Damn...it's been a long time...i hope everyone is cool and i hope someone reads this considering how long i have been out of the game...maybe i'll write about it once the statute of limitations runs out...i wonder why people feel the need to write shit to me. first that Christian dude, and now a republican has the gall to send me an unsolicited spam ass email. this one needs a little history so here we go...
for all of you not in college, there is this website out called "the facebook" It is like myspace.com for college fucks. i was bored one day and made a site. i rarely check it, as i prefer my space, but i really don't even dig on my space too much. people occasionally send me a friend request and i'll ok it cause it's usually a cool muthafucka i wouldn't mind catching a drink with... but today... i got a letter from some dude asking me to be in a group called: Every Time a Democrat Patronizes Minorities a Part of Me Dies. i'm like fuck this shit... i can't stand republicans. well, i don't mind the good ol' boys cause they're republican cause they like to shoot and don't wanna lose their guns and would give their pissing calvin rear window sticker and/or tazmanian devil calf tattoo just to go to war, so i don't really mind them. but the stroms, the trents, the w's, the rush's, the klan... those fucks i abhor... anyways along with the invite to the group this dude, the one standing far left of rush "speed" limbaugh, sends me this (at 5 in the morning nonetheless... fucking loser...):
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01.05.06 4:49am
Anthony: Dear Mr. Bilyeu, I'm just writing to say that I find your membership in "Every Time a Minority Supports a Republican, a Part of me Dies" to be incredibly offensive. Skin Color should not dictate how one thinks; one's life experiences, academic research, and personal soul-searching does that well enough. Because you are a staff member at the University, I find your membership all the more troubling as you are in a position to influence students. I ask that you please consider removing your membership. I recognize that you have a right to free speech, but please consider those you are offending. Feel free to contact me by email at anthonybonna@gmail.com . Thanks for your time, With Respect, Anthony
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So y'all know I jump at this type of shit... unleash the hounds...
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Hello Anthony,
This is Chad Bilyeu returning your unwarranted junk mail.
Firstly, I would like to say God bless those troops. They certainly need it whilst fighting for Iraqi freedom and democracy.
With that out of the way… I am wondering what in the DC tap water gave you the hubris to even think the thought that led you to depress the "d" key on your keyboard before you wrote this unsolicited piece of spam to me. I do not care one iota that you are offended at my affiliation with a group on Facebook; a website that is not under the ownership of Georgetown University. Yes, I am a staff member at this university, this is true, but I am also a student in the College of Liberal Studies, therefore I happen to have some friends at the university. One of these said friends sent me an invite via the Facebook, the title is humorous, and I empathize with the message, so I join the group. Simple. Do not think that for a moment that my affiliation with this school is anything other than a temporary means for me to extract free tuition and a diploma with the Georgetown name on it. I have no responsibility to curb my tongue or affiliations or anything for that matter because I work at Georgetown University. I have no interest in affairs of the university or its student body. I come here, do a job, get paid, get benefits and go back home. I do not pledge allegiance to Georgetown University, and yes, I do step on the crest at Healy Hall. And if students are influenced by the political beliefs and affiliations that I hold, then they need to find some new heroes, for I, like NWA and Ron Artest, am not a role model for the Georgetown University students or the youth in general.
Please realize that when you are addressing me that you are addressing a 30-year old, to use the clichéd term, "grown-ass man". I have been paying my own bills and out of my parents' respective houses since the age of 18. I have no respect for privileged children that think that all people are on a parallel level and that you can address anyone about anything at any time. I have lived through things that you can only barely fathom from schema base formed from fifth party accounts. I have lived through the 80's and 90’s and have directly been afflicted from and seen, first-hand, the ramifications of the Reagan-Bush regime on people, predominantly people of color, from the lower socio-economic class status. I was voting in 1993 when you were 6 years old. Do not tell me of what offends you for I have no interest. Learn to show deference to your elders.
What offends me is that an 18 (possibly 19) year-old student figures he has the right to preach to me about politics. What you fail to realize is that your party, the Republican Party, is the party of Trent Lott and Strom Thurmond. These are your heroes; those that have tried to impede the progress of my people. I am sure you are familiar with the racist segregationist platform that your South Carolina senator used to run for the presidency and I am certain that you are familiar with the Mississippi senator’s remarks of "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either." Your party is the representation of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Should I mention your party’s most famous transvestite, J. Edgar Hoover? These two men did much to damage the progress of civil rights through their war against the supposed Communist threat in this country by labeling anyone with a hint of liberal thought and opine as a Communist. How about your picture pal Rush Limbaugh? A boisterous, ill-informed OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone addict who frequently sent his housekeeper to the “hood” to get him his fix. Which way do you think the Ku Klux Klan votes? Left or Right? Unfortunately the diverse population of this country is forced to vote for only two parties. I do not believe that the current bipartisanship that we have in place represents the myriad of social, economic and moral concerns of the constituency, but we are stuck with it. It just pleases me that ignoramuses, racists and other conservatives that wished they could have conserved the good ol’ days when they had their own entrances and water fountains, just so happen to vote for the party that you align yourself with.
You state in your spam, “Skin Color should not dictate how one thinks; one's life experiences, academic research, and personal soul-searching does that well enough.” I both concur and dissent with your statement. True, skin color should not dictate how one thinks, however, in this less than perfect bastion of capitalism we call America, it not only did, but still does. Life experiences, academic research and personal soul searching do have a major influence on how one thinks, however those actions are first influenced by other factors such as sex, race, class, education, interests, diet, upbringing, family relations and peer influence. In a country such as America, in which race directly influenced the social ranking of people there is no way to claim that race did not and still does not influence our society. As I am sure you know, Africans were rapaciously removed from Africa by various groups of Europeans and brought to America to work for free. This new form of European administered slavery was unlike any other slavery that had taken place before it, for it was an institution that a person was born into due solely to the color of their skin. American Europeans considered Africans to be less than human and treated them with a complete disregard towards basic human rights. During the formative years of America, when Europeans were buying land and establishing wealth, Africans were not allowed to be educated, own land, or accumulate wealth. I liken this to coming late to a game of Monopoly and all of the other contestants have rounded the board six times and then trying to play. They already have bought property, they have collected rent, gotten rides on the railroads built by the Africans and the Asians, received refunds from the community, taken a walk on the Boardwalk, and collected more than their share of $200 allocations while passing Go. Alright, now it’s your roll, try and get around the board, buddy.
Black Americans were the victims of 246 years of dejure chattel slavery. What was created from slavery was an intergenerational atrocity. Slavery is the cause for the inequalities that are commonplace in many black communities presently. Financial capital deficiencies, human capital deficiencies, and social capital deficiencies all took hold during slavery. Many blacks have not been able to escape these same deficiencies. Even though the black middle class is growing at an unprecedented rate there are many other statistics to consider. In 2003, 48.1% of all blacks were homeowners compared to 72.1% of all whites. In 2001, the median net worth of all black households was $19,000 compared to $121,000 for all white households (this being the result of the real estate boom). The median income for black families in 2003 was $34,369 as compared to $55,768 for white families. In 2003, 24.4% of all black families were considered to be living below the poverty level compared to 10.5% of white families. Only 17.6 percent of blacks in the year 2004 had a B.A. or higher. This compared with 28.2% of all whites with 4 or more years of college. As of 2003, blacks males accounted for 586,300 of the total prisoners in the nation. This is in comparison with 454,300 white male prisoners. It should be noted that according to the 2000 census, blacks only comprise 12.9% of the total U.S. population, but 42% of all U.S. prisoners. The facts have frequently been overlooked by your Republican Party when advocating their conservative agenda.
Race does make a difference in this society and one would be a fool to ignore that point. Why does Amadou Diallo get shot 41 times in New York City while reaching for a wallet? Why does Stanley ''Tookie'' Williams get the death penalty but Charles Manson is eligible for parole in 2007? What you do not realize because you do not have to is that there are many different Americas. We all have to deal with the conservative white America while at work, but do you think that black, Asian, and Latino communities have the same concerns and opines as yours? As a black man, I am forced to live in two worlds, the world in which I confront white people within their sphere of influence and the world in which I deal with black people in our sphere of influence. The two are extremely different. To exist in your world I have to, whether I want to or not, assimilate to at least a certain degree. White America does not understand our unadulterated language, communities, concerns or desires. Few even know about the class-based problems that plague the black community within itself. There is no need for them to do so because if white people so choose to, there is no need for them to involve themselves in the world of the non-ruling peoples of America. However, as a member of what is considered to be a minority group, I have no choice but to be able to maneuver within your world. Because of this I consider myself to be at an advantage. I know your people, while your people know nothing of my people. And ignorance is bliss, so I assume that most white people know nothing of black America. Certainly, one may feel they know blacks if they listen to rap music or say “what up” to a minority in passing or while in the confines of a predominately white classroom at Georgetown, but believe me, you know nothing. There is no way that you could ever understand what I have gone through as a black man in America.
The only time I see Republicans in predominately black neighborhoods is during election time when they try to appeal while in church on a supposed commonality of Christianity. But even Christianity is different amongst our people. Black Americans used Christianity as a tool for strength and perseverance through means of love, patience, faith and hope. Remember the sit-ins? White Americans used Christianity to justify the slave trade and the blatant disregard for our human rights. Remember, or should I say, do you presently see the Ku Klux Klan? White people that have tried to empathize with our plight such as John Brown were, and in many cases still are, considered to be race traitors by many members of your Republican Party. Some members of your party may argue that the Republican Party is the Party that freed my people (people who should not have been enslaved in the first place), however, if you think that Lincoln freed the slaves because he so loved black people and not primarily to weaken the South and to keep the Union, then you must be out of your cotton picking mind.
It can be argued that your party is no place for any one poor, but there are many poor people that have chosen to align them selves with your party because of their views on the second Amendment, affirmative action, abortion, Christian morality, and this accursed war against Iraq. I will however swear on my life that the Republican Party is no place for any person of color. Any person of color that aligns themselves with your party has chosen to ignore the struggle of their respective race. To be a person of color and to vote for your officials is to vote against one’s interests. I am a very liberal young black man that was not raised wealthy, who is pro-choice, not Christian, pro-affirmative action, pro-reparations, and anti-war. Why on earth would I be a part of a party that is the antithesis to all of my beliefs?
I will leave you with a true story. One day in the spring semester of 2004, I was fraternizing with a good friend of mine, one of your nemeses, one of the Solidarity kids. We decided to have a blast and go over to the Young Republicans table and stir him up a bit. I ask the representative at the table, “I gotta question for you. What can your party do for a young black man with a felony that is fairly liberal and not trying to completely assimilate into white culture?” The representative gives me that buddy slap on the shoulder and says, “We’ve got room for you so long as you vote Republican.” I slap him back on the shoulder and say, “I didn’t mean me, it was a hypothetical question. Naw, but for real, why would any black American want to be a Republican? How could you guys possibly be of benefit to me?” The oh-so eager 18 year-old Young Republican tells me, “What we can do for you is make you accept responsibility for your position in life and how not to expect handouts.” The black man’s welcome to the Republican Party…
