posted on July 13, 2001 09:01:35 AM
Well, alrighty then. The article sucked and the writer of it made some mistakes in telling the story. This sentence says it all, by a writer HERE, in RT (who said it very well, I might add):
But to assign personality traits to him based on his color, to look down your noses upon him because he is not white coller, to negate his life with the strokes of a keyboard is just wrong
Has anyone thought maybe Joe didnt WANT to be taught, or turned down offers to do so? Nah. Then what would be left to pick apart with "he shouldve"'s and "he didnt because"'s. No fun in that, eh?
posted on July 13, 2001 09:11:24 AM
Several of us have pointed that out. And were ignored.
Damn it, the man is black & a custodian/groundskeeper, and he can't read. Obviously he is the most pitiful excuse for a human being that has ever walked the planet. Pity him--you must pity him! And, by God, never recognize or acknowledge his accomplishments...to do so is racist & condescending.
What is interesting is that some are jumping on the guy's employers for never having taught him to read but say not a word about his college educated children having failed to do so. I mean, what kind of sons or daughters are they? They freely admit that dad made sure they "had everything" all their lives. Why, this downtrodden, illiterate man "Uncle-Tomed" his way through life to get them all college educated...and they couldn't get off their butts & teach their father to read?
Oh, wait. None of us know whether or not his kids, or the college, offered him that opportunity. Not to mention the libraries & night schools in the town. But nevermind that! You must pity him!
edited cuz "employers" doesn't have a "w"
[ edited by bunnicula on Jul 13, 2001 09:12 AM ]
posted on July 13, 2001 09:28:27 AM
Femme, I did read your post (and a might good one it was, too). I just couldnt decide which one to cut and paste as a fine example and the other one won after I tossed a dime.
posted on July 13, 2001 09:34:48 AM
Oh, what hogwash. Maybe he didn't want to learn how to read!
I challenge every one of you, you all who obviously know how to read, to tell me that deciding not to learn how to read would be a choice you would make for yourself, or for your children. There's a cruel irony in this man's story of having worked for 65 years for a university, being given a plaque for it, and being unable to read it.
This whole thing smacks of "noble savage"-ry. And everyone here who has ever bragged on a child's academic accomplishments, or said, in one breath, that not receiving the most rudimentary of educations isn't something that we should consider a waste, and then in the next touted your own post-graduate education, is a happy hypocrite.
posted on July 13, 2001 09:41:48 AM
I dont presume to set myself up on a pedestal and know what someone else thinks, wants, desires just from reading a newsarticle. I didnt live in his time, his city. Nor do I know what made him choose to not to choose whatever he did. Some of you are judging quite well on your own, so be my guest to continue to doing it. Just dont expect me to blindly follow along.
posted on July 13, 2001 09:42:54 AM
I think the fact that he wasn't taught to read as a child was most certainly a result of institutional racism. That Mr. Gibson is 86 and still cannot read is not the result of anything a person alive today is responsible for. His employer today is not responsible. Anyone who does or doesn't make overtures to teach him is not responsible either.
posted on July 13, 2001 09:56:07 AM
I agree with jamesoblivion. But wouldn't the article have been more reflective of Mr. Gibson's life and the school's if the author had asked him a few hardball questions? Such as ,"How did you feel when the school that employed you wouldn't allow black students on its campus? What was your reaction when the school was integrated? How did you instill in your children the desire for a college education? Etc." If people are willing to acknowledge that racism existed and still exists, how can the mention of it in an article harm anyone? My surprise was that this article appeared in The Clarion Ledger. I'm assuming (I know...I know) that the school was not integrated until the 60s like many schools in the South.
posted on July 13, 2001 10:17:30 AM
How surprising that not one person seems to have thought that perhaps Joe Gibson was unable to learn to read? I have a brother that has dyslexia. The worst case they ever saw in these parts according to the public schools. He is completely unable to read. He is very bright ,it has nothing at all to do with his intelligence he just cannot read. Perhaps Joe simply is unable to learn to read as well.
posted on July 13, 2001 10:51:41 AM
rawbunzel, that could certainly be the case. One of my friends is dyslexic. I had known him for a couple years before he told me. We were working on a project together and he needed to buy some hardware. He started to make a list and then became exasperated, tossed me the paper and pencil, and told me to write it down - that he couldn't do it. I would never have guessed.
posted on July 13, 2001 11:04:46 AMBut wouldn't the article have been more reflective of Mr. Gibson's life and the school's if the author had asked him a few hardball questions?
I've heard a few people express sentiments along this line, but folks, this was a local interest fluff piece, not investigative journalism. Local newspapers and television news crews all across America run these feel-good pieces all the time, and rarely do they feature "hardball" questions. It's not just a Mississippi thing. Nor should the "unasked" questions be construed as evidence of racism.
As I said before, the cries of racism seem to be stemming from speculation about stuff that isn't contained in this article. It's all subjective.
posted on July 13, 2001 01:30:41 PM
Someone neutral and polite should interview him asking better questions. They are excellent questions. We need a NEW article.
I am not qualified as "neutral" I don't think. I do have his number.
posted on July 13, 2001 01:41:56 PM
Terri, I think that would be a good idea. Here is a man who has witnessed a tremendous change in the time that he has been at your school. Wouldn't you like to have a recorded or videotaped history of his recollections? It might be a good project for a journalism student. Often we put off these projects for any number of reasons and then the person moves away or dies and that history is lost.
posted on July 13, 2001 02:30:30 PM
Maybe in the new article, the reporter could ask Joe Lee Gibson how he feels about a bunch of strangers on an internet message board deciding that he's been duped by racists, that his long record of hard work is a testament to sixty-five years of Uncle Tomming, and that the plaque and article honoring him amount to little more than an inside joke among Mississippi racists.
That is what some of you are saying, isn't it?
I think it's terrible the way you've diminished this man's life and accomplishments. If he's proud of them, who are any of you to say you know better?
posted on July 13, 2001 02:41:04 PM
But we won't tell him that his situation was used by one poster starting a thread to take a cheap shot at another poster with whom the first poster has had a long standing and vocal grievance.
posted on July 13, 2001 02:54:41 PMBut we won't tell him that his situation was used by one poster starting a thread to take a cheap shot at another poster with whom the first poster has had a long standing and vocal grievance.
Speaking of cheap shots.
You're doing the same thing here that you've been doing throughout this thread, krs -- making assumptions about what motivates people.
posted on July 13, 2001 03:02:21 PM"One poster seemed to believe that the article reeked of racism".
"The poster who was so critical of the article seems to have let her own mindset color her interpretation" "At one point, she mistakenly wrote..."
posted on July 13, 2001 03:07:49 PM What sort of thing do these people think they've created? A model for others (blacks) in the community? Can't you hear the reaction of local younger blacks in the area? "Sure, he work all his life and that's what he get? A plaque? Sucka' cain't even read no plaque".
Oh, yes, he earned the honor, but he earned it by perseverence in the face of the deepest sort of racism. He "Yassir, I take care of dat for, you see"'d his way to a plaque on the wall
posted on July 13, 2001 03:10:39 PM
In the Obituary thread, the one I was commenting on, HJW wrote:
This is a piece of shameful, racist propaganda perpetrated by a bunch of conservative Republicans as an example of "How we treat "our **racist epithet's***.
HJW also wrote:
And, as an indication of how strongly I feel about discrimination, I would like to say, To hell with all people who contribute to the problem of rasism in America by doing nothing.
HJW further wrote -- mistakenly wrote:
And, why does this reporter describe a human being as clean, polished and waxed...
I think that sufficiently addresses the three examples cited above.
posted on July 13, 2001 03:45:53 PM
Okay, folks, that's enough. Please confine your discussion to the topic at hand rather than your fellow AW members. If the personal comments continue, I will lock have to lock the thread.
I could be mistaken but I do believe that having this thread shut down may be the reason behind the sudden (5 pages later) accusations towards Spazmodeus for this thread.
posted on July 13, 2001 03:55:14 PM
My god. I come back from Brimfield...exhausted, but curious...to read this noxious drivel?
Apparently, affluent white guys feel empowered to determine the parameters of racism for the rest of us? And what constitutes an "Uncle Tom" for black working folks? How very special...and laughable.
Sell your real estate and donate the proceeds to a literacy program. Then I might listen.
posted on July 13, 2001 04:14:49 PM
For years, I didn't know the owner of a successful auction house I use to frequent didn't know how to read and write. The man knew antiques inside and out, without benefit of books.
His wife handled the financial books and his sons helped in the business, but it was the father who brought in and knew the goods.
Somewhere along the line, I'm going to assume his wife or his children would have tutored him, had he felt it was needed for him to run a successful business or raise a family.
For the life of me, I cannot fathom how anyone is able to get through life without knowing how to read and write.
However, I wouldn't be presumptious to think that someone elses needs to get through life should be the same as mine.
Thank you for the offer. If and when I have a comment or question about moderation, I will be sure and write. To be honest I did not know your comment above was a moderation call, I thought it was more of an "Ahem." I have seen others make comments after "ahems" but I now realize that that is not a priveldge afforded me. I will not make that mistake again. Once more thank you for your offer and I apologize to you for any misunderstanding.
posted on July 13, 2001 08:54:58 PM
Illiteracy as an alternative lifestyle or a chosen path? Presumptuous to think that someone else is missing out on one of life's greatest pleasures by not being able to read, and that that's a sad thing?
This discussion has Seinfeld-esque overtones. I'm not illiterate. Some people are. Not that there's anything wrong with that!
But there is something wrong with that. This man has the misfortune of not being able to read, and it is a misfortune. Under a cloak of non-judgementalism, what the real message is is - It's good enough for him.
.