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Be that person up the street.
Author: Raine
Date: 05/09/2013 18:53:17
Be that person. Be the person that steps up in spite of awful situations. Be the person who in spite of having a less than perfect past steps up to do the right thing. Be the person who says hello to your neighbors and does things for your community. Be the person who says 'what can I do' when someone asks for help. Be the person who looks to make sure the people around you are okay. Be aware. Be a member of a community. Be a person that helps to lift up even in the face of bad things.
Be the person up the street, down the hall, in your building, next door -- who you call 'a neighbor.'
Don't be this dude: Jake Tapper. And don't be Alan Colmes, He disappointed me as well. Smoking Gun? You messed up - you messed up first. Instead of shaming this, journalists and radio hosts decided to grab onto this piece of salacious news like animals to raw meat. I think Bob Cesca said it best:
Shitheel indeed. Here is why: First we were shocked when we heard him say "Bro, I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms," and then we laughed at his candidness. Oh we laughed -- not at him but sort of with him. He was honest, speaking truths that many people would not dare say and speaking from a place that didn't require him to temper his thoughts. Then he became a meme. (read the entire post, it's amazing.) This is where I started feeling oogie about which way the reaction to Mr. Ramsey was going. NPR wondered about this as well. Anderson Cooper interviewed Mr. Ramsey and when asked about the rumored reward money and being a hero, here is what he said: It's hard to grasp for some that this man had the cojones to not walk away. He didn't think about his past, he did the right thing -- with barely a thought.
Let me tell you something, there is a reason why people don't get involved, and it's reasons like what they are doing to Mr. Ramsey. I am going to quote an anonymous poster on the interenet -- but it's worth repeating and it is worth contemplating. I could not have written it any better without plagiarizing, and I won't do that.
Within less than a week Mr. Ramsey went from loveable hero to a wacky black guy meme with the decentness to say no to a possible reward , (Give it to the girls) you know I got a job anyway. Just went picked it up, paycheck. is now reduced to a lowly woman beater -- who happens to be a black man.
Charles Ramsey *gasp* has a past. Some people seem determined to make sure we all knew that he had a troubled past. I honestly didn't need to know this man's past. He paid his dues, he did his time and he is living his life. He played a part in making sure 3 women and a little girl were removed from a literal hell on earth. He and the others involved are hero's -- they took the heroic step to get involved -- when they could have chosen not to.
Now he's forced to have to explain his past mistakes-- all because he decided to do something good. That is just rotten. It's mean and it makes things suck. All that said -- I would still welcome Mr Ramsey into MY neighborhood. Everyone has a past. It's what we do with our mistakes that makes us who we are, that makes our future better. He paid for his crime, to make him further pay is just mean-spirited and irresponsible. What Jake Tapper, Alan Colmes, and the Smoking Gun did was just chip away at the trust we would like to have in people doing the right thing. Charles Ramsey didn't ASK to become a public figure -- he deserves a right to own his past as privately as he chooses.
We need more people to be the neighbor that cares enough to do something when they see something wrong. SHAME on those that would drag a man down just for being different and not perfect enough to meet the dog whistle requirements of what a hero is supposed to be.
Yes, I went there.
If we are told that we have to forgive a former governor who trotted up one side of an Appalachian trail and down the other on public money, surely we can leave alone the past of a man who never asked for this attention. I'm not excusing domestic violence. Clearly the court system hasn't either, but a man does a decent thing -- now people seem to think it's ok to drag up his past? Not acceptable, not in my worldview.
I will be Mr. Ramsey's neighbor, warts and all. I will try to be the person who steps up in spite of awful situations. I will try to be the person who - in spite of having a less than perfect past - steps up to do the right thing. I will try to be that person who says hello to you and your neighbors and does things for your community. I will try to be the person that asks 'what can I do?' when someone asks for help. I will try to be the person who looks to make sure the people I meet are okay. I will try to be the person that helps to live up even in the face of bad things. I won't always succeed, but I won't let 'shitheels' like the Jake Tappers in the world stop me. I'm sure I have a few Jake Tapper types in my neighborhood -- and I am pretty sure I would offer them help as well. The Tapper types wouldn't accept it because you see, I'd be hanging with Charles Ramsey -- his past and all.
and 
Raine
Be the person up the street, down the hall, in your building, next door -- who you call 'a neighbor.'
Don't be this dude: Jake Tapper. And don't be Alan Colmes, He disappointed me as well. Smoking Gun? You messed up - you messed up first. Instead of shaming this, journalists and radio hosts decided to grab onto this piece of salacious news like animals to raw meat. I think Bob Cesca said it best:
By the way — I’d just like to say that anyone who is spreading around Charles Ramsey’s rap-sheet is a shitheel of the highest order. I’m referring to one prominent CNN anchor in particular, and his name is Jake.
Shitheel indeed. Here is why: First we were shocked when we heard him say "Bro, I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms," and then we laughed at his candidness. Oh we laughed -- not at him but sort of with him. He was honest, speaking truths that many people would not dare say and speaking from a place that didn't require him to temper his thoughts. Then he became a meme.
Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue three Cleveland women presumed dead after going missing a decade ago, has become an instant Internet meme. It’s hardly surprising—the interviews he gave yesterday provide plenty of fodder for a viral video, including memorable soundbites (“I was eatin’ my McDonald’s”) and lots of enthusiastic gestures. But as Miles Klee and Connor Simpson have noted, Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame. Ramsey has become the latest in a fairly recent trend of “hilarious” black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a “colorful” style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class.
Like Ted Williams, the homeless "man with the golden voice," Antoine Dodson of "Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife!" fame, and Sweet Brown of "Oh, Lordy, there's a fire!" — three other poor black folks who became unlikely Internet celebrities in recent years — Ramsey seemed at ease in front of the camera. And of course, he's already been Auto-Tuned.
Very quickly, they went from individuals who lived on America's margins to embodying a weird, new kind of fame. Williams ended up being offered work doing voiceovers for radio. Dodson leveraged his newfound notoriety to get his family out of the projects. (Our colleagues at Tell Me More sat down with Dodson a little while back to talk about blowing up and moving out of the 'hood.)
(snip)
Dodson and Brown and Ramsey are all up in our GIFs and all over the blogosphere because they're not the type of people we're used to seeing or hearing on our TVs. They're actually not the type of people we're used to seeing or hearing at all, which might explain why we get so silly when they make one of their infrequent forays into our national consciousness.
RAMSEY: No, no, no. Bro, I'm a Christian, an American, and just like you. We bleed same blood, put our pants on the same way. It's just that you got to put that - being a coward, and I don't want to get in nobody's business. You got to put that away for a minute.
COOPER: Because you know how it is. There's a lot of people who turn away.
RAMSEY: You have to have cajones, bro.
COOPER: Keep walking down on the street.
RAMSEY: That's all what it's about. It's about cajones on this planet.
COOPER: Has the FBI said anything about a reward or anything? Because there was that - there was a reward for finding her.
RAMSEY: I tell you what you do, give it to them. Because if folks been following this case since last night, you been following me since last night, you know I got a job anyway. Just went picked it up, paycheck. What that address say? That say?
COOPER: I don't have my glasses. I'm blind as a bat.
RAMSEY: 2203 Seymour. Where are them girls living? Right next door to this paycheck.
Let me tell you something, there is a reason why people don't get involved, and it's reasons like what they are doing to Mr. Ramsey. I am going to quote an anonymous poster on the interenet -- but it's worth repeating and it is worth contemplating. I could not have written it any better without plagiarizing, and I won't do that.
you mean this guy isn't perfect ? In fact, he's not even close. Imagine what we would be talking about today if yesterday he said, "Chit man, I got a record - I step up and help this little white girl and who knows what they're going to say about me. Safer to just keep quiet and sit her nibbling on my McDonald's happy meal".
I'll bet all of us have something in our past that we're not proud of...something that we would rather not be brought out into the spotlight. It doesn't have to be a felony. It doesn't have to be a misdemeanor. It could be anything each of us might feel just a little pinch of ashamed about. It's focus on this kind of history that causes people to say - maybe best to not get involved.
Rather than allowing us to focus on the good that Mr. Ramsey did for these four lives and their families - some folks have to make sure that we don't let ourselves get to wound up in hero worship. How about those families? You think THEY think he's a hero.
Within less than a week Mr. Ramsey went from loveable hero to a wacky black guy meme with the decentness to say no to a possible reward , (Give it to the girls) you know I got a job anyway. Just went picked it up, paycheck. is now reduced to a lowly woman beater -- who happens to be a black man.
Charles Ramsey *gasp* has a past. Some people seem determined to make sure we all knew that he had a troubled past. I honestly didn't need to know this man's past. He paid his dues, he did his time and he is living his life. He played a part in making sure 3 women and a little girl were removed from a literal hell on earth. He and the others involved are hero's -- they took the heroic step to get involved -- when they could have chosen not to.
Now he's forced to have to explain his past mistakes-- all because he decided to do something good. That is just rotten. It's mean and it makes things suck. All that said -- I would still welcome Mr Ramsey into MY neighborhood. Everyone has a past. It's what we do with our mistakes that makes us who we are, that makes our future better. He paid for his crime, to make him further pay is just mean-spirited and irresponsible. What Jake Tapper, Alan Colmes, and the Smoking Gun did was just chip away at the trust we would like to have in people doing the right thing. Charles Ramsey didn't ASK to become a public figure -- he deserves a right to own his past as privately as he chooses.
We need more people to be the neighbor that cares enough to do something when they see something wrong. SHAME on those that would drag a man down just for being different and not perfect enough to meet the dog whistle requirements of what a hero is supposed to be.
Yes, I went there.
If we are told that we have to forgive a former governor who trotted up one side of an Appalachian trail and down the other on public money, surely we can leave alone the past of a man who never asked for this attention. I'm not excusing domestic violence. Clearly the court system hasn't either, but a man does a decent thing -- now people seem to think it's ok to drag up his past? Not acceptable, not in my worldview.
I will be Mr. Ramsey's neighbor, warts and all. I will try to be the person who steps up in spite of awful situations. I will try to be the person who - in spite of having a less than perfect past - steps up to do the right thing. I will try to be that person who says hello to you and your neighbors and does things for your community. I will try to be the person that asks 'what can I do?' when someone asks for help. I will try to be the person who looks to make sure the people I meet are okay. I will try to be the person that helps to live up even in the face of bad things. I won't always succeed, but I won't let 'shitheels' like the Jake Tappers in the world stop me. I'm sure I have a few Jake Tapper types in my neighborhood -- and I am pretty sure I would offer them help as well. The Tapper types wouldn't accept it because you see, I'd be hanging with Charles Ramsey -- his past and all.
and Raine
