Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!aplcen!samsung!psuvax1!psuvm!auvm!ISL1!CHRISTOPHER.YOUNG From: Christopher.Young@ISL1.RI.CMU.EDU Newsgroups: bit.listserv.gaynet Subject: Re: Positive color codes Message-ID: <9002200705.AA03871@ATHENA.MIT.EDU> Date: 20 Feb 90 06:50:54 GMT Sender: Gaynet Distribution List Reply-To: gaynet@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Lines: 53 Approved: NETNEWS@AUVM.BITNET Gateway X-To: gaynet@ATHENA.MIT.EDU >If your guest book and friendship registers don't include several people >from many different ethnic backgrounds, you're a white person turning into >chalk, vastly impoverished from the lack of nurture for which hundreds, >nay thousands of people of all colors have dreamed. Perhaps Brian was a little sensitive wrt Louie's post, but on the other hand, I can kind of understand it to. And indeed, the wording could have been phrased a bit better. To wit: "If you have not had the experience of being able to associate with people from lots of other different ethinic backgrounds, then you have been losing out on a lot of great growth potential" or something like that. What is the difference? For one thing, this alternative is colour blind. White people tend to get saddle with a lot of sins of ethnocentricity, yet as a Chinese, I know that we are often quite guilty of the same thing. Similarly, racism is often attributed only to whites in this country. Yet, as a Chinese, I know what it is like to face it from Blacks as well, who are assumed as a population (at least here in Pittsburgh) to not be capable of such a negative quality because they have been the victims of it for so long. I can see how that can get annoying after a while. Secondly, Louie's penchant for the poetic lead him to phrase the latter half of the quote not only in a somewhat difficult to understand fashion, but in a negative rather than positive way. That sound more threatening. "turning into chalk" sounds more judgmental and negative (and indeed threatening) than "losing out on a lot of great growth potential", which makes it sound more like an opportunity not to be missed (not that it's great phrasing, but an example of a more positive spin). A few other comments about Louie's post: This probably sounds terrible, and perhaps I am misinterpretting this, but when Louie said: "It's black history month and I for one am absolutely delighted to celebrate it as MY history", it sounded as though he was making the history of Black people his own history, and I really don't think he can if he is not of Black blood. Similarly, he cannot take Chinese history as his own if it is not his blood. Why? Because these histories affected Blacks and Chinese, etc. in certain profound ways that they cannot have affected people who come from different backgrounds, with very few exceptions. All ethnicities of all colours (white, black, yellow, red, brown...) have their histories, and though they may have intermingled, they are different. They are all equally as valuable and interesting, be they manifested in Irish story telling or Balanese dance. But they are the birthright of those of us born into the traditions. This is not to say Black history didn't affect us all here in the US, but just that it affected us differently. I enjoy all sorts of histories, but I do not claim them all. Having said all that, I actually agree with Louie's basic message: I love meeting people from all different places, and seeing different cultures, and learning about them. It is very enriching and fun to boot. -- Chris.