Hey Kimberley

Congratulation:.. You have made us proud!!!

Well done...

Regards



David Chen
The African Caribbean Connection
"Exploring A Taste of Our Culture - Naturally"
www.atasteofourculture.com

What a great achievment. I hope stories like yours,President Obama's and Judge Sotomayor's will inspire young minorites. There is no reason in this great United States that anyone can do or be anything.

You are so right. This young lady is an inspiration to all Americans. I wish the media wouldn't label. Yes, she is Africian American that is obvious. But what is even more important is what she has accomplished at such a young age. Congradulations to her and wishing her all the best.

Kimberly, congradulations!!! You are such a beautiful child looking at you on the outside but hearing you shows that you are also beautiful on the inside. God Bless you little one.

It is a great accomplishment for a young person to fly cross country. Who cares what color the person is? Does that make it a greater feat than if ANY other color young person to do it? Let's just appreciate the accomplishment.

This is just another stunt. I remember several years ago a younger girl tried the same thing which ended when the airplane crashed and the yound girl was killed. We should not support this kinds of events.

It is a great story . I don't think It is good to let someone that young fly on there own . But if i was on a plane and the pilot died . I would want her to fly the plane before someone with no flght training .
Good job !

What's an accomplishment when there are not one but two pilots on the airplane with you. Do you really think the 'safety' pilot was just along for the ride? Fifteen and younger kids of all colors and gender regularly fly airplanes with another pilot beside them at the controls. If you've got the money to rent the plane, anyone can do this. I've taught several kids to fly, who soloed on their 16th birthday, the youngest age you can legally fly solo. They could have done it much earlier except for the rules. This kid hasn't really done anything extra ordinary.

Of course if is important to point out the fact that this great accomplishment was made by an young African American woman. Lest we forget and/or repeat our painful history. First young African American children need to see models of accomplishments such as this -- to help convince & encourage their own ambitions. Second, race and class-based disparities still abound today in every area of our society including health, education, housing, banking, etc. negatively affecting women, minorities, poor, etc. Did you hear about the racist pool incident that recently occured in Philadelphia? Third and finally, it wasn't too long ago that African Americans, other racial minorities, and women were denied such opportunities. I think we are so quick to want to erase these injustices from our collective memories! It is important not to forget. Think Holocaust memorials. Angela

excellent comment damoki, my first reaction also was why she needed to be touted as "African American", I simply saw her immediately as a very pretty little girl who accomplished something very incredible, then I read the politics, too bad.

Of course it is relevant to mention that she was african american, it was only a week ago that other african american children were asked to leave a swimming pool because of the color of their skins, what's up with that? By her example she has showed that blacks can do any and everything when given the opportunity. Don't take opportunities away from our youth because of their skin color, God made them that way!

I totally agree. What this makes our brown children think is: if your skin is brown, it is that much less likely that you have what it takes to do something remarkable. A very unhealthy message, in my opinion. It also emphasizes the fact that white kids still hold the records on many things - which is not surpising, given our history and demographics, but is not what I prefer to emphasize to my brown-skinned daughters.

There was a time when this would have been a bigger accomplishment because the child would have had to first wage a vigorous fight against rules and threats and false assumptions that children of other races didn't have to deal with. That is not the case for this child.

Yes, stop pointing out people's race in any kind of news. If they did something remarkable then praise them as a person, skip the color of their skin. If they did something terrible, punish them, who cares about the color of their skin. We are all people...so quit tagging people with their ethnic back ground when you speak of them anywhere, I mean really does it really have to be a big deal? What's the difference? 15 year old kids do not fly every day especially coast to coast! Wow, fantastic job for the kid :) very inspiring.

"Have you noticed how, when someone claims to be "african-american", they never bother to mention exactly where in Africa they were born? That's the only way they can be a hyphenated-anything, after all."

*****

I consider myself Irish-American, and my family has been in the U.S. since the 1800's. It is not unusual at all to characterize yourself by your ethnicity, even if you yourself have never lived in that place. And that is a behavior not exclusive to African Americans.

To Kyoteee1:
Damoki didnt place blame with any one ethnicity, but merely mentioned how sad it is that race has to be attached when recognizing an accomplishment ... which I agree with wholeheartedly. You, on the other hand automatically pointed the finger at "black people" as the culprits. With regard to this particular topic, nowhere does it mention that that this pilot alluded to her ethnicity even though it's obvious. If anyone is to blame, if there is blame to be placed, for this infraction (in this instance) it would be the writer of the article, and you can't possibly know his/her ethnicity. It seems to me that you are guilty of the very thing you're so quick to blame "black people" of. Look within yourself. You may not like what you see.

Really, it would be nice if for once you people would stop making it a crime or racial issue if someone black does something positive and the media acknowledges it. Credit has also been given to the white race and the only ones who ever accomplish anything. So when someone other than white is recognized for their accomplishment let it go. I am sure if it had been a negative report you would have been saying black so and so this and that. Who can win?

thank you so much for stating this. i've long grown tired of the distinction the media makes when it comes to minorities and their achievements. it's an obvious slight and serves as a clear reminder that minorities are still not expected to make great strides and achievements outside of the sports and entertainment arenas. in spite of what the general populus perceives, black Americans are not a monolithic people who lead a hyphenated existence. we are far more diverse in our culture, language and experience.

While I can certainly understand both your and Bob's naivete' with respect to the need for mentioning the fact that this your lady is African-American, you would have to walk a mile in her shoes. What you failed to acknowledge is that for more than 250 years people like this young lady, and everyone that may have look like her was told that they were useless, worthless, and incapable of doing great things. And while you might be enlighten, you need only read other blog comments on this same site to determine that everyone is not.

People of color need to promote their positive role models. They are not the one's that made it necessary to emphasize the accomplishments of a race, you are! I think it's time we stopped asking people to forget and move on, unless we accept and address our own failures towards them. You can't ask a race of people to get over being treated like an animal, just to satisfy your own sense of gilt and shame. You see we find solace in both our accomplishments and your shame.