NAACP says no to park name
Sacramento chapter weighs in on Shockley controversy
Naming an Auburn park in honor of a racist has earned the wrath of the NAACP. The Sacramento chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has put its support behind efforts by Auburn residents opposed to a decision by the Auburn Recreation and Parks District board to accept a 28-acre bequest on the condition that it be named after William Shockley. But park district Chairman Curt Smith said while he believes that no one on the board supports or condones Shockley’s point of view or actions, it would not be possible to undo what has been done — and either give the land back or keep the land and not abide by conditions of the gift. The board accepted the 28-acre parcel from Shockley’s widow last spring on the condition that it be named “Nobel Laureate William B. Shockley and his wife Emmy Shockley Memorial Park.” No discussion of Shockley’s connection to eugenics and racist views took place before the vote. Betty Williams, Sacramento NAACP branch president, said her organization strongly advocates reconsideration of the vote and will be supporting efforts to “prevent the Auburn community from bearing the stain of racism.” In recent weeks, the Shockley park issue has been the subject of a Wall Street Journal story, a segment of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “As It Happens” radio show, and an item on the London Times Web site. Shockley, who died in 1989, was co-winner of a Nobel Prize in 1956. But his public embrace of eugenics in the 1960s and contention that whites were intellectually superior to blacks have sullied his public stature. He never lived in Auburn. The property, off Shockley Road, was bought by Shockley’s parents in the early 1900s. Eugenics is a movement devoted to improving the human species through the control of hereditary factors in mating. Most infamously, it was embraced by the Nazis in Germany and served as a pseudo-scientific rationale for the holocaust. “Mr. Shockley is a notorious eugenicist whose pseudo-scientific racism called for the sterilization of people of color, persons with disabilities, Native Americans and the Jewish community,” Williams said. “America in the 21st century is going forward and this struggle in Auburn speaks to the forever vigilant readiness that conscious people in our democracy must maintain to protect the equal rights of all Americans.” Smith said the dilemma facing the parks panel is “what now?” Input in the six months since the board accepted the property and then learned about Shockley’s eugenics history have been evenly spread between people opposing accepting the property with naming conditions attached and others who feel Shockley’s beliefs should be ignored to allow the community to enjoy the benefits of the parkland, he said. The district has explored the possibility of giving the property back, Smith said. “According to the administrators of the now-dissolved trust, that is not possible,” Smith said. “The property has changed hands, ARD is now the owner and it is expected that they will comply with the conditions of the gift. Consequently, the district has few options to consider.” Smith added that, to the best of his knowledge, the district has no plans either currently or in the near future to erect signs on the property naming the park. What is in question is not whether the district’s board and staff is aware of Shockley’s history and beliefs, he said. “What is in question is what realistic options does the district have and what is the most prudent way to proceed?” Smith said. Karen Tajbl, who has helped organize opposition to honoring Shockley by naming a park after him, said she was pleased with the new level of support from an African-American organization whose coverage area includes Placer County. Tajbl said she’s hoping an NAACP representative will be at the Sept. 24 meeting of the parks district board to speak on an issue that is resonating on a larger stage. She noted that the civil rights movement in the 1960s was bolstered by volunteers from Northern U.S. states. “Sometimes it takes outsiders to prick our consciousness,” she said. Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com or comment at Auburnjournal.com.
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William Shockley’s misguided legacy • The Nobel Prize co-winner had no formal training in genetics or psychology but developed a racist theory he called dysgenics. • Based his assumptions on now-disregarded Army induction IQ tests, Shockley concluded Blacks were inherently less intelligent that Caucasians • Suggested that individuals with IQs below 100 undergo voluntary sterilization, with the government paying them to do so. • Ran for the U.S. Senate’s California Republican nomination in 1982 on a dysgenics platform and placed eighth. • “Sadly, when he died at 79 of cancer, he regarded his work in genetics as more important than any role he played in creating the $130 billion semiconductor industry.” — Source: 1999’s Time Magazine “The Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century”
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Thats to bad.
there seems to be a double standard.
I'm for changing the name to something else. Good for the NAACP!
Tha naacp thinks everybody is a racist. If it does'nt benefit them then they cry foul.
Give the land back to the Shockley Estate, if the man is so despised, then we should not be hypocrites by accepting their gift, let them sell it to developers and let the developers make some money, add some more traffic and then we can all thank the NAACP. We should encourage them to demand that all names of persons known to have owned slaves, approved of racial discrimination or whatever else they deem improper be removed from any public place. Any one has a good suggestion for renaming the Washington monument?
No double standard, we either accept the gift with its conditions or if we can't, in good consciousness, abide by them then we should decline the gift. Let's also ban hypocrisy while we are in the banning mood.
Loomis, we've already been over that. No one is crying for anyone to change the Lincoln Memorial or anything like that. Don't be so melodramatic. I'm sure you wouldn't like it if we named it after Che Guevara, would you? Well that's how some of us feel about naming something after Shockley.
Who cares what the naacp thinks. The land could be named after the pope and they would still cry racisim. Its been documented over the years if they dont like something they play the race card.
Well I wonder how many NAACP members from Sacramento would actually visit the park if it ever gets established. I think this is a local issue and should be handled on a local basis.
Agree with loomisresident - give the property back to the family! What right does the NAACP have to come along and dictate what we can and cannot name a park when the property was donated. Maybe they should buy it and name it after Martin Luther King! I am not a racist, but I am more than sick and tired of the NAACP playing the racist card. If we had a white miss USA, we would be called racist; yet there is a Black Miss USA; if we had a white peace officers association it would be racist; yet there is a Black Peace Officers Association in Sacramento; I am more than fed up with the double standard! And as a final comment, I know those who for whatever reason think that if we are white we cannot have an opinion, can just live with it - I will not change your point of view and you will not change mine!
PS - I sleep fine at night.
I believe Loomis has a very valid point. If Shockley Park isn't politically correct then why do we have Shockley Ln. over by Regional park? In fact why is any park or street in America with the name Shockley not on the target list for the NAACP? Sure maybe they aren't named after William Shockley, but it's better to be safe than sorry right? My question is, why when one of our country's biggest goals is to do away with racism and unite the country, do we even the NAACP? Isn't the fact that the NAACP even exists in our day and age hypocritical to their cause? Don't get me wrong, I believe there was most certainly a time when the NAACP was extremely important to the development of our country as a free nation, but that time is over. We have a colored president for crying out loud, the highest office you can obtain in our country, and we still have an entire association whose sole purpose is to advance the race that contains our president? Let alone acting here in Auburn... or even California for that matter. If there is anymore racial work left to be done by the NAACP, it's elsewhere in the country. It's important to remember your history so that you don't forget it, but there's a distinct line between remembering it and continuing to live in the past. We are not in the streets of Alabama during the 60's anymore. This is a free country with equal opportunity and a colored leader.
This is a great example of manufactured controversy, the NAACP didn't even contact the ARD or any board member prior to making a statement, a statement which if read makes it obvious the NAACP acted in a knee jerk manner thatt was based on second hand information by the 2 or 3 people that continue to fan the flames of this "story". The property CAN NOT be returned - PERIOD, there is no one to return it to this is not a fruit cake, once property is accepted it is deeded over to the recipient. There is NO plans to build a park, NO plans to put up any signages. When and if there ever becomes the funds available and the determination to do something with this land, there will be public procedures on how best to name the park. Time to move on to real issues.
HooDoo1: When exactly did white's become the victim?
BB, Accepting a gift from someone who is despised is hypocritical, regardless of color. If Shockley is so disgusting then we should not accept the g.ift since it obviously was purchased with blood money.
No, I would not like it if the park were named after Che Guevara but what does that have to do with this? Some people, perhaps you, would love that name. Che did not donate the land, Shokley's Estate did and the condition was that it be named after him. There are only two options, abide by the conditions of the gift or do not accept it . Anything else is pure hypocrisy.
Manufactured controversy? It has been a controversy for many months! How did you think the NAACP would weigh in, that it would be ok? You all are manufacturing an issue!!
Why not name the park per the families desires and erect a plaque with his accomplishments and beliefs. Use this as a potential educational lesson. Maybe more now than ever we need to remember we don't live in utopia.
Lets say no to the park, let someone buy the land and develop it...there now that open space is gone FOREVER! Instead, why not accept and develop the park with it's name and place a large informational kiosk about Mr. Shockley and his views and LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE WHAT MR SHOCKLEY'S MEMORY SHOULD BE. Or are you afraid that the people will not think YOUR WAY. Seems to me there is something in the constitution about freedom....
Birch, I was rereading your post and then I remembered that a name already in use, Goethe, was removed, now that there is a precedent do you have any ideas on a new name for the Washington monument? Lincoln Street? Do you really feel that we have to submit to every demand made by a minority group even if neither you nor I were alive when the abuse(s) happened? Are we trying to repent for something we had nothing to do with? Although I disagree with discrimination of any kind I will not accept culpability for anything that happened well before my time and I had no part in, as such I will not crawl on my hands and knees asking for forgiveness or self flagellate in my quest to expunge a blame that I don't have.
Loomis: I'm not a big fan of Che... that isn't fair. I think ideologically he had some good ideas but putting them into practice was another thing. My point was ..... if Che donated land under the guise of naming it after him: would you complain? That's all.
I'm not for re-naming parks. I just don't think we should name them after racists From Now On.
I don't think I just expressed this enough to you, Loomis - so let me reiterate: I don't appreciate being pigeonholed as some rampant Communist and lover of the sort of violence that Che Guevara espoused. I do not condone violence and I do not espouse rabid communism. I am a fan of social justice.... not hatred and anger. Please remember that I am a decent man and not some trendy teenager who has no ides who Che is or what he stood for. Revolution is good if it helps the people and is done with a minimal amount of bloodshed. Che did neither.
Tackle55 you took the words right out of my mouth!
The trust has been disolved; they cannot return the land.
I do not know what penalties will arise if they do not name the area as lined out in the trust.
Name the park as they wish, list his accomplishments and also teach about his theory of eugenics and why it is not acceptable...we need to teaching resources easily available to the public so the same mistakes are not repeated.
The point is now is that ARD can't give the land back. The trust has been dissolved, and ARD owns the land. So, Ms.Tajbl, why don't you think of a constructive solution to this dilemma instead of running down to Sacramento to call in the NAACP dogs? All you are doing is saying, "it's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong," without bringing anything constructive to the table. Instead of placing a balm over old wounds, you are continually picking at the scab.
So, come up with a solution and maybe you'll have more credibility.
28 acres????
Free???????
Suck it up.....take the land,make it a park,put a small sign with the guys name on it,,,,,people using the park wont have a clue who this clown was......If you dont, it will be developed, and your loss will be someone's gain......and who cares what the naacp thinks
How's this for social justice? All the folks that Shockley thought were inferior will now get to use a park that he paid for.
loomisresident-The NAACP doesn't really carry much weight with me, that hasn't changed my stand on the issue. Shockley's eugenic teachings, though before my time, sicken me. We don't have to accept culpability to behave responsibly. I think we should respectfully decline the gift. This was not so much a gift to Auburn., as a way for Mrs. Shockley's way to commemorate and celebrate the life of someone who deserves only contempt for his irreverence of life.
"Similarly, a systematic review of the publishing history of Beacon Press, the Universalist
Publishing House, and Skinner House would be instructive. David Pettee pointed out to me three
Beacon Press and American Unitarian Association books advocating eugenics, and there may be other
publications in our past which have advocated for now-discredited theories and approaches." uua.org
Yet Karen Tajbl, who seems to be the big push against a dead man's beliefs, allows herself to belong to an organization that has its own past indulgence in Eugenics. Naive or hypocrite is my question. The subject would never have come up if someone that has nothing better to do then dig up the past that is an absolute waste of time and energy to worry about. All the the Carnegie donations for libraries were given by a person that was much more influential in the eugenics movement then Shockley. The Carnegie name is still used and what harm has it done?
Somehow... I am afraid this gift is going to end up costing us money... that we do not have.....we can't keep the parks open now... and we should build more? Eugenics was considered very progressive thinking...not very long ago and I believe planned parenthood was actually started by the progressive movement.....this current organization appears to be very very profitable and not under any attack by NAACP last I checked.....and I have no clue but last numbers were about 50 million citizens have been aborted in the last 40 years....is this the truth?
Truth will often set you free.....
Very good, Obewan. It's true... your numbers are right on.
Lets not mince words just for the heck of it.....lets see just what is out there in a reality check...
First paragraph catches my attention...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_movement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_parenthood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAACP
OK...now we were discussing and talking about the name Shockley for some reason? There appears to a full circle....emerging.
I am in the most unfortunate position of having to agree with people I normally don't agree with on most topics here.
This is extremely selfish and destructive behavior on the part of the person who is pushing the issue as one of "racism."
NOBODY asked any of the indigenous people in the area if they would like to see the land in question left as open space with a less than optional name to the obsessively politically correct, instead they went running to the NAACP.
What is going to be the outcome ?
Legal bills and the town gets a reputation as being racist and the Republican Party gets MORE talking points.
They use those talking points to make sure the property ends up going to developers instead of being left as open space. Lose- lose scenario.
There were already solutions proposed and an unusual coalition of viewpoints agreed- take the land as park, and don't emphasize the name, give it a common name, and realize that the land could be therefore used by anyone, and that having more open space in an area under such development pressure could be a good thing.
Instead, more grandstanding.
I find it particularly appalling that the person pushing this dares to compare this to Northern Volunteers pushing the Civil Rights Movement of the '60's- we now cannot save old oak tree savanagh because some fruitcake missed the entire point of what it means to have equal access to public facilities. Where the bleep …
Where the bleep were all the outraged people concerned about social injustice during the last election when the winning congressional candidate bashed various minorities ? Called for mass deportations ? Armed vigilante groups to check identification based on racial profiling ? Where was the public condemnation then ?
I find it increasingly difficult to care what the NAACP thinks.
I agree with Tackle55 and ChristinaO Name the park after him and somehow include onsite material regarding his whacko beliefs. Use it as an opportunity to educate anyone who visits. Is it legal to ADD to the name. Shockly Park, A Memorial to Progress and Tolerance. Someone can get more creative than me. The guy must have had a specific purpose and ego to demand the land be named after him. He wanted his name and beliefs remembered. Use the opportunity to advertise both him and his beliefs are not accepted in Auburn CA. At least I hope they are not. Sometimes I wonder
The museum of tolerance in Santa Monica is amazing life changing visit. Go if you are ever in the area.
Bircher guy - what don't you understand about "you have your opinion and I have mine" - the two shall never meet. Thank God!
ET AL:
Things change with time and societies and cultures, and people, follow along. What the NAACP and critics of Mr, Shockley have chosen to do is freeze a moment in time when society, as a whole, and Mr. Shockley were intolerant and vocally espousing foolish reasons to separate the black race from the other races. That is past history and does very little good for our society to move back in time and fight battles that have already been won and or settled. Perhaps the NAACP should target events that have more to do with suppression of the living critics of their race. In this case what they are doing seems a waste of funds and resources; And, is an sad attempt to deny a badly needed resource for the people of Placer County based on a history that has no chance of repeating.
Loomis is right. It would be hypocritical to the highest degree to accept the land and value, then deny the namesake.
It's none of thje NCAAP's business what the park is named. If they want to change it, let then buy the whole thng and I'm sure we'll have another Martin L. King park...or maybe one for the self-mulitating, whacked out Michael Jackson. Wouldn't that make everyone in Auburn happy?
Or maybe someone should ask the NCAAP and all the other "offended" groups how many years they have been benefitting from the use of Dr. Shockley's inventions and research. And, it's time to get off the crying about his eugenics beliefs. I don't see the NCAAP or any of the other self-vicimization groups trying to shut down Planned Parenthood. What do you think their founder believed in? Why do you think Margaret Sanger started the whole "Planned Parenthood" movement. How many schools and buildings do we have named for John F. Kennedy...one of the worst philanderers ever in the White House. Our country and all the world is filled with monuments and memorials to people who had dark sides. The recognition is for their accomplishments that benefitted humanity.
Ummmmmmm...Rat; Are you talking about identifying and deporting ILLEGAL alienas? Finding and sending people who snuck into our country, and have been enjoying the fruits of what millions of LEGAL immigrants built, back to their own countries? Having citizens help the undermanned authorities get rid of violent drug-pushing, coyote-abusing, anchor baby-planting squatters is a "bad" thing? Guarding our borders from potential deadly terrorists who have promised they will come into our country and kill us is a "bad" thing?
What planet do you come from, Rat???
Wow...a progressive based eugenics movement from the past... that is now responsible for over 50 million fellow citizen deaths...and this loss of life has directly effected every family and every race and every industry...... and not a whimper is heard about this living reality forced upon us all.
This silence .. while we now complain about all those who have come here legally and illegally to do the hard work and take their place and accomplish the tasks and fill a need.... that these 50 million lost souls and citizens could not.....
Name the park with this man's real name and place a plaque commemorating his accomplishments based on the true story and history......So we can all better understand the impact of all those past eugenic promoters and progressive thinkers that were part of a movement and our real history.... that changed the face and direction of our entire country... right before our very own eyes.
Birch, you're the one that brought Che up, not me, I just reacted. But to answer your question. If Che donated land and it had to be named after him I would not accept it. Pure and simple.
Another thing, in one of your posts you ask the questions when were whites the victim. Well, I hope you watched TV yesterday and perhaps watched Kanye West totally insult a white teenager, and did you watch tennis, yep there was another incident there. Maybe it wasn't slavery but racism is racism and there are many ways to manifest it. West and Williams sure proved that point.
At one time the idea of a small plaque bearing the Shockley name and accomplishments was suggested. If the trust has been dissolved and the land cannot be returned then sell it and use the proceeds to maintain the other parks. Then there should be a plaque installed in the area of the park that didn't exist thanking the Tajbi's and the NAACP for the park not being there. No more hypocrisy.
Loomis: I don't think it's ok to insult whites. Racism is ugly in any direction it's going. I had a situation happen to me in Mississippi that made me aware racism goes both ways. Regardless who's doing it... it's wrong.
I still don't think whites are "victims" though. Is it possible... in time, perhaps. Just not right now.
"What do white people have to be blue about? White people need to understand it's our job to give people the blues, not to sing them" - George Carlin (Talking about whites singing blues music) :)
All the rantings about the ee lee gals misses several points:
the Minutemen movement is Republican astroturf, funded and fronted by Texas based Oil companies to elect more Republicans
Most of them aren't hispanics or indigenous or metizo, but Chinese, Tibetan, Asian, Irish, Polish, African, Russian, etc.
Shutting down the border just kept a lot of them from being seasonal workers who go home during the winter, because the Republican Party uses old folk paranoia to gin up the hysteria
The Republican Party, when in power, never did a thing to legalize them with some sort of work visas or reform. Even Bush proposed this and was nearly eviserated by his own party's extremists
They pay taxes anyway out of their wages, so they're actually PAYING for all these old retired folk's Medicare and Social Security, because those programs run on contributions from the younger workers in our society. Then the old folk, which benefit from their underpriced and undercompensated labor, verbally abuse them. The wine they drink at night and the meal they could afford to eat, was probably based on agricultural products raised by the people they hate.
A lot of things were done underhandedly by the Reagan admin in Latin America during the 80's and this is the result. Expect another big wave of desperate people 15 to 20 years from now as the remains of people born during and of the Bush administration enter young adulthood.
Locally, …
... racism is perpetrated by zoning out apartments, for instance, so people have to spend huge amounts to commute to work, or closing or drastically cutting funding to good public schools in areas where the working class lives and the children could walk to school, or by listening to the daily assaults upon the concept of public education itself, instead watching conservatives insist on privatizing. Racism is perpetrated by viciously fighting against universal health coverage, because this impacts the working poor the most. Schools and health care, and a place to live, all are very real things happening now, all are under our control to influence, instead we elect people to office who Hate as a Way of Life, are de facto segregationists by their zoning decisions, and instead we're supposed to bash on dead people who's last wishes were to give public property for public use.
Maybe the problem is no body instituted a $10 parking fee at the site yet. Because the Gov of CA and the Republican Party certainly are the champions of the privatize everything for profit scheme.
Birch, I consider myself an American, no hyphen, but, It's almost impossible to speak about races without one of two things happening. !- the race card is played by the minority or 2- Some white folks that think they have to repent for what happened well before we were born must stand hat in hand asking for forgiveness for our trespasses and reparations for those that were trespassed against. When I see someone go overboard with anti racism in my mind's eye I think of someone who has some sins to purge. I hope I explained it clearly.
In the years before the fall of Batista my parents sent me packing to the States in an attempt to keep me alive. Unfortunately I was sent to Milledgeville GA. So there I am, I come from a country that is 50% black, 25% mulato and the rest Spanish, Chinese, Jewish, etc. I could not get out of one argument fast enough to get into another. I was even threatened to be taken to jail by one of the local cops for drinking out of the wrong fountain. I was not on a crusade, I was just trying to point out that they were wrong. I was eventually kicked out of school and my parents had to scramble to find another, unfortunately, it was also in GA and by the time they were ready to throw my behind out the revolution had triumphed, Batista had fled the country and I went back home. Unfortunately the honeymoon didn't last long and three years and seven imprisonments of varying lengths later I find myself in my new country. Once again, no hyphens for me
It's a park, I take my kids to the parks around Auburn and Sacramento and I couldn't tell you the names of 1/2 of them and don't really care. It's a place for them to play and enjoy being outdoors. It's just a name and most people don't care.
Birch- Continued. Anyway, I had a lot of fun in Georgia and got to practice my martial arts quite a bit, them hicks don't believe on one on one, but they did get surprised a couple of times.
I have seen the aftermath of a lynching, I was in GA when the Little Rock riots were going on, I can tell you it was not a good time for anyone to be in that area of the country, specially if you were not pure white and had a big mouth. But, I survived just like I will continue to survive until my time is up.
I hope that I didn't offend you in any way, if I did, I apologize. It's just that I get a bit tight with all the racial accusations flying around, mostly from people that don't have a clue about what really transpired in the South and what those people went through. If I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes and heard it with my own two ears it would be very hard to believe, especially from someone coming from a place with absolutely no discrimination.
Got to go feed the critters and then go kayaking. Have a great day.
Has anyone noticed the influx of black families moving to Placer County to escape the ghettos of Rancho Cordova and Oak Park. They are moving here because of the schools and the lower crime rate.
Canyon, What did the Democrat party do for the 40 years they held both houses of congress?
Loomis: I hear what you're saying.... no offense is taken. To be honest, I don't see where in your comment there is any offense made.
So you know.... the South is still pretty offensive. I lived in Alabama in the 90's,and while there are no race riots, it's still pretty tense. I hated it. My ex-father in law almost lost his mind when he came over and found a friend of mine (black guy) inside of my house.... and I had a baby! How reckless am I? As someone who grew up in California, it really bothered me.
But I should warn you that I'm not a repentant white guy. For my part.... I don't care what race someone is. I don't like jerks.... that's my thing. Jerks come in all colors, sizes, and shapes. I have my own faults and that's it... they're my own. No one has ever kept me down... I do a good enough job on my own. Help is not necessary. :)
It's still raining here... Ishmael will have to wait for his walk.
Jon: Yours is the kind of comment I was talking about when I said that the racism here is more subtle. I don't want to get into it with you - but your comment comes across as a bit despairing. I know you have black family members but it doesn't give you a license to post at least semi-ugly sentiments. Not all black families come here from the "ghetto."
P.S. There are no "ghettos" in Rancho Cordova.
Disparaging... I meant to say "disparaging." Excuse me.
Just back in town to read this sad state of affairs, the NAACP is the equivalent to the KKK. I could care less what they have to say about anything.
It may be disparaging but it is a true statement about blacks who move here to escape bad schools and a culture that values victims instead of self reliance. Same thing that President Obama told the school children and Cosbie tells his audiences. To be more accurate all the black families that I know in Placer County came here for the reasons I stated.
You're assuming that all the blacks that move here moved here from the ghetto... that's stereotyping.
As I am a person of mixed race the NAACP does nothing for me, advancement of what?.our president is Mulatto, whites are a minority in California, whohere needs advancement? ..in addition to rewriting history as the NAACP sees fit, like Goethe Park, and other street names, parks, towns, sports teams, etc...and I am assured that in time, 9-11, Pearl Harbor etc. will all be re written to relfect whatever current political agenda is in vogue at the time..Im wondering where the National Association of Advancement of white, indian, asian, hispanic, etc.and every other race is at.....sad state of affairs our country has become.
No, some moved from Africa. Their kids are first generation Americans.
Sorry if my PC is behind the times. I just learned the other day that Oriental is a no, no word.
Jon, that is one of the reasons my family came to live here. I’m not sure I get your point.
You can not accept a gift on certain terms then change them later, take it under the conditions or don't take it all. This family was kind enough to donate the land and the up in everybody's business need to drop it already NAACP needs to find bigger battles to waste their time on. He didn't say in his will only whites can come to the park did he? I didn't think so.
I sleep fine at night as well, thanks!
That_one.. might just cost us a few dollars.. that we do not have to spend...if the NAACP decides to send a few lawyers our way...gotta love the American way....as we see very little discussion about any tort reform when we talk about health care reform? I now understand why...lawyers love to make money fighting someone else's battles...they just scare everyone half to death...and then they get a check! Boo!
Patrick, I was responding to Birch.
HooDoo1: You rock!!! I ould not have stated that better myself!!! Also, it would be just about time to move on from the Nazis and what goes with it and pick a new bad guy, like terrorists and their supporters who are a CURRENT threat to our nation!!!
Wow, CanyonRat, So you are one of the "bright" people who would give Social Security, Health care, etc...to illegal aliens, huh! I wonder who would have won the election last year, had it not been for the Illegal aliens who are being kept around by stuffing them with incentives?? I was born and raised in Europe, and I can tell you that you have no idea what your way of thinking can do to a country!!!
Thatone, I agree with you 100%.
this should not cost us money, people are such morons...
I am all for equal rights as I am sure many you are... but give me a break, when was the last white history day/month? Is anybody else a little blury on this one?
It was a GIFT... take it or leave it, if you don't take it, give it to me... and I will make it a park and hang sheets in the trees that look like ghosts! BOO!
That's a joke all you extreme NAACP sisters and brothers!
I'm amazed at the mis-information in most of these posts. Get your facts right before spouting off.
Spktru, You‘re right, would you please tell Obama that.