Dear Kathrine Stocker,

what do you think Mr.Herring should reply?
To me his message was selfevident.
It reads: 'I am afraid of big cities, they are full of black people who
might even compete for the same jobs with me. Everything costs more there,
than where I live now.' This very rudimentarily structured reasoning forms
the standard ingredient of any countryside simpleton's beliefs anywhere
in the world. (change 'black people' with 'foreigners' and you will find
yourself in Europe)It's just how "little Wee-Willy" imagines that life in
the "big city" is. The "yuk" underlines a feeling of physical
repugnance to stand up to it. The tone which the three-liner emanates is
not of a joke, but of a big mouthed pub statement after work
among the "lads" and therefore irrelevant. What I find strange though is
that black people in the U.S. might be seen by some (many?) of their own
countrymen in the same way as newly arrived foreigners are by Europeans on
this side of the Atlantic.
Is this truly racist or does it stem from the "mere" fear to
find ones own position challenged by emerging co- competitors? But if this
is true, then:
How come that almost at the beginning of the new millenium we are still
talking about black Americans as "emerging" competitors?
What went and what does go wrong? I really don't know.
As to Mr. Herring,
assuming that you worked for a museum of the U.S. military forces, maybe
you can give me some profounder intelligence of the matter by briefly
highlightening the role of black U.S. Americans played in the forces
to guarantee our western societies' values (democracy, civil rights,
freedom of speech etc;)against dictatorships like racist Nazi - Germany,
Communism,...


T. Eppen


P.S. They obviously fought for your right to remain silent, too.