Mental illness is a real problem that affects all racial groups. For every insane black person there are many sane and functioning black people. Just as for every insane white person there are a some sane whites.

Get over it!

PS. Most brotha’s do prefer Magnums. It’s a black thing.

I must echo what Crystal said and tell you that your comments, your very broad generalizing about the black community is obviously indicative of the black socialization that you’ve had and that’s unfortunate. I happen to be black (your comments make me assume that you didn’t gather that) and from what I consider the black professional class. I hold a graduate degree and most of my black friends have college degrees or post graduate degrees. Both of my black parents and most of their friends were college educated so this is just how I grew up. I’ve only visited ghettos for brief stints to see some family members who “never made it out.” So, true…I haven’t had all the experiences that you have but as a socially aware black person in America I do know that I understand the situation. But again, I mirror Crystal’s comments…not all black people are like what you’ve experienced and the media does a wonderful job of making people think that. Bill Cosby is not the first and only black person to advocate personal and communal responsibility for change. There are many who are striving for this. Where you are going terribly wrong is by not recognizing that white attitudes like yours are exactly what perpetuate the black situation. If you think the way you do about blacks and you’re in a positionof power, let’s say to employ or accept individuals into an academic program, who are you going to choose? Not the blacks! Even though there may be some positive, smart, capable blacks among the pool that you are selecting from. But you wouldn’t consider it. This is why some affirmative action programs are needed. I mean truly this situation goes all the way back to slavery and no white person wants to admit that but it does. Blacks are not just inherently bad, incapable, irresponsible, violent, negative people! Although taken from your Africa comment I assume that you believe that. Try researching the ramifications of European colonization in Africa and you might better understand the picture. But back to the U.S., I say this not to put ALL the blame for black problems on white people…we do need to strive for change and self-empowerment. When we’ve tried that in the past (like the Black Panthers were doing) white society has viewed us as a threat and tried to take that down. I believe that most whites in power in America would rather see us grappling in the ghettos than moving on up to their same social status. Therefore many blacks in the ghettos where you live have simply lost hope! And stories like this one only bring up the pain of the past and exemplify to many why there is no reason to change ourselves when this society, that continues to view us as second-class or undesireable, isn’t going to change! Again, I say NONE of this to justify the wrong-doing of this faction of the black community but to remind you to remember our history (”our” meaning yours and mine). History unlocks the secrets of the present and reveals the plight of the future. I’d be curious to know what happened in your history and why you are stuck living around “ghetto black-folk” cause you’re white, you really don’t have an excuse!

The whole story is full of emotion and logical fallacies such as “some members left – therefore they kicked out because they are racist”.

Seriously, if i was chillin’ poolside and all of a sudden SIXTY FIVE WHITE teenagers showed up. I’d pack up my stuff and come back tomorrow too. — yeah that’s right, because they are white.

As an African American and as a social scientist, I just have to say that you’re completely wrong about something: the majority of black Americans are NOT stuck in what you call a “protest cycle” – but I will agree with you that many of the talking-heads we see on TV, and many of the most visible blacks in the media – are indeed stuck in a cycle of protest. However, what most white people don’t understand is that if you actually talk to Black Americans about their views of society, their identity and how they think their communities can be improved, most of them focus on both social factors AND personal/collective responsibility. Now I don’t blame you for not knowing this – because in the public sphere, most of what you hear and see are Black Americans who are defensive about race and afraid of airing “dirty laundry” by criticizing members of their own group. But what I want you to understand is that black people are not the caricature you paint in your post, or the caricature that we often see on tv. Many of these folks are also blue collar, hard working and are savvy about social issues and know the importance of responsibility. Many, many black Americans are involved in efforts to help their own communities, to revitalize their neighborhoods, to try and fill the gap left by a lack of social services, quality education and public safety in urban communities. That you don’t know any of these people is probably due to your social isolation and lack of interaction with black social activists, as well as with middle class/highly educated blacks , but that doesn’t negate their existence. We are out here, doing what we can to give back.

Let me tell you a story about the little boy who went to an all African American school. This boy who was diagnosed with ADHD, went to a public school k-3, an all white school. Then one day his mother received a call from the Principal who told this mother her boy was unruly and he should be put on medications or he will be transferred out, the mother refused the medications and the school transferred the boy out. The boy was shipped to an all African American school because they were equipped (as the old school’s Principal said) to deal with these type of children. The boy is shy at first, starts to open up to his teachers who are also African Americans. The boys grades are brought up and behavior is improved, he is now an honor roll student. Now let me shed some light of the story, the boy is a mixed American Indian and Russian but he is dark skinned child, his mother is an albino American Indian and his father is Russian American. The white school treated him as an outcast, even went to lengths to ask me if he was adopted, because I was white skinned as well as his father. The African American school welcomed him with open arms and helped him to soar beyond that crappy education he was getting here in the white school. You see we all experience racism in our lives, it’s best not to act and to just hold your head up high and watch the better outcome poke it’s head.

Now brings me to make one statement only on this whole pool story. Why did these children and the parents who overheard this racist spewing on their visit, not say something about it then, the day it happened? I would have at least told a worker of the club or of the Day camp what I overheard, and only taken this course of action that is going on now with the media and laws, if there was nothing done about it that day and if I were the Camp leader I would have marched in the club’s offices and demanded I be refunded that very same day the children and parents over head these comments, not a week later.

I agree that there ARE in fact representatives of each of the three groups you delineate that have posted in this thread…

I disagree that your three groups are exhaustive of all posts though, as there is at least a FOURTH group-

those in the fourth group are those who are of modest means, from blue-collar communities, who regularly and constantly encounter a huge black / white double standard..

that double-standard is all over this thread.

Black americans as a group tend to hold no TRACE of collective guilt, or for that matter concern, let alone responsibility for the actions of blacks who commit tremendous wrong-doing against other RACES..
they are indignant almost without exception if anyone mentions the racial aspect of american crime, or their populations situation, which has ACTUALLY gotten 100x worse since the advent of the civil rights movement as it gave free reign to BAD BEHAVIOR, and actually punished the victims of racial bad behavior, as long as the offender was black-
their communities behavior is by any measure the worst of any population group in the USA and it mirrors that of african populations elsewhere… that is not hate, its fact and nothing changes that..

While blacks almost to a person (bill cosby = an exception), will vehemently protest that it is unfair and certainly ‘racist’ to mention black attacks/shootings/hate crimes/destroyed neighborhoods,
they will, almost to a person, HAPPILY and without any reservation, loudly/indignantly riot and engage and protest if they percieve, EVEN ILLOGICALLY, that a white person has wronged another black person..

so the reality for a lot of whites not insulated by money from black communities, is that blacks routinely and with no apology expect whites to take responsibility for any percieved INSULT to a black and will almost always jump to cite this as proof of whites COMMUNAL unfairness to them,

But the same blacks will virtually NEVER hold themselves to the same standards-
A complaint cited in this case, and probably the only likely to have actually occurred as reported was that a white woman asked ”WHAT ARE ALL THESE BLACK KIDS DOING HERE?”..tune in to a black radio show for 10 minutes in any major urban area…any show targeted at blacks with black radio personalities-
within that 10 minutes you will hear ‘white boy’ / ‘white girl’, or in the case of the Jamie Foxx show,, ‘WHITE BITCH’ (reference miley cirus) at least once.. all their shows have strong racial components, and if you live in a urban area around black populations, you will hear people referred to racially by blacks constantly.. even toward other light skinned blacks…

So, as said, I hate no one.. to hate intrinsically means that whether you are present or not, I woudl still hate, as I have a fierce implacable dislike that will not be influenced by proximity..

I simply am tired of the ignorance, racial inflamation, and bad behavior of actual black people I encounter.. not folks I do not know or are distantly located..

Unless blacks want to accept the SAME responsibility for any percieved slight that any black offers to a white person.. anywhere.. then I do not want to hear about nonsense like this that is clearly half-a-story being turned into a racial matter to the delight of the same blacks whos own communites (almost all of which were once white neighborhoods before the black behavior problems caused all others the flee the area for their kids safety..

Unless you are willing to move your kids into a very affordable black HARLEM, or the Philly, Baltimore, D.C. ”HOODS”, which all offer housing priced at less than a 1/4 of surrounding white towns/locales, then you are simply a feel-good ohony, who wants to be ‘liked’.
If you claim that their is no behavior problem/differential,…put your kids at risk in these areas.. they will not last long, and their fate will be many times worse than this manifactured ‘pool’ nonsense..but I will at least then listen to your idealogy, although its devoid of experience.

until blacks accept collective responsibility the way most of them expect whites to do, AND accept that in 2009 MOST BLACK PROBLEMS ARE ROOTED IN A REACTION TO BLACK COMMUNITIES STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR, not the color of their skin, most everyone else is full-on sick of their protesting now..

PROTESTING for OTHERS to do sopmething is the easy part.. blacks won that battle decades ago, and a lot of whites supported in.. NOW the responsibility that goes along with that is ON THEM to behave and develop as a group that stands as equals…
blacks are stuck in a protest spiral, as that is the easy way to dodge the real work they have to do for their own betterment and acceptance.

I highly recommend that you take some sociology classes at your local community college. You can try your theories about certain people being “enablers” out on your professors and classmates there. If you’re concerned about there being too many people of color who would disagree with you at your local CC then choose the whitest one nearest you or spring for the extra $$ at your nearest university or private college.

Read this link below…

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=556267773&ref=profile#/note.php?note_id=84202219503

You say to the blacks, “nobody hates you…” yet you in closing tell them “fix your shit or go fuck yourselves and stay in your own area.”

Hmmm. Why am I confused?

What town are you referring to? I’d like to look into those statistics you gave. And what is your highest degree of education? Just curious.

There seem to be three groups of people posting on this article.

1). People who are angered by the story and agree that racism was either totally or partially the motivation behind the actions of the swim club.

2). People who are insiting that racicism had nothing to do with what happened and are angered by group 1’s accusations of racism.

3). People who are just trying to be shocking or inflamatory and who appear to be saying things that they would never have the nerve to say in person.

Interestingly enough groups 2 and 3 seem to be merging as time goes on in their attitudes and communication strategies. Group 1 posts seem to be dissipating probably from frustration.

All I can say is that neither groups have said things that are 100% false. Meaning that there has been some truth in a little of everything that each group has said (except the posters from group 3, they just seem to be trying to add fuel to the fire by saying things that are blatantly racist). But what I have noticed is that the inflamatory language, the cursing, the volatile anger seems to be more prevalent in the posters from groups 2 and 3. But it is group 1 that is being accused of being from an angry group. Yet I’ve read very little profanity in the posts from group 1. I haven’t read anything that could be interpreted as hate speak from group1. Yes there have been some refernces to “white devil” but other than that the f .u. and stay the hell away from me type statements have been coming from groups 2 and 3. So from this I can deduct that the members of group 1 are the people who do desire to work together as a nation, all as Americans but who want members from group 2 to acknowledge that their responsibilty is to admit that there is a breakdown in race relations in America and that all Americans are needed to address it and resolve it. Group 2 seems to have this “you’re on your own” type attitude and doesn’t view the problems of group 1 as having anything to do with them. This is very telling as to where we are socially as Americans today, in 2009.

As you hopefully tell, I am purposefully and carefully trying to not state race or use the word racist (other than when I described group 3, they left me with no other option) because I am not trying to take a side or join in this debate. But I am curious to know if the members from groups 2 and 3 had an opportunity to have an audience with the President, would they have the courage to voice these things? I am going to send President Obama a link to this very page, I know it a long shot but I truly hope he reads it. I believe that race relations in America do need to be addressed during his administration and this incident in Philly and this forum is a prime example as to why.

yet instead of addressing this nonstop crapfest their kids unleash, whats needed most?… run around looking for ‘white racists’

No one hates you… we as simply sick of your shit, and that is a totally seperate thing from hate.
The black community needs to work on ITSELF and knock off these phony attempts to constantly run around picking fights with whites a playing a drama victim.

PLEASE.. keep this up, i do not care, but have the decency, if whites are SO BAD and unturstworthy to saty in your own damn racist communities where a black man cannot safely set foot outside his own home, without another black man trying to rob, stab or shoot him…

fuck you and your racist shit.. the time is now long past for this garbage, and you need to learn the principle of ‘DIMIINISHING RETURNS’..
I am not your pappy, Im am not doing the daily shootings in your locale, I am not the one whos kids speak plantation slang 7 generations after the last family member left the deep south..

fix your shit or go fuck yourself and stay in your own area