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NY Governor says black can't really celebrate 4th of July

MrVicchio said:
I agree he's gonna lose in Nov.
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I can tell you're not from New York:

Gov. David Paterson drops election bid; announcement expected soon - NYPOST.com

That aside, Patterson knew some time ago that he had no hope whatsoever of winning the election. Cuomo made it clear that he would turn any such attempt into a ****nado, because of course just having an honest contest of ideas is beyond both New York politicians in general and that ****-heel in particular.

At any rate, this is Patterson being honest, since he knows he has nothing to lose.

I, for one, agree with him.
 
Mellie said:
HOLIDAY SEGREGATION: NY Governor Says Blacks Can

Agree or disagree?
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Hmmmmmm...

If you listen to what he says, it kind of makes sense.

It is very true, that when the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed and American ultimately won Independence, it did not live up to its creed.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal"

Except at the time certainly blacks weren't... and many of the founding fathers especially George Washington certainly could not have believed it completely given the fact he owned slaves...

Native Americans certainly weren't...

But that's the thing, I can see where the Governor is coming from, hell I'd even be inclined to agree with him. HOWEVER...

The past is the past. You should not forget the past, and the wrong that was done. And I do find it distgusting that there are revisionists out there trying to wash away the crime of slavery. BUT! You must not let it interfere with the future.
 
I can't form an opinion because the clip is edited together - I'm sure something important is missing.

further, maybe it's just my computer, but I couldn't actually hear the audio enough to keep up with what he was saying at some points.

I *think* he was trying to make a point with an allegory.
 
Jetboogieman said:
The past is the past. You should not forget the past, and the wrong that was done. And I do find it distgusting that there are revisionists out there trying to wash away the crime of slavery. BUT! You must not let it interfere with the future.
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I don't think he was letting it interfere with the future so much as it is that he realizes full well he's got 3 months left, and it's putting him in an introspective sort of mood. It happens to Presidents, too.
 
He is right.. the Black American Independence days should either be the 6th of December (day the 13th Amendment was adopted) or maybe the July 2 for the civil rights act that finally got rid of the last part of slavery (segregation in this case). Or how about the day the racists Confederacy was defeated?

One thing for sure.. 4th July did not give equal rights too all "men" in the US.. that did not happen till at best 1964, and at worst the late 1980s when the last segregation law on the books was finally removed.

So again.. he is right.
 
It would also depend on if your ancestors were african american slaves or immigrants to the US after slavery was abolished.

If your ancestors were not slaves in America, then you would/should not particularly have an issue with slavery any more then recent caucasian or Asian immigrants to America would/should have.
 
Many groups of people didn't have total rights in 1776. Women, gays, blacks, Natives....

If you're going by what your ancestors went through, I guess I shouldn't celebrate it since my great-grandmother was full-blood Choctaw. Doesn't seem like many people would be celebrating.

I think it's all silly. I love the 4th of July and I don't see myself as a victim simply because of what my ancestors went through.
 
It all comes down to perception.

If you think of yourself as an American who happens to be descended from a certain people, then you do the American thing and you blow **** up on the 4th.

If you think of a descendant of a certain people who happens to be an American citizen, you look at it differently.
 
Mellie said:
Many groups of people didn't have total rights in 1776. Women, gays, blacks, Natives....

If you're going by what your ancestors went through, I guess I shouldn't celebrate it since my great-grandmother was full-blood Choctaw. Doesn't seem like many people would be celebrating.

I think it's all silly. I love the 4th of July and I don't see myself as a victim simply because of what my ancestors went through.
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You dont also have to celebrate the founding of the country that put your ancestors through hell either. You can accept that America today is a better country then it was in the past, and still honour your ancestors by not celebrating the country's past that put them into slavery or massacred them during expansionarly wars
 
First let me say, that I don't dispute the history or the information presented in that interview. With that said, aren't we supposed to be striving to unite people? Making the statement that Black people can't, or shouldn't, celebrate the 4th of July, is divisive and something I think is wrong. The 4th of July is a celebration of America's creation, of the day it came into existence, so it is a day for all Americans. If black people want to celebrate that speech from July 5th, I think that's fine. They could call it "Black Liberation Day" or something like that, but it shouldn't be a replacement for the country's independence day holiday.

.
 
PeteEU said:
He is right.. the Black American Independence days should either be the 6th of December (day the 13th Amendment was adopted) or maybe the July 2 for the civil rights act that finally got rid of the last part of slavery (segregation in this case). Or how about the day the racists Confederacy was defeated?

One thing for sure.. 4th July did not give equal rights too all "men" in the US.. that did not happen till at best 1964, and at worst the late 1980s when the last segregation law on the books was finally removed.

So again.. he is right.
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Damn, boy. Don't be ignorant. Search the word "Juneteenth".

The Declaration of Independence gave no rights to any man. You could at least read the document sometime to see what it claims the origin of rights are.

And the racists who held the freedoms away from the blacks in America after the civil war were the Democrats. If you wanted to know.
 
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Lord Tammerlain said:
You dont also have to celebrate the founding of the country that put your ancestors through hell either. You can accept that America today is a better country then it was in the past, and still honour your ancestors by not celebrating the country's past that put them into slavery or massacred them during expansionarly wars
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Then again, only a damn fool of a black man in America would rather be a black man in Africa today. Just like we Irishmen are damn glad our ancestors moved here some time back.
 
Scarecrow Akhbar said:
Damn, boy. Don't be ignorant. Search the word "Juneteenth".
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Oh come on now, be fair. There's no reason on the face of the Earth that PeteEU should be expected to know that one off the top of his head.

It's not recognized as a holiday in all 50 states (14 states don't officially recognize it), and the date in and of itself doesn't coincide with a historic event so much as it was the date that the Emancipation Proclamation was first celebrated.

Additionally, while my wife was taught about it in the 4-year college she attended, it never got a mention at the high school we went to or the community college I went to.
 
Scarecrow Akhbar said:
Then again, only a damn fool of a black man in America would rather be a black man in Africa today. Just like we Irishmen are damn glad our ancestors moved here some time back.
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yes being black in the US today is better then living in Ethopia today.

And if your ancestors were WILLING immigrants, I am sure that they would be happy their ancestors moved to the US today
 
Scarecrow Akhbar said:
The Declaration of Independence gave no rights to any man. You could at least read the document sometime to see what it claims the origin of rights are.
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Now you're just splitting hairs. Whether the document granted those rights to "men" or said they came from God, the fact of the matter is that our nation at its birth (and for many years thereafter) did not recognize the rights of the people who were treated as chattel.

Scarecrow Akhbar said:
And the racists who held the freedoms away from the blacks in America after the civil war were the Democrats. If you wanted to know.
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Oh, big deal. Terms such as "liberal" and "conservative" and "Republican" and "Democrat" have changed places enough over the course of our history that that ugly little fact is mostly meaningless now.
 
He can choose not to celebrate the 4th of July for that reason but I think it makes him look very small. I can see where a black man who lived in 1776 wouldn't celebrate. But Governor Patterson not celebrating is just plain stupid. So no, I don't think he really has a reasonable point.
 
I give him this. Patterson is going out with a bang. And hell why not it isn't like he is running again. I saw for his last day in office he gives a press conference in the nude.
 
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