgence. Yesterday I wrote this letter to Lolis Eric Elie of the New Orleans Times-Picayune:


Dear Mr. Elie,
I often read your columns, and I almost always get some insight and enjoyment from them.
BUT...
you said something today (April 24) that was disappointing and disturbing.

About Rob Couhig’s comments that New Orleans should change from a culture of dependency to a culture of self-reliance, you wrote them off by saying, essentially, that “we all know that’s white code for ‘white folk work and black folk are lazy.’” Come on, Mr. Elie. Can’t you give any of us white folk a little more credit than that? I’ve lived in this city for 30 years. I have good neighbors, and more of my neighbors are black than white. I don’t need to be lectured that all African-Americans are not dependent on society, crack dealers, or welfare queens (or that these are not all African-American). But must I pretend that NONE are? My African-American neighbors don't pretend such things.

But that's not the point.

Couhig (whom I did not support in the election) was evidently expressing an idea that sensible folk of any ethnicity and in any community would seem to agree with: Too many people “taking” rather than “giving” is not a good thing for a community. I’d bet that Oliver Thomas [a black city Councilman, whom I support] among countless others, including African-American preachers and probably your own parents and grandparents, has stated the same unremarkable proposition on many occasions. The reasonableness of the proposition should not depend on the ethnicity (perceived or actual) of the “takers” ... or of the speaker. What was Couhig supposed to say, and how was he supposed to say it?

Your imputation of covert racism to Couhig perfectly demonstrates why we cannot have a rational civil discourse on this city’s problems and misperceived problems. Listening stops, and discussion dies, when race-neutral comments, made in a good-faith effort to address this city’s troubles without causing offense, are automatically disdained as “code” for racist dogma.

I understand and agree with your theme that New Orleans must be unified, eventually if not now, if it will survive. But undermining free discourse with your own prejudices and presumptions is hardly the path to unity.

Thank You
[my name here]
Algiers

[I know; my sentences are too long.]

[King Crimson]

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2005/06/21/apesAAA.jpg

[yermom]

[I know; my sentences are too long.]

too long = White Code ;)

[Howzit]

TUSooner,
Great letter, please post a response should one be received.

[handcrafted]

too long = White Code ;)

I always thought "too long" was Black Code?

[handcrafted]

so a few minutes ago, i'm on the phone....taking a "supervisor call", an older black woman is complaining about this and that, she starts wandering off in her conversation, so in an effort to take care of her, i tell her what i need to help her....and she says "i dont appreciate blue eyes telling me to shut up, i feel like my civil rights have been violated"

at first, i had no idea what she was talking about, then it hit me.....she's calling me "the man".......she says "you've got this "ceo voice", the president of the company trying to push me around"

so i let her ramble on for 5 minutes, and waited till she asked if i was still there (didnt want to interupt her again)......i tell her "ma'am, i dont have blue eyes, and the color of yours or my skin doesnt have anything to do with how i handle this claim"

i should have said "you mean you're black? well that means your claim is denied..."

by the way, i do have blue eyes, but she doesnt know that.....but i AM the man ;)

You should have said "and I don't appreciate darkies not listening to me when I talk. Call back when you have some class, Cynthia."

[Tear Down This Wall]

i'm torn between "Cynthia McKinney called you?"

and "maybe you should have offered her a 40"

Candidate, Post of the Year

[1stTimeCaller]

you shoulda said, 'We'll settle for a six paaaa er uh quart.'

[Stanley1]

by the way, i do have blue eyes, but she doesnt know that.....but i AM the man ;)

99.2% of all claims adjusters (that what you are?) are liars. :D

[jk the sooner fan]

Well............now we've got racist, powermad cliques.

yes, our goal is to rename this folder the "south aryan"......

[Scott D]

yes, our goal is to rename this folder the "south aryan"......

Yeah.....just call me Huey P. Newton....cracka! :D

[jk the sooner fan]

zip it brown eyes......

[Scott D]

oh it's on now....THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED!!!!


it will be podcast :D