In the "Why do you offend so easily" thread John Hardly called Bobert a White African American.

I repeat my response to that comment:

"For the record: Bobert is way cool with me. He and P-vine are my friends.

Just because a person wasn't born Black doesn't mean he or she can't be accepted by Black people as for real, positive people.

I don't take offense to anything Bobert has said or the way he has said it.

I'm not even sure what the heck you are talking about John.

I'm sure that Bobert can speak for himself. But I will say that if something Bobert said or the way he said it is a bit much for you, then that's on you [which you already know]. "

-snip-

John also took exception to Bobert's statement that he is comfortable hanging with Black people. He wrote:

"To say I'm "comfy" hanging out with blacks would imply a simplicity that is not there. Blacks are much too broad a group for one to assume comfort or discomfort with. (Wasn't it King who said that the goal was to judge on character, not skin color?). So, what? ..comfort with the poor innercity black? ...the affluent suburbanite black?"
-snip-

John then asked "What is your inference about the people to whom he refers when Bobert says he's "comfy" hanging out with black folk?"

I believed that that question was directed to me, and I answered:

"If a White person says that he or she is comfortable hanging out with Black people that does not mean he or she is patronizing Black people or lumping all Black people together into one homogeneous group.

I'm an African American who hangs out on Mudcat and there doesn't appear to be any other acknowledged African American who post here YET.

I believe that the overwhelming majority of 'Catters are White and
I'm comfortable here. Does that mean that I think that all 'Catters are the same? Does it mean that I think that all White people are the same?

No to both questions.

Maybe your definition of comfort means that the group has to be homogeneous. That's not my definition."

-snip-

I have PMed Bobert and told him that I have his back regarding this issue.

This does not mean that I am in total agreement with everything he has said in his first post of this thread or anything he will say in the future. For instance, I believe that a number of African ethnic groups where extensively involved over a great deal of time in the African chattel slavery. There were also some Black people who owned slaves.

Be that as it may, I totally agree with Bobert that he is comfortable with Black people. I feel that this statement is true for Bobert and and at least a few other Mudcatters who I have conversed with.

Why? Because I believe them when they say that they paid their "dues". These dues were paid in actions on behalf of Black people during Civil Rights days, with work in African American communities, and otherwise.

And as far as I'm concerned, actions speak louder than words.