Is anyone here a member?
Anyone rejected?
Is the organization's reputation of being elitist warrented?
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quote:Originally posted by MBM:
Jack and Jill has little to do with elitism within African America. As I see it, it is about trying to maintain cultural integrity within largely white suburban communities. The families come from the ranks of the professional and college educated. To the degree that that is elitist, it is. But the purpsose is to instill pride and establish links among African American children where they might not always exist.
quote:Originally posted by HonestBrother:quote:Originally posted by MBM:
Jack and Jill has little to do with elitism within African America. As I see it, it is about trying to maintain cultural integrity within largely white suburban communities. The families come from the ranks of the professional and college educated. To the degree that that is elitist, it is. But the purpsose is to instill pride and establish links among African American children where they might not always exist.
I didn't intend to imply anything overly nasty about Jack & Jill.
But, coming from the black working class like I do (and I'm also first generation college educated), dealing with 2nd and 3rd generation middle class black folk can be stressful - you are sometimes put off by a certain elitist strain - or at least tendency to take far more for granted than I do...
quote:Originally posted by ZAKAR:
why would you live in an all white area, anyway
quote:Originally posted by TruEssence:
I just think we as people should really be aware about trying not to put labels on each other.
quote:Originally posted by TruEssence:
Honestly I have never head of Jack and Jill of America until I saw this thread.
quote:Originally posted by ZAKAR:
If you purposely decide to live in an area where people dont look like you, how do you tell your people you are down with them?
quote:Originally posted by MBM:quote:Originally posted by ZAKAR:
If you purposely decide to live in an area where people dont look like you, how do you tell your people you are down with them?
You make the racist and perhaps self hateful presumption that all of "your people" live in the hood. Brother, they don't. You infer that to be 'truly black' you've got to be a certain type of person and live in a certain place. That seems to be a sort of 'ethnic elitism' that is as divisive as any other kind.
quote:Originally posted by ricardomath:quote:Originally posted by TruEssence:
Honestly I have never head of Jack and Jill of America until I saw this thread.
At least I'm not the only one here who hasn't got a clue what this thread is all about.
Could somebody please explain what Jack and Jill of America is?
quote:Originally posted by HonestBrother:quote:Originally posted by MBM:quote:Originally posted by ZAKAR:
If you purposely decide to live in an area where people dont look like you, how do you tell your people you are down with them?
You make the racist and perhaps self hateful presumption that all of "your people" live in the hood. Brother, they don't. You infer that to be 'truly black' you've got to be a certain type of person and live in a certain place. That seems to be a sort of 'ethnic elitism' that is as divisive as any other kind.
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quote:Originally posted by ZAKAR:
why would you live in an all white area, anyway, if you just put a bunch of yuppie kids together how does that help the community?
quote:why would you live in an all white area, anyway
quote:why not expose your children to all types of black kids , advantaged and disadvantaged.
quote:if you just put a bunch of yuppie kids together how does that help the community
quote:Originally posted by ZAKAR:
so it is a choice people intentially make.No one forced them to move into all white areas.
quote:People act as if most people live in white communities because of jobs thats a lie. Most people live in white communities because they think they can get a better value for their houses.
quote:Most black people dont live in Utah!!
quote:Originally posted by HonestBrother:quote:Originally posted by ricardomath:quote:Originally posted by TruEssence:
Honestly I have never head of Jack and Jill of America until I saw this thread.
At least I'm not the only one here who hasn't got a clue what this thread is all about.
Could somebody please explain what Jack and Jill of America is?
TruEssence and ricardomath, go to
http://www.jack-and-jill.org/
quote:Originally posted by Diamond:
MTC
I'm glad to see this discussed here by those who have participated in J&J. I am from the school of thought that when segregation was no longer part of our society we should have stayed in OUR communities and improved them. But, there was the Black-flight to the white suburbans by those who had "made it." Thus, I can see the importance of J&J.
Those of us who continue to live in the Black communities are not ask to join J&J. From my experience with J&J, those who are members are children of lawyers, local celebrities, ex-football players, politicans, those who hold PHDs and anyone they deem worthy and living in the suburbans. And those same Black folks who live in a predominately white suburbs, come into the Black community on Saturdays to get their hair done and on Sundays to go church.
I'm not against anything that would enhance a child's self-awareness. That being said, I do get ruffled feathers when these same J&J children evolve into adults who feel they are the elitist or the talented-tenth of the African Americans because of thier affiliations. I have members in my own family who belong to J&J and my experience with them is exclusion not inclusion. Thus creating a "I'm better than you because...." or you are field negro and I'm house negro.![]()
quote:Originally posted by kresge:quote:Originally posted by ZAKAR:
why would you live in an all white area, anyway
Perhaps thats where your career takes you. I have worked at colleges in upstate New York, central Pennsylvania, and south central Michigan. That is the nature of those communities.