For the past week all I have seen on the Edgecomb mailing lists has had little, if anything, to do with genealogical research Might I be so bold as to suggest the topics covered in these recent messages are best handled in private because a mailing list is not the place to discuss these types of topics. John R. Clarke For some of the best from the outdoors visit www.outdoorwriter.com or www.online-outdoors.com This message is also virus free ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karmella Haynes" <kh_art@yahoo.com> To: <NCEDGECO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2001 1:46 PM Subject: [NCEDGECO] My Slave Research in Edgecombe Co. > Greetings List, > > I am going to rant. > > I saw a statement that pretty much annoyed me. > > I get annoyed whenever a fellow Afro-American gets > offended by the very mention of any differences > between us and white people. I don't mean to sound > harsh, but, by virtue of our heritage, experiences, > culture, etc. we ARE different in many ways. Its like > the slightest suggestion that Black people have had an > experience different from white people is an insult. > > To say that our people did not have any interest in > genealogy before is not an insult. It may be a > generalization, but it is not an insult. Why would > that be so insulting, anyway? Maybe it is, for the > most part, true. My mother even told me herself that > we "selectively forgot" much of our family history > because of the pain and embarrassment of slavery. > Prior to the 60's, to "move ahead" meant to FORGET > your past (direct quote from my mother). Also, the > popular opinion has been (even within my lifetime) > that Black genealogy was near impossible because of > broken family ties. That opinion itself is inaccurate, > but it did negatively influence our "interest" in > genealogy. > > Yes, Roots was a milestone. There may be a few > exceptions, but you've got to admit that Elder Haley > incited a tremendous wave of interest into our > genealogy. > > Maybe the statement is "offensive" because it's > "embarrassing" that we didn't do something that many > white people were doing (genealogy)? This logic really > really annoys me. > > This post was not meant as a defense for anyone, nor > an attack on anyone. I'm done. > > ---Karmella > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. > http://personals.yahoo.com > > >