Oldest American man dies at 112

December 30, 2008

America's oldest man, an African-American who befriended Louis Armstrong and voted for president-elect Barack Obama "because he's black," has died in Sacramento, California, his family said.

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• xen_uno - Dec 30, 2008
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  " ... because he's black ... ". Well that's a good reason. So much for critical analysis of a candidate. Guess that's how a POS like Marion Barry gets re-elected, or how garbage like Sharpton, Jackson, and Faracon stay in the limelight. Good riddance ya dumb old fart!
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• Soylent - Dec 31, 2008
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (1)

  " ... because he's black ... ". Well that's a good reason. So much for critical analysis of a candidate.

  
  
  Racism doesn't feel so good when you're on the recieving end, huh?
  
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• xen_uno - Dec 31, 2008
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  I wouldn't know. I usually vote to get rid of the incumbent unless the replacement is too objectionable. The replacement can be orange, yellow, green, etc as long as they're qualified and have no major skeletons in the closet ... so whatever point you were trying to make went over my head.
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• SteveS - Dec 31, 2008
  • Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
  I think I understand Soylent's comment. Voting for anybody just because of their colour is racist.
  
  However, in this case, it's probably understandable considering what he has seen in his lifetime.
  
  Racism always evokes an emotional response from those on the receiving end regardless of their colour, but this should not be seen as an excuse to abuse that person.
  
  Xen_uno's "dumb old fart" and Soylent's pointed comment are just examples of the depth of feeling this subject always provokes.
  
  That said is it any worse than voting for a person on the basis of how good they look on TV?
  
  In a democracy we always get the leaders we deserve.
  
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• KBK - Dec 31, 2008
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  Real actual democracy happens when REAL actual candidates are really and actually elected by members of the public in the given 'democratic' country. With respects to the United States (which are likely the greater # of posters here) I'm not sure that has happened once in the last 100-125 years. Far too much interference with/by hidden special interests for any of the current illusory democracy to be anything by fake --to the very core.
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• thales - Dec 31, 2008
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  I think I understand Soylent's comment. Voting for anybody just because of their colour is racist.
  
  However, in this case, it's probably understandable considering what he has seen in his lifetime.

  
  
  My thoughts exactly. Imagine how he must have felt, being able to vote for a black man at the end of his life, having gone through "separate but equal" (which coincidentally started with the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896, the year he was born) and, later, the civil rights movement. Amazing.
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• xen_uno - Dec 31, 2008
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
  "However, in this case, it's probably understandable considering what he has seen in his lifetime."
  
  Yeah ... I'll buy that ... plus living in the deep south. I can see now that up to 20 years ago or so, he had no other choice. However, he should have studied the history of the African slave industry. He would have found that slaves were bought and sold by higher class blacks. Nowadays, while slavery doesn't formally exist, the mistreatment of blacks by their own still continues ... everywhere.
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• SteveS - Jan 01, 2009
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
  "Nowadays, while slavery doesn't formally exist, the mistreatment of blacks by their own still continues ... everywhere."
  
  The mistreatment of people by other people of the same race still continues everywhere. It's called injustice and no race has a monopoly on it.
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• Velanarris - Jan 05, 2009
  • Rank: 3 / 5 (2)

  "Nowadays, while slavery doesn't formally exist, the mistreatment of blacks by their own still continues ... everywhere."
  
  The mistreatment of people by other people of the same race still continues everywhere. It's called injustice and no race has a monopoly on it.

  
  But ask any one of them and typically either Americans, or Whites are to blame.
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• readsbetweenlines - Aug 18, 2009
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  I don't know much about this website, just happened to link to it when I saw story about 112 y/o black man. Couldn't help commenting about how ridiculous this is. You print an "article' about a black man who dies at 112, and then the only thing you tell us about him is that he voted for Obama "because he's black". You take one sentence this guy uttered out of his entire 112 years of life on this planet and then try to sum up his whole character by it. Then you get all these Caucasian morons (I'm Caucasian, btw) using this "article" to publicly "rationalize" their hatred of blacks. You gotta be kidding. Can you say "r-a-c-e b-a-i-t-i-n-g"????? Nothing like setting back racial harmony for another hundred years with garbage like this. Congrats.
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• readsbetweenlines - Aug 18, 2009
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  I clicked on the link about the 112 year old man from another website because I thought it would be interesting to find out how this guy lived his life, what he was capable of doing in the years before he died, the quality of his life, etc. Instead, the only information I'm given is that he voted for Obama because he's black. I'll make sure I avoid this website in the future. Apparently it's a racist watering hole.
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