Our problems are everyone's, your problems are your own

[Brewman_Jax]

as shown by Leonard Pitts latest column, http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/leonard_pitts/15054373.htm

Excerpt: So I would have thought it uncontroversial to observe, as I recently did in this column, that her death and the indiscriminate slaughter of American children -- in Miami or anywhere else -- qualified as ''an American problem.'' Apparently, I was wrong. That is, at least, the feeling of dozens of folks who've written in correction and rebuke.

True enough, they say, Florida is an American state and Miami an American city, but Sherdavia was an African-American child. Her suspected killers were also black. Therefore, her murder was not an American problem. It was, rather, a black problem, and only a black problem, born of black dysfunctions for which black people, as Bill Cosby has recently said, bear the onus.

To call me appalled is to understate.

I suppose the first thing that needs saying is that these individuals are wrong on the facts. Like it or not, we live interconnected lives on a small planet. Take the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as illustration: They grew out of grievances half a world away to which most Americans would have told you on Sept. 10 they had no connection. We now know better.


This is a sad commentary where the idiots that wrote to Mr. Pitts not only feel that way, but feel obligated to say it out loud. We're in the 21st Century, and equality is still conditional--as long as some are more equal than others. It really does make you wonder who your friends really are. :(

[jmm]

1. Thanks for the article

It raises some good points. When Columbine and other school shootings were in the news I was kind of sickened by the coverage. Not that I didn't think it deserved attention but children have been getting shot in schools for decades. Why is it that so much more compassion and attention paid to mostly white suburban and rural schools?

[bliss_eternal]

3. ...case in point

my high school and the high schools of my friends--and not all of our neighborhoods (or schools) were crime ridden cesspools of urban decay. Some of my friends attended private schools.

While I felt badly for those involved in Columbine, I was kind of taken aback by the aftermath. I thought to myself, "...no one cared when kids got shot in my highschool, what's up with that?"

[wildeyed]

2. Just don't post this in GD.

I don't know what is wrong with people. Of course this is an american problem. This is a murdered child we are talking about.

:cry:

[bliss_eternal]

4. This is an American issue because these are black Americans...

until those that need to put the problems of our society into boxes and categories based on race, none of those problems will be addressed.

I'm glad Columbine was brought up, because we could similarly say that alienated teens, shooting other teens is a white problem and not an American problem. But these white teens live in America. Many of the issues that created their alienation are rooted in the issues inherent to being an American in today's society.

We can say the same about the situation that the bigoted author speaks of in his article. I'm an American. I choose not to consider myself a part of HIS America--because I see us all as interdependent and not seperate and unequal. Piss on him and his article. ;)

But thank you, Argyle for posting it. I'm really enjoying DU so much more now that I am spending most of my time in the smaller group areas. It's cool to be able to discuss these kinds of issues without the distraction of people needing us to validate claims of bigotry. :eyes: That got so tiresome.

[Brewman_Jax]

5. I don't understand

it appears that you and Leonard Pitts are in agreement. :shrug:

[bliss_eternal]

6. No, we are not...

I don't understand your assertion. :shrug: I stated that blacks are part of America, therefore this is an American problem not just a "black" problem as this guy said. He said it's NOT an American problem--my assertion and post state that I believe it is.

I thought I was backing this up with the Columbine example. How it was seen as a huge issue for all of us as Americans. Why shouldn't violence against a child, (no matter what ethnicity she is) be any different?

Sorry if that was not clear...sometimes words on a page aren't always as easily understood as we may think when we are writing. It happens... :hi:

[Brewman_Jax]

7. I miswrote Leonard Pitts' meaning

The people writing TO Leonard Pitts (not Leonard himself) referencing his recent columns on the local (Miami) shootings that killed those children were saying that since only black people were involved, thus, it's black people's problem, as they invoke the name of Cosby to back that statement. Pitts said that it's an American problem, and in the wake of the past school shootings (Columbine, Santee, CA, Covington, GA, etc.), no one was so cynical to say that it was strictly white people's problem.

Sorry I couldn't copy the whole column. I see that I was not clear. :hi:

[fishwax]

8. reminds me of the myth of universality

Problems that white people have are universal problems. Problems that minorities have are minority problems. Issues that concern white americans are (universal) issues. Issues that directly effect minorities (or even simply urban areas) are "minority" issues.

When I was in educational publishing, I worked for a small company that was, alas, run by rich white conservatives. As we created materials, stories, etc. for a youth reading program, the owners constantly stressed that we should pick stories that explored universal themes and values. It became clear that this was code for a resistance to multiculturalism. As one note of instruction our team received about a collection of stories including one about a girl growing up poor in an urban environment said: "We are interested in universal themes. This story may have instructional value, but it is not universal. We want things that all children can relate to. A young Pilgrim girl growing up in the Massachusetts colony making paper dolls. Universal. Like that."

[msgadget]

9. Fantastic remarks,

Fishwax. Love your journal.

[fishwax]

10. Thank you, msgadget

:hi:

[bliss_eternal]

11. Wow--

how long did you last working with those bigots? :hi:

Sounds like a telling experience. Thanks for sharing this, I think it points to the attitudes of many in our country, the majority of the right wing and unfortunately members of DU. (sigh)

[fishwax]

12. that note was the watershed for me

My frustration had been building for various reasons, but that removed whatever illusions I might have had left about the place. Before that they had kept their noses out of the finer points of editorial affairs, and we editors made a bit of a game out of slipping in little nuggets of counter-wisdom. :)

It especially sucked because I had really felt that the work we were doing was important and would result in a potentially groundbreaking reading and language arts curriculum, were it not for that kind of ideological interference :( (But I digress.)

Anyway, it was an important lesson for me and helped solidify my own viewpoint. I made a photocopy of the note and kept it in my top desk drawer until I finally did get a new job, so I would see it every time I grabbed a pen or a sticky note. I still think of it whenever I detect that kind of sensibility sneaking into the conversation. Alas, I catch that drift all too often, even, as you point out, here at DU.

:hi: