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[mysteryowl]

This message was self-deleted by its author (mysteryowl) on Fri Jun 5, 2020, 09:22 AM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. Good lord, she did not say this. Black people are not Pokemon.

Last edited Thu Jun 4, 2020, 03:37 PM - Edit history (1)

ETA: I'm wrong. See post 8.

[mysteryowl]

2. Yes she did say that.

She is talking about building race relations.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. Citation?

[LexVegas]

4. ...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213542323

[mysteryowl]

6. NPR is re-broadcasting a former talk of hers

I think it is this one, but I am not sure. It is on right now.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/05/28/maya-angelou-in-minneapolis-at-1984-westminster-town-hall-forum

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. So here's my thought process and the result.

1. I see a quote attributed to Maya Angelou that doesn't sound like her writing and certainly seems like something I would have seen attributed to her on the numerous "inspirational" memes that float across my timelines all the time (many of which have fabricated or wrongly attributed quotes). This surprises me, as I am Extremely Online.

2. Because I'm already pissed from dealing with white fragility on another thread, I do several quick searches, find no evidence of her saying this, and end up post something snarky on this thread.

3. I listen to the 35-year-old recording to determine the context. It is a passing comment as she sets up her reading of Langston Hughes' "Harlem Sweeties," where she describes how an old white friend is unable to describe the color of black people's skin. I remain unconvinced that the line, presented alone without context, is helpful in light of current events or even that she meant it for greater racial healing, and do acknowledge she said it.

4. I apologize for jumping on your thread.

[madville]

5. You should probably google Maya Angelou

It’s not some Twitter post by a privileged 20-something white celebrity lol

[DFW]

7. Didn't have to

In my senior year of high school, I was tired of my conservative school in D.C., and after living in Spain, I returned to the USA for my senior year of high school, and was offered a place in a New England boarding school. I should have stayed put in DC. I HATED that place, and couldn't wait for the year to be over. Most of the guys there were the privileged preppie sons of rich guys from Park Avenue and the near Connecticut suburbs. Ugh. There was also a small contingent of black guys that the school had taken on from around the country to show how "with it" they were. They were from everywhere, Oakland, Chicago, rural Arkansas. I ALWAYS sat with them at meals because they were the only ones with their heads screwed on straight. They even opined that I have some black blood in me somewhere. I'm pretty sure I don't. Not everyone of partial Russian origin is Pushkin. Two of them ended up going to the same college I did, and so we put in to room together. Dorm rooms for three were outside the norm, but we got one. Surviving junior year was a LOT easier rooming with guys I already knew.

But we roomed together because we knew each other from our ordeal in senior year of high school, not because we were the right color. They were my friends from senior year first, and I would have roomed with them if they had been white, Samoan or Xingu.