She fights racism with conversation

Bravo and I applaud you. We would do well to have more people like you.

"'It's not what you are, it's what you do, it's what you make of yourself." Amen! Read that .. then read it again - perfect quote for most blacks who are too cynical nowadays and feel that the world is "out to get em" - and use it as "an excuse" for their actions!

What a wonderful person!!! There are many people in the world who can stand to learn a lesson from Alice Saunders! She didn't just sit around and complain about things that were happening in her community -- she actually got out and made a difference!!!! She didn't need violence to solver her problems just the common sense and brains that God gave her!! Good job Alice, Thank you for making such a difference in our world!

Wonderful, strong woman.
She is truly an example to follow for all people, regardless of race, income, or education level.

"It's not what you are, it's what you do, it's what you make of yourself."

Great quote for most cynical blacks? How about a great quote for all people?

Everything shouldn't always have to be about race Michael. Please try and keep my name outcha mouth for five minutes.

Thanks.

So far the majority of the comments above aren't in keeping with the tone set by the article. Shame on all of you.
We need to have more honest discussions about race, but an honest discussion does not mean stooping to using hurtful stereotypes and name calling.
If you can't say something helpful or positive, then keep your fingers off the keyboard.
Ms. Saunders, I'm sure it wasn't easy, but thank you for your perserverence. I hope those whom you've touched follow your example. I certainly will try harder.

Be Positive wrote:

So far the majority of the comments above aren't in keeping with the tone set by the article. Shame on all of you.
We need to have more honest discussions about race, but an honest discussion does not mean stooping to using hurtful stereotypes and name calling.
If you can't say something helpful or positive, then keep your fingers off the keyboard.
Ms. Saunders, I'm sure it wasn't easy, but thank you for your perserverence. I hope those whom you've touched follow your example. I certainly will try harder.

They weren't being hurtful. They were making light of the fact that many blacks use excessive slang, known as "ebonics." It's just like when I make fun of my little brother for doing something dumb. I don't do it because I hate him, but I want to show him the error of his ways (or, in this case, how ridiculous ebonics sounds).
Furthermore, I think we are generally too sensitive about offending others. Throughout history, most distinguishable groups have had some legend or name attributed to them. For my ancestors, the Polish, its that we're a bunch of dumb hunkies. I fail to see whats so terrible about a little poking fun at the faults of one another. I think it's better to acknowledge these differences outwardly than to bottle them up, where they may turn to resentment and hate.

Well I was gonna say "African Americans" but most can't spell African let alone point it out on a map! How's that "blacks" from Youngstown? Google one of your own (Bill Cosby)- he'll tell you how it really is .. facts!

JiB wrote:

<quoted text>
They weren't being hurtful. They were making light of the fact that many blacks use excessive slang, known as "ebonics." It's just like when I make fun of my little brother for doing something dumb. I don't do it because I hate him, but I want to show him the error of his ways (or, in this case, how ridiculous ebonics sounds).
Furthermore, I think we are generally too sensitive about offending others. Throughout history, most distinguishable groups have had some legend or name attributed to them. For my ancestors, the Polish, its that we're a bunch of dumb hunkies. I fail to see whats so terrible about a little poking fun at the faults of one another. I think it's better to acknowledge these differences outwardly than to bottle them up, where they may turn to resentment and hate.

Are you really that clueless or stupid?

They are just teasing? Spare me.

They are being hateful and derisive and you know it. Whites kill me making excuses for racist comments. THOSE COMMENTS ARE EXAMPLES OF RESENTMENT AND HATE...NOT JUST AFFABLE TEASING!
Further...do you honestly think whites do not use 'sang'?

GOLLY GEE DUUUUUUUUDDDDDDDEEEEEEE.

And oh...let us not forget trailer park trash southern hilly billy speak! Imma goin to the sto...yunto??

Honestly...people who try to defend racist remarks kill me. Be as racist as you wish...but do not make excuses for it.

Michael W wrote:

"'It's not what you are, it's what you do, it's what you make of yourself." Amen! Read that .. then read it again - perfect quote for most blacks who are too cynical nowadays and feel that the world is "out to get em" - and use it as "an excuse" for their actions!

Incredible. Mrs. Saunders is a gem. However, do not attempt to twist her words. Mrs. Saunders was saying regardless of the actions of Caucasian American - It's not what they say you are - have pride in your culture - It's what you do - therefore, never settle because in the end, regardless of Caucasian Americans or unjust laws and practices - it's what you make of yourself. Africans in America Mrs. Saunders is telling us to fight. You could never understand so stop being incredibly ignorant.

Within half a dozen posts the haters were hating...

Oh yeah, well blacks talk funny... oh yeah, well whites dance funny... and on and on.

One correction: "Ebonics" technically is NOT slang. Slang changes rapidly over time, and is superficial, used mostly by the young or certain small in-groups. Ebonics, properly defined as the dialect set of African-Americans, is centuries old. Like any language, it changes with time, but not rapidly and superficially like slang.

There is "black slang" and "yuppie slang" and so on... but those are not dialects. A dialect is passed on with the culture, is a variant of a language. Many important languages such as English include many dialects within their range of variation.

Dialects of English include the many regional variations spoken in England itself, Australian, Kiwi, S African, Jamaican, Appalachian, etc... AND African-American.

The African-American dialect, Ebonics, includes elements from several sources which are non-standard: archaic speech of 16-17th century workingclass English people, syntax and grammar elements from West African languages.

Example: Where in standard English one would say, "You are crazy," Ebonics has the variation, "You crazy." This is in imitation of a W African syntactical pattern of making the verb unspoken when it is an equivalence (as the English word "to be" creates). The use of the verb tense and mood "be" in Ebonics seems strange to non-speakers, but it represents an attempt to say in English a tense and mood which exists in W. African languages. Vocabulary from W. Africa includes the name of the Louisiana soup "gumbo", which is a permutation of a W. African word for okra.

Once the national argument over "Ebonics" began, a lot of misinformation and bigotry crept in, wow, no surprise there! But these are the facts.

If you don't like the slang of the youth, and who does?, the call it what it is: slang. It is not Ebonics.

Ish tov wrote:

Within half a dozen posts the haters were hating...
Oh yeah, well blacks talk funny... oh yeah, well whites dance funny... and on and on.

EXACTLY. And "Be Positive", you're right, my bad.

I apologize and should have known better. I started out trying to move things in a more classy direction and let the people whose posts got deleted persuade me in another.

Who knows though, maybe the first 20 posts of this thread would've ended up full of similar petty comments had they not been shut down so swiftly and thouroughly and been aloud to feel themselves.

Obviously - the lighthearted (save for 1 post) fun i was having with ebonics, when i grew up around [probably majority] white peers - says something about me being easily offended in convos about blackness, ebonics, race, etc.

I think there's an attitude change not just for blacks (although crucial for them) but for all mankind that could be very beneficial and gets overlooked.

I'm actually impressed with the influence that hip-hop, jazz, blues and rock cultures have had on the world as people finally move from being absorbed by the outer/material/perceived world into a new cultural era, a behaviorally progressive era.

Imagine, people being less timid and fearful, adults having less emotional temper-tantrums (like above), communities being less easily duped by whatever information they hear (it's all propaganda), and less prude/socially rigid and superfluous (less drama over being "too different" or "too square", etc).

Then again with the way things have shaped up to be many economists say some major changes are going to have to take place ... which is both intriguing and scary from an informed standpoint ..

None of the white people posting here (myself included) have had to put up with the amount of crap this woman has had to. If I had to, I hope I'd respond with the same degree of dignity she has displayed.

She is just another racist hiding behind the guise of anti-racism.

Abraham Lincoln once said that "If you're a racist, I will attack you with the North," and these are the principles I carry with me in the workplace.