What is Racism?

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
81

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:

Yet some of those same people talked about how poorly Irish-Americans were treated and such…give me a break. That shit was hard as hell…would have been harder if not for that bible and finding my great-great grandfather’s personal record book from 1910.

We were cleaning my great-grandpas’s house out to sell after his passing…and found the record book,a letter from his mom,an old free mason ring,and a group picture of about 20 people in front of an log house. All in an old hat box…almost like it was looking for us.[/quote]

What a find! It’s incredible to get a glimpse into someone else’s day to day life from decades or centuries ago. It’s even better when you realize some of the same blood flows through your veins.

What all was in the record book? Was it transaction related or more of a diary?

82

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
Sloth wrote:
Big_Boss wrote:
Sloth wrote:
Ok, ok. After some discussion here I’m trying to track down my earliest ancestor. Anyways, anyone got a name for this guy?

Edit: My understanding is that my family line came out of Africa, as it’s origin. If that helps.

lol…that pic…come on,man…you serious?

Well, if I’m going to trace my family history, why stop at Ireland? Or, even Europe at all? My earliest ancestors didn’t originate from there.

Edit: Ok, from the latest science I can locate at the moment, I think I’m Ethiopian.

See you at the family reunion…[/quote]

I’ll bring my patented Frank and Beans recipe.

83

[quote]Sloth wrote:
Well, my family line ended up reaching the Homo Sapien level and moved out of Africa to Europe. And then in Europe, it appears that one of my Ancestors got it on with a Neandertal. Who might have looked something like this.[/quote]

Looking good.

No homo.

84

[quote]new2training wrote:
Big_Boss wrote:

Yet some of those same people talked about how poorly Irish-Americans were treated and such…give me a break. That shit was hard as hell…would have been harder if not for that bible and finding my great-great grandfather’s personal record book from 1910.

We were cleaning my great-grandpas’s house out to sell after his passing…and found the record book,a letter from his mom,an old free mason ring,and a group picture of about 20 people in front of an log house. All in an old hat box…almost like it was looking for us.

What a find! It’s incredible to get a glimpse into someone else’s day to day life from decades or centuries ago. It’s even better when you realize some of the same blood flows through your veins.

What all was in the record book? Was it transaction related or more of a diary?[/quote]

A little bit of both…more like personal notes. Farming,how many hogs,chickens,etc. Had a couple old train ticket stubs to Corpus Christi…stamps…a pamphlet or something of the sort from a Freemason meeting. I also found that he was church treasurer…which explains church records written in it about amounts donated…members of the church passing away…people who are sick…etc.

Come to find out,the land that the church is built was donated by my family…If the church moves…the land goes back to us. At least thats what I was told by the oldest member…he’s 102yrs old. I just recently found my great-great-great grandfather’s grave site around Tyler,TX. It has freemason emblem on the grave.

85

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:

Come to find out,the land that the church is built was donated by my family…If the church moves…the land goes back to us. At least thats what I was told by the oldest member…he’s 102yrs old. I just recently found my great-great-great grandfather’s grave site around Tyler,TX. It has freemason emblem on the grave.[/quote]

Time to pull a Scooby Doo and fake haunt the church to scare them out. It is foolproof.

86

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Big_Boss wrote:

Come to find out,the land that the church is built was donated by my family…If the church moves…the land goes back to us. At least thats what I was told by the oldest member…he’s 102yrs old. I just recently found my great-great-great grandfather’s grave site around Tyler,TX. It has freemason emblem on the grave.

Time to pull a Scooby Doo and fake haunt the church to scare them out. It is foolproof.[/quote]

lol

87

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Lorisco wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Sloth wrote:
I’m Irish by ancestory, but I have no Irish pride. Why should I? I don’t live in Ireland. I didn’t choose to be born from an Irish blood line. That’s just how the chips fell. I don’t listen to traditional Irish music and get misty-eyed about a motherland, that well, actually isn’t my mother-land. But, I take some pride in the US. After all, I do live here and can participate in trying to change it. But, not because I just happened to be born here than, say, Afghanistan.

No offense, but this drastic ignorance of what has happened in this country over just the last 60 years is getting ridiculous.

Let me just say that you just might feel differently if you had any experience in a culture that tried for centuries to basically snuff you out of existence. You JUST might want some pride in who you are at that point. You know, maybe.

Who you are, as a person? Your country of birth? Your genetic origin?

These are all very different things and I would say that the first is the only true measure and something that we should all focus on. The others are artificial distinctions that come from time and geography.

Who we all are is a combination of every experience and everyone we have ever come in contact with in our lives. Who we can become can also be based on what we have seen from others. No one thinks of reaching farther than the moon before someone reaches the moon first. Therefore, knowledge of what came before is essential to further success, even as an individual.

It would be foolish for anyone to take the stance that familial history does not matter much. In fact, foolish doesn’t describe how stupid that is.

Since for many of us, that familial history was completely destroyed, that alone is why the focus is on appearance…because the country that erased our background based that destruction on our appearance.[/quote]

Family history matters as much as you think it does and as much as you let it limit your progress. Countless people have overcome some very debilitating tragic things only to go on and exceed where many failed. And many are from your same background.

Acknowledging your history is only as good as it allows you to understand the past to make a better future. Anything beyond that is non-productive and tends to keep people from achieving, not helping them to achieve.

Lastly, before you start blaming any particular country about civil rights violations in the past you might want to take a closer look at all the countries involved and understand that history shows that there is enough blame to go around to all. In fact, some of these countries continue these practices today, just in a much smaller scale.

88

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
What all was in the record book? Was it transaction related or more of a diary?

A little bit of both…more like personal notes. Farming,how many hogs,chickens,etc. Had a couple old train ticket stubs to Corpus Christi…stamps…a pamphlet or something of the sort from a Freemason meeting. I also found that he was church treasurer…which explains church records written in it about amounts donated…members of the church passing away…people who are sick…etc.

Come to find out,the land that the church is built was donated by my family…If the church moves…the land goes back to us. At least thats what I was told by the oldest member…he’s 102yrs old. I just recently found my great-great-great grandfather’s grave site around Tyler,TX. It has freemason emblem on the grave.[/quote]

Very cool find indeed. Sounds like he was an important member of his community. I understand your interest. I have a budding interest in my own family history.

Does finding something like that from past generations make you want to keep a record of your own life that you could pass on? Just think how much your grandkids or great grandkids would love to read about Great Grandpappy Big Boss.

Ha, maybe they could just look you up in the oft rumored T-Nation archives one day.

89

[quote]new2training wrote:
Big_Boss wrote:
What all was in the record book? Was it transaction related or more of a diary?

A little bit of both…more like personal notes. Farming,how many hogs,chickens,etc. Had a couple old train ticket stubs to Corpus Christi…stamps…a pamphlet or something of the sort from a Freemason meeting. I also found that he was church treasurer…which explains church records written in it about amounts donated…members of the church passing away…people who are sick…etc.

Come to find out,the land that the church is built was donated by my family…If the church moves…the land goes back to us. At least thats what I was told by the oldest member…he’s 102yrs old. I just recently found my great-great-great grandfather’s grave site around Tyler,TX. It has freemason emblem on the grave.

Very cool find indeed. Sounds like he was an important member of his community. I understand your interest. I have a budding interest in my own family history.

Does finding something like that from past generations make you want to keep a record of your own life that you could pass on? Just think how much your grandkids or great grandkids would love to read about Great Grandpappy Big Boss.

Ha, maybe they could just look you up in the oft rumored T-Nation archives one day.

[/quote]

Lol…that would be interesing indeed. I think the biggest thing that intrigued me the most was the fact of him being important in his community…especially during depression era East TX.

90

[quote]Big_Boss wrote:

A little bit of both…more like personal notes. Farming,how many hogs,chickens,etc. Had a couple old train ticket stubs to Corpus Christi…stamps…a pamphlet or something of the sort from a Freemason meeting. I also found that he was church treasurer…which explains church records written in it about amounts donated…members of the church passing away…people who are sick…etc.

Come to find out,the land that the church is built was donated by my family…If the church moves…the land goes back to us. At least thats what I was told by the oldest member…he’s 102yrs old. I just recently found my great-great-great grandfather’s grave site around Tyler,TX. It has freemason emblem on the grave.[/quote]

Assuming your grandfather was a black man, your great-great-great grandfather likely was part of a very interesting tradition of Prince Hall Freemasons:

…an important part of early American blacks asserting themselves as independent and free men even as far back as the era of slavery.

91

I looked up my family tree and got hit by a coconut.

That may explain things…

92

[quote]
Big_Boss wrote:

Come to find out,the land that the church is built was donated by my family…If the church moves…the land goes back to us. At least thats what I was told by the oldest member…he’s 102yrs old. I just recently found my great-great-great grandfather’s grave site around Tyler,TX. It has freemason emblem on the grave.

Zap Branigan wrote:
Time to pull a Scooby Doo and fake haunt the church to scare them out. It is foolproof.[/quote]

Or it would have been, if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids and your dog…

93

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
Big_Boss wrote:

A little bit of both…more like personal notes. Farming,how many hogs,chickens,etc. Had a couple old train ticket stubs to Corpus Christi…stamps…a pamphlet or something of the sort from a Freemason meeting. I also found that he was church treasurer…which explains church records written in it about amounts donated…members of the church passing away…people who are sick…etc.

Come to find out,the land that the church is built was donated by my family…If the church moves…the land goes back to us. At least thats what I was told by the oldest member…he’s 102yrs old. I just recently found my great-great-great grandfather’s grave site around Tyler,TX. It has freemason emblem on the grave.

Assuming your grandfather was a black man, your great-great-great grandfather likely was part of a very interesting tradition of Prince Hall Freemasons:

…an important part of early American blacks asserting themselves as independent and free men even as far back as the era of slavery.[/quote]

Yeah,great-great-great grandpa down to great-grandpa were freemasons. I’ve just recently started researching about African-American freemasons. Thanks for the lead…and the interest.

94

[quote]rainjack wrote:
Big_Boss wrote:
Regular Gonzalez wrote:
Nah…I wasn’t that serious,but this can be clarified later when equated “racial” pride as being more of a “cultural” or “ethnic” pride…which the majority of American white people do not celebrate enough…but its a personal choice…and nothing is wrong with that. No big deal.

How would I go about celebrating my ethnic, or cultural pride? I am a mutt. I have moved 10 times in the last 16 years, and have had at least that many different jobs.

I am part Black, Comanche, German, Dutch, and God knows what else.

About the only thing I know is that I am a Texan. Me and ProfX have more in common than I do with any ethnic group out there.

Anyhow - I agree with you, and I wish more people saw the harmlessness in celebrating their ethnicity, or culture. [/quote]

I put “Texan” down as ethnicity/race when asked on forms. If you know the history of Texas then you know it is not the history of a single ethnicity/race.

The more you assign to a person based one what you think you know about a particular race/ethnicity/socio-economic class/gender/etc the less you are able to know about that person.

95

[quote]Tex Ag wrote:
I put “Texan” down as ethnicity/race when asked on forms. If you know the history of Texas then you know it is not the history of a single ethnicity/race.

The more you assign to a person based one what you think you know about a particular race/ethnicity/socio-economic class/gender/etc the less you are able to know about that person.[/quote]

Ah…what do you know?? You’re an AGGIE in NY…lol. What you said makes sense.