Posted on 01/29/2009 6:10:47 AM PST by Dukes Travels
It was not even 50 years ago that black people were prevented from sitting in certain places, living in certain neighborhoods, having certain jobs and attending certain schools – just because a significant number of white people thought they were undesirable. And our nation’s laws permitted this.
It was not even 150 years ago that white people could own black people as property – just because an entire region of the country regarded them as subhuman. And our nation’s laws permitted this.
Talk of racism can become so trivial at times, we can lose sight of just how evil and inexplicably wrong it was. And I do mean was.
(Excerpt) Read more at northstarwriters.com ...
Why? Because then Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be out of a job.
Because the Jackson’s, Sharpton’s, Shuttleworths of the world know its a INDUSTRY, and their source of income.
There isn’t a place in this nation where a person of ‘color’ can’t buy a home, join a country club, rent an apartment, buy a car, get their kids into schools.
That ‘era’ ended decades ago.
And there’s the ‘rub’. Even though that era is long gone, the population screeching ‘racism’ still has a 75% illigitimacy rate, a horrific drop out (high school) rate, and is in fact responsible for 70% of gun related violence nationially.
Rather than accept personal responsiblity, its ‘racist’ to even note these FACTS.
Until we do, the problems will continue to grow worse as time passes.
In the meantime, the race baiters will do whatever it takes to protect their ‘industry’.
They’ll never let it go.
I hate to tell you this, bub...but it is NOT dead. It never will be. As long as mankind has a capacity to hate, racism will be around. Although you might not see overt racism, just listen to people talk. Heck...just look at some posts here on FR.
I say that not as a criticism, but as a statement of fact.
I will also say that, sadly, it is often justifiable.
No, the real answer is that the pain of racism (Jim Crow) is still within living memory. Until it passes out of living memory (the generation that grew up under JC and the generation of “firsts” that followed are gone from this world), racism will be very very real to people. The Jacksons and Sharptons will finally become irrelevant and move on to another scam.
Because it isn’t dead! It is alive and well and foisted upon the white male.
There may be perfect people somewhere on earth that harbor neither predjudice nor discrimination in their psyches but at least I’m honest enough to admit to myself that I dislike them.
Wrong. It is/was because an entire political party of the country regarded them as subhuman.
We will never be rid of racist PEOPLE. But all races are equal under the law in America, which was not true 50 years ago. So the argument that we are a racist nation is bogus.
What you said. With male-bashing sexism layered on top.
ML/NJ
It’s mostly dead on the right. The left is a whole other matter.
And ‘the pain of it’ will last longer if it is fed with racist rhetoric and allowed to grow like a surly dog behind an insignificant fence. As will resentment grow if cherished in any situation.
And at that point, it becomes the resentment-bearers’ problem.
I refuse to take the blame for it and I refuse to feel any guilt for it. “Pick up your mat” as the Good Lord said.
Overt racism is dead as an institution.
Soft racism lives on in the Democratic party.
At the individual level, the stupid will always hate other people because they are different.
This is why.
Booker T. Washington, who rose from slavery to become the nation's first widely recognized black leader, once warned against what he called "problem profiteers" among our nation's black community.
"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public," observed Washington. "Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs."
Barack Hussein Obama's election to President has also ended the era of white guilt. However, just like the healing scar of slavery, there will those who profit from picking at the scab.
Oh...I never meant to say that we were a racist NATION. If that’s what you saw, then I humbly apologize.
Yes...we will never be rid of racist PEOPLE. Of that, I am certain.
Fact is racism is human nature and will always be around. As a people all we can do is pass laws against institution racism. You can’t change some one hateful heart with a law.
I am not sure how we will know if racism can ever be declared "dead" as in nonexistent. And I mean nonexistent in terms of seeing another person and not noticing whether they are black or white. I am not sure that is physically possible. From that point, though, the question is whether a candidate for non-racism can then act 100% as if they do not notice a skin color difference.
I notice (only using myself, 'cause that's the only test subject I have) that on some, say 20-25% of occasions, I actually DO NOT notice another person's skin color. And it's sometimes odd....some time will pass and the thought comes up, "gee, I went thru that encounter and didn't really notice or care whether I was talking to a black man/woman". I guess that would mean that in the other instances, I do so notice.
Place: Albuquerque airport, the other day. Some black folks arrived by plane and some of their relatives met them. My Gawd, they made so much frickin noise when they saw each other I thought it was a security alert, and I make zero exaggeration. I mean, there was screaming and yelling and wailing and it was just out of sight but very close and loud. Am I instructed to take no notice of that kind of behavior?
See, I think I am a behaviorist.
I freely admit, I discriminate rigorously against people who exhibit behavior that I find dangerous. (I don't consider the above incident dangerous, I don't really consider it anything other than momentarily noisy) BUT THE TWO SECURITY GUARDS who moved into position evidently thought something sort of similar. I'm very equal opportunity as far as I know. If I'm walking on a sidewalk and there are four or five teenagers dressed "gangily" and acting like a herd of wild dogs, I'll cross the street regardless of their race. OR MY RACE... because I have the absolute right to perceive a threat and seek to avoid it. A person has the absolute right to their own fears, if that's a preferred way of stating it.
If I see a bunch of white teenagers or black teenagers in gangish attire, I don't discriminate. I automatically, reflexively, think they are s**theads who can not benefit me under any conditions.
What's needed is a realistic assessment of the racial history of the United States and the world. Slavery existed for most of world history. Probably 99% of the people who have ever lived have lived under Jim Crow rules of some sort. Blacks were slaves here because their lands in Africa practiced slavery with impunity, and would still be practicing it today had Western intervention not stopped it. Whites have not only not behaved in a more racist manner than other races historically, but probably considerably less.
So guys like Calabrese should stop the whining and apologizing. Yes, slavery as an institution is dead and thankfully so. Yes, the old Jim Crow laws are outmoded relics. But dwelling on them is like Navajos sitting around all day worrying about whether they mistreated the Apaches circa 1672, as if the Apaches would have treated them any differently, and as if the victors in any given situation are inherently evil.
Smart man. I wonder if Booker T. Washington was derided for being “too white” back in his day?
Obviously you don’t live around ‘em or have to see first hand the culture that places high values drug-dealing, irresponsible fathers, dangerous aggressiveness toward anyone appearing weaker, and unwillingness to earn their own way.
America should celebrate the fabulous news that racism has been completely vanquished in our society. It may be the best thing that has happened in America in the past 100 years. Why are we so afraid to say that this is so?
Because Booker T. Washington's legacy has been overwritten by the NAACP of W.E.B du Bois.Washington's attitude was that “Bitterness and resentment is drinking poison while expecting someone else to die.” We all know the attitude of the NAACP: "You owe us." And that attitude has outlived the death of de jure and de facto discrimination. A black can be president, but you can't expect a black to discipline his children to do their homework because of the legacy of slavery. The legacy of W.E.B. du Bois, more like . . .
In almost every prison in the US the races self segregate (even to the point of Northern Mexicans vs. Southern Mexicans). Also, as has been often pointed out, most people attend churches that are largely segregated (note the qualifiers in the last sentence!)
There is something about human nature that tends to make “birds of a feather flock together”.
It’s very much like other liberal totems - they have a notion of how they think people *should* behave which is at odds with how people *actually* behave.
What's needed is a realistic assessment of the racial history of the United States and the world. Slavery existed for most of world history. Probably 99% of the people who have ever lived have lived under Jim Crow rules of some sort. Blacks were slaves here because their lands in Africa practiced slavery with impunity, and would still be practicing it today had Western intervention not stopped it. Whites have not only not behaved in a more racist manner than other races historically, but probably considerably less.
William Wilberforce
Follow the money.
It was not even 150 years ago that white people could own black people as property – just because an entire region of the country regarded them as subhuman. And our nation’s laws permitted this.
I’m sorry but slavery was not regional it was legal all over the United States.
It was not even 150 years ago that BLACK PEOPLE could own black people as property. Thousands of blacks owned slaves.
I’m sorry but slavery was not regional it was legal all over the United States.
I refer to region rather than individual states.
Anybody who is bothered by it should see his therapist of choice, because he will get no sympathy from me at this stage.
150 years ago, I agree. That’s not the problem. People who keep bringing that up (ie, reparations) are just looking for an excuse to loot the US.
The problem is 20 years ago and back. Jim Crow was real even then. My first “real” brush (and I’m not counting the times I was called the N-word), was housing discrimination. In 1984 as a young kid straight outta college armed with an EE degree, good credit, and NO record, I still couldn’t live where I wanted. I could care less today. That battle is over. But for the even older generation, their scars are far far deeper.
It is perfectly o.k. to be a racist, so long as you only hate whites.
No, the real answer is that the pain of racism (Jim Crow) is still within living memory. Until it passes out of living memory (the generation that grew up under JC and the generation of “firsts” that followed are gone from this world), racism will be very very real to people.My father is still within my living memory. That does not mean that he is not dead and buried.
I have a memory of being mugged. That does not mean that I am NOW in the process of being mugged here in my house today.
Right now, in 2009, racism by whites against blacks is not a widespread, or even a particularly significant issue, as far as I can tell. Your milage may vary. That was the point that I was making.
Because yellow aint mellow, because the red man can’t get ahead man, black is constantly looking back, and because white can’t ever do enough that’s right (paraphrased from the inauguration of the first illegal alien communist president of the formerly United States, who was white and black and red all over).
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