How to combat racism

[Rationalt]

I remember Somebody in the eighties saying Race reality is not getting caught up with platitudes and actually crossover the bridge at queens(NY) and get mugged.

 

[rturner76]

I have. I got over it. (Pretty easy to guess and be wrong) I don't suppose you would like to apologize?

It's easy for you to get over it because you are white and not oppressed. It is more difficult to ignore or "get over it" when you are oppressed.

 

[ananda]

It's because he's black, and we all know that black people are the True Racists™.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/06/...ter-racist-message-discovered-outside-church/

 

[ScottA]

It's easy for you to get over it because you are white and not oppressed. It is more difficult to ignore or "get over it" when you are oppressed.

You don't know me. You don't know any of what you just said of me to be true at all!

I got over it because I refused to be a victim, and I realized that the whole thing did not speak of me or my problems, but of their's. They were lashing out. I got over it...because the problem wasn't with me, but with them.

Now, it may be true that they would take longer to get over it since it was their problem they were dealing with. But that just points the finger at them for having the problem and violently dumping on me, an innocent. But I did NOT point the finger, I just walked away. I went on loving people, even though they had proved unworthy. And now, you want to put it back on ME?

That's insane.

 

[rturner76]

. And now, you want to put it back on ME?

That's insane.

I didn't mean to accuse you of any wrong doing in your situation. I was merely stating that you were not in a position to be oppressed because of your skin color so it is easier to ignore the offender. When you are in a position of being oppressed, you do not have the ability to ignore those who are oppressing you.

 

[katherine2001]

Race relations seemed better before this administration. The constant harping on race by the race baiters today only inflames extraordinary racism.

Of course it seemed better before President Obama was elected President of the US twice. He was the first American President that didn't have white skin (I can't call him non-White since he is half white). If he had just known his place, had not won due to a lot of people voting for him twice, the racism would be there under the surface as it has always been. All President Obama's election did was bring it to the surface. I personally think that is a good thing since I hope it will force people to admit that it is there and do something about it instead of being in denial.

 

[Red Fox]

It's easy for you to get over it because you are white and not oppressed. It is more difficult to ignore or "get over it" when you are oppressed.

I was merely stating that you were not in a position to be oppressed because of your skin color so it is easier to ignore the offender. When you are in a position of being oppressed, you do not have the ability to ignore those who are oppressing you.

No truer words have been spoken, in my humble opinion.

 

[ScottA]

I didn't mean to accuse you of any wrong doing in your situation. I was merely stating that you were not in a position to be oppressed because of your skin color so it is easier to ignore the offender. When you are in a position of being oppressed, you do not have the ability to ignore those who are oppressing you.

I ain't buying it. That is the attitude that makes ghettos: that one can never get out.

I am saying I got out. I am saying we as a society and anyone who wanted to, got out in the 60's. And anyone who wants out now, can still get off their butt and walk.

And STOP telling me what I am and what I am not!

 

[ScottA]

Of course it seemed better before President Obama was elected President of the US twice. He was the first American President that didn't have white skin (I can't call him non-White since he is half white). If he had just known his place, had not won due to a lot of people voting for him twice, the racism would be there under the surface as it has always been. All President Obama's election did was bring it to the surface. I personally think that is a good thing since I hope it will force people to admit that it is there and do something about it instead of being in denial.

There is a HUGH difference between being in denial and disallowing. The greatest percent of Americans are not racists, and have not been since the 60's. And it doesn't help the cause to have caring people "enabling" the whole thing to continue to exist because some remain bitter. Nor does it help to have things agitated from the White House. Obama could have been a peacemaker. He's not. He could have sealed the deal once and for all. He didn't. He is an agitator. Shame on him.

 

[bhsmte]

There is a HUGH difference between being in denial and disallowing. The greatest percent of Americans are not racists, and have not been since the 60's. And it doesn't help the cause to have caring people "enabling" the whole thing to continue to exist because some remain bitter. Nor does it help to have things agitated from the White House. Obama could have been a peacemaker. He's not. He could have sealed the deal once and for all. He didn't. He is an agitator. Shame on him.

One thing I finally agree with you on, how Obama did in office regarding race relations.

When he made the comment about the Zimmerman case; that things may have been different, if Martin was white, completely ignored all of the evidence in the case and was a racist comment, in and off itself. Not the sort of statement, you would expect from a president.

 

[rturner76]

There is a HUGH difference between being in denial and disallowing. The greatest percent of Americans are not racists, and have not been since the 60's. And it doesn't help the cause to have caring people "enabling" the whole thing to continue to exist because some remain bitter. Nor does it help to have things agitated from the White House. Obama could have been a peacemaker. He's not. He could have sealed the deal once and for all. He didn't. He is an agitator. Shame on him.

Ignoring the problem won't make t go away. I could be reading this wrong but it seems to me you are saying the victims of racism are at fault for speaking out about it and Obama is at fault for saying racism exists. There is no problem with racism in this country, we solved the problem in the 60's and nobody is racist any more. There are only people who use the issue to put forward their own agenda and makeexcuses for themselves. Is that about right?

 

[ScottA]

Ignoring the problem won't make t go away. I could be reading this wrong but it seems to me you are saying the victims of racism are at fault for speaking out about it and Obama is at fault for saying racism exists. There is no problem with racism in this country, we solved the problem in the 60's and nobody is racist any more. There are only people who use the issue to put forward their own agenda and makeexcuses for themselves. Is that about right?

Yes, the problem is as big as we make it. It does not even exist for the majority of Americans. We had it licked in the 60s, worked through decades of lingering baggage and emotional residue...and now, it has become a political pet peeve, a buzz word to fuel an emotional response. Which is NOT helping the problem, it's making it worse. And yes, Obama could have been a peacemaker. He's not. He could have buried the hatchet for a generation, maybe for all time. He didn't. Instead, he is an agitator of the worst kind.

And, yes, "ignoring" agitators is the best thing we could do. Engaging them, giving them legitimacy, is the worse we could do. Didn't your mother ever teach you that?

 

[rturner76]

Yes, the problem is as big as we make it. It does not even exist for the majority of Americans. We had it licked in the 60s, worked through decades of lingering baggage and emotional residue...and now, it has become a political pet peeve, a buzz word to fuel an emotional response. Which is NOT helping the problem, it's making it worse. And yes, Obama could have been a peacemaker. He's not. He could have buried the hatchet for a generation, maybe for all time. He didn't. Instead, he is an agitator of the worst kind.

And, yes, "ignoring" agitators is the best thing we could do. Engaging them, giving them legitimacy, is the worse we could do. Didn't your mother ever teach you that?

So, ignoring injustice brings about justice? How does that work? Someone should have told that to MLK. Maybe he would still be alive. So if a condo association has a meeting and decided to agree that no one will sell their condo to an "undesirable" person (racist code word for non-white), they should ignore the injustice? Perhaps when a school with mixed attendees get approved for less funding than a mostly white school people should remind themselves that the 60's are over and we no longer experience discrimination? When a black male is stopped and searched illegally, they shouldn't say anything about it because that will make it worse?

You see what I am getting at here? Like I said, it is easy to ignore discrimination when you are not a victim of it. Talking about it does make it worse.......for those who use their position of authority to discriminate.

 

[RDKirk]

If you want your child to do well in school, is it a good idea to constantly call him stupid? No.
Does that apply to adults too? Yes.
So, if you constantly call people racist, will that make them more or less racist?
I think it makes the problem worse. Liberals are really trying to push the idea that lots of Americans are still racist. Sometimes they call it institutional racism. That sort of talk will irritate or anger many people; nobody likes being accused of evil. It pushes some toward despair or apathy; if after all we've done trying to be fair and colorblind we're still racist, what more can we do? Better just give up.

And this may be what the liberal elite wants. If racism really goes away, they lose their position of prestige and influence as spokesman for the downtrodden races.

Yeah! Like adultery and other sins of the flesh. Just stop talking about them, and they'll go away!

 

[RDKirk]

I did not deny that racism exists; rather I'm interested in how to fix it, and I'm pretty sure accusing everybody of being racist is not the way. I think the way that would work is by fixing the continuing problems past racism has caused, such as the economic and social situation of blacks being lower on average. Policies that give more freedom to get a good education (like school vouchers), anything that encourages stable families (including reducing sentencing for non-violent crime), maybe a special FHA style loan to make it easier for blacks to own property, all seem like good ideas. The church can do more too. If this succeeds in making the stereotypes totally false, racism will soon be gone. That worked for Asians; they were victims of racism once too, but now are more respected than whites.

You haven't been in very many heart-to-heart conversations with Asians about racism.

 

[RDKirk]

Yes, the problem is as big as we make it. It does not even exist for the majority of Americans. We had it licked in the 60s, worked through decades of lingering baggage and emotional residue...and now, it has become a political pet peeve, a buzz word to fuel an emotional response. Which is NOT helping the problem, it's making it worse. And yes, Obama could have been a peacemaker. He's not. He could have buried the hatchet for a generation, maybe for all time. He didn't. Instead, he is an agitator of the worst kind.

And, yes, "ignoring" agitators is the best thing we could do. Engaging them, giving them legitimacy, is the worse we could do. Didn't your mother ever teach you that?

What happened with Obama's election (which was by the young) is that the Boomer Generation discovered that we had not in fact "licked" the racism we were taught as children. The peak of the Boomer Generation was in high school when their schools were integrated. Older Boomers were already in the work world without ever having been in an integrated school. I myself was in the 7th grade before I ever knew a white kid by name.

"As the twig is bent, so grows the tree." "Teach up a child in the way he should go, and when he is grown he will not depart from it."

The fact is, with Obama's election, Boomers discovered we were still bent. We had just suppressed it for a long time. It wasn't "licked" at all.

 

[RDKirk]

When whites become a minority, racism will be a thing of the past.

Or that's what many seem to think. They forget that while racial and ethnic identity have been verboten for whites, it has not only been tolerated among other races/ethnicities, its even been encouraged. And that isn't going to magically go away.
Just wait until MLK Blvd. is changed to Haime Hernandez Way.

It will be interesting times.

I think it will take only the passing of the Boomer Generation, the last generation born and raised in apartheid.

 

[RDKirk]

The same people who are looked down upon are also looked up at (as heroes). It has been that way for decades. Ask ANYONE to list their top one hundred heroes...and they will be of many races: Sports stars, actors, artists of all kinds, teachers, politicians, etc.

We don't have a racial problem. We need to call it what it is. It's HYPOCRISY.

That's a goofy concept to think that being a fan of a sports star of another race means one is not a racist. An amazing thing found in the ruins of Pompeii is that in the homes of patricians, there are mosaic "posters" depicting various famous gladiators...not much different from the fan posters you might see of football stars in a kid's room today. Gladiators were slaves, and there is no reason to think that a Patrician being a fan of a slave gladiator meant he was opposed to slavery.

The black comedian Chris Rock once challenged the white males in his audience: "How many of you would want to be me?" None of the white males in Chris Rock's audience raised his hand. "That goes to show you," Rock said, "and I'm rich."

There is a difference from being a fan and actually acknowledging a hero. A person wants to be his hero.

 

[nightflight]

That's a goofy concept to think that being a fan of a sports star of another race means one is not a racist. An amazing thing found in the ruins of Pompeii is that in the homes of patricians, there are mosaic "posters" depicting various famous gladiators...not much different from the fan posters you might see of football stars in a kid's room today. Gladiators were slaves, and there is no reason to think that a Patrician being a fan of a slave gladiator meant he was opposed to slavery.

I assure, today's pampered "athletes" are not "slaves".

The black comedian Chris Rock once challenged the white males in his audience: "How many of you would want to be me?" None of the white males in Chris Rock's audience raised his hand. "That goes to show you," Rock said, "and I'm rich."

Yeah, as if any white man in the audience would risk being called out by a comedian in a public setting. Good grief.

 

[ScottA]

So, ignoring injustice brings about justice? How does that work? Someone should have told that to MLK. Maybe he would still be alive. So if a condo association has a meeting and decided to agree that no one will sell their condo to an "undesirable" person (racist code word for non-white), they should ignore the injustice? Perhaps when a school with mixed attendees get approved for less funding than a mostly white school people should remind themselves that the 60's are over and we no longer experience discrimination? When a black male is stopped and searched illegally, they shouldn't say anything about it because that will make it worse?

You see what I am getting at here? Like I said, it is easy to ignore discrimination when you are not a victim of it. Talking about it does make it worse.......for those who use their position of authority to discriminate.

You are missing the point. We have gone BACKWARD with racial issues, and it has nothing to do with ignoring it, it is because it is being AGITATED by USERS, people who pore fuel on the problem for their own political causes. It's criminal...and people are buying into it, because most people really DO care and DO NOT want it to flare back up. But instead of villainizing the agitators, many (like yourself, it would seem) are cheering them on.

So, again...if we DO ignore the agitators...that WOULD be GOOD. And if you really want to help or stop racism...then YES, do not allow discrimination, BUT ALSO stop the agitators (they may as well be yelling, "FIRE!" in a theater).

The difference between now and the 60's is that agitators were considered a part of the problem. But now, while most of us are long since over the whole thing, for some reason agitators are getting a free pass.

Martin Luther King WAS NOT an agitator, BTW. He was a peaceful supporter/promoter of equal rights. He was NOT poring fuel on racial issues, as some are doing today. He was helping. They, are not.