Jacksonville's First Black Mayor

[cayohueso]

"However we recognize that there are still people out there for whom gender/ethnicity/sexual orientation DO matter and are celebrating that there are obviously fewer and fewer of those people out there as evidenced that Brown won"....so if a person who is black votes for a black person BECAUSE the candidate is black...they aren't racist?

[JeffreyS]

If they believe black is superior and acted on it that is racist. If someone votes to promote diversity based on race it may not be racist just an attempt to make sure their government is representative of all.

[Miss Fixit]

I observed something that I found very odd yesterday, especially in light of the recent election, and would appreciate some insight from this board.  I think it's relevant to this discussion.

A neatly dressed, articulate JEA employee - who also happened to be African American - visited my Springfield home in connection with a JEA conservation project.  A male friend - who works in construction and was NOT well dressed, was scruffy, tattooed, etc. - was there at the time working on the house.  He shook hands with and introduced himself to the JEA employee, who then repeatedly referred to my friend as "Boss" and "Boss Man."

My friend, who is from Minnesota (which according to him contains at least as racist a population as does Florida), said later that he was offended by those comments which he told me he hears often from African American men he meets in Jacksonville.  It was definitely weird - in this case, the JEA employee must certainly earn more and have better benefits than my self-employed friend and there was nothing in my friend's appearance or attitude, at least as far as I could tell, that should have brought those comments on.  The JEA employee seemed comfortable and I really don't believe he intended any offense. 

My friend did not react to the comments at the time but now feels he should have let the JEA employee know he thought they were inappropriate and made him uncomfortable - he's certainly nobody's "Boss Man". How should my friend have responded? 

[FayeforCure]

And we love to have you on here and commenting.  

Tribalism, the meta-category of racism is part of basic human nature so its hard to get around the "us and them" divides of any kind.  Just look at football fans!  We just have to learn that our "tribe" is everybody.

Faye, the Netherlands are a special case about tolerance.  The Dutch have to be the most pragmatic, hardheaded, down to earth nationality in the world.  You are not "typical" Europeans at all.

Thanks Dog Walker! I have always been proud of the impact such a tiny country can make on the large world out there.

The Dutch also always tried to make alliances with the locals as they did in Brazil, Indonesia etc.

Dutch prosperity came from being savvy traders around the world. Unfortunately, and disgracefully so, they also played a major role in the slave trade.

The spread of African-Americans around the world through slavery, with The Middle East being the largest destination, followed by Brazil.........and North America only accounting for 4.4% of European slave trade:

Number of Africans deported to the Americas by the Europeans: about 10-15 million (about 30-40 million died before reaching the Americas).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Africans deported by Arabs to the Middle East: about 17 million.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

European slave trade by destination

Brazil: 4,000,000 35.4%
Spanish Empire: 2,500,000 22.1%
British West Indies: 2,000,000 17.7%
French West Indies: 1,600,00 14.1%
British North America: 500,000 4.4%
Dutch West Indies: 500,000 4.4%
Danish West Indies: 28,000 0.2%
Europe: 200,000 1.8%
Total 1500-1900: 11,328,000 100.0%
Source: "The Slave Trade", Hugh Thomas, 1997


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The slave trade was abolished by Britain in 1812, and subsequently by all other European countries. Portugal and France, though, continued to import slaves, although as contract labourers, which they called respectively "libertos" or "engages a` temps".

Portugal had a virtual monopoly on the African slave trade to the Americas until the mid 1650s, when Holland became a major competitor. In the period 1700-1800 Britain became the leading "importer".

http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/slavetra.html

The Dutch have tried to atone for their role in human rights violations of the past: They now house the Hague World Court of Human Rights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Court_of_Justice


The majority of African-Dutch in the Netherlands are recent immigrants from Nigeria. As a matter of fact, my former sister in law married a Nigerian.

Most immigrants in the Netherlands are from either Marocco or Turkey, for the same reason the US uses Mexican immigrants..........to do the work they don't want to do themselves.

[Miss Fixit]

The best way for your friend to respond in the future is to say something along the lines of "Bossman?  Please...My name is John Smith, please call me John." that supplies the name that is being substituted.

That's exactly what I suggested, Stephen. Glad to see that you agree with my take on this.

[Jaxson]

I noticed the whole bossman thing here in Jax.  I get that a lot when I am in town and happen to be wearing my shirt and tie from work.  I do not take offense, but believe that there is a casual formality from the 'bossman' term.