From: Aris Winger Date: July 31, 2007 1:28:18 AM EDT To: info@hotghettomess.com Subject: your website Hello, I write with respect and courtesy. Your website is beyond interesting and I have read reports of the controversy it has caused. I have a few questions: Do you think you have helped the image of the black american in the United States? If you believe you have, how is that possible? If you do not believe that you have, then why tarnish an image which has been systematically (meant in a literal sense) tarnished for centuries? How are you helping you people in this case? In addition to your law degree, what other degrees do you have that give you enough expertise in order to make such claims about the history and progression of Black people in this country? Do you believe that just because you are black, you are qualified to expound upon the plight of the black american with some expertise? Or are you using your personal experience to generalize? You made a claim recently that your website is nothing different from what Bill Cosby is doing across the country. Do you believe that your IMAGES and his words carry the same weight? Do you believe there is zero difference between Bill Cosby PRETENDING to be a young child who does not SPEAK standard English and you putting up an IMAGE of an ACTUAL person who in your mind looks like an "idiot (Editor's Note)?" Do you think that a listener in Bill Cosby's audience and a viewer of your website come out feeling the same way about Black people? Do you think that there is no difference between what you and Bill Cosby are saying when he offers some resolutions (family, education, etc.) when you have been clear in the editor's note that your website offers no solutions at all ("This site does not proclaim to know the answer to that question")? Is it not convenient for you to merely brush aside major hurdles with the comment: "Yes, yes I know there is racism, there is inequality of opportunity, gross disparities in education and health care." when you yourself have already achieved a stellar education, can get healthcare if you desire it, have been presented with and taken advantage of a great opportunity, and have not been crippled by racism? Should you not treat these issues with more reflection before casting them all off in one sentence? Would you think you were helping the situation if more and more people continued to send in pictures? You have already commented that your site is getting popular. If more pictures come in to you, how can you argue this is making it better? Do you not believe that there is a segment of the population who wants you to put them up on your site? Is that not possible? Furthermore, if some of, as you put it, "our less fortunate brothers and sisters" who "conduct their lives like idiots" keep being idiotic and sending in pictures to you, do you keep putting them up? How does this help? When you write "The black middle class has moved to the suburbs and too often don’t have time to tutor or mentor an underprivileged child because by the time they get off work and brave traffic back to their McMansion, where has the day gone," are you speaking of you own experience? Do you expect the "idiots" you allude to to look at the pictures and change their ways? Are idiots smart enough to change their ways? Do you expect the busy middle class that you claim does not have time to help after a long day's work to look at the pictures and suddenly find more time to be helpful? Or would they just call their "less fortunate brothers and sisters" "idiots" and be done with it? How can your clients trust you as a reputable lawyer when you put pictures of people up on the web without their approval? How can you be an effective officer of the law when you break the law in this way? How are you helping the black image when you are proof that even our lawyers are breaking the law? I could go on. But I will stop as it is late. Finally, I would like to say that I appreciate your efforts in helping the less fortunate. I also appreciate your efforts in creating this website. I am not sure about its effectiveness, but it has allowed me to think through some issues very carefully. I hope it does the same for many people. However, because of the nature of the system in which we are residing, I think this will be the only positive from this endeavor. I hope that I am wrong. I have presented you with what I believe to be some serious questions. I hope you have enough conviction and belief in what you say to respond to them. I look forward to, and would cherish, a response. Thank you. Dr. Aris Winger Assistant Professor Mathematics Department Emory and Henry College