From our Mailbag 11/29/02 - 12/10/02



by YOU

THE WORLD - FromEsther A., (No City Provided), USA:

SUBJECT: Shelby Steele

I read the Harpers and will be discussing it with others (probably all white) in a reading group next Tuesday. I also had to read the article more than once (three times to figure what he was saying)and certainly don't agree with him. I am white. Anyway, I was impressed by your article and plan to copy and take it to my reading group. Thank you so much.

Esther A.


From Bob Powers, Marietta, OH, USA:

Just finished trawling through the new issue and it's excellent. I am so proud to be a part of this strange collection of talented writers.


ROD RESPONDS: Bob,

Many thanks! After taking the highly unusual week off to move into this new place, I thought we should come back strong. Glad to hear you think we did.

Cheers,
Rod

a cathedral of words

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From Ed C., Bloomfield, MI, USA:

SUBJECT: Group Guilt, MY ASS!

Mr. Raheem:

Despite the fact you have examples of people behaving as if there was group guilt, don't make it so. The fact that the German and Swiss governments wanted to buy peace through dollers was admirable as a peace gesture, but was undoubtably unfair to large groups of Germans and Swiss whose acestors died protecting and defending their Jewish neighbors. Just because those settlements happened, doesn't mean it was fair; otherwise, what's your argument against slavery? It happened - it MIGHT have been fair. Please explain how a person, who is not part of a particular "original group", acquires "group guilt". By ancestry? That's not "group guilt", that's just racism. By race? If we strictly followed that logic, you should be arrested because the East Coast sniper was a black dude. "Group benefit"? You consistently avoid responding to the fact that the majority of the non-black, human blood in the Americas, has been here less than 100 years.

Sicilians crossing the ocean to carry on a vendetta? You have been watching WAY too many "B" grade TV movies my friend. The vast majority of Sicilians came here to escape abject poverty - tapeworms, dysentary, high unemployment and second rate status as a "part" of Italy. A very small percentage got involved in the mob, just like a very small percentage of brothers from Oakland sling dope. 

Raheem, I vividly remember your article on when yor trip to the trade show - come on, you weren't really drawing out the anti-black, racist tendancies of the white, germanic looking fellow by turning over your name tag(so he couldn't identify your company affiliation), you were merely acting in your usual, passive, race-baiting fashion. Do you have any white friends? White neighbors? White folks you eat lunch with? Mixed-race neighbors? The only reason I bother with you is that I am so surprise you can just blindly plug along with such obvious disdain for anyone other than your "group". You are part of the human race first, a black human second.

Peace Out? Are you f_ing kidding? You have written few, if any words on this site, that show you are interested in Peace. Your mindset seems to be more on the same level as the t-shirt slogan that says,"Patience my ass, I want to kill something". IMHO: You don't want Peace, you don't want justice, you don't CARE about a better or peaceful future - you just want a payday you personally didn't bust your ass for. "Shiftless and lazy" - I only apply that phrase to people who can't just move along, or think the world owes them a living; remember, "S & L" was YOUR choice of words, not mine. I can only surmise that the editor keeps you in the loop mainly because you are so anti-social in your mindset, that you provide "comic relief" for those people who have actually pondered the means and methods of positive group interactions and how might we dismantle the walls of group isolation. Since you are a dock worker, I am assuming you have health insurance;

Of course, now you are really pissed at mixed-heritage, guilt-less assholes like me. Maybe you can squeeze my kids for a dime.

E.C.


RAHEEM RESPONDS: E.C. - As Ronald Reagan, who I'm sure you admire with so many Americans, once said: "There you go again!"

You are trying to carry on two arguments at one time and making the two of them match is like bending over backwards without bustin' your spine. I'm gonnah do my best to try to answer your run-on, ad hominem (see I can use a few big words when the occasion calls for it) rant.

Firstly, let's deal with this guilt and responsibility argument that you seem to have such a hard time understanding: just because you don't like a legal precedent and consider it unfair DON'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT THE PRECEDENT EXISTS AND IS VALID. Some people thought Brown v. Board of Education was "unfair" too, E.C., but it was still the law of the land. You see, E.C., one of the basic precedents set by the German case I've cited is that Jews were forced labor for the Germans. When people work and money is made, somebody is supposed to get paid. Is that too clear-cut capitalist a concept for you to get? So here's the deal, E.C., the Jews who worked are now dead, like the slaves, so they can't collect for themselves SO IT'S UP TO THEIR DESCENDENTS TO SEEK REDRESS IN THE COURTS. I hope I've finally explained this concept in terms that even you can understand.

Now I'll give you that there are a lot of non-Black Americans who weren't here at the time of slavery, E.C. but riddle me this: Are ya'll enjoying the benefits of that free labor? I think a VERY STRONG case can be made that you are, and not only that, but you've also benefitted from white privilege, as that guy Robert Jensen that was interviewed by Jamie Menutis points out in one of his articles on that very subject. You can follow the link to his page from her article to read about it, E.C. Read what this white man has to say about white privilege and tell me it don't sound like something you might even have enjoyed and gotten "group benefit" from yourself. Okay?

As to your personal attacks on me and why I get to write for this rag, E.C., the old sayin' goes, "Consider the source." Look around you, Mister, MOST of the letters that have come in about the Shelby Steele article are THANKING ME for speaking up. Wonder why?

Peace out.


From Jay Z., San Francisco, CA, USA:

SUBJECT: What Happened to SF Hookers?

Charlie! You and I are attitudinal twins. I never succumbed to marriage is all.

Anyway, how about speculating on what the hell happened to the Frisco street prostitution scene?

From 1986 to maybe 1994, I dated over 200 street chicks from the Mission, the TL, and Polk Gulch, the latter most often where you'd find the cute young amateurs. I found most of these chicks, drug backgrounds notwithstanding, to be pleasant, reliable, willing to do just about anything I wanted, and relatively cheap, seldom insisting on more than $60.

Where the hell did they all go? All these neighborhoods are completely dead now. Even the scuzzy hags you hesitated to touch are gone. Is the crack thing entirely over? Unless there's been some fundamental demographic change, doesn't it seem that the flow of teenage runaways needing a little scratch would always be about constant?

Thanks for your comments?


CHARLIE THE TUNA RESPONDS: Jay, why the hey you think me and my buds took that trip down to Tijuana? Whores are gettin' as hard to find as hen's teeth in this town lately! Good one's who ain't complete skanks anyways, even here in the Tenderloin where I live.

You know what I think, pal? I think it was them dot-com bastards who drove up all the rents and damned near ruined this town! Between them and Willie Brown tryna turn San Fran into Guiliani Land 2, the hookers just got driven off our streets. And, personally, Charlie is damned mad about that phenomenon.

Speaking of which, whatever happened to Kayo Hallinan's idea about turnin' Treasure Island into a big brothel?

Stay Hard.


From Ali A., BENGLADESH:

Dear sir,

I am interested to receive your magazine . But the problem is that I am living in Bangladesh. If you kindly send me sample copy, I would appreciate that.

please send by the following address.[ADDRESS WITHHELD - Ed.]

Your sincerely


ROD RESPONDS: Ali,

We are a Web only magazine. BUT I'll see if I can get one of our loyal readers to print out an edition for you. If so, I'll send it along.

Rod

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