Re: [Phys-l] If Bob LaMontagne had blue eyes

["LaMontagne, Bob" <RLAMONT@providence.edu>]

These same scenarios played out with the French laborers in the mills in Quebec, Manchester (NH), Woonsocket (RI), etc. These people were supposedly "doomed" by racism and poverty to have no ability to break from their environment. It wasn't their "fault" that they remained poor and uneducated. The "system" supposedly held them down in a depressed state that they couldn't shake off and enjoy the comforts and privileges of the "Yankee" North Americans. And yet, some few simply refused to play the game and got up and left - they found employment outside the white-owned mills. I come from a family that did that. I, like probably many on this list, was the first of my family to go to college (paid for it mostly myself) - all because my father and grandfather refused to be depressed and give up. Even after breaking away from the dysfunctional culture they left behind, they still had to constantly fight off being tugged back into it - extended family members who had given up on themselves asked for money to support their drinking habits - those who preferred not to work were angry at the idea of some in the family breaking free and making a lower middle class but comfortable life and would appear at the doorstep and start fights. 

I'm sure that many on this list who came from other ethnic groups have similar stories. Poverty does not give one the excuse to give up.

Bob at PC

-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of David Appell
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 3:20 PM
To: phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
Subject: [Phys-l] If Bob LaMontagne had blue eyes

"LaMontagne, Bob" wrote:
> Bill Gates had opportunities to access computers that
> others didn't have? The real difference is that bill Gates
> chose not to live with a needle in his arm. Actions have
> consequences.

Nice theory, but it shows little understanding of the real situation.

What really changed my mind about poverty and racism was when I dated a 
women in Philadelphia who was a social worker. She went into the city's 
worst neighborhoods and worked with developmentally disabled children. 
One day she took me along. I was amazed that she even had the guts to 
drive into the neighborhood we went, which I would have avoided at all 
costs. We went in a family's house and it was the worst living condition 
I have ever seen, and I grew up in a rural part of Pennsylvania where 
there were plenty of people on, and over, the edge. There was four kids 
but no mother or father. The grandfather sat near-comotose in a chair, 
watching a grainy B&W television set. The whole place, well, stank. The 
walls weren't even straight. Paint was peeling off of them. The 
grandmother was trying her best but yelled at the kids throughout our 
visit. The kids were dirty and the whole time I didn't hear one person, 
except my girlfriend, say a kind word to them.

30 minutes in that place opened my eyes more than decades of reading 
about poverty and racism or anything I ever saw on the news.

Frankly, no one there could help but to be depressed. With little-to-no 
access to medical care, it's no wonder at all that they would turn to 
alcohol and drugs and self-medication. Even after just a few months in 
that environment, and with not a scintilla of hope that I might be able 
to escape, let alone attend the University of Rhode Island or Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute or the University of Nevada at Reno, I would 
almost surely do the same.

I talked about this a lot with my girlfriend and she tried to tell me 
how centuries of racism, of living in such environments, can beat down a 
person's soul. For an excellent example of this, have a look at this 
recent news story, especially the photograph:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-blueeyes26-2009mar26,0,4792181.story

It is one of the most telling photographs I have ever seen.

David
-- 
David Appell, freelance science journalist
e: appell@nasw.org
w: http://www.nasw.org/users/appell
m: St. Helens, OR
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