# I pit racism in Milwaukee and Mr. Eugene Kane for empowering it. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 9, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504 "2007-02-09T15:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/1 "2007-02-09T15:51:02Z")
Eugene Kane is a disingenuous prick. Here’s some brief background about the ‘problems’ in Milwaukee (specific to this case) in which Eugene likes to underplay. [Badger Blogger, which details some recent events at Mayfair Mall.](http://badgerblogger.com/?p=4934) There is a history of problems at Mayfair Mall, in Wauwatosa (A Milwaukee suburb, only 40 blocks or so from the inner city and right on main bus routes) in which black inner city teens are causing problems at the movie theater, near bus stops, and other general mayhem inside the mall (which is largely in a white community). Eugene likes to handwave the problems and suggest that they stem from lack of police patrol, too much police control, lack of police response, too aggressive of police response, etc. IOW, he and many like him are deflecting the actual problems back onto everyone else except the people directly responsible for their actions and their parents and leaders in the community. In a local school fight that took place a couple of weeks ago (the Bradley Tech Brawl, on Youtube) in which 50-100 (mostly) black students got into a brawl that took several dozen officers (some were injured) to break up, Eugene downplays the event and pokes fun at the story. He never adresses the actual underlying reasons why these things tend to happen during events where the major attendees are black kids. [Eugenes editorial here.](http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=561171) The latest story, in which a white man was harrassed on a bus by some black kids on his way home from (you guessed it, Mayfair Mall) [Story here.](http://www.wauwatosanow.com/story/index.aspx?id=563210) > [@](#): > > When the man turned back around, one of the teens kicked him in the back of the head. When the bus stopped in the 6700 block of W. North Avenue, the man got up to get off. As he rose, one of the teens punched him in the face and the back of the head. The man made his way to the front of the bus and the teens exited the bus from the rear, but they appeared to be waiting for the man to exit, the bus driver told police. At that point, the driver instructed the man to stay on the bus while she called police. > > One of the boys got back on the bus and attacked the man, striking him with his fists. During the attack, the boy kept calling the victim derogatory names, according to the driver and the victim. > > The boy then got off the bus and fled on foot with his friends. The youth was later apprehended near the 6000 block of West Garfield Avenue. > > Police reviewed the security surveillance video from the bus and saw that the victim was the only white person on the bus. When asked by police and interviewed by Milwaukee County Transit System security officials, none of the estimated 50 passengers said they witnessed the attack. Great, none of them saw _anything_. Does this remind anyone of something that might have happened about 60 years ago but with the races reversed? [Here’s Eugene’s editorial;](http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=563327) Right from the start he tries to switch gears instead of dealing with _the actual fucking case_. > [@](#): > > But there’s a legitimate question whether this case meets the standard of previous high-profile racially motivated incidents. > > The victim on the bus didn’t suffer enough injuries to require hospital treatment, which makes this one different from the bloody beating of Frank Jude Jr. by off-duty Milwaukee cops. So, just because the man wasn’t knifed or shot doesn’t mean you are allowed to show outrage Mr. Kane? Just because some fucktard police (who were acquitted, much to the chagrin of the local media, talk show hosts and black community) beat a black man several years ago means that every hate crime from now on gets a pass from you? You intelectually dishonest fuck. Talk about the problems in _your_ community. If you don’t bring them to local attention this type of shit is going to continue for fucking ever. > [@](#): > > The head of the NAACP weighed in on the Great Bus Hate Crime after being asked for comment. Funny, but I don’t remember which white organization was asked to comment about the Jude beating or when the black guy from Milwaukee was threatened while fishing. First off why the mocking caps in Great Bus Hate Crime, you fuckwit. And secondly, which _ **white** _ groups do you suggest should have been commenting? The fucking Shriners? There aren’t any _white_ groups, like there are _black_ groups. There could never be the ‘association for the advancement of white people’ and you know it so shut the fuck up already. > [@](#): > > I think the Great Bus Hate Crime struck a nerve because of simmering anger from whites in Milwaukee who believe black people are excused for the same acts of racial animosity for which whites would get crucified. No shit Sherlock. It’s because it’s true, guys like you would never have let this down if it was a black kid on an all white bus. And there is a brewing animosity, not towards black kids, but towards assholes like you who never hold them to the fire for _their own actions_. What are they supposed to think when they perpetrate a crime like this and merely get slapped on the wrist from the likes of you and the black aldermen from the inner city (Mr McGee, I’m talking to you). You enable them, you give them all the reasons they couldn’t come up with on their own to continue these actions instead of giving them reasons why their actions are dispicable and should be met with reprimand from _leaders_ such as yourself. [Here’s another article from a slilghtly different angle.](http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=563633) > [@](#): > > Wauwatosa police are seeking a hate-crime enhancer - which would increase the possible sentence - because, from their perspective, the case has all the earmarks. They are correct to do so, just as Waukesha County authorities were correct to pursue hate-crime charges recently in the case of two white North Lake firefighters threatening a black fisherman from Milwaukee. > > And that’s the key here: consistency and uniformity. The hate-crime enhancer should have been pursued in the case of the white Milwaukee police officers tried - mostly unsuccessfully - in the 2004 beating of Frank Jude Jr., a biracial man. Racial epithets were allegedly hurled in that incident as well. > > But because the charges were not sought in that case does not mean they shouldn’t be sought when appropriate elsewhere. And this should apply no matter what color the victims or assailants are. I agree with those sentiments. [Black leaders deplore attack.](http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=562834) > [@](#): > > Meanwhile, leaders in the African-American community on Tuesday denounced the assault but raised concerns about the Wauwatosa Police Department’s plans to seek the hate-crime enhancer against a 16-year-old suspect. > > “Why is it so difficult to get the hate crime when a white person is accused?” said local NAACP President Jerry Ann Hamilton, noting that many believed the white officers in the Frank Jude beating case in Milwaukee should have been charged with hate crimes. It isn’t, in Waukesha county some white folks were slapped with the hate crime rider. It has never been used in Milwaukee to this date, but maybe now is a good time to start. Or should we wait till things get worse? I wonder if Jesse Jackson would be in Milwaukee today if this was a black kid that got beat by a bunch of white kids? Sorry, I’m really pissed that people can take this sort of stance in a ghoulish attempt at repairing the divide between the races. Regress much? Mr. Eugene Kane, you and your kind, black and white, are loosers. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/2 "2007-02-09T17:11:56Z")
Hello, **Uncommon**. The situation in Milwaukee is disgusting because nobody can/wants to be honest about one thing: Many **blacks** from the inner-city are completely out of control. Let the screams that P.K. Beitz is a racist begin. Or, better yet, face the truth: Let the statistics speak for themselves. I’m in the West Allis area. Poor white people aren’t acting this way. Middle class black people aren’t acting like animals (and yes, there are poor white & middle class blacks in W.A.:rolleyes: ) When was the last time you heard about people getting gunned down in Elm Grove? The truth is; collectively, poor African-Americans from the inner-city are out of control. The only real debate is why are they out of control and what to do about it. But people like Kane refuse to do this, or even allow others to have these conversations, because the moment someone speaks the truth, screams of racism come about!! But the truth is many from the inner city are out of control, and the most UN-racist thing we can do is admit it so we can start to fix it!! ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/3 "2007-02-09T17:23:58Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] Hello, **Uncommon**. The situation in Milwaukee is disgusting because nobody can/wants to be honest about one thing: Many **blacks** from the inner-city are completely out of control. Let the screams that P.K. Beitz is a racist begin. [/QUOTE] Impossible. Any person with two brain cells to rub together knows that the inner city has become a hot-bed for thug like activity and it’s spreading outwards. They are out of control and anyone with any creds (aside from Bill Cosby) to speak of will not stand up and admit what the real problems are. It’s old, tiring and sickening. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/4 "2007-02-09T17:24:22Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense] Great, none of them saw _anything_. Does this remind anyone of something that might have happened about 60 years ago but with the races reversed? [/QUOTE] …Nnnnoo - why don’t you refresh us? The edict against “snitching” in these dysfunctional communities is used against black victims much more often than they are used against whites, for the simple fact that blacks are the primary victims of black violent crimes. Therefore, I don’t get the point of your entire post. Was there supposed to be extra outrage because the victim this time was white? That would have made this situation less racist? ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/5 "2007-02-09T17:39:59Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] …Nnnnoo - why don’t you refresh us? The edict against “snitching” in these dysfunctional communities is used against black victims much more often than they are used against whites, for the simple fact that blacks are the primary victims of black violent crimes. [/quote] Of course, but that doesn’t make that right either. Kane is equally silent about black on black crimes, but this time he chose to mock this (black on white) incident. He would never mock a black on black or white on black crime. > [@](#): > > Therefore, I don’t get the point of your entire post. Was there supposed to be extra outrage because the victim this time was white? That would have made this situation less racist? Nope, he would have been better off keeping his mouth shut like he’s good at doing. But the overall point is that this was a hate crime, the white guy did nothing, and the black kids used racial epithets and beat him up. If this was reversed, you can imagine the outcry from the black community and Kane himself, no? That’s why I’m saying that he’s racist. And the part of my OP that you selected to quote was referring to how white people treated blacks 60 years ago and that Kane should be disgusted that blacks are doing the same thing today, after years of fighting for equal rights and coming as far as they have. And all this during the month of February, if you catch my drift. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/6 "2007-02-09T18:13:29Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] Therefore, I don’t get the point of your entire post. Was there supposed to be extra outrage because the victim this time was white? That would have made this situation less racist? [/QUOTE] As far as the community goes, yes. While considering there is a threat of violence against anyone who _does_ speak out, it might not reflect poorly on the racial attitudes of your average inner city Milwaukee black. But it would _increase_ the perception of their _average_ attitudes if they _did_ put themselves in danger by speaking up. In the same way, I don’t especially fault “closeted” white anti-segregationists (as well as plain old anti-violentists,) who didn’t speak up in Civil Rights Era south as there certainly were threats of and actual use of violence against them. But it sure would have made them look a lot better if they did more to stop the entrenched prejudices and violence. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/7 "2007-02-09T18:14:38Z")
Excellent OP. Another indication that we are failing black inner city kids. When we don’t hold them accountable, and hold them to the same standards expected of other kids, we do them and society at large a great disservice. The sad thing is that, as you point out, the change has to largely come from within the black community. And there are too few adults with a moral compass and backbone as strong as those possessed by Bill Cosby. Looking to the likes of Jesse Jackson for the solution is like expecting a cat to call an exterminator to get rid of a mouse problem. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/8 "2007-02-09T21:53:40Z")
How _dare_ you? You’re all racists! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/9 "2007-02-09T22:07:03Z")
[QUOTE=athelas] How _dare_ you? You’re all racists! 😛 [/QUOTE] … [link](http://www.carbuyingtips.com/pics/crash17.jpg) [link](http://www.sapros.com/tmiaw/train_wreck.jpg) [link](http://entomology.unl.edu/images/crickets/fldcricket_female.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/10 "2007-02-10T00:04:10Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] … [link](http://www.carbuyingtips.com/pics/crash17.jpg) [link](http://www.sapros.com/tmiaw/train_wreck.jpg) [link](http://entomology.unl.edu/images/crickets/fldcricket_female.jpg) [/QUOTE] Huh? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/11 "2007-02-10T02:09:59Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] … [link](http://www.carbuyingtips.com/pics/crash17.jpg) [link](http://www.sapros.com/tmiaw/train_wreck.jpg) [link](http://entomology.unl.edu/images/crickets/fldcricket_female.jpg) [/QUOTE] Ooh - wait! I get it! The first picture is of a crash. Crash. Get it? The movie - racial issues and all that. The second is of a train wreck. Pit thread, race, train wreck. The third is a cricket! A _BLACK_ cricket! Which is, of course… um… OK, I got nothing for that one. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/12 "2007-02-10T04:02:52Z")
[QUOTE=Scruloose] The third is a cricket! A _BLACK_ cricket! Which is, of course… um… OK, I got nothing for that one. [/QUOTE] The silence that descends over the black leadership? ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/13 "2007-02-10T18:36:02Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] Huh? 😕 [/QUOTE] Come on, those are common responses to a (I can only surmise from the jokey smiley used) gag that didn’t work. Get it? Maybe it’s a radio show thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/14 "2007-02-10T18:55:17Z")
[The National Association for the Advancement of White People.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_White_People) But I can see the OP’s point–who would want a quote form an organization founded by David Duke? This incident sounds like a hate crime, but it’s not as if blacks never attacked whites until after the Civil Rights era. My own mother was chased home from school by several black girls intent on doing her harm in the mid-1960s. Crime is crime, violence is violence, and they favor no color. What I find most disturbing in this story is not the attack itself, but that in a bus with _50 people_ on board, not one person said they saw anything! Either these people are scared of the assailants, have no sense that cooperating with the police is important for the common good, or else the race of the victim really does matter to them. I would like to think it’s the second one, but who really knows? It’s been 13 years since O.J. Simpson walked. Maybe we need another, bigger wake-up call about the real state of race relations in this country. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/15 "2007-02-11T05:49:12Z")
Excluding the movie complex\*, Mayfair is a very nice mall, but between the movie theater and the north end of the building (by the bus stop) Mayfair maybe the next Northridge if they’re not careful. I believe it was Chris Rock who said “Every town has two malls, the one where the white people go and the one where the white people used to go” (Northridge and Southridge). Oh, and no matter what city you’re in, if you find yourself on MLK drive, get the hell of it. \*I’ve never seen a movie there, I’m just basing that comment on the Barber Shop incident. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/16 "2007-02-11T06:21:42Z")
> [@](#): > > When we don’t hold them accountable, and hold them to the same standards expected of other kids, we do them and society at large a great disservice. I think you make an excellent point. I think part of the problem is so many of these kids have such low expectations for themselves… what is expected of them becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy–to a certain extent they are not held accountable on the basis that the behavior is expected, and then the cycle is perpetuated. It’s very sad. ---
**Author:** ![Li\_l\_Pluck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee59a6/32.png) [@Li\_l\_Pluck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Li_l_Pluck)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/17 "2007-02-11T16:57:05Z")
::Reluctantly and warily creeeeeps into thread.:: [QUOTE=pkbites] \*\*Many \*\* \*\*blacks \*\* from the inner-city are completely out of control. … The truth is; **collectively** , poor African-Americans from the inner-city are out of control. [/QUOTE] (The boldface on “many” and “collectively” are mine.) Far, far be it for me to deny that there’s some fucked up shit going down in the “inner-city”\*, but “many”? “Collectively”? On what do you base your quantification? And why did you feel it was necessary to boldface “blacks” in your original comments? \*The reason I put “inner-city” in quotes: Did you mean inner-city, or did you mean ghetto? I ask only because I’ve never been quite comfortable with the way that inner city has come to equal ghetto. Minor nitpick, though, in the greater context of this pit. [QUOTE=pkbites] Let the screams that P.K. Beitz is a racist begin. [/QUOTE] Though I’m not prepared, at this point, to accuse you of racism (well, big “R” racism, anyway), given the part of your post that I’ve quoted, would you \*seriously \* be surprised if someone wasn’t sure about where you stand WRT Blacks? Just asking. And \*\*magellan01 \*\* and \*\*olivesmarch4th \*\* make a good point. When I was growing up (I was born in 1970), my mother, who is a survivor of the Jim Crow South, told my younger brother and me (who were not raised in the ghetto) that, solely because we were Black, White folks\*\* would expect nothing but the worst from us. This was immediately followed by this paraphrase: “But this is what \*\*I \*\* expect from you, blah-blah-blah, don’t even try me, blah-blah-blah, or I’ll kill you, blah-blah-blah.” (Nah, she never threatened us with death, but we knew that the consequences of not meeting certain of her expectations would not have been pretty.) And you’re right, **olivesmarch4th** : It \*\*is \*\* very sad. ☹ \*\*In case it’s not clear, Mama didn’t mean \*\*all \*\* White folks–she took pains to explain to us that not all White folks were racist, and there were close White friends of the family, and I had teachers, both White and Black, who had high expectations of their Black students. That’s my two cents. For now, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/18 "2007-02-11T17:18:12Z")
> [@](#): > > When I was growing up (I was born in 1970), my mother, who is a survivor of the Jim Crow South, told my younger brother and me (who were not raised in the ghetto) that, solely because we were Black, White folks\*\* would expect nothing but the worst from us. This was immediately followed by this paraphrase: “But this is what I expect from you, blah-blah-blah, don’t even try me, blah-blah-blah, or I’ll kill you, blah-blah-blah.” (Nah, she never threatened us with death, but we knew that the consequences of not meeting certain of her expectations would not have been pretty.) Your mother sounds like a fine woman, **Li’l Pluck.** ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/19 "2007-02-11T17:36:13Z")
[QUOTE=Li’l Pluck] And \*\*magellan01 \*\* and \*\*olivesmarch4th \*\* make a good point. When I was growing up (I was born in 1970), my mother, who is a survivor of the Jim Crow South, told my younger brother and me (who were not raised in the ghetto) that, solely because we were Black, White folks\*\* would expect nothing but the worst from us. This was immediately followed by this paraphrase: “But this is what \*\*I \*\* expect from you, blah-blah-blah, don’t even try me, blah-blah-blah, or I’ll kill you, blah-blah-blah.” (Nah, she never threatened us with death, but we knew that the consequences of not meeting certain of her expectations would not have been pretty.) And you’re right, **olivesmarch4th** : It \*\*is \*\* very sad. ☹ [/QUOTE] Okay, I laughed after reading that since I remember getting a similar speech a bit over a decade later. I agree that those of you who are speaking about expectations have touched on an important part of the problem. I have my suspicions on what some of the other parts of the problem are. ---
**Author:** ![Li\_l\_Pluck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee59a6/32.png) [@Li\_l\_Pluck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Li_l_Pluck)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504/20 "2007-02-11T17:45:54Z")
[QUOTE=olivesmarch4th] Your mother sounds like a fine woman, **Li’l Pluck.** [/QUOTE] Well, Laaawd \*\*knows \*\* she has her share of issues, but yes, she is most indubitably a fine woman (well, since she turned 60 three days ago, I joke with her that she’s now a lady of a certain age), and it is very kind of you to say so! 🙂 From time to time, after witnessing some of the behavior mentioned in this thread, I feel compelled to call her, and I’ll say, “Mama, I’m just calling to say thank you,” and she’ll usually respond with something along the lines of “Oh, Lord, what happened now?” So, yeah, despite the times that she and I have butted heads (and I mean **BIG TIME** ), I know that I got lucky. And she’d say the same about me, too. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-racism-in-milwaukee-and-mr-eugene-kane-for-empowering-it/391504.md?page=2)