What have you learned...?

[OldWiseGuy]

Hi OWG,

Perhaps. Maybe you could work on understanding the problem better and find some definition that not only suits you but agrees with the reality of truth. If you'd like further discussion on the matter, I'd certainly be willing to look at what you feel might need further defining,...to your satisfaction. While I certainly agree that it can be hard to solve a problem when we can't agree on what it is, some problems can even be hard to solve when we do.

However, I think it pretty obviously true that in a nation of some 330 million people 'everyone's satisfaction' can be pretty impossible to achieve.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

That's one of my questions. How many of the 330 million need to come to the table?

 

[PloverWing]

Since we were talking about the question of specific actions earlier in the thread, I'll post a link to a report that I just ran across this morning: http://www.antipovertynetwork.org/resources/Documents/The Uncomfortable Truth Final - web.pdf It's titled "The Uncomfortable Truth: Racism, Injustice, and Poverty in New Jersey: A Call to Action". There's a long list of authors (including some representing church groups), and a very long list of footnotes documenting the points in the report. The report chronicles much of the history that led to current systems of racial injustice and, importantly, provides several lists of specific public policy actions that could make a difference. The report is about my home state of New Jersey, but I think it's useful to a broader audience, since many of our problems occur in other states as well.

 

[miamited]

That's one of my questions. How many of the 330 million need to come to the table?

Hi OWG,

I don't know. Is that a question that you're going to need an answer to before working to make any change in our nation's attitude concerning the treatment of various races? I certainly can't even begin to give you any reasonable answer to your question. However, maybe someone involved in this thread can.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Since we were talking about the question of specific actions earlier in the thread, I'll post a link to a report that I just ran across this morning: http://www.antipovertynetwork.org/resources/Documents/The Uncomfortable Truth Final - web.pdf It's titled "The Uncomfortable Truth: Racism, Injustice, and Poverty in New Jersey: A Call to Action". There's a long list of authors (including some representing church groups), and a very long list of footnotes documenting the points in the report. The report chronicles much of the history that led to current systems of racial injustice and, importantly, provides several lists of specific public policy actions that could make a difference. The report is about my home state of New Jersey, but I think it's useful to a broader audience, since many of our problems occur in other states as well.

Same old stuff. Nothing to see here.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Hi OWG,

I don't know. Is that a question that you're going to need an answer to before working to make any change in our nation's attitude concerning the treatment of various races? I certainly can't even begin to give you any reasonable answer to your question. However, maybe someone involved in this thread can.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

It was a rhetorical question. We need more information about the subject in order to make informed decisions. Case histories of racism would give a picture of how racism manifests itself.

 

[miamited]

It was a rhetorical question. We need more information about the subject in order to make informed decisions. Case histories of racism would give a picture of how racism manifests itself.

Hi OWG,

Ok, so what kind of timeframe are you considering? Give it another 10 years for a study group to look over the issue and come up with some ideas that you still won't have everyone agreeing to? I'm not sure I understand a question asking how many of 330 million need to come to the table as being rhetorical and I'm not sure why we'd even be having a serious discussion asking rhetorical questions. Do you want answers or not? Or, do you just want to shelve this issue once again until another firestorm flares up when the next black man lays dead in the streets at the hands of the police...with handcuffs on him and his hands behind his back? Or, since it isn't your child or father or friend and it didn't happen to someone that you know, is it just all ok with you? Of course, the issue of our national attitude towards race goes a lot deeper than just a few dead black men laying in the streets every few months at the hands of perpetrators who took a life that didn't need to be taken.

The father and son killer pair that murdered the man jogging in Georgia. That man was not a police officer and was not identified in any way as a police officer and he gets out of his vehicle and approaches someone with a firearm pointed at them. I'd be scared. How about you? If I were black, I'd be even more scared that some white man was pointing a gun at me. That father and son murderous team had no business accosting the jogger with a firearm. He should have done what any other citizen would do when not catching someone in the act of committing a crime, but held suspicions...call the police. That black man is dead because a white man believed he had some kind of authority over a jogger running through a neighborhood that he 'thought looked like' some burglar he'd apparently seen video footage of before. Come on man! Is that all it takes in America to murder a black man, just say that he looked like someone else?

We used to not even need that much of an excuse. You just got together as a crowd a good ole white folk and strung em up and let em hang. So, there has been progress.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

 

[com7fy8]

the importance of having black and brown people in leadership positions

The talent pool is plenty big enough, as long as we're not driving people away through inhospitable attitudes or closed social networks.

And if we bring in someone black or brown, it should be because we have done our research and know how important for us it can be to have the person. And then, of course . . . make sure we use the person who can be such a good resource.

And therefore, do not bring in anyone, only as a political gesture to prove we do not discriminate.

 

[kdm1984]

What have I learned? I was aware that some minorities had grievances with the police (I listened to 2Pac back in the day), but I was oblivious to the scope. I only knew of the more publicized cases, like Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Rodney King, and so forth. I've always wanted to believe police brutality cases were isolated incidents. But I read more and more now that minorities say this really is something they have feared constantly, all their lives. I'm definitely less naive about race relations, and especially the tensions with the police, than I was before. And I think I'm more sympathetic now because I'm less dismissive and naive.

I admittedly live in a very white area, and I don't socialize much or well due to autism, so as far as promoting better race relations, not sure what I can do, pragmatically speaking. I keep reading now that the big thing is to be "antiracist." It keeps being said that it's not enough to just be against racism, but that we need to be more active than passive. But when I read this abstract rhetoric, I don't always see concrete plans of action as to how to do this. I'm reading more. Maybe I will get some notions that can be put into more practical action.

 

[jayem]

Hate to say it, but Homo sapiens evolved from hominins who lived in smallish extended family tribes or clans. We’re an inherently tribalistic species. Being suspicious, fearful, and even hostile towards those from different tribes are instinctual. It’s part of the evolutionary baggage our species carries around. We can learn to suppress it, but that must be started very young. A study has shown that white 5-8 year olds show bias towards other white children.

Children show implicit racial bias from a young age, research finds: New research sheds light on how racial prejudice develops

Even if we can’t expunge racist instincts, we can minimize racist behavior. But it’s a long-term process. The only way to do it is by learning. Parents must teach that racist attitudes and actions won’t be tolerated. Their own behavior must set an example of this for their children from the time they’re born. And the educational system, and the wider culture, must consistently reinforce it from pre-school onward.

One possible solution to racism is eliminating racial/ethnic differences. Interracial marriages are increasing. If more and more people of white, black, Asian, Hispanic, and other ancestries intermarry, and have children, maybe in 1000 years or so, there won’t be distinct races. Nearly everyone will be of mixed race. But then we’ll just find some other reason to hate each other.