Do You "Know" A Person Of Another Race?

[Sammy-San]

You clearly took it personally because your response was a personal anecdote instead of a contradictory study.



Yes. There is a national raffle held every five years for black friendships. Tickets are available at participating KFCs and McDonalds. Many will enter, few will win.

The truth is, black people are not "evenly distributed" across the US. As late as at least the early 70s, there were towns in Oklahoma that actively discouraged blacks from moving there. Those had been called "sundown towns"--blacks could work there during the day, but were not permitted to be within the city limits after night fall.

It was rather strange when our high school had basketball games in those towns. The rules were strict: Take only the school bus--no private autos. Get out of the bus and go directly into the gym. After the game, go directly from the gym to the bus, get on the bus, get out of town.

I'm sure the rules are looser now, but the fact is that there were still no reasons for blacks to move to those towns. There was never significant industry--they mostly serviced the surrounding farms and ranches with small family businesses.

The same is true in much of Illinois. There are lots of small farm towns that blacks simply never moved in to. My daughter went for a year to Eureka college--President Reagan's alma mater. There were a small number of black students attending Eureka--but none live permanently in the local town.

Interestingly one white student there was a boy from rural Oklahoma--the first in his family to attend college. When my daughter told him that her father was from Oklahoma, he somehow decided that made her something like kin. After all, he told her, they had a one "mulatto" in his home town.



I was in that cohort of black youngsters in the 60s that first experienced integration. Because I was a bookworm, a nerd, a geek even before those latter two terms were invented, I wound up often being "the first" and "the only" black kid in most venues.

Advanced courses in the 60s, computer science in the early 70s, later military intelligence. I was in military intelligence for 26 years, and in all that time I did not work with more than 10 total other black people in the field.

I suck mightily at sports (I ran track one year in high school--long distance, because those events ended after everyone had left the stadium so nobody saw me come in last). I've never successfully put a basketball through a hoop.

Now, that meant all my life have not had a lot of black friends in my natural environments. To have a black friend, I had to go outside my natural circle of interests and activities. That means that the white people around me also didn't have much opportunity to have black friends, and frankly, I just don't share every white person's common interests, so that wasn't their fault.

So my own life is such a study. I've been in and through towns where there were few or no blacks to be found. In Illinois, I constantly met white people from the small towns who had literally never known a black person by name until going to college or going to work in a larger city like Peoria or Bloomington or Champaign.

I've lived in suburbs where we were the only blacks....so if I wasn't their friend, they had no chance to have a black friend. That's my only point: A lot of white people in the US have not been around blacks to have befriended any, and it's not their fault.

Why is the term mulatto considered offensive if it only means a person who's mixed race, and most people dont even use it in a derogatory way?

 

[Joykins]

I wish I lived in a more ethnically diverse area for purely selfish reasons, food.

When people go to other countries they thankfully don't forget their recipes from home and sometimes they setup restaurants. MMmmmm

Yes, we have great dining around here, and most of the ethnic places are very reasonably priced. Although most of the "Mexican" restaurants are really Salvadoran. I used to go to a burrito place where the owners were Indian and sold curry on the side. But the funniest of it all was when we went to the food court at our local mall the first time after we moved here, and it didn't matter what the actual restaurant chain was that was represented, all of them (except the McDonald's) sold Chinese food too.

 

[JustMeSee]

Why is the term mulatto considered offensive if it only means a person who's mixed race, and most people dont even use it in a derogatory way?

It is a word that goes back to slavery recognition. It is just a descriptive word with a negative past.

Personally, I don't feel hurt by it. Other people may have a different feeling about it than I.

Quadroon, and the like, is a further sign of bigotry and small mindedness. It says more of the person that needs to put a quarter black in a box, than the actual person that is 1/4 black.

We have many people alive today that are mutts of european, african, and/or Asian ancestors. Do we need to have words to identify them?

 

[RDKirk]

It is a word that goes back to slavery recognition. It is just a descriptive word with a negative past.

Personally, I don't feel hurt by it. Other people may have a different feeling about it than I.

Quadroon, and the like, is a further sign of bigotry and small mindedness. It says more of the person that needs to put a quarter black in a box, than the actual person that is 1/4 black.

We have many people alive today that are mutts of european, african, and/or Asian ancestors. Do we need to have words to identify them?

In antebellum Louisiana--which differs from the rest of the country in their legal system even today--persons of mixed black/white ancestry had varying degrees of civil rights and freedoms depending on their degree of whiteness. A mulatto (50/50) had about half the rights of a white person; a quadroon had 75% of the rights of a white person.

These distinctions in other slave states had a direct monetary value of a slave and the uses to which that slave might be placed.

All of those classifications merely made the institution more degrading.

Early in the 20th century--around the time that Margaret Sanger and others were discussing birth control and eugenics--it was feared that "black blood" would enter the white population through interracial marriage, so most states passed or strengthened anti-miscegenation laws specifically against any race marrying blacks. This instituted the "one drop" rule--any discernible blackness was simply "black"--which pushed the taxonomy of blackness out of use.

 

[TerranceL]

[quote=Joykins;66717848]Yes, we have great dining around here, and most of the ethnic places are very reasonably priced. Although most of the "Mexican" restaurants are really Salvadoran. I used to go to a burrito place where the owners were Indian and sold curry on the side. But the funniest of it all was when we went to the food court at our local mall the first time after we moved here, and it didn't matter what the actual restaurant chain was that was represented, all of them (except the McDonald's) sold Chinese food too. [/quote]

That's awesome. Haha. Burritos and curry... time to buy antacid stock.

Used to have a job that had pretty poor pay up on the east side of town, a restaurant within a block of where I worked was a Cajun restaurant run by some folks who moved here after Katrina.

Food so good it almost made up for the poor pay.

 

[JustMeSee]

I have a great deal of trouble answering your question. I have close relationships with my parents, brothers, and nephew. That is less of a choice.

I have no strong friendships. I have my community and online/telephone friendship. My community is largely American, Mexican, and Brazilian. Very little American black. I live in a town not so close to the city. Most of the people in my neighborhood are of varies European ancestors.

In high school and prior, I had friendships with American whites, blacks, Puerto Rican, Asian, and mutts. I did not seek out these friendship for ethnic reasons. For whatever reason, I always had Jewish friends from first grade on to high school. One of my closest friends was Jewish,; he reminds me so much of Michael Rappaport. Looks and mannerisms.

On Facebook, I have real, and in name only, friends from around the world. Far from being close, as in physical contact.

Currently, outside of family, I probably have most of my physical contact with white Americans. I don't know if it is just a matter of time and place.

I spend time with my nephews, nieces, and my children. I don't know if that even counts.

I work with whites, blacks, and indians. This is not a choice. I work with whomever is employed.

My programming groups are primarily white males. It is not my choice, just the way out is.

I don't really care the color of an individual's skin or heritage. Either, I like you or don't care about you. having a pleasant relationship is all that matters to me.

 

[JustMeSee]

I 'know' a Puerto Rican and an Indian.

I 'know' Christian, Jewish, atheist, and Buddhist people. I do not 'know' any Muslim people.

 

[Inkachu]

I think it's pretty awesome that 39 people have responded that they know people of other races and ethnicities, and only 1 person said they don't due to personal preference.

 

[Sammy-San]

It is a word that goes back to slavery recognition. It is just a descriptive word with a negative past.

Personally, I don't feel hurt by it. Other people may have a different feeling about it than I.

Quadroon, and the like, is a further sign of bigotry and small mindedness. It says more of the person that needs to put a quarter black in a box, than the actual person that is 1/4 black.

We have many people alive today that are mutts of european, african, and/or Asian ancestors. Do we need to have words to identify them?

There are already words to identify part white part asians-Eurasians. Whats so offensive about using words to describe people who are mixed race? As long as theres nothing hateful or demeaning about it-I dont see what the big deal is.

 

[Cearbhall]

Link to said survey?

Also, do you think a survey should bear more weight than first-hand testimonies from actual people? If you've got a survey saying "most whites don't have non-white friends", but you go out and ask 100 white people about it, and 75% of them say they do... which is the truth?

They can both be true. Presumably, you're surveying a different population. It's likely that the former survey used better methods of sampling, though.

 

[keith99]

They can both be true. Presumably, you're surveying a different population. It's likely that the former survey used better methods of sampling, though.

Actually the first survey used a bit of sleight of hand. The words used in ht etital do not match the question asked. They asked for people you regularly discussed issues of importance with. Then they called these friends.

I don't regularly have deep discussions with my friends. Actually I don't regularly have such discussions at all.

 

[Cearbhall]

Actually the first survey used a bit of sleight of hand. The words used in ht etital do not match the question asked. They asked for people you regularly discussed issues of importance with. Then they called these friends.

Oh, I was just speaking in general, comparing formal and informal research. I didn't read about the survey.

 

[TerranceL]

I think it's pretty awesome that 39 people have responded that they know people of other races and ethnicities, and only 1 person said they don't due to personal preference.

To be fair you might as well mentally deduct one from each option but the fourth.

If I see a poll where I can vote more than once I vote for every single option, so.. yeah.

 

[Cute Tink]

To be fair you might as well mentally deduct one from each option but the fourth.

If I see a poll where I can vote more than once I vote for every single option, so.. yeah.

So you're saying only one person actually wants a disco ice cream party.

That's sad...

 

[jacknife]

So you're saying only one person actually wants a disco ice cream party.

That's sad...

i thought about voting that but had questions on how the party would work. would dancing be required? and when would eating ice cream eating end and the disco part begin?

 

[Cute Tink]

i thought about voting that but had questions on how the party would work. would dancing be required? and when would eating ice cream eating end and the disco part begin?

You mean dancing while eating ice cream is not an option to you?

And by the way, your avatar is awesome!

 

[jacknife]

You mean dancing while eating ice cream is not an option to you?

i cant dance to begin with, adding ice cream tot he mix is a hazard.
E: also thanks, took me awhile to find an avatar i like.

 

[keith99]

Oh, I was just speaking in general, comparing formal and informal research. I didn't read about the survey.

I agree regarding formal surveys, but one needs to read the survey specs. With formal surveys it often turns out the survey was very accurate, but the news article that picks it up significantly misrepresents the survey.

 

[Cute Tink]

i cant dance to begin with, adding ice cream tot he mix is a hazard.

I can't dance either, but if I'm enjoying ice cream anyway, then who cares how I'm moving?

E: also thanks, took me awhile to find an avatar i like.

 

[Hetta]

One person doesn't want to know people of other races. How sad. I feel sorry for him/her.