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Racism in America


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  • Disappointed
    2013-02-09 10:07:04 AM
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    I grew up in the 60s. My father was prejudice, my Grandfather was too. My generation was going to change all that.We wanted equallity for everyone. What the hell happened? Sure we elected a black president, and have tried to make sure the constitution, (ALL MEN CREATED EQUAL). It seems that if your black, it is all right to be a racist. Have you ever seen Al Sharpton defend a white man? He sure is quick to attack someone if he feels they are a racist. Right now a hispanic man is being accused of murder in Florida. I believe the man was wrong for the way he tried to protect his neighborhood, but a hate crime, give me a break. The police chief quit because black people are making the state charge him. Have you ever heard of a black being charged with a hate crime? Is Bill Cosby the only black man not a racist? When is this going to change? I call this reverse racism. I had nothing to do with slavery yet my generation has to put up with this. When I moved back to the town I grew up in, same block, same street, a man came up to my son and told him not to play with his kids and stay off his property. The reason he gave my 12 year old, "This is a black neighborhood"! I was born in the house next door. Will racism ever stop?
  • Leftofcenter
    2013-02-09 10:42:51 AM
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    Disappointed, I can undertand your frustration and pain. If you can....get hold of a book titled...The New Jim Crow. I ill help you understand what the modern root of the problem is.....But beyond that.....I think that prejudice is wired into most human beings. Blacks have suffered more because their color makes them visible to the racists. But other segments of society also suffer from prejudice of various kinds. Low wage earners....garbagemen, janitors etc. are subject to prejudice and discrimination.....sometimes subtle, sometimes overt. The people who discriminate are veryoften unaware of their bias......I worked for a time as a janitorin a High School. a problem arose to which the admistration was tryng to find a solution. The principal was quoted in the local paper as saying " I've talked to everyone in the school dept.
    from the vice principal to the lowest janitor ". The next day in the janitors room the men were making a joke of it saying ...."Who's the lowest ? I think you're lower than me " The point is that looking down on others is a way for some folks to think of themselves as superior. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that we live in a class society. But the tendency is rampant and very human. All you can do is chalk it up to ignorance and move on.
  • TJ
    2013-02-09 10:39:11 PM
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    Disappointed, I understand and agree that it's sad. I too grew up around racism and I insisted I would not carry it forward. I have not. I raised my children in a way that expressed judging people unfairly was not acceptable. I saw a story on 60 minutes about children and their actions and it suggested that to some extent, disliking people who differ from you is natural. (about 60% of the way through the story it asks: Are children bigots?) I was very surprised. I think the segment was very interesting.

    (Left, as usual, your reply was very good)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRvVFW85IcU 60 minutes segment

    Born good? Babies help unlock the origins of morality
  • jamesn
    2013-02-10 10:02:22 AM
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    Disappointed you ask...Will racism ever stop?...and that is easy, NO it will never stop. It exists inside people and has since people have lived on this planet and will until that changes.

    In many ways things are better than they were a few decades ago because there are laws to "prevent" racism. All the laws in the world cannot realistically "prevent" something that is hidden inside people. There are too many racists of ALL colors and that's not going to change.
  • Schmidt
    2013-02-10 11:15:10 AM
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    Very good discussion points by all. Some of it reminded me of one of President Obama's best speeches that he ever made:

    A More Perfect Union, “The Race Speech,” Philadelphia, PA, March 18, 2008

    YouTube: A More Perfect Union, Senator Barack Obama, March 18. 2008

    People should go back and reread it, or better yet listen to it in his own inspiring words on YouTube. I'll extract a few relevant paragraphs:


    Senator Obama:

    "The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

    "Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow....

    "For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

    "And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

    "In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time....

    "It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

    "Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time."

    End
  • Altair13
    2013-02-11 07:26:47 PM
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    Here is what this Newbie would like to see. Shine the light on the racists. It is incredebly easy to label an organization, group or political party as racist. It's an easy cheap shot that can be used to score some quick points. You can condemn 50 million people with one insult. Here is my proposal. Rather than go after groups, let's target the indidviduals. In other words, name some names. For example Instead of saying republicans are racist why not say John Boehner is racist and then give examples of his racist behaviour. Saying that the entire party is racist implies that the black members are also racist. Which we all know is impossible. Why protect the racists? If they are there, lets stop pussy-footing around and call them out by name.
  • WovenGems
    2013-02-11 09:36:35 PM
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    Racism will die when race dies. And that is in process now. How many fathers upset because their sons think the other color girls are hotter? Exotic always wins. If you're white then you have between 1% and 3% Neanderthal DNA(located in the immune system). So this little thing has been going on for ages.

  • Altair13
    2013-02-11 09:50:10 PM
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    WovenGems Wrote: Racism will die when race dies. And that is in process now. How many fathers upset because their sons think the other color girls are hotter? Exotic always wins. If you're white then you have between 1% and 3% Neanderthal DNA(located in the immune system). So this little thing has been going on for ages.
    Sure. But this will take many generations. In the meantime, we need to be very careful before we hurl the racism charge. It is used so carelessly that it has nearly lost all meaning. If we ask that people use the names of the individuals they are accusing of racism, it might make people think before they speak.
  • jfennell
    2013-02-12 07:52:50 AM
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    What may be misunderstood is there is such a underlying ,prevailing air of racism against blacks in America. My black sons murder (Jan.11 2013), goes uninvestigated because a woman of white heritage heren in civil war state of virginia. Told detectives "her version" of his murder, and how she got away, being shot and all. She is now walking around saying "I am a miracle, good people are alive and bad people are dead. The police will not even listen to our evidence or try to look beyond what a bi-polar person (she shared this info). on crack cocaine cou or would be covering up the robbery her and her dealer ttried to perpetrate against my son. So yes it may seem infair to you, but our ancestors anfd us have suffered many injustices. I once saw a man get robbed (white) and they arrested my black 18yr old neighbor he did 2 yrs....I testified but naturally theydidi not believe a 15yr old black child.
  • Altair13
    2013-02-12 08:21:07 PM
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    I'm not saying that racism isn't a problem, but if we are going to make an accusation we should name the individual(s) who we are accusing. The black community has HUGE problems. And most are not due to racism.
  • TJ
    2013-02-12 09:18:06 PM
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    Altair13 Wrote: I'm not saying that racism isn't a problem, but if we are going to make an accusation we should name the individual(s) who we are accusing. The black community has HUGE problems. And most are not due to racism.
    So, are you bothered more by the racism that exists, or the fact that some people are accused of it ? Just wondering.
  • Disappointed
    2013-02-14 08:51:20 AM
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    I feel your pain. So does the family of Ron Goldman. In his case the jury disregarded DNA evidence because they didn't understand it. In your case as well as OJs, the judge has the power and obligation to throw out a verdict. He said he didn't because it would start a race war, so justice is second. I would like to believe you will get your justice or at least the offending person will get it in the end. Where was Al Sharpton in your case? It must not have been a big enough reward for him to actually fight for justice.
  • Disappointed
    2013-02-14 09:03:27 AM
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    I think that some people say they are against racism but their actions say different. I just want an equal chance. Is that to much to ask. To many people want to ignore the problem until big problems happen and then it's to late. They just throw fuel on the fire. My kids have friends, not white friends or black friends. My oldest boy is dating a girl, not a black girl. To much weight is put on race. I know I can't change the world, but I can try to change the people around me.
  • Altair13
    2013-02-17 08:29:22 PM
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    TJ Wrote:
    Altair13 Wrote: I'm not saying that racism isn't a problem, but if we are going to make an accusation we should name the individual(s) who we are accusing. The black community has HUGE problems. And most are not due to racism.
    So, are you bothered more by the racism that exists, or the fact that some people are accused of it ? Just wondering.
    Good question. I think being a victim of racism, or having a false allegation of racism are both very traumatic. But being a victim of a racist name does not destroy one's character. Being on the receiving end of the racism charge can destroy you. Which is worse? I dunno. They are both evil.
  • WovenGems
    2013-02-17 09:53:34 PM
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    Altair13 Wrote: I'm not saying that racism isn't a problem, but if we are going to make an accusation we should name the individual(s) who we are accusing. The black community has HUGE problems. And most are not due to racism.
    White flight was the source of the cities falling apart. And the economic chaos the flight caused was the root cause of nearly all problems in the cities. So which most problems are you referencing and what do you see as the root cause?
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