Paula Deen's use of the "N"-Word

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Tell that to James Byrd's family.

Talk about overplayed. There is black on white hate crime as well. If only whatshisname could be here to post a new thread every time something resembling it happened. It's all pretty heinous stuff. You can't judge an entire society by what a few redneck thugs decided to do. It's as unreasonable to judge our culture by what happened to James Byrd as it would be for me to judge any other culture by the actions of a few of its miscreants. As I recall, the murderers of James Byrd have been severely punished. One has been put to death. That should actually be an indicator of how far we've come. 50-60 years ago, law enforcement probably wouldn't have touched that case.

Umm...What?

Yeah, never mind with that. It was an incomplete thought. To complete it, I would suggest that instead of as a culture, looking towards assimilation, or at least integration, we've seen the creation of holidays like Kwanzaa from whole cloth in order to provide some sort of rigid separate identity. I think there is a separate black American culture or subculture which is more of a culture than a racial thing. You won't see many African immigrants, for example, participating in stereotypical African-American culture.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Yeah, never mind with that. It was an incomplete thought. To complete it, I would suggest that instead of as a culture, looking towards assimilation, or at least integration, we've seen the creation of holidays like Kwanzaa from whole cloth in order to provide some sort of rigid separate identity. I think there is a separate black American culture or subculture which is more of a culture than a racial thing. You won't see many African immigrants, for example, participating in stereotypical African-American culture.

Why would an immigrant from, say, Eritrea take on African-American traditions? The country has its own cultural identity.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Kevin

To complete it, I would suggest that instead of as a culture, looking towards assimilation, or at least integration, we've seen the creation of holidays like Kwanzaa from whole cloth in order to provide some sort of rigid separate identity. I think there is a separate black American culture or subculture which is more of a culture than a racial thing. You won't see many African immigrants, for example, participating in stereotypical African-American culture.

This, too, is an incomplete thought. You should complete thoughts, and conduct some research, prior to typing. Culture is an everyday process that does not wait for occasions such as Juneteenth and Kwanzaa (most Black Americans do not celebrate these). I was taught about Kwanzaa as a child, and joined various organizations with Kwanzaa names while in college, but I did not celebrate Kwanzaa until I was late-20s/early-30s. I celebrate annually with friends, some of whom are Canadian. Kwanzaa is not only celebrated in the USA. It is celebrated elsewhere and takes on different meanings depending on the location.

More importantly, just as whites didn't give cultures and civilization to nonwhites, whites need to stop offering advice. Racial and ethnic minorities truly do not want nor need whites to tell us about our cultures, traditions, and how we should uphold our heritages.