From My Perspective

This page will be a running narrative of current events from my perspective.

July 19, 2016:  Plagiarism by Melania Trump

Double Standard is not pretty.  In my 66, nearly 67 years I have had many experiences with double standards that exist between African American (and now people of color) and white society.  It is very clear that whoever wrote the Speech for Mrs. Trump that she gave at the opening of the Republican National Convention used words from the current First Lady's speech without giving proper credit for the words.  Side by Side videos do not lie.  Word counts showing the exact words do not lie.  Using almost the same inflections on specific words do not lie; however, saying that the incident is silly is lie and an insult.

Why do I take this so personally?  For many reasons, but I will just list two here:

1.  In this age of finding everything wrong with the Obama's.  If Michele Obama had delivered a speech and even the HINT of plagiarism could be found, she would have been crucified, and calls for removal of the president would have been wide spread,  he would have been made responsible.  That is not so with Mrs. Trump, her "team" is blaming Hilary Clinton for the mess.

2.  At the age of 17, I had the privilege of going to University of Michigan.  To say that I do not like this school of higher education is putting it mildly.  In 1967, it was a very hard place for a naive teenager to survive.  All of my life to that date, I had been told that I was an excellent writer.  Not so at U OF M, not so.  We had an English assignment to write about something that affected me spiritually.  I wrote a paper about Faith; a fellow student wrote about Love.  We both received failing grades on our papers because the professor said we copied off each other.  We were the only African Americans in the class, did not socialize or even really know each other and our topics were not the same.  Needless to say I my spirit was crushed.  I can honestly say that I never once cheated in school.  I cherished the learning experience and this professor, filled with prejudice ruined it.

She told me I could not write and no matter how hard I tried to follow her guidance I never received a grade on any paper higher than a "C".

I left U of M after my freshman year afraid of my ability to compete at a 4 year college.  I was 50 when I finally received my degree.

Today I am angry.  Not because of some stolen words, but because of the way it has been handled by the perpetrators.  To say nothing has changed makes my heart sad, but in essence, nothing really has changed.  Today is a sad day.