Category?

Cultures? Drama? Education / Training? Family?
History? Mainstream? Memoir? Philosophy?
Political Science? Psychology? Relationships? Sociology?

YOU DECIDE! I picked History, but it could very well be... ALL OF THE ABOVE!

RESTITUTION

Copyright: September 20, 2007 - Tom Hyland



The following is a copy of a response I posted on a website questionnaire recently.


QUESTION: SHOULD FURTHER RESTITUTION BE MADE TO AFRICAN AMERICANS?


YES, by all means ... BUT ONLY IF ...

1. ALL WOMEN are given restitution, for being subrogated by males throughout History!

2. ALL OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS are given restitution, for being persecuted in past History!

3. ALL WHITES are given restitution, for being unfairly discriminated against, by so-called 'E.E.O.' Laws!

FAIR IS FAIR... and FOUL IS FOUL...

"What's good for the goose is good for the gander!" Ergo, FOWL IS FOWL!

So, why did I choose the YES option, and not NO? Simple, there were only twenty-nine postings here, versus seventy-two on the other side of the fence. My thought was quite clear, anyone choosing to read the 'positive' articles might just take time to read this, whereas they might not ever go to the negative side and read.

I personally read the first ten introductions on BOTH sides. Very good points were made on both sides of this issue. While I realize that this is a very controversial topic, and have no desire to alienate anyone... I also have enough intelligence to predict that this is a deeply EMOTIONAL subject. Accordingly, many people who are interested enough to read here, are not primarily going to use LOGIC and COMMON SENSE!

Quite frankly, I believe that the PENDULUM has swung completely to the opposite side of its former path. What once was an honest feeling of SYMPATHY for past injustices, and which will never receive the proper amount of EMPATHY... "Walk a mile in my moccasins"... has now become abject APATHY, on the part of NON-BLACKS.

Legislated so-called "Equal Employment Opportunity" simply FORCED REVERSE DISCRIMINATION... the individual who was BEST QUALIFIED for a job, DID NOT GET IT! This certainly was not conducive to building understanding, nor to create MELDING.

Legislated DESEGREGATION in schools FORCED people who were totally unfamiliar with each other's different cultural heritages, to INSTANTLY MERGE! If anything, this act CAUSED tension and fear. I WAS THERE WHEN IT HAPPENED!

I was a Freshman at Southern High School in Baltimore, Maryland in May, 1954. When the news spread throughout the nation of the Supreme Court’s decision on BROWN vs. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA, KANSAS, on May 17, 1954, it was subsequently followed by violence in many cities. Fearing fights, and or riots, my Mother, along with thousands of other Mothers across this nation, walked to the school, went to the Principal’s Office, and had me PULLED OUT OF CLASS! She promptly grabbed me by the hand and we went directly back home. She was taking NO CHANCES!

The following is a “copy and paste” from a GOOGLED website, showing the HEADLINE and INTRODUCTION from The New York Times, FIVE MONTHS LATER!

Article Preview

Effects of Social Change; Some Violence to Be Expected With Desegregation, It Is Felt

ARNOLD M. ROSE
October 12, 1954, Tuesday
Section: books, Page 26, 612 words

The violence which accompanied the desegregation of some of the public schools in Baltimore and Washington may have shocked many good Americans who favor social changes except when they involve physical violence. [ END OF FIRST PARAGRAPH ] END OF PASTE.


Although I can’t remember how many days of school were missed, there was a MASS BOYCOTT at the time.

Just last night I watched a SPECIAL on Maryland Public Television, Channel 22, which was all about past POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDERS up in the "ROTTEN APPLE"... NEW YORK CITY. My heart went out to those grieving, strong, loyal, defiant MOTHERS, who still persist even today, to SEEK JUSTICE!

After watching this entire documentary, which included 'pre-recorded' clips of so-called 'Town Meetings' and PRESS RELEASES, by Mayor GULIANO and the Chief of Police... I WOULD NOT VOTE FOR HIM FOR 'DOG-CATCHER' LET ALONE PRESIDENT OF THESE UNITED STATES!

In closing, I should like to provide a small amount of personal background. I just happened to be born: White, POOR, in a small rented row home in a poor neighborhood of South Baltimore, youngest of three, the only son, and THIRTEEN YEARS LATER than my two sisters ( an accident? ) -- My Mom suffered from both EPILEPSY and ASTHMA, and my Dad was told by 'EXPERT DOCTORS' at the prestigious JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL that she had the mind of an EIGHT-YEAR-OLD... a third child was unthinkable! OOPS!

OH - my Dad was a laborer, both a First-Class Rigger at Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock, as well as a Boilermaker. He was blown off of a scaffold during a fierce thunderstorm and plummeted FORTY feet to the ground. The only thing that saved him was MUD! He was in a total body cast from his armpits to his ankles for almost an entire YEAR! The doctors told him he would NEVER ever work again! But he had a family to FEED, and WILLPOWER! He wore a hot, heavy, thick LEATHER BELT, about a foot in height to "keep his bones together" and RETIRED as a RIGGER... about FIFTY YEARS LATER!

I was raised CATHOLIC, through the eight years of elementary school. I attended Public High School. I worked SEVEN DAYS PER WEEK delivering newspapers, to provide my own 'spending money' as there was no 'extra' for any 'allowance.' Upon graduation in a RECESSION year, my first job was on NIGHT SHIFT as a file clerk at SSA, earning a whopping $75.00 a week for 40 hours of work - and that included a ten percent ‘night-time differential’!

I joined the United States Army Reserves at age 20, in the year of both THE BERLIN CRISIS and THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. I later earned an Honorable Discharge after six years, and then worked FULL TIME DAYS and struggled through night college to EARN a B.S. DEGREE in Business Management, which took me EIGHT YEARS!

I was married for 34 years, helped put two children through college, and finally RETIRED at age 65, PLUS 6 MONTHS, so the government could not 'screw' me with a REDUCED pension. I am now divorced, forced to work part-time because of exorbitant HEALTHCARE COSTS and GAS, PROPANE, and BGE expenses that make USURY sound cheap... and am proud to be called "TRAILER TRASH"!

BOTTOM LINE?

NOBODY GAVE ME ANYTHING ON A SILVER PLATTER!

I EARNED EVERYTHING I OBTAINED HONESTLY...

AND AM PROUD OF IT!

OH - almost forgot ... am an IRISH-GERMAN-DUTCH MELTING POT MIXTURE...

BUT I AM ALWAYS AN AMERICAN, FIRST AND FOREMOST...

NOT... IRISH-AMERICAN, or GERMAN-AMERICAN, or DUTCH-AMERICAN...

A famous line from the play "FIDDLER ON THE ROOF" comes to mind. When TEVYE was told that his daughter was in love with a Russian Cossack, he said:

"So - a FISH is in love with a BIRD... but where will they build the NEST?"



Pax Tecum! Tom.