JUST A PERSONAL OBSERVATION

[frawin]

I thought this was an interesting observation, especially compared to New Orleans in the Wake of KATRINA

Just a personal observation...    As I watched the news coverage of the massive flooding in the Midwest with over 100 blocks of the city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa under water, levees breaking, and the attention now turned downstream for when this massive amount of water hits the Mississippi, what amazed me is not what we saw, but *what we didn't see...*

 

1. We don't see looting.

2. We don't see street violence.

3. We don't see people sitting on their rooftops waiting for the government to come and save them,

4. We don't see people waiting on the government to do anything.

5. We don't see Hollywood organizing benefits to raise money for people to rebuild.

6. We don't see people blaming President Bush.

7. We don't see people ignoring evacuation orders.

8. We don't see people blaming a government conspiracy to blow up the levees as the reason some have not held.

9. We don't see the US Senators or the Governor of Iowa crying on TV.

10. We don't see the Mayors of any of these cities complaining about the lack of state or federal response.

11. We don't see or hear reports of the police going around confiscating personal firearms so only the criminal will be armed.

12. We don't see gangs of people going around and randomly shooting at the rescue workers.

13. You don't see some leaders in this country blaming the bad behavior of the Iowa flood victims on "society" (of course there is no wide spread reports of lawlessness to require excuses).

[DanCookson]

What you did see Frank, was people of all backgrounds coming together and working together to help not only themselves, but their neighbors.

It is great to see the work ethic and mentality of the mid-west in action, even in the midst of horrible tragedy.

[frawin]

YOU GOT IT DAN. HOWARD AND THE PEOPLE THERE ARE A GREAT EXAMPLE, PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND THE VOLUNTEERS OF THE HOWARD FIRE DEPARTMENT AND SO MANY OTHER EXAMPLES.
FRANK

[Jo McDonald]

People like this makes one very, very proud to be from Mid-America and especially "our small town -- Howard, Kansas

  Well said -- Frank and Dan.

[Catwoman]

AMEN!  Frank, I like your observations!  After having spent time on LA coastline, I was SO glad to return to good old Kansas.  The differences between here and there are extreme...and no, it's not because I am a closet racist.  The societal norms on the LA coastline are more closely related to conditions here in the 50's-60's than they are to anything resembling 2008.  I got to see REAL racism, generationally entrenched racism, first-hand...and it wasn't just from us old whiteys.  Try going into a Wal-Mart, one of the greatest bastions of American thinking...the whites didn't talk to or stand next to the blacks and vice versa.  I, being totally unwilling to bow to those antiquated societal norms and totally, blissfully ignorant of the fact that it was the case to begin with, made the mistake of striking up a conversation with both the black cashier and black patron in front of me.  The whites in the next line were staring at me like I was sprouting cantaloupe vines out of the sides of my head and the blacks all around us were looking at me like, "that uppity white thing doesn't know her place in life".

I guess that's why, when I see some of the vitreolic responses that have come from some on this site, I just shake my head...people here, who have not traveled to places like I have spoken about, have absolutely no idea what real, real, real racism is...people here, even if they have their own racial suspicions, still will acknowledge each other, even if it's only a civil nod in the other's direction.  People here will, generally speaking, hold a civil conversation, no matter how brief, and build a small bridge between themselves and that person who is a different color or from a different area of the world.  Don't expect that down where racism is alive and well and people on BOTH sides of the fence are working day and night to keep it that way. 

I am so glad to be from the midwest!

[frawin]

Catwoman I agree with your observations. I do not feel that I am racist at all. Recently Myrna and I were in Sam's in Tulsa and in the line in front of us was a little Black Lady that had some heavy items is her cart I moved up next to her and told her to let me help her and i emptied her cart then helped her get the items back in it ands loaded, I ask her if I could help her to the car and unload it she no, her grandson was at the door and he would do it. She thanked me over and over and I told her I was partial to Mothers and Grandmothers. In fact I have a tremendous amount of respect for hardworking people of any race and I have very little if any respect for lazy people that want the government to take care of them, no matter what race they are. THIS ELECTION IS NOT ABOUT RACE AND IT APPEARS TO ME THE ONES TRYING TO MAKE ABOUT RACE ARE THE OBAMA SUPPORTERS. LOOK AT THE TO MINISTERS THAT HAVE BEEN OBAMA'S RELIGIOUS MENTORS, IS THAT NOT RACISM AT IT'S WORST.
Frank

[dnalexander]

Catwoman I have to agree with you to a great extent on the difference in racism in the Midwest vs. West Coast. I have spent many years in Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area. The racism here is much more subtle but in many ways deeper and ready to explode. Too many thoughts going through my head on this topic so I will just stop here and come back when I can come up with a more purposeful post.

David

[pam]

What Catwoman was talkin about reminded me of a couple times in my life. Once in Tulsa and once in New Orleans.
   Bout 20 years ago I made a parts run to Tulsa for the pipeline outfit I was workin for and I couldn't find the place I was lookin for cause I had never been to Tulsa before so I pulled off the highway to ask for directions at a station and this old black guy came out and started freakin, tellin me I shouldn't be there that that wasn't no neighborhood for a white girl which kinda freaked me out in return because I didn't know what the hell he was talkin about! He finally calmed down enough to give me directions and I said thanks and went on my way. Since then I've heard about what happened in Tulsa years ago and guess that guy must have been alive then.
  The other time was about 12 years ago or so when my husband and me and the kids went to New Orleans for our one and only vacation we've ever been on. We accidently got down in the fourth ward and the looks we got would've peeled the hide off an elephant!
  people who grow up in a place like rural Kansas really don't have a clue what true racism is or what can happen to you because of it. It really is different and more virulent I guess.

[Dale Smith]

As most of y'all know, I live in Atlanta, Georgia now, and I can truly tell you that Racism is very much alive and well.  Unlike anything I ever experienced back in Kansas.  I was truly shocked when I moved here. 

[frawin]

I have traveled all of the US and the world including West Africa, India and the Middle East, I spent 27 years in Texas and I am most aware of what racism, probably much more than most. In any case I don not consider myself racist. I have friends of other races, I have worked with people of other races, I had neighbors of other races, I went to college with people of other races, I have had people work for me of other races, I have had people of other races coach my children and I have been in youth sports with people of other races, and I have relatives of other races. I better stop and get off this subject and politics, it is raising my blood pressure.
Frank