Racism

[HAL 9000 96]

I dont need something shoved down my throat to realize that it taste like #######. Thats exposure out of control.

I have to go, until next time.

When one convinces oneself that something is #######, one might just succeed. That's self-suggestion to the max. Have a good one.

[SMOKE 1,426]

It's not relevant to me. I'm interested in the relative differences between blacks and whites, something that can be perceived by factors like the ones I mentioned earlier.

I am not interested in trying to conjure a hypothetical experience of a poor white kid Vs. a poor black kid, because it amounts to an exercise of imagination.

Poverty is poverty - anyone in poverty is clearly going to have a very difficult time. What's pertinent to me is if a person who is black is more likely than someone who is white to experience poverty. That's something which can be proven.

oh but it is relevant to anyone looking for honest answer. all things being equal from the start 'white privilege' is a myth. so any and all racial sterotypes are equally wrong. it obvious to anyone that minorities do get more leeway when talking about white people. example: a minority comedian makes a crack on white people... . a white comedian makes a crack on a minority... .

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Who cares, we all have Free speech.

Racism has evolved. Racists have developed new ways to oppress people they do not like or want in certain places and positions...

1. Public housing. Worked for the Native Americans and works for other races also. "live over HERE and we will pay for it"

2. Affirmative action. The best way to assure a race will not get ahead is to put certain numbers of them in jobs they will not succeed in, thus re-inforcing any predjudiced ideas in jobs not affected. The best way, for example, to keep blacks out of, say, investment banking, is to make a few unqualified blacks government clerks or supervisors, expose them and their incompentency to the public and sit back and watch them paint an entire race into a corner.

3. Have the government pay for abortions. 'Nuff said.

4. Pay then for not working, not being married and having children out of wedlock. Cut off their benefits if they get a job, get married or stop having children.

5. Continue to pay them even if they are not working or going to school.

6. Pay them more in cash and benefits than they have any possibility of making in a job with a ghetto education.

7. "Educate" them for free.

8. Allow them to drop out of high school at age 16.

9. Promote the idea that "these people" NEED these programs. "They" CAN'T survive without them. This not only promotes the program, it furthers the racist credo that "these people" aren't capable. Blame it on something that happened 200 years ago. You know, the way Jewish people blame their failure on the Holocaust...oh wait...they don't. Well then, like the way the Italians blame their problems on being discriminated against and being called "WOPS"...oh wait...they don't so that either. NM

10. Call anyone that disagrees with the program of racial oppression "Racists!" My suggestions, in the same order...

1. 5 year stepped down plan of public housing and other welfare benefits BUT only if the recipient has a job or is in school. Housing vouchers that can be used for any housing purchases or rentals. Tear down public housing buildings. Allow people to live where THEY choose...FREEDOM. Pro choice. Y'know? In 5 years the benefits end.

2. End affirmative action. Hire and promote on merit. We need to stress the importance of merit and the importance of making oneself marketable.

3. No government payment for abortions. I am pro-choice. I am also pro PAY-for-your-choice.

4. No payments unless they are working and/or going to school (pay for school) No additional payments for out of wedlock children. Pay for birth control. But only the kind you INJECT.

5. As above

6. Decrease benefits 20% per year. Benefits vanish in 5 years. This is enough time to get an education or work your way up in a job.

7. Allow people to choose where they live and where their children go to school. Ghetto schools may not have much appeal. Vouchers for school taxes paid (even renters pay taxes) that can be applied to private schools if they choose.

8. Anyone dropping out of high school loses any opportunity to have a drivers license or receive welfare benefits of any type, including benefits their parent(s) may be receiving for them. No drivers license unless you have graduated high school.

9. Promote the idea that YOU CAN DO IT! Do not accpet excuses. A black man is President, elected in vast majority by WHITE people, the days of whining are OVER.

10. Anyone that wants to oppress people with government funding is a racist.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

oh but it is relevant to anyone looking for honest answer. all things being equal from the start 'white privilege' is a myth. so any and all racial sterotypes are equally wrong.

As I said, the pertinent issue for me would be to contrast the experience of a white kid and a black kid - something that can be done at a general, objective level by looking at demographic and economic factors to identify the differences between the two.

You want it to be about a "poor black kid" Vs. a "poor white kid", that isn't something that can be assessed objectively and it certainly wouldn't be an "honest answer".

it obvious to anyone that minorities do get more leeway when talking about white people. example: a minority comedian makes a crack on white people... . a white comedian makes a crack on a minority... .

OK. So what? Why the anger about it?

Why does this state of affairs exist?

[HAL 9000 96]

My White Guilt-o-meter has been activated.

One Flag. No Fun.

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

My White Guilt-o-meter has been activated.

One Flag. No Fun.

Have a hug. And a Cheez-It.

[HAL 9000 96]

OK I go now to play raquetball and to see if there is raquetball way of adding all that cheese to Cheez-It...

Laters!

[evli1966 88]

I think you're describing the opinion rather than the reasoning behind it.

The reasoning I would think would have to come from a minority person that would have that thought process..I have heard in the past of lighter scin black people being discriminated against by darker skin black people. That was a long time ago.

Is it perhaps fair to say that certain comments are inflated by the media to create a false debate and a false impression of race-relations in the US?

Absolutely as well as any organization that had an agenda that could benefit from it.

I think that's quite difficult to justify because you have to take into account the origins of words and the context that they are being used in. Not all racial slurs are equal, not all are meant with sinister or malicious intent. The presence of the word in a sentence does not mean anything without some understanding of the whole.

The word Spick is dereived from Spic was created to call latinos who could not pronounce english well and speak sounded as spick

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spick

*** was derived from neger a portugal-spansh meant to describe slaves in colonial America although not neccessarily created to be a racial slur it is a reminder of that past. In the 1800 it was later became known as a racial slur.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/***

I point out the 2 words because one was created as only a racial slur. At least this is my understanding.

Everyone has probably done that at one time or another - I think that is a given also. But presumably you wouldn't think it fair to judge you on the basis of comments made in your youth; and that if you had made a maliciously racist comment today it would be a more accurate indicator of your views.

Not 100% but I would agree it would unmask hidden or subconcious feelings if stated in anger. I would agree if it were common place in my vocabulary.

Again though, I don't think we can make the case for a post-racial society if by most yardsticks that is not the case. It isn't that blacks underachieve at school because they are less intelligent than whites (that would be a racist statement), it's that social and economic factors exist that mean that they don't always achieve their full potential. Of course, you could say this of anyone in poverty - but its a misconception that Affirmative Action exists solely to benefit blacks and racial minorities. Affirmative Action isn't one policy, but an umbrella term for many policies - many of which advantage other groups, such as women and military veterans.

I agree what your saying but in the context fo what we are speaking of how affirmative action is used by minorities.

I also believe in freedom of choice such as it is a choice to allow yourself to be dragged down the gutter with out a fight. A person in a low performing school has less advantages than other higher performing schools this is were affirmative action should work. What most lower performing schools have at hand are issues with under performing teachers, no funding, possibly crime in the schools etc. There are some issues caused by the minority groups themselves yet at the sametime the minorities may cause the problem buit want it fixed without doing anyhitng about it themselves.

Quite simply, I don't understand the anger that some people here express towards racial minorities over statements by extreme individuals in the black community or pedestrian statements that have been cherry picked and presented in a calculated way to create outrage.

I believe it is anger but it isn's neceesarily towrds the minoity population as a whole but more at the individual. I would agree and be angered if that individual making those remarks were supported and the remarks not acknowledged as racist.

In the past week whether inflammed by media or not 2 black people on of the Black Panther Organization with ties to NAACP and one person in a government office made and acted racist towards white people. Their racist comments could have been towards asians or Latins.

NAACP still has not acknowledged his words as hateful and racist. Although the NAACP does denounce racism with in its ranks so Black Panthers may not be considered with in their ranks.

The government employee was removed /resigned but had stated in her own words that she did descriminate. While I agree she was trying to point out that she had learned a lesson that it wasn't about black and white but about being poor she still acted with discrimination in a racist way which is not politically correct and cost her job.

When someone says "its ok to be racist if you are black", it is a disparaging (yes, racist) remark against the entirety of black people. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen people write that in O/T.

I believe this is out of context and is as such a statement of sarcasm. IMO it is never ok to racist no matter what your race.

I've heard this kind of thing many times before and I don't buy it. I don't buy it because it ignores the reason why organizations like the NAACP exist in the first place.

It's simply trite to present white people as though they are somehow victims of some sort of "black privilege" and no white person would "Advance white people" without having some association with a Nazi group.

You missed the point; it doesn't have to be about helping disadvantaged white because they were disadvantaged by a black privilege; why couldn't it be an organization that focused on helping a white person get through schools, starting a business etc.

What about a United Caucaion College Fund?

The point is no matter how innocent the organization if it focuses to help white people then it is deemed racist.

If your white you do not qualify for the United Negro College Fund - if your white and are killed by a group of black men it isn't called hate crim or even considered it - If the cops beat an innocent white man helf to death the NAACP does not come to your defense.

My point is White are not allowed to create non racist organizations focused on white society with out being called Nazis, white supremist or racist.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You missed the point; it doesn't have to be about helping disadvantaged white because they were disadvantaged by a black privilege; why couldn't it be an organization that focused on helping a white person get through schools, starting a business etc.

What about a United Caucaion College Fund?

The point is no matter how innocent the organization if it focuses to help white people then it is deemed racist.

If your white you do not qualify for the United Negro College Fund - if your white and are killed by a group of black men it isn't called hate crim or even considered it - If the cops beat an innocent white man helf to death the NAACP does not come to your defense.

My point is White are not allowed to create non racist organizations focused on white society with out being called Nazis, white supremist or racist.

Well lack of educational achievement IS a problem among the black community - again there are numerous reasons for this, but if blacks are under-represented in higher education (offhand, I have no idea if they are, but it would fit the pattern) then trying to change through specialised finding seems reasonable.

The white majority does not have the same issues where a "White Organization" or a "White college fund" would be necessary. There is no such thing as a singular "White identity" because whites don't really view themselves in racial terms. Simply, there a reason why the only organizations which exist to advance white people are militant Nazi groups like the Aryan Nation.

On the bolded part, I don't see why you are connecting those things in a single paragraph.

Edited July 20, 2010 by Its a MADHOUSE

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Cultural attitudes are part of the problem, no doubt. But I think you're in questionable territory when you reference the problems of Africa in the same breath as those of the black community in the US.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Cultural attitudes are part of the problem, no doubt. But I think you're in questionable territory when you reference the problems of Africa in the same breath as those of the black community in the US.

I was merely making the point that it seems like the culture can't seem to get away from itself.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I was merely making the point that it seems like the culture can't seem to get away from itself.

What you seem to be suggesting is that there is one overarching black culture that all blacks share. That isn't true - Black Americans have very little in common with Black Africans.

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

Yuck. Just yuck. I call BS on all of this #######. Veiled racist BS like that above me is okay, but in jest I use a FAIRLY MILD slur AGAINST MYSELF and I am censored. (And believe me, it IS about context; any fule kno I was joking.)

/rant paused

Edit: by above, I mean Paul's post. Not Six's.

Edited July 20, 2010 by elmcitymaven

[evli1966 88]

Mad

sorry for not explaining.

I linked those scenarios together to point out that there is no specific white only college funding organization with out someone deeming it racist or that organization does not help whites; I do agree there are disadvantages that minorities face but that shouldn't stop someone who wishes to help promising causasions from attending school.

If a balck man is killed by a group of white men first respoonse is hate crime; is it probably but not neccesarily and every minority group would be out for vengence on these murderers. But if it were a a group of black men that killed a white man; it could be a hate crime but no oone will suggest it and there wouldn't be anyone groups of peopel besides family crying out for justice.(possibly the the white supremeist groups who will try and feed on the insecurities of the family) Heck there may be even a ploy by the NAACP to free the murderers bcasue of some possible twist.(again probably not but it has happened)

When a minotiy is subject to police brutality it is the same organizations that are pounding for justice where as if it were a white person then where are these organizations?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

In point of fact the "black culture" in the US is a relatively new construction, and an artificial one at that. Most if not all blacks who trace their US ancestry back to the 1800s have nothing in common with Black Africans or indeed of the countries they originally came from.

That's the real reason why there is a "black history month".