Thread: things like this are keeping racism alive.

Originally Posted by little nemo

Oneironaut,
I think you may be overly-pessimistic about racism never dying out...

All I can say is that I hope you're right.

To go off of what you and pj were saying, the visual aspect, alone, just seems like the perfect fuel for the fire. It is too easily interpreted by the impressionable - and too easily projected by the ignorant - as the quintessential battle: White vs. Black, Light vs. Dark, Good vs. Evil, etc. etc. The concept of highlighting our 'differences' is just too easily tangible, and I just find it hard to see that completely dying out. I'm an optimist about most things, but that is just one thing that I have a negative outlook on. I hope to be proven wrong, even if not in my lifetime.

You make good points, but something to bear in mind; cultural attitudes accross the board and around the world are in a state of tremendous flux in these times. This is especially true of your own racial demographic here in America. The African American community(s) is radically remaking itself - trying on different modes of perception/expression. This is a period of experimentation, and it's anyone's guess as to what it will lead to, what it will look like when things stabilize and settle down.

It's easy to be pessimistic about the issue of race, but if you look beneath the headlines you can see that we have progressed quite alot already, compared to 50 or even 25 years ago.

Originally Posted by little nemo

You make good points, but something to bear in mind; cultural attitudes accross the board and around the world are in a state of tremendous flux in these times. This is especially true of your own racial demographic here in America. The African American community(s) is radically remaking itself - trying on different modes of perception/expression. This is a period of experimentation, and it's anyone's guess as to what it will lead to, what it will look like when things stabilize and settle down.

That's very true. Good point, Nemo.

I was listening to the local college radio station last night and a black dj who plays soul music has a time each week where he discusses a significant black person in entertainment history. This I feel is fine because the kind of music he plays is mostly by black people. On the other hand we have black history month where we endlessly hear about what black people have done. I'm still waiting for white history month, midget history month, and moron history month (all 3 groups have done great things that are important for us to know about since they impact our lives everyday).

They always claim that black people are equal to whites. Then how come if me (white) and and a black person with everything identical were to apply to a college then he would get the spot. Lets say that 4 white people and 1 black person are approximately equal and all apply. The school will accept the black person because he is a minority and then with all their propaganda they send out they can tell prospective students that they are "diverse".

I think alot of black people use their being a minority as an advantage alot of time (I'm not being too negative here, I'm just saying that they are given an opportunity to get more with less work so they do). This makes the black people who do work extremely hard look worse because all the others are built up. Same can also be applied to anyone on welfare.

One thing I hate is something such as the story where they no longer had blind auditions for orchestras (or some musical group) because they needed to hire a certain percent of minorities. Thats like me applying for a jazz band and making them hire me even though I'm not black (black=cool jazz groove, white=square). (Obvously white people can play jazz but it's not the same as black people for whatever reason, kinda like black people and rock, there aren't too many).

I barely hear about black history month now that Im in college, it seems like something that is relegated to middle school and the channels on tv that the age groups watches. So, Im not too bothered that there isnt a white, asian, latino, Native American and all other races month. Its not like they get the month off from work or something, lol.

whats keeping racism alive? middle white america. it scares me. as a minority, growing up in cities that are diverse, I never felt like a minority. for any minority in those cities to complain they are suffering because of skin - get a life.

but then, oh dear, I was visiting my cousin who lives out in middle white america. He's already told me he's one of the only hispanics in his school, and that his school is almost all white. I didn't care, but when I got up there for myself what I saw was 'white school' and then 'black school'. The white school was obviously richer than the black school coming from a poorer neighborhood.

I am not blaming white people for this, so hold on for a second.

Walking through the city, I got some stares. Not bad stares, just, stares of curiosity. As if they have never seen a hispanic in their life. And it scared me, because after 21 years of being a minority in any city - I actually felt like one. Back home most people don't even realize I'm hispanic because im not as dark as mexicans. From what I understood about this city, the racism here is a partially backwards one. Not a hate racism, but an ignorance racism.

All these white people have had very little interaction with all the colors that make up america compared to anyone living in any of the coastal cities. What does 'hispanic' mean to them? Heres what it should mean, nothing much. It felt like to me, that to these middle american whities, that hispanic meant something different, in the same way that a foreigner is different. That this hispanic is 'different'. Not bad not good, just 'different'. The other problem that I saw was, while there were minorities in this city - there was no intergration - you were either in a black neighborhood or a white neighborhood. And maybe some where in between was a little block of hispanics.

Because of historical reasons and the fact that your parents wealth does give you the edge currently based on our system, lets face it, the black neighborhood will always be poorer - if not just straight ghetto compared to the white neighborhood. What does this do? One you have a lot of blacks who think they are poor because they are black and something to do with their relationships with white people. And then you have a whole lot of white people who when they think about minorities - all they can imagine is the ghetto and all those ghetto people.

I have online friends who live in white america, and they all admit they are 'scared' of black people. I've told them their fear of black people is racist, but in their defense, all the blacks are segregated into one little ghetto of strip clubs, gangs, drunken bums and the works.

And this is where backwards racism begins. Blacks who are racist towards whites because of their poorer life, and whites who feel guilty for something they haven't done, or are slightly afraid of all those ghetto people.

Things are very different in a mixed city closer to the US coast. There are so many poor ass white people living in the ghettos, more ghetto than ghetto. And minorities in all professions, from teachers, to police, to government officials, to news casters for any backwards racism to get a stronghold. And even then if there is this backwards racism, you will only see it in the extremities of the city - such as the southside and the estates up on those green hills

btw, apparently its like hispanic heritage month. not that I have any idea what that means. But had I grown up a place where I was just a tiny little dot of ethnicity on the map, and had I always been looked at as being a little 'different', then maybe something lame like a hispanic heritage month would actually mean something to me?

Originally Posted by Replicon

We need more interracial couples. The more of those there are, the faster the world will turn "beige" and we can all get the hell over ourselves
.

Yes! I love that!

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

Anyway, with that being said, ignorance to the accomplishments of many blacks is still very high........I see nothing wrong with addressing the accomplishments of many blacks, over the years, to those people that are racists, as simply a form of education......a way to enlighten those without knowledge of our accomplishments, in the hopes that it might curb the prejudice that still exists in many parts of the country.

Of course, to those that already have no prejudice against blacks, it may seem like a cry for attention, or (to some) supremacy. With (the gist of) that commercial in mind, I don't really know if that was the audience it was meant to cater to. There is a very large percentage of racist people in this country who actually do feel that we are worthless, and have accomplished nothing but the bullshit they see us do on BET and MTV. That's a sad fact of the world, but it something that we ("the black community") have to deal with, and even feel forced to contend with.

That's the idea that I got from the description of the commercial. I mean, it's obviously aimed at people that are racist and the idea is to provide them with some knowledge beyond the BET and MTV stuff that they're probably over exposed to.

Originally Posted by juroara

Walking through the city, I got some stares. Not bad stares, just, stares of curiosity.

I got the exact same feeling when I went to visit my gf in Taiwan. When I walked with her down the streets of Taipei I got a lot of different looks. Some people smiled at me, some actually ran in to me intentionally to let me know their distaste for Americans.... I think the whole time I was there I might have seen one other white guy, and he was from Europe, lol.

Anyways, I know I am middle class, but my high school was still around 50% minority, which was cool because we all meshed, the only time race was noticeable was at the dances <cliche> white boys cant dance <cliche>

Originally Posted by juroara

I have online friends who live in white america, and they all admit they are 'scared' of black people. I've told them their fear of black people is racist, but in their defense, all the blacks are segregated into one little ghetto of strip clubs, gangs, drunken bums and the works.

I find this unbelievable, and I say that having lived my entire life in and around Detroit - a city that actually promotes and takes pride in that image. The only possible way to hold this view is out of complete ignorance. In other words, simple interaction with other human beings proves it utterly fallacious, so I would have to conclude that your friends live utterly segregated lives, either by choice or circumstance.

And this is where backwards racism begins. Blacks who are racist towards whites because of their poorer life, and whites who feel guilty for something they haven't done, or are slightly afraid of all those ghetto people.

ALL racism begins with grouping people by genetic or other irrelevant characteristics and then drawing conclusions about them based on that. It is irrational behavior, which is an unfortunate characteristic of all humans.

btw, apparently its like hispanic heritage month. not that I have any idea what that means. But had I grown up a place where I was just a tiny little dot of ethnicity on the map, and had I always been looked at as being a little 'different', then maybe something lame like a hispanic heritage month would actually mean something to me?

These 'heritage' months, no matter how good the intention, promote and celebrate ethnic differences and in the end do nothing more than support racist perceptions. The idea that any group with a certain characteristic or genetic makeup should even NEED to have a month of focus to "educate" others (who of course aren't part of that racial group) draws hard lines through societies - lines that don't really exist anywhere but in our minds. Sadly, there are many groups out there who actively PROMOTE fear and misunderstanding because it results in political power.

Even if you could draw general statistical conclusions about a given group of people, anybody who has studied statistics knows that the conclusions have zero relevance when it comes to knowing anything at all about any one element in a sample or universe.

To state it another way. . . the only way to get to know people is one at a time. Anybody with any meaningful experience in life knows this to be true.