# Am I a self-hating Negro? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 10, 2002, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-self-hating-negro/136141 "2002-11-10T15:04:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-self-hating-negro/136141/161 "2015-10-31T18:04:49Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I know that black people can do whatever all people can do. Because, get this, black people are human beings! They always have been, even before there was a black president. What I thought was driving other people’s perceptions was incorrect. It does not matter that we’ve had a black president. It doesn’t matter that there are black criminals. White people fear and dislike black people. So much so that when they are gunned down, beaten, handcuffed and kicked to death, shot for walking down the street eating Skittles and drinking Arizona ice tea, white people think they deserve it. > > It doesn’t matter what we do. Good, bad or indifferent. Therefore I no longer hold blacks to a higher standard than whites. My first thought when reading the thread was to write a response along these lines - but with a slightly more chastizing tone. Then I saw this response, then I realized it was a zombie thread. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-self-hating-negro/136141/162 "2015-10-31T18:22:19Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Oopsie. I think it’s a good idea sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-self-hating-negro/136141/163 "2015-10-31T19:02:50Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I know that black people can do whatever all people can do. Because, get this, black people are human beings! They always have been, even before there was a black president. What I thought was driving other people’s perceptions was incorrect. It does not matter that we’ve had a black president. It doesn’t matter that there are black criminals. White people fear and dislike black people. So much so that when they are gunned down, beaten, handcuffed and kicked to death, shot for walking down the street eating Skittles and drinking Arizona ice tea, white people think they deserve it. > > It doesn’t matter what we do. Good, bad or indifferent. Therefore I no longer hold blacks to a higher standard than whites. I get what you’re saying, really, but mutual responsibility and striving for improvement are things you do for your own sake, not for anyone else. If you’re a part of a community, you should work to make that community better, and the hell with whatever the rest of the world thinks. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-self-hating-negro/136141/164 "2015-10-31T20:22:20Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > It doesn’t matter what we do. Good, bad or indifferent. Therefore I no longer hold blacks to a higher standard than whites. I’m sure you’re right. Fwiw, I can only see the black experience in the USA as being the single greatest failing of democracy in the era of universal suffrage. We talk of the phenomenon of people voting against their best interests, but there is no better example of that than the institutional dysfunction of the political class in the USA in addressing inequality in all its manifestations. ---
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-self-hating-negro/136141/165 "2015-11-06T21:32:54Z")
I’ve always felt TDLR, should appear before the post: No, you should be exactly who you are, because no one gets to tell anyone to be anything else, unless it’s harmful to someone. And I think she’s wrong, there is no “all” anything. Your experience is yours, even in a community. We should all aim to experience as much as possible. Now this is getting TDLR again, so I’ll stop: During my pretty comfortable childhood as a white norwegian, being in one of the first generations getting more or less used to a multi-cultural society, I grew up in a very multi-cultural school environment in Oslo. My secondary school was a pretty underfunded school. One time it was chosen as \*the \*place to stage a television show about a dysfuncional school, featuring real students as actors, even. This was in one of the outer schools of the centre of Oslo. Several of my fellow students did criminal behaviour after school, usually petty theft or threatening people with knives. A couple were involved with heavier stuff, but they usually didn’t bring that to school, though we had a few incidents of violence now and then. We had imitations of what americans call black culture. Norway is heavily influenced by America, via television and culture in general(My life would be very different without America, for good or bad). At my school kids would often go back home during breaks and watch American television. Mostly re-runs of either soaps or sit-coms feature the screen, or something like Doctor Phil. Sometimes Opera or maybe American Model. It was usually dreck. We sort of had those people that did those things, the stereotypes promoted by bigots, more or less because of bad parenting, a dysfuctional school because of underfunding and an ever changing reform-system and because of people watch American television(kidding!). Of all those there were one psycho. The rest were either intelligent, but in a bad situation at home, or had a severe dysfunction because of ADHD, Aspergers or the like, or had abusive parents or just neglect. I don’t use facebook, so I don’t actually keep in touch. Some were really good friends, so I’m looking forward to a reunion. One apparently married… Another one still wears rollerblades. Anyway, sorry for the babble. ---
**Author:** ![tacos4all](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@tacos4all](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacos4all)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-self-hating-negro/136141/166 "2015-11-10T15:55:59Z")
Well, first you have to ask yourself what it means to be Black. Is it the color of your skin, or inclusion in the “Black Community”, or is it the posession of stereotypical “Black” characteristics, beliefs behaviors, etc. Is there really such a thing as a united, unified Black community? Interesting question. I doubt it. For instance, I’m white, but there’s no such thing as a white community, we are broken up into a whole lot of subgroups and I daresay Blacks are the same way. I would feel insulted if someone said “All white people…etc.” so I imagine Black people would too. I guess that means there’s a lot of different ways to be Black and they are all valid. Don’t let others define you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-self-hating-negro/136141.md?page=8)