WTAM Message Board

by **Blackmilitant421** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 12:10pm

Nothin too serious here...I just thought this was funny.....did you know that a Black man invented the Super Soaker water gun? It generated over 1billion bucks in profits........Everybody had one of those things!...anyway..that is all.

by **glen65** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 12:31pm

WhitMilitant421 wrote:Nothin too serious here...I just thought this was funny.....did you know that a Black man invented the Super Soaker water gun? It generated over 1billion bucks in profits........Everybody had one of those things!...anyway..that is all.

Why should the skin color of the inventor matter?

by **daria morgendorfer** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 12:34pm

Blackmilitant421 wrote:Nothin too serious here...I just thought this was funny.....did you know that a Black man invented the Super Soaker water gun? It generated over 1billion bucks in profits........Everybody had one of those things!...anyway..that is all.

I knew that!!!

I saw it on a program on Discovery about a year ago. He worked at NASA at one time, if I remember correctly.

by **hoosierguy** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 12:37pm

That's awesome. Hopefully he can, along with the myriad of other successful black men in business, start to be a greater inspiration to other black men. We have enough rappers, and if you aren't 6'6" or greater, or run a 4.25 40, you aren't going to make it in a "talent" business like music or sports. But you can still be a wild success, and a great contributor to society, by using your mind and your hard work.

by **Alex** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 1:04pm

Blackmilitant421 wrote:Nothin too serious here...I just thought this was funny.....did you know that a Black man invented the Super Soaker water gun? It generated over 1billion bucks in profits........Everybody had one of those things!...anyway..that is all.

Groovy. I he kept the rights. He deserves to be a rich man.

by **ccrag** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 1:06pm

Instead of Black History month where everyone dwells on the past...

Why don't you have Black "Future" month ? Work on making things better and promoting the positive things in your community for a full month, in hopes that it will catch on and keep going. Fixing what's wrong has to come from within.

You can celebrate and remember the past anytime......just sayin'

by **Blackmilitant421** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 1:48pm

I actually agree...I don't like Black History month at all.....I think it would have more significance if it was only one day! That would be great...we can all look up our Black History facts for one day and then move on.

by **glen65** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 1:54pm

WhiteMilitant421 wrote:I actually agree...I don't like Black History month at all.....I think it would have more significance if it was only one day! That would be great...we can all look up our Black History facts for one day and then move on.

Why spend a day to specifically focus on a groups skin color?

by **Blackmilitant421** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:01pm

glen65 wrote:Why spend a day to specifically focus on a groups skin color?

Well it's more for Black people themselves....most don't know anything about Black history accept a Black man invented peanut butter and the stop light. And schools don't teach anything about Black history so this is a way for Black kids to learn. White people don't need to participate at all unless they choose to.

by **Wobbly** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:29pm

glen65 wrote:
WhiteMilitant421 wrote:I actually agree...I don't like Black History month at all.....I think it would have more significance if it was only one day! That would be great...we can all look up our Black History facts for one day and then move on.

Why spend a day to specifically focus on a groups skin color?

Change the name to African American History day, and it would be just like St. Paddy's day.

by **glen65** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:31pm

WhiteMilitant421 wrote:Well it's more for Black people themselves....most don't know anything about Black history accept a Black man invented peanut butter and the stop light. And schools don't teach anything about Black history so this is a way for Black kids to learn. White people don't need to participate at all unless they choose to.

You're missing the point,
The idea is to get beyond viewing people based on
race but rather strictly because of their accomplishments.
You cant hardly do that when you have people who feel
the need to add their skin into the mix when it comes to
these sort of things. I could give a **** less what color the
person was who invented the stop light. I'm just glad that
he did. BTW the person you speak of didn't invent the first
light. He invented a different version that he had patented.
The first one was invented in 1868 and installed in London.

by **Edith** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:34pm

The inventor of crack was black... just sayin :roll:

by **ilovelamp** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:35pm

Blackmilitant421 wrote:
glen65 wrote:Why spend a day to specifically focus on a groups skin color?
Well it's more for Black people themselves....most don't know anything about Black history accept a Black man invented peanut butter and the stop light. And schools don't teach anything about Black history so this is a way for Black kids to learn. White people don't need to participate at all unless they choose to.

I remember learning a lot about Black History in my school, and this was before black history month existed.

EDIT: Ok I take that back, Black History month did exist, but we still learned a lot about Black History in our normal history class.

by **glen65** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:37pm

Wobbly wrote:Change the name to African American History day, and it would be just like St. Paddy's day.

That changes nothing,
You're still spending a day focusing on a group merely because of
the color of their skin, which is what we are supposed to be getting away from.

by **JuicedTruth** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:47pm

Why spend a day to specifically focus on a groups skin color?

Celebrating heritage and the past is so stupid.

St. Patrick's Day - No
Columbus Day - No
Feast of the Assumption - CUT
Greek Heritage Festival - IXNAY
Oktoberfest - Notgonnahappenfest

etc. etc.

by **ilovelamp** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:57pm

JuicedTruth wrote:
Why spend a day to specifically focus on a groups skin color?

Celebrating heritage and the past is so stupid.

St. Patrick's Day - No
Columbus Day - No
Feast of the Assumption - CUT
Greek Heritage Festival - IXNAY
Oktoberfest - Notgonnahappenfest

etc. etc.

I will keep that in mind next time I see the 20 PSA's reminding me its the Feast of the Assumption. :roll:

by **glen65** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:57pm

JuicedTruth wrote:
Why spend a day to specifically focus on a groups skin color?

Celebrating heritage and the past is so stupid.

St. Patrick's Day - No
Columbus Day - No
Feast of the Assumption - CUT
Greek Heritage Festival - IXNAY
Oktoberfest - Notgonnahappenfest

etc. etc.

It's not the same thing.
Those days don't commemorate based around
a persons race or skin color. Greek and Irish are
not races they are nationalities.

by **Wobbly** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:58pm

glen65 wrote:
Wobbly wrote:Change the name to African American History day, and it would be just like St. Paddy's day.

That changes nothing,
You're still spending a day focusing on a group merely because of
the color of their skin, which is what we are supposed to be getting away from.

Why, what color of skin do people from Africa have?

by **hoosierguy** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 2:59pm

Glen, let's think about this logically. It is fairly difficult for people of African descent to celebrate their heritage as opposed to their race, because most or many of them don't know what it is, thanks to the slave trade. I am not saying that I buy into militant's bull, but telling black people to celebrate their native culture the way Irish people do doesn't make a ton of sense.

by **glen65** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 3:03pm

Wobbly wrote:Why, what color of skin do people from Africa have?

It's not supposed to make any difference, that's the point.
Yet you see things like "Black history month".

by **ilovelamp** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 3:05pm

Wobbly wrote:
Why, what color of skin do people from Africa have?

Depends on what region in Africa you are from.

by **JuicedTruth** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 3:08pm

It's not the same thing.
Those days don't commemorate based around
a persons race or skin color. Greek and Irish are
not races they are nationalities.

Ultimately, they're more about culture than nationality.

If it makes a black kid proud to look up to Martin Luther King Jr. or George Washington Carver, who the eff are you to judge that? And who are you to judge someone from encouraging others to celebrate their race, ethnicity, culture, etc?

by **glen65** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 3:22pm

hoosierguy wrote:Glen, let's think about this logically.

I am,
The goal here is to get to a point where we view people only
based on their accomplishments, that's not happening.
Instead they tell you lets celibate because black man "X"
is responsible for invention "Y". Its hardly logical to believe that
you will completely get away from viewing people through the
lens of skin color if society keeps dragging it up and shoving it
in everyone's face.

It is fairly difficult for people of African descent to celebrate their heritage as opposed to their race, because most or many of them don't know what it is, thanks to the slave trade. I am not saying that I buy into militant's bull, but telling black people to celebrate their native culture the way Irish people do doesn't make a ton of sense.

The US slave trade is long past, and the accessibility of info today
makes ignorance a piss poor excuse.

by **hoosierguy** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 3:29pm

So you are arguing that if the descendants of slaves wanted to trace back their ancestry they could? Ummm, I doubt that.

by **glen65** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 3:38pm

hoosierguy wrote:So you are arguing that if the descendants of slaves wanted to trace back their ancestry they could? Ummm, I doubt that.

I understand your point. Perhaps a better word would be their culture.

by **glen65** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 3:43pm

JuicedTruth wrote:Ultimately, they're more about culture than nationality.

If it makes a black kid proud to look up to Martin Luther King Jr. or George Washington Carver, who the eff are you to judge that? And who are you to judge someone from encouraging others to celebrate their race, ethnicity, culture, etc?

The only thing I'm really judging is the obsession of some people
to drag the color of ones skin into a subject when its not really
needed. For example, its not really necessary to drag up skin
color as it pertains to inventions. I would rather focus on the
persons talent and accomplishment rather than his race.

by **Blackmilitant421** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 4:15pm

Glen...we get that...the point is that when you say "Black" in america you're specifically referring to African-Americans....so I can understand how saying "Black" isn't simply referring to color of skin.....Sure you can say "African-American History day"...but saying Black is an ok substitute.....if there was a "German heritage day" It would be inappropriate to call it "White Heritage Day" because there are dozens of ethnicities in America that have White skin.

by **Ray from Maple** » Monday, February 8th, 2010 6:06pm

Blackmilitant421 wrote:Nothin too serious here...I just thought this was funny.....did you know that a Black man invented the Super Soaker water gun? It generated over 1billion bucks in profits........Everybody had one of those things!...anyway..that is all.

How ironic. A black guy invented a new type of gun. :lol: