Racism on this board: David Tseng noticing?

[AnotherCrashingBore]

Hi,

As a black Morrissey fan (yes, we do exist!), I took real offence at the comments posted by "Moby" in a thread below about soccer championship in the UK. While I have no intention to get dragged into the sniping that followed I would like to say that those stereotypes of black people that "Moby" was churning out are actually pretty damn hurtful and insulting. Strange as it sounds one of the main reasons Morrissey has always meant something to me is because of how as a kid I was always made to feel alone and different to those around me and finding such attitudes on this board reealllly sucks.

I have no control over what is banned or isn't and I guess this guy has his own free speech. I suppose I'm just sad that there are people like him amongst us.

ACB

 

[Nick]

Don't pay attention to morons.

I am glad you have "come out", so to speak.

It made me really happy when the whole Latino fan thing happened, because it's nice to mix things up. The Smiths and Morrissey might seem like a very "white" thing to ignoramuses, but everyone can relate to loneliness and alienation, ESPECIALLY those who are minorities because they face it every day.

Have you read "The Severed Alliance"? Morrissey was friends with a black girl when he was a teenager, they used to show up at parties together. I always thought that was pretty cool. Must have been a unique thing to see in late 70's early 80's Manchester?

Anyhow, don't listen to idiots. You are welcome here just as much as anyone.

 

[Roy G. Biv]

Latinos give Morrissey fans a bad wrap!

They are always ruining the shows and functions with unnecessary violence and hooliganery. My uncle, who grew up on Morrissey, always tells me about the good ol' days when The Smiths used to perform in front of all white audiences. Now half the audience is chicano. I mean I don't have anything against these people. I just don't like the violence, womanizing, and alcoholicizing that they promote.

 

[Soldier Blue]

Re: Don't pay attention to morons.

> I am glad you have "come out", so to speak.

> It made me really happy when the whole Latino fan thing happened, because
> it's nice to mix things up. The Smiths and Morrissey might seem like a
> very "white" thing to ignoramuses, but everyone can relate to
> loneliness and alienation, ESPECIALLY those who are minorities because
> they face it every day.

> Have you read "The Severed Alliance"? Morrissey was friends with
> a black girl when he was a teenager, they used to show up at parties
> together. I always thought that was pretty cool. Must have been a unique
> thing to see in late 70's early 80's Manchester?

> Anyhow, don't listen to idiots. You are welcome here just as much as
> anyone.

Nick, your post is a bit patronising, I feel. Come out? People do not hang around with people of other colours because it is 'cool' and inner Manchester, like Birmingham, London, etc. has had a huge black immigrant population since the 50's if you know anything of history. If you look at any kid's class school photo from any major inner city in the 1970's you will see a mix of every race on there so it wasn't unusual to see black and white kids together. When you live among people of other races it's not an issue, you just get on with each other. It so annoys me when Morrissey is accused of racism by white, middle-class journalists and the student population that clung to Morrissey were inherently racist and also looked down on people of working class origin. Big deal, so these students turn up and pay lip service to a few anti-racism marches, the odd anti-apartheid gig and so on, my point is that they STILL NEVER MIXED AND INTEGRATED WITH OTHER RACES. If you walk into any student bar and tell somebody you are a warehouseman or a manual worker they will not give you the time of day, that is a fact and many will testify, I wonder what Morrissey thinks of these 'fans' that clung to his music back then but looked down on his real origins of an Irish immigrant kid whose parents probably did anything to feed the family and lived in a council house all their lives? What on earth do these people imagine he is singing about in a song like Jeane? I just cannot make that connection or link between these people and Morrissey's lyrics because he is singing those words from the point of view of his whole life growing up in that world and THAT'S why he has so many die-hard admirers from other minority groups, the working classes, Latinos, etc. Morrissey is finally reaching his true audience. Do you get it now??

 

[retiring52504]

Re: moby is guilty of a whale-load of offensive remarks

 

[Mr. Me.]

Re: Don't pay attention to morons.

I am a similar age to Morrissey and I was born to Irish parents in working class Manchester. The Smiths meant so much because they were real. Real songs about real life. Anyone who grew up in a similar place during the 70s would know that it was no more unusual to have black/irish/asian friends than to have white ones. Ignorant people make an issue of race in the same way they claim Morrissey's songs to be 'miserable'.
Ignorance is, unfortunately, the most common condition affecting the human race.
I should know. I've had to stay around the bastards that Morrissey escaped from.
And that is why he still means as much to me today as he did when I first listened to Hand In Glove on the 101 bus from Piccadilly Manchester to the Wythenshawe Forum .......all those years ago. It changed my life.
I will be listening to You are the Quarry on the 101 bus from Wythenshawe to Piccadilly next week as I attempt to avoid work. I have managed to get a ticket for the MEN gig, but I have missed many Smiths/Morrissey gigs because of lack of money. Three times I have listened from outside the venue. I don't speak to people much. I am not an 'oddball', there's just no point, because they have no point. I think I am what Morrissey would have been had The Smiths not happened.
Any of you who rant and complain about any aspect of Morrissey's work should just thank the Lord in the Tower Of Song that we have him at all.
I am not blind to anyone's faults, but I have no need to find fault with Morrissey, I am surrounded by others who have no redeeming features whatsoever, and none of them can write the songs that change your life.
Mr Me, news at ten, outside Free Trade Hall, ticketless, in my younger days........