Why are white people in America racist? How did they get that way? What makes them look down on blacks? I am not an expert, but I have thought about it quite a bit. Here is how I make sense of it:
It does not come from television – though that does not help – it comes from the past.
It comes from the days when whites had blacks as slaves. For whites to feel good about keeping them as slaves they had to believe certain things about black people.
If they believed that blacks were their equals then making them into slaves would be a crime. But if whites were better than blacks then making blacks into slaves was a good thing. White people made that argument back then.
So it became a convenient lie, a lie that much of American society was built on.
Skin colour was not used as an excuse till the 1660s. Before that it was religion. So having slaves came first, the lie came second.
The trouble was only half of America was built on that lie. So in the North you had people like Lincoln and others who wanted to free the slaves. They saw it for the crime that it was.
But the slaves were freed long ago and, besides, most white people come from families that never owned slaves – either they are not from the South or their families were too poor back then to own slaves. So why did the lie live on?
It lived on among whites, and lived on most powerfully among poor whites, because it kept them from being at the bottom of society. If blacks were not at the bottom, they would be. So the lie helped them. It helped them to find work and feed their families.
It lived on among well-to-do whites too, though not as strongly. They needed the lie not so much to feed their families but to feel good about living in a country where blacks were at the bottom.
By and large people do not sit down and come up with their beliefs about society for themselves and then go out to right its wrongs. Instead they barely think about it at all – they just believe whatever their parents and teachers and television tell them. But their parents, teachers and television have already made their peace with society as it is – and its lies, which they pass on to the young.
Some whites have experiences growing up that make them question such beliefs about race, but most do not. Their world is too white to begin with for that.
Racism does not seem to be as strong among young whites as old ones. That is because the civil rights movement made white America question its beliefs and change to some degree. The growth of the black middle class and unskilled labour pouring in from Mexico and elsewhere also makes the lie less necessary than it was. But it is far from dead.
See also:
I agree mostly, except I question whether the civil rights movement made them question their beliefs. For the most part, I believe many lear n to censor it. All my non-white friends and former classmates will readily admit to all the screwed up things their parents or grandparents would say about people of other races. Those conversations, all lighthearted since those views came from ignorance and not hatred, made us all confront and deal with our own prejudices because even if you disagree with those views, on some level, it sticks.
For some white people, it’s clear that the complete refusal to do any sort of soul searching makes it impossible to change their views for the better. Yes, I am still prejudiced but I’m aware of my prejudices and I know that I have no right to make anyone else feel bad because of my own issues. This is why covert racism runs rampant. I would rather deal with blatant racism than the covert form.
A German guy I went to school said in very clear terms that Jewish people should just get over the Holocaust and quit with all the “guilt” trips. After all, why should he have to deal with crap that some people from his grandparents’ generation did? Basically, get over it already and quit your bitching. I definitely think this is how white Americans perceive slavery, how Japanese people view the atrocities in Nanking, etc. It’s so much bigger in this country because it went on for so long in the south as well as the north (though they turned it way down compared to the south) and because this country was built on that. The forefathers who committed and enabled these atrocities are celebrated. The kids learn about them in history class year after year after year yet the sugar coated version of all the horrible things they did in the process are apparently too icky to deal with until your adolescence. We have a holiday to celebrate Christopher Columbus, a man who rewarded his crew by giving them Native American tweens and teens to rape. We see the faces of slave owners every time we open our wallets. I don’t think anyone can celebrate these men and give a whitewashed version of American history without dehumanizing African-American people. I say this as an African woman.
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Fast forward to 2 min 18 secs
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oh, and 1 min. If you have time, watch the whole thing. Your post reminded me of it.
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I find it funny that you “enlightend” people can sit here and ponder what makes European-Americans racist by making racist comments of your own. Do you want to know what is causing European-Americans to become racist now..even if not being racist in the past? Here you go…First, Whites are finished with the term “White Guilt”. It is time you come to grips with what makes the black community as bad as it is. Second, Whites are tired of listening to you and white liberals harp about a color blind society and about Dr. Kings ideals when all that comes out of black mouths anymore is how blacks have to protect them selves and how bad whites are. Third, it is a real problem that whites have to “read between the lines” everytime a murder is commited by a black person against a white person. Reversed it is front page reading and the white on black thing is hyped up. When it a black on white crime which it is 99% of the time it is covered up and the black killer is “protected” by other black,(look at the city hall shooting in Mo.)There is Many more examples of hushed up black on white crime, but thankd to blogs it is becoming more of a known thing. Every time a black man kills whites he is considered a hero..the whites deserved it. Well..let me tell you a lot of whites are tired of it and are becoming more vocal about it, which angers people like you because they no longer have the shame of being white that you all so love to heap on us.
I know the family of one of the murder victims in Kirkwood..they are destroyed and yet the media tells the world their family member deserved to die because a black man did not get what he thought he deserved from “whitey”. Every time these crimes go unreported more whites search for the truth and when they find it they become more hostile to blacks..that is the new reality in American..white racism will grow and grow because people like you and the media cause it by throwing stones at a glass house.
One more thing..another huge addition to the end of “white guilt” is all this one sided, Diversity training..everytime a large group of whites go in to get Diversified..more and more come out sick and tired of hearing how bad they are..your own Diversity plans are causing more racist feelings then you could possibly understand. If race could be talked about without a guilt factor then maybe just maybe we could start to heal…but that is not what you want is it? Then you cannot blame all your problems on us and actually take a soul searching trip and solve your own problems..I think you all might just be frightened by what you find..the problems black american has is self imposed. Your right in one respect it is going to get worse..because people like you would rather sit here and bad mouth “whitey” then actaully sit down with “whitey and try to work things out..the end of the U.S. is on its way..and many many people of all races are going to die..it is a shame we could not end it now.
We are all to blame!
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One more thing..I would like to read a blog from you explaining why black people are racist? Should be enlightening..a little soul searching would be good for you..take a look in a mirror and you will see what a racist looks like, my dear.
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To Wade:
White racism runs much deeper than you seem to know. So deep, in fact, you do not even seem to see your own racism: “When it a black on white crime which it is 99% of the time…”. That is simply not true and only becomes believable if you buy into some of the worst ideas white people have about blacks.
New York, for example, has plenty of black crime, but the people there live such separate lives that whites are killed mainly by other whites, not by blacks. From my own experience in that city, the police do not seem to mind much if blacks kill each other but they are careful to protect white lives and property. So what you are saying is a racist fantasy of the worst sort.
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To Gorgeous:
The civil rights movement has had an effect: the Jim Crow sort of racism is unthinkable now. That is progress. But, of course, the north-east where we both live was largely untouched by that period of history (apart from the whole busing thing).
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To Gorgeous:
Thanks for the video. I love Gabrielle Union.
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When I said 99% of the time I meant that 99% of the time black on white crime is not reported by the media. My beef is not with black people..my beef is with white liberals who embrace and cultivate anger.
I am proud of my European roots and I teach them to my childred every time I can..they are proud of their ancestors and I will not allow white liberals or self serving blacks to change history and igonore the fantastic things they did with what they had to do it with. If I am wrong for that then I am wrong I will not apologize for the past..every ethnic group has a very ugly past behind it..
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You seem to be changing the past and the present because black on white crimes.
You can be proud of your roots without whitewashing it or ignoring facts. I will give you this: you’re certainly not the first nor will you be the last person to try to gloss over the ugly facts.
I am very proud of my ethnic group, my homeland and my continent. I don’t view it through rose-colored glasses and it is my responsibility to see the issues and work to fix them. I spent nearly 8 years of my childhood in my home country but I was born in the US and have spent the other years here. To ignore history, it’s impact on the present and try to will it to go away surely hasn’t worked and it is very un-American. All those rights weren’t granted just so we could just know about them or to have moral high ground. It’s a result of the persecution of Puritans and the stranglehold that the UK had on the forefathers. The government doesn’t necessarily have to lead in social change. The government can set the standards for social desirability but they can’t change what’s in your heart. That’s a decision you make when you acknowledge that problems do exist.
My African social circle regularly bashed African-Americans (and European-Americans and Asian-Americans and Muslims and pretty much everyone outside our social circle). It wasn’t until I became an adult that I felt comfortable calling them on it. Long before that, I decided that this clashed with my personal beliefs and I did a lot of unlearning. There are conflicts between 1st and 2nd generation Africans & West Indians in America and African-Americans. We talk acknowledge it, debate it and work at fixing it.
That all groups have major flaws doesn’t make this moot. Not all ethnic groups have partaken in enormous atrocities. You’ve obviously chosen your path so this isn’t so much directed at you as it is towards others.
Abagond, glad you liked it.
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Most Europeans and white Americans are racist because they do not like themselves. They look down on nonwhites because that’s a way to make themselves feel better (sort of) about their insecurities.
Whites are also the biggest hypocrites.
They’ll tan their skin and inject collagen into their lips but call a black person ugly and ignorant.
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I never thought of it that way. Thanks.
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Well this is a nice subject but, what everybody is forgets is how thisnationwas founded,….You see if you were raised up by hustlers, killers, and thieves 9 times out of 10 you’ll become just that. So america’sdownfall began when it lied to the indians and killed off the ” so-called native american” they came over and “TOOK” a country that wasn’t there’s and enslaved the blackman and dehumanized him,….We were actuality bought and sold on the front steps of the white house and the building is still theredoing unlawful thing to this day so if your around a system thats wicked.if you don’t watch out you will become like it…….SEE YOUTUBE “BANNED Zeitgeist”………….
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Well said. Thanks for the YouTube recommendation.
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While I read the article and the posts, I became very saddened. I have been taught in my life that people are people. I judge, or do not judge them based on their actions, not the color of their skin.
I liked the comment about whites who tan and inject collagen into their lips then call African Americans ugly and ignorant. I have often wondered why people do that myself.
The bottom line is, people are people. We all have feelings, likes, dislikes, wants, needs and so on. If you look under our skin, we all look the same.
Why can’t we start to look within and change ourselves rather than look at people who we may or may not consider “beneith” us. God is love and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.. The Bible doesn’t say love thy neighbor as thyself but ONLY if they are the same race as you are.
I believe we are all created equal and should stand together in untiy instead of tearing each other down. We should look to each other with love, compassion, and understanding.
Why do we get so boggled down on a person’s so called “class” and not look at the person themselves. It truely angers and hurts me that racism is still alive and well..
In closing, I want to say please try, try try to look at eachother as we are equals. Show love, compassion, and understanding. Even help someone who is not as well of as you or that simply needs your help and support. Change starts with one person, let that person be you..
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i love it when empty bottles are still yaking nothing to each other.hot coffee,must muddy the waters so no one can see beneath the surface.
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Gene..funny you should mention that.
Abagon: check out this site…it’s insightful, I’d say.
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/
……. not at all what you’d expect.
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Thanks. Good pick: it was already in my blogroll!!
There is also “stuff white people do” (as opposed to like) which talks about racism instead of the tongue-in-cheek Starbucks sort of whiteness that the other site talks about:
http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/
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Thanks abagond. I will defaintly check it out.
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I’ve read a few posts on this site and the attitude of the writer and posters makes me very sad. I’m a white English guy and my girlfriend’s family is from Somalia in east Africa. We’ve talked about visiting America a few times but are wary of the racist attitudes there mean that there may be some places one or the other of us can go. There seems to be so much ignorance and fear on both sides of the argument here. Shame.
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Some people will stare, but most will be polite in word and action. You should both be able to go anywhere together – it is not the 1950s any more. Since the 1970s white American racism has become far more subtle than that. Most of the heat that mixed couples get comes from their families, not from strangers.
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Lincoln was a racist too — wanted to deport us to Haiti or Africa. Only a few white people truly cared — Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, Thaddeus Stevens, etc. Otherwise, good point.
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Just remember once apon a time slaves were everywhere(including in african tribes were they had other countrymen as slaves.) It took white European settlers to outlaw it making the United States the least racist country in the history of the world. We have the most diversity. We are the most accepting. And people still cry.
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Africans did not make you a slave because of your race, so right there they were less racist.
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Abagond, you are very correct! Black Africans from Africa sold non law abiding blacks of a culture who could not conform to the rules of their society and were sold to white Europeans. No wonder why America is in such disarray.
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Most people dislike Blacks because they can not conform to the rules of society. Now as far as white people hating themselves, sounds like a nigger made that comment. People like to tan because they feel it makes their appearance more attractive, they do not wish to be black. No self respecting person wishes to be a monkey. As far as collagen injections and butt implants, you are referring to whores. If America would wake up and stop letting the blacks breed like wild animals and then support them with welfare we would be a far greater nation…
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I live in Florida and the percentage of whites ia about 76% while the african american percentage is about 15, but the funny thing is there are more blacks in the penal system than whites- Statistical Fact. No wonder why people hate blacks. Every day you turn on the news, you always hear about blacks on the news committing crimes.
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In Florida:
1. For the year starting on July 1st 2007, more whites were put in prison than blacks.
2. Of those who have been executed, who are presumably the worst and most dangerous criminals, 61% were white.
Source: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/statsbrief/statsbrief.pdf
Also please keep in mind that the police are racist, whether you like it or not, and blacks in general are less able to afford a good lawyer to keep themselves out of prison.
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Are all white people racist? i don’t think so , many White Americans are racist of course , but not all white Europeans , two different cultures.My African friend in Europe married a white European men and most of his family accepted her , she was welcome into his family , most of them went to the wedding.I noticed in America the family will washed their hands on their children if they marry a black person , crazy ,the reason why is because of slavery , blacks are not equal.You have to understand one thing in Europe slavery didn’t really exist.It is ashame in the year 2009 people specially in America still talk about race , color of skin , things didn’t changed much.
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Don’t forget blacks can be racist too.
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By the way , many white Americans are in denial they believe they are pure race , some have African ancestry , it is self hatred.They also believe every one in Europe is pure white too , people are mixed every where in the world.I am sick of racist people , but white racist Americans are so verbal about it specially on the internet because they don’t have the guts to say it in front of the black person he or she refers to as a “N***er , they are cowards .At least you will know if a black person is racist because they have nothing to hide.They say blacks are on welfare , but the majority of whites are the one in welfare they do nothing wrong in their eyes , white and black supremacy sucks , hate is hate , two wrongs don’t make it right.
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Killthenings, we people from Europe knows most of you so called white people are not even pure white , you people have such a self hatred , please take a DNA and prove me wrong.I am sick of people like you who are in denial about people specially in America being mixed , you see it this way , white is white ,black is black and there is no part of anything or not even half and half , you live in a fantasy world that doesn’t exist. I heard the ones who hate the most are the ones who are of mixed ancestry because they have self hatred.I had met Aryan looking people in Europe who are less hateful then a dark hair , brown eyes so called white person in America , even in the countries who are not consider Aryans have an inferior complex.In Russia most are of mixed race they are mixed with Mongolian, Chinese , Arab , Jewish , Gypsy , European , and even Ethiopian , but they are the most racist people in these world, non ARYANS .Hitler hated white Americans because he thought whites were mixed with black , asian and latino , he also hated the Slavic race , (Slavic means slaves) because they are desame race as Russians , all mixed , hitler was part jew , you see what i mean about self haters.
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I do not agree with the fact so many people feel racism is only whites hating blacks. I am a 26 year old white woman an the only white people I know who make comments about blacks are those who are over 65. That is because they were raised in a time where segregation was still around. Believe it or not I have experienced racism against my race. I grew up in an area where most of the kids in my school were black. In my gym class there were only three white kids. I was picked on daily for being white. Final when I was 14 years old we moved because I could not take it. I even got jumped in school for being white. Even with all this I do not hold anything against black people as a whole. I believe those who picked and beat on my were raised to believe that whites were bad people. Therefor, I do not hold it against the whole race. I believe there are good and bad black people just like there are good and bad white people. We are all one, just our skin is different. To be honest some of the best people I have meet in my life are black. Please understand that not all white people are racist, most are not. The ones that are, are missing out on knowing some wonderful people. I wish we could all move past this and learn from each other.
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I cannot believe the words and statements made in this following post that is attached to this one. This person is why we have so many blacks thinking all whites are racist. I apologize to anyone this offended, even though I did not write it. I am white and it offended me! This post obviously comes from an uneducated, unexsperenced, and ignorant person:
Most people dislike Blacks because they can not conform to the rules of society. Now as far as white people hating themselves, sounds like a nigger made that comment. People like to tan because they feel it makes their appearance more attractive, they do not wish to be black. No self respecting person wishes to be a monkey. As far as collagen injections and butt implants, you are referring to whores. If America would wake up and stop letting the blacks breed like wild animals and then support them with welfare we would be a far greater nation.
[Abagond: she is quoting comment #26]
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Americans are the only country who have dropped an atomic bomb and killed thousands of innocent civilians in Japan.In short they are murderers. They donot respect human life and the world knows it.
Racism is just a part of their life. They cant survive without it.
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RasismSuks
Don’t you relise how many American and Japanese lives those 2 bombs saved. The Japs would never have surrended until the whole of Japan was destroyed and millions more killed. You should rather look at the bigger picture.
Japanese people are understanably bitter but their record for war crimes and mass murder during the first half of the 20 century ranks right up there with the best of them.
I always find it amusing how people condemm other races, religions etc for wrongs done but justify their own with a warped sense of logic.
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Maybe alot of it has to do with JEALOUSY and a whole lot of FEAR.
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Wayne said:
I always find it amusing how people condemm other races, religions etc for wrongs done but justify their own with a warped sense of logic.
So true. An example of this came just the paragraph before:
Japanese people are understanably bitter but their record for war crimes and mass murder during the first half of the 20 century ranks right up there with the best of them.
So dropping an atom bomb on Hiroshima is all right because of the Rape of Nanking?
Two wrongs do not make a right.
Just like the Arab slave trade does not make the white slave trade all right – because slave trading is wrong, period. So is killing thousands of innocent men, women and children. If 9/11 was wrong then so was Hiroshima. You cannot have it both ways.
There was also a racist element to it: on top of the racism whites already had against East Asians there were years of dehumanizing the Japanese in America during the war. So much so that Japanese Americans were stripped of their property and put in prison camps. So much so that 16 years after the war you could still see the dehumanized view Americans had of the Japanese in Hollywood films like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.
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In my opinion white latinos are much more racist then white americans.
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Wow. I just dont understand why people cannot get along wether they are white or black. Why are we even talking about this here man. We should be trying to make the world a better place for us and our children to live in not fighting with eachother over past grudges. Let it go both of you please! Just let it go man holy shit.
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Oh Yeah Obama is a good man and trying his best to help the entire world hes not there just for the rich. hes there to help feed the rest of the starving world i wish you people would let him. By the way Im white.
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Ya Racism is still alive in America but if you want to kill the snake you have to cut off its head. The truth is that you have to look up to find the sorce of the racism, you’ve all heard the term shit runs down hill.. well its no diffrent for racism, If you want to blame whitey its the powerful corupt Judges who have financial intrests with companies that use the prison slave system to run their corperations those that hand out life sentences to people for minore crimes and first time offences. Itll be the powerful corprate owners and the Royalty who still harboure and use their power and influence to perpetuate the Racism not only to keep down black people but all people. Whats that old saying Divide and Conquer… well as long as people are buisy fighting each other and adding fuel to the Racism debate no one will pay attention to the man behind the curtain, Like a smoke screen while they come in for the Kill…
Peace out
The white Canadian
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That’s a good rendition of white hate, though a little simplified. God will deal with our sins. Evil people don’t get away with it, even if they appear to prosper. Therefore, those who have been aflicted by hate, should not let that hate consume them and turn their hearts as ugly as those of their oppressor or abusers. White people hate because its human nature to hate others unlike yourself. Deep in their psyche, adult whites are afraid or retribution…therefore, even though there is a minority of good white people, the majority will hold onto what makes them feel secure.
Even now the heath care debate is about white fear of Blacks having access to health care, of Blacks being elevated through more proper care. The idea of a Black advantage strike as fear in white peoples heart. It’s complicated, but as evil as their actions are, its not unique to their race. Anything common to man, can be done by all men. They had the momentum and the advantage, the abuse it, and in order to feel safe and secure, they must lie to themself and continue the tradition of their less than honourable foreparents.
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Hi, could anybody stop American or Canadian ppl from posting “Ching chong ugly ppl ” on Japanese youtube vids?
I wonder what kind of race are posting those.
I kinda regret to have learnt some English to understand how ugly things they are doing on Japanese youtube vids as if they are doing some kind of harassing Asians.
Some ppl are saying “They are not Chinese , they are Japanese you fool!”. But every time I read those comments I myself also feel sick of it because in some extent Japanese look down on Chinese or Korean.
I’ve studied English to know the big world but I didn’t sign up for this!
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ever noticed when people make comments on blog sites they all most end evry statement with………oh,by the way,I AM WHITE.self hateing whites are still here.race should not be a factor when blogging a response.people are not interested in you’r coular,only in a conventional conversation on the facts.leave evrything about you’r race out,and leave you’r responses in.
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its not just white americans, its most white people. look at europe. you got these cheeky guys there drawing mohamed cartoons just to pis off the muslims. you have france that paid immigrants to go home. you got spain that throws peanuts at african footballers. you got italy that finger prints gypsys. the list goes on. if you look at europes immigration laws 20yrs ago compared to today, you see they are drastically different because people are extremely tolerant of racism. i dont have any concrete examples of what goes on in canada, but im sure its the same. in fact, the united nations even called canada racist because it calls its non white minorities “visible minorities”. australians hate asians and lebanese. thats why they had riots in cronula. aborgines are constantly being abused.
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mr.long numbers,is it white americans that are only racist or just white people living in this country?you stomp around a lot of mud puddles trying to get you’r points across.could you break this down in order of racist groups so people will understand less.
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dear mr. indigoblu,at the risk of sounding to white,are you from this country or the alternat one?it seems to me you have white hate or white fasination to the world cup.which is it?a lot of countries participate in the world cup.and as to anyone white person remembering the next day,well,thats there problem.and as for talking to whites as you refer us to,racial conversation is a tabo for whites as you keep saying.hot coffee,we are not all cut from the same cloth,and that includes a lot of euros.or as you simply put it.the white man.
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I think history has shown that White European peoples – and there were a lot of different kinds – were smarter than Black African peoples. Blacks were freed but they never excelled. Similarly, White Europeans persecuted the Asians and the Jews. And look what happened:
White (non-Jewish) Europeans are scarcely 20% of elite university populations, and Asians and Jews combined make up about 60% of these student populations. Blacks, even though everything from their grades to their test scores are very much lower than everyone else’s, with the exeption of a group of invading peoples who hardly speak the language, are still “equally” represented. In fact, it is the multifarious White European races that are so largely underrepresented.
In essence, White Americans are really the somewhat blended remenants of several ancient European tribes. The prot-Germanic barbarians make up most of these, and their descendendents, including the Angels, the Saxons, the Franks, and the Gauls. “White people,” really, have never been a united race (even though they should have been.) And we all get tossed around, mostly by racist Jews who still hate us , even those of us who had nothing to do with it, for the Halocaust.
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It sounds like you are saying whites are more racist against blacks because they have not excelled like Jews and Asians. Yet for that to be a proper comparison, you have to assume that blacks, Jews and Asians have experienced equal levels of racism – which contradicts what you are trying to prove.
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Interesting. I could tell without looking this was written a while ago. I don’t think you’d write the same article today, Abagond.
(I mean, it would be different).
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Wow, abagond. That ‘toon says it all.
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If racism is defined simply as feeling that one race is superior to another then most people are racist on some level with the understanding that the average person confuses race with culture and simply prefer how things are done in their own culture.
I do not think most Whites are racist in the sense of harboring animosity toward Blacks. Prejudices, of course (as most people are) but this can usually be overcome on an individual level with a little exposure. Here are the four biggest problems I see with White culture in this country, which probably falls into the category of ‘institutional racism’:
1. The typical white person does not like to step outside of his or her comfort zone. This is a problem because this causes them not to want to live with, employ or have any dealings with people unlike themselves unless it’s absolutely necessary. They just don’t want to deal with having to be conscious or sensitive to the differences in others. This is one of those ‘white privileges’ that they have and don’t realize because as Blacks we don’t have this option. If we want to be successful materially or financially, we have to learn how to deal with and be sensitive to White culture and norms. They have no such obligation. Anyways, they don’t want to risk saying something that might get them accused of being racist. They would rather just not deal with all that so they always gravitate towards each other – particularly when it comes to employment and hiring practices.
2. The typical White person chooses to tolerate intolerance instead of upsetting the peace. They don’t like to upset the apple cart. They would rather just look the other way, pretend it didn’t happened or conclude that what happened had nothing to do with race or culture. Plus, at the end of the day, they feel that it’s not their fight and just go with the flow. What they don’t realize is that to blacks, this is simply co-signing because they ultimately benefit from the outcome of locking out a whole population of people competing for the same jobs.
3. They love to maintain the status-quo if it is to their benefit, even if it contains and perpetuates univeral injustices to others. Supporting dictators of other countries that help us is a perfect example of this on a macro-level but there are examples of this throughout their culture on all levels. This makes it extemely hard to change anything.
4. In their world, opportunities are largely based on connections or who you know. They will readily acknowledge this and yet they actively segregate themselves socially and in the suburbs virtually guaranteeing that they only really get close to other Whites and hence only do favors or give opportunities to each other.
None of these things include a conscious animosity toward Blacks but the end result is the same.
By the way ‘institutional racism’ should be called “institutional disenfranchisement” toward non-whites. Yes it’s more PC but once you put the word racism in anything, Whites tune out, get defensive and can’t reason on the issue. And frankly it’s really not racism when you think about it. Yes, it is disenfranchisement along racial lines but not racism if racism is simply defined as believing one race or culture is superior to another. We all think that on some level but we do not all actively disenfranchise people by how we set up the rules of a game simply because we like to be around people like ourselves and maximize our own personal comfort. This I believe are the real issues with White culture in America today.
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“If racism is defined simply as feeling that one race is superior to another ”
it’s not.
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@ jas0nburns
It is:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism
‘a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race’
I agree that most people think of the secondary definition:
‘racial prejudice or discrimination’
But rarely (if ever) will you see that as a primary definition of racism.
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Nice postcard.
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True enough. That is why most whites continue to tolerate and even support racial discrimination against themselves — they view it as an acceptable price of social peace.
The reality, however, continues to reassert itself; and, much like Israelis, the more goodwill concessions whites make, the less peace they get.
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@ nonserviam
This is because the concessions that are made don’t ultimately affect the bottom line or get to the root of the problem. It tends to just be window dressing. One thing I have to give to Whites is this: collectively they ultimately understand that this is indeed a dog-eat-dog, zero-sum world and that we are all competing for finite resources. This is why no real concessions are willingly made and institutional disenfranchisement will never be recognized. Many Whites really don’t want a level playing field if it potentially means others winning instead of them. They are in the lead and want to stay in the lead. I can understand this as a human behavior. The thing that is infuriating though, is that at the same time, they want the satisfaction of believing that everything they’ve achieved is of their own steam fair and square. This is the height of hubris.
This is also why I don’t understand why Blacks look to Whites to solve Black problems. There is really no incentive for Whites or anyone else to do so. The way how Whites solve their Black problems is through White flight. Blacks need to solve problems internally like every other race has in the past. Maybe they don’t because Blacks feel that the ones responsible for creating the problem should be the ones who fixes it but that’s just not how Whites think. That’s by the way, why Whites insure everything and Blacks don’t. They understand the one who broke it need not be the one who fixes it.
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@Abagond
When people use that “blacks did not ‘excel’ like…” argument they really do not have a clue what they are chatting about. Like you said Abagond Blacks, Asians and Jews have experienced different racism.
One example that very few White people know about. Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma. AKA The Black Wall Street http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Tulsa,_Oklahoma#.22The_Black_Wall_Street.22
oh and that cartoon, love it.
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The “institutional disenfranchisement” will never be recognized, because it doesn’t exist. It’s just another fatuous excuse for persistent underachievement of blacks despite the playing filed being heavily tilted in their favor.
Even though race industry also discriminates against high-IQ NE Asians, I don’t think it was created with that in mind. Most whites are still firmly in the grip of universalist delusion.
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***For whites to feel good about keeping them as slaves they had to believe certain things about black people.***
So what is the justification used by blacks who held slaves in Africa?
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***australians hate asians and lebanese. thats why they had riots in cronula. ***
This was triggered by some middle eastern guys beating up some surf lifesavers. Also, considerable tension was created by a over 70 gang rapes of european women by middle eastern men in Australia over a two year period. That kind of thing tends to rile people up!
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@ nonserviam
“Institutional disenfranchisement” doesn’t exist? Jim Crow was a perfect example of “institutional disenfranchisement” was it not? And even though many Whites alive today lived during Jim Crow, you think that type of thinking just disappeared and doesn’t exist in any form today?
Man, it just goes to show how delusional or disingenuous some Whites really are (neither of which reflect well on their culture).
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Whatever thoughtcrimes whites may continue to secretly entertain, institutional disenfranchisement does not exist today.
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Yes, only in thought. Never in hiring practices, promotions, police stops, judicial system, renting apartments, buying homes, interest rates, loans, etc..
All opportunities that Whites have, Blacks have to.
As I said – delusional or disingenuous.
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***All opportunities that Whites have, Blacks have to.***
Not really. Asians have more cause for complaint.
“Translating the advantages into SAT scores, study author Thomas Espenshade, a Princeton sociologist, calculated that African-Americans who achieved 1150 scores on the two original SAT tests had the same chances of getting accepted to top private colleges in 1997 as whites who scored 1460s and Asians who scored perfect 1600s.
Espenshade found that when comparing applicants with similar grades, scores, athletic qualifications, and family history for seven elite private colleges and universities:
Whites were three times as likely to get fat envelopes as Asians. Hispanics were twice as likely to win admission as whites. African-Americans were at least five times as likely to be accepted as whites.” (from US News October 7, 2009)
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No. They have more.
It’s just that even the existing level of privilege is unable to bridge the achievement gap.
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@ nonserviam
We have more opportunities than Whites? Are you serious?
So how do you explain studies that expose:
– Higher interest rates for Blacks with the same credit score as Whites?
– Lower rate of call back for exact same resumes with a black sounding name vs one with a white sounding name?
– Disproportionate rate of police stops for Blacks vs White?
-Realtors not showing homes for sale or rent to Blacks in certain White neighborhood?
All made up, all fictitious right?
I’m now just leaning toward disingenuous with you.
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@ Schwartz
I do want to address the school thing because this is where Whites tend to feel the most indignant.
The first reason this tends to happen is that many elite schools of higher learning actually value diversity as they believe it contributes to the overall educational experience of all in the school. As many Whites do not see value in this, any rationale that incorporates it as a factor is scorned in the White community.
The second reason is that some schools understand and expect those that come from underserved communities to underperform on a standardize test like the SAT which has built in biases of its own. Whites want everything to be fair from SAT on, totally dismissing the 17 years of advantages their kids had up to that point. “How dare Johnny not be accepted while he got a higher SAT score than Malik who did get accepted!” totally ignoring that everything Johnny had up until that point was better than Malik, but now Malik should suffer. Trust me, Johnny will be alright. Malik will likely have more hurdles to cross in the future than Johnny (see comment about black names on resumes).
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@Lookingforanswers.
Oh my bad, I didn’t know you had all the answers already.
posting the websters definition of racism on an anti-racism blog is a surefire way to make sure nobody takes you seriously.
http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/2009/08/wonder-where-to-start-when-they-join.html
excerpt…
A. Anyone can hold “racial prejudice” — that is, they can carry positive or negative stereotypes of others based on racial characteristics. For example, a white person thinking all Asians are smart, or all black people are criminals; or a Chinese person thinking Japanese people are untrustworthy; or what-have-you. ANYONE, of any race, can have racial prejudices.
B. People of any race can commit acts of violence, mistreatment, ostracizing, etc., based on their racial prejudices. A black kid can beat up a white kid because he doesn’t like white kids. An Indian person can refuse to associate with Asians. Whatever, you get the idea.
C. However, to be racist (rather than simply prejudiced) requires having institutional power. In North America, white people have the institutional power. In large part we head the corporations; we make up the largest proportion of lawmakers and judges; we have the money; we make the decisions. In short, we control the systems that matter. “White” is presented as normal, the default. Because we have institutional power, when we think differently about people based on their race or act on our racial prejudices, we are being racist. Only white people can be racist, because only white people have institutional power.
D. People of color can be prejudiced, but they cannot be racist, because they don’t have the institutional power. (However, some people refer to intra-PoC prejudice as “lateral racism”. You may also hear the term “colorism”, which refers to lighter-skinned PoC being prejudiced toward darker-skinned PoC.) However, that situation can be different in other countries; for example, a Japanese person in Japan can be racist against others, because the Japanese have the institutional power there. But in North America, Japanese people can’t be racist because they don’t hold the institutional power.
E. If you’re in an area of your city/state/province that is predominantly populated by PoC and, as a white person, you get harassed because of your skin color, it’s still not racism, even though you’re in a PoC-dominated area. The fact is, even though they’re the majority population in that area, they still lack the institutional power. They don’t have their own special PoC-dominated police force for that area. They don’t have their own special PoC-dominated courts in that area. The state/province and national media are still not dominated by PoC. Even though they have a large population in that particular area, they still lack the institutional power overall.
F. So that’s the definition of racism that you’re likely to encounter. If you start talking about “reverse racism” you’re going to either get insulted or laughed at, because it isn’t possible under that definition; PoC don’t have the power in North America, so by definition, they can’t be racist. Crying “reverse racism!” is like waving a Clueless White Person Badge around.
G. If you go into an anti-racist discussion and start trying to claim the colloquial definition that “racism is simply viewing or treating others differently based on race”, you’re going to get a negative reaction. Stick to “racism = prejudice + power”. Anti-racists aren’t going to take it well if you wander in halfway through the debate and start trying to make them abide by your definition rather than the commonly accepted “prejudice + power”. Imagine if everyone in a classroom was chatting about a particular subject and then someone walked in and said, “No! You’re all doing it wrong! The REAL definition is ABC and I don’t care that all the rest of you think it’s XYZ!” — do you think that would go over well? Of course it wouldn’t; the newcomer would be considered rude. (Also, making an appeal to Dictionary.com is not going to work. Pointing out that the colloquial definition is how Webster’s Dictionary defines racism is not going to make anti-racists suddenly say, “Wow, you know what? You’re right! I never realized it, but now that Webster’s has backed you up, I see that you’re totally right and racism really is just judging people based on their skin color!” Actually, they may say that, but they’d be saying it sarcastically.)
H. I’m under the impression there are a number of different reasons why anti-racists use the sociological definition as versus the colloquial one, but the major reason I’m aware of is that anti-racists aren’t just focusing on individual acts of racism; they’re looking at racism as an entrenched system that pervades every layer of our society. The colloquial definition reduces racism to an individual level; the sociological definition focuses on the systemic level. The systemic level is actually more important, because even as individual/obvious acts of racism become less socially acceptable, the systemic effects of institutionalized racism continue to work quietly, efficiently, and powerfully. Think of it like a body; it’s easy to find a cancerous lesion on the skin and remove it, and then you’d look like you were cancer-free. But even as you looked fine on the surface, the real cancer would be inside your body, spreading from lymph node to lymph node, and invading your bones and organs. Individual and overt acts of racism are the lesions on the surface; the invisible cancer is the systemic racism. Unless you’re addressing the underlying disease, eradicating surface symptoms isn’t going to accomplish much. But that’s enough about the definition of racism for now; let’s continue.
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@ jas0nburns
Ofcourse, http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/2009/08/wonder-where-to-start-when-they-join.html is a far better reference for defining racism than a dictionary. What was I thinking (not)?
The truth is I only knew that was the actual definition of racism after Abagond pointed me to a previous blog that defined it the same way. ever since then, I accepted it and moved on.
Despite whatever http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/2009/08/wonder-where-to-start-when-they-join.html says, the definition is what it is and definitions matter.
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***Whites want everything to be fair from SAT on, totally dismissing the 17 years of advantages their kids had up to that point. ***
And the Asians are the most privileged of all, hence their higher handicap for entering colleges 🙂
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@Schwartz,
I don’t get the Asian numbers. I think plain old discrimination may be in play there.
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“is a far better reference for defining racism than a dictionary.”
oh yes. it’s a far better reference. I know you were being sarcastic but i’m not.
So you’re not white? Usually it’s whites who cling to the colloquial definition of racism because it doesn’t challenge them or single them out.
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@ jas0nburns
No, I’m not White. I’m all Black. Black spouse, Black Kids. The whole nine.
I see no problem with the standard definition for Racism. It doesn’t change anything that has been inflicted upon us over the years. Whites can be challenged on a mountain of facts and studies. No need for alternate definitions and such.
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It’s not an alternate definition really, it just includes something that the websters version doesn’t. Power. I’m wondering why you don’t seem to think the power component is significant. You stated that…
“It doesn’t change anything that has been inflicted upon us over the years.”
Yet the very fact that anything could be inflicted at all clearly illustrates that power is an essential component of racism or at least, it’s what makes racism significant. Without power, who cares? I mean, if you hated someone it wouldn’t matter unless you had the power to affect them. (I’ve second guessed this definition myself because there are circumstances where blacks have more power than whites. But not many.)
Racism is set up to benefit whites at the expense of POC so don’t you think the definition should reflect that? Makes sense to me.
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I personally think that definition is flawed. It’s not good for Blacks to think they can’t be racist because they don’t feel they have power. How would you then classify hate speech by a Black person?
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I would classify it as Racial prejudice or just Hate speech? Obviously anyone can be prejudiced and hateful but racism is about historic institutional oppression and abuse based on race. Blacks have only been victims of that never perpetrators. Except upon themselves of course.
As far as I know.
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I think anyone that practices racial hate speech is a racist. They don’t get a pass because they happen to think they are powerless, sorry.
You know, it’s hard to respond to you because I agree in general with your understanding of our plight. I just disagree with redefining (or embellishing) the word racist to simplify describing our plight. Maybe I’m just an old fashion wordsmith.
Also, it makes it hard to communicate with others outside of our community because they don’t connect with our custom definitions so it can make us seem paranoid and come across like we see racism as the cause of everything.
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Well, it just seems like we have a different view on how much power blacks actually have. And I would grant that certainly blacks have much more power than they used to, but you can still see lots of examples where they don’t, like the relationship with law enforcement and the judicial system.
“Also, it makes it hard to communicate with others outside of our community “…
I don’t quite understand what you mean. Could you elaborate on that?
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“I just disagree with redefining (or embellishing) the word racist to simplify describing our plight.”
I don’t think it’s just descriptive of blacks and whites. The internment of Japanese Americans during WW2 was very racist IMO. And racism occurs all over the world even when no whites are present.
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@ jas0nburns
I don’t think we disagree on how much power Blacks really have but do I think we disagree on the amount of influence Blacks have. I think we as Blacks have much more influence over our own lives and communities than we think. We just don’t take advantage of it in my opinion.
This is something Whites happen to understand extremely well in ways we don’t even think about. For example, my friend was standing in a Post Office in an area that had been Black for years but as of late started to see many Whites move in. The postal workers were dragging their feet as usual. All the Blacks were complaining to each other about the bad service but did nothing. The one White lady on the line took out her phone, called the post master (already had the number in her phone by the way) and then gave it to everyone on the line telling them to call all at once. Everyone blew up the post masters phone about the slow service right on the spot (on a Saturday at that). All of a sudden, the phone rang in the back and you would think everyone got a double dose of red bull, lines started moving so fast!!! See, not power, but the ability to influence those with power. If Blacks would just understand when and how to exert a little influence, things would change faster than you think.
But if we just think the success Whites have achieved is solely based on racism defined the way we choose to define it, we will never look to learn from the things they actually do well. In this case above, that white lady showed everyone that day how to make service better in that post office, and it did not involve using racism (as you define it). I wonder how many there that day took that lesson to heart?
By the way, you asked what I meant by “Also, it makes it hard to communicate with others outside of our community”. Another thing Whites understand well is how to build coalitions to increase influence and/or power to accomplish a common goal. This is very difficult to do if the issues are not viewed and defined in a similar way across factions or a federation. What is my point? If we continue to define racism in our own little way because we believe it to be more accurate but it does not resonate with others, it will be impossible to build a coalition to address problems many disenfranchised communities face in common. And trust me when I say that claiming all Whites are racist while its impossible for Blacks to be racist will not resonate with others.
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good points.
Definitely a different perspective than what I’ve heard in the past and I want to be open to that.
I’ve never actually bought into the idea that ALL the success whites have achieved is based on racism. I think Europeans had quite a bit going for them before the colonial era. And being white myself I know that there is a lot more to whites than just racism.
Still, I think the fact is that racism is something that whites invented to keep ourselves at the top. We still use it that way and that’s the form in which racism is most damaging even by your definition. I don’t think that recognizing that fact is any kind of excuse for POC to not work to better their positions in society it’s just a recognition of the way things are.
Also, in regard to learning from whites:
Whatever qualities you attribute to whites and not to blacks, don’t you have to ask yourself why these behaviors are not typical within the black community as you see it? The story about the post office really just illustrates a sense of entitlement that whites posses that perhaps blacks don’t generally speaking. I think there’s probably a good reason for that don’t you?
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-For any black vs. any white? Or just for a higher percentage of former? It’s no revelation that bigger share of blacks and Hispanics are risky borrowers, as opposed to whites. The government’s attempt to “remedy” the situation blew up in our faces in the form of current recession.
-A suspicion, not entirely unreasonable, that there’s less to “black” credentials than meets the eye — because of the affirmative action, grade inflation etc. Also, wariness, not entirely unreasonable, of lawsuits, once a black employee doesn’t get his way with something or other.
-Blacks and Hispanics are overrepresented in certain types of crime (also hardly a revelation). In addition, most criminal syndicates are organized along racial and ethnic lines. Therefore, racial profiling is a valuable tool of police work. Like any other tool, it can be abused and misused, but that doesn’t invalidate its essential soundness.
-In a free society, people tend to self-segregate. We prefer the company of our peers. Whites, more than others, have tried to redefine “peers” in non-racial terms (which is how even I would prefer it), but race is a powerful reality that tends to re-assert itself. Also, there’s an impression, not entirely unreasonable, that blacks’ tendency towards anti-social behavior is higher than that of whites.
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@ nonserviam
I do not believe your rationale is worthy of a fact-based thoughtful response on my part so all I will say is that your comments prove the existance of the very thing you are trying to deny exists.
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@ jas0nburns
I actually think a sense of entitlement about the right things such as standards in service and treatment is a good thing. One could argue that the whole civil rights movement was an exercise in a sense of entitlement, building coalitions and influencing power. I think the lessons of why that was so successful have been lost on many in our community today.
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“I actually think a sense of entitlement about the right things such as standards in service and treatment is a good thing. ”
Agreed, otherwise people will walk all over you while they take your hard earned money. And I think a healthy sense of entitlement would naturally develop in anyone unless….you are part of a group that is consistently and routinely denied those things that you are entitled to. See my point?
“I think the lessons of why that was so successful have been lost on many in our community today.”
Yeah, I think a lot of people wonder what happened to that spirit. I think about how things kind of became more militant in the 70’s and maybe mutated into a different type of power. More of a “don’t f*uck with me, I’m not taking any sh*t” type of power. Which works but only to a degree. Maybe it might be time to put that on the shelf and try some other stuff as you suggest.
That’s just a hypothesis though. I really couldn’t say.
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If you continue to insist that “institutional racism” — i.e. whites as a group — being, today, the main (or indeed, the only) cause of blacks’ problems, then there’s nothing to be done, short of us collectively slitting our own throats. While I realize that this may be the fervent wish of many or most in the black community, I think you’ll understand our unwillingness to indulge.
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To Lookingforanswers:
So how do you explain studies that expose:
– Higher interest rates for Blacks with the same credit score as Whites?
-Realtors not showing homes for sale or rent to Blacks in certain White neighborhood?
Have you ever shopped for a house or a mortgage in the past decade…? I live in an area (near San Francisco..) that has a relatively low Black population but one of my former Realtors and one of my mortgage brokers were Black. You can pick and choose who you represents you in real estate and also were to get your mortgage. Except for very first mortgage all of my applications were done online. All numbers… no nuance. So I wonder about these studies (although I can believe in the 70s and into the 80s this was an issue..) Tons of information on the internet if you think you are being jacked around.
All made up, all fictitious right?
Have you actually looked at the names study…? 1) A few things the numbers were rather low.. 2) It just compares Blacks and Whites.. Why..? There are now more Latinos than Blacks and in some states such as California more Asians than Whites. I would be rather interested to see how people would respond to positions such as landscaping or construction to names like Jose or Juan and for IT jobs with names like Cho, Wong, Raj, or Kumar. Here’s a link to the actual numbers:
http://www.arthurhu.com/INDEX/discrim.htm
Mean Call-Back Rates By First Name
White Female
————
Emily 8.3% 19/228
Anne 9.0
Jill 9.3
Allison 9.4
Sarah 9.8
Meredith 10.6
Laurie 10.8
Carrie 13.1
Kristen 13.6 29/214
Black Female
————
Aisha 2.2% 4/180
Keisha 3.8
Tamika 5.4
Lakisha 5.5
Tanisha 6.3
Latoya 8.8
Kenya 9.1
Latonya 9.1
Ebony 10.5 22/209
White Male
———-
Neil 6.6% 5/76
Geoffrey 6.8
Brett 6.8
Brendan 7.7
Greg 7.8
Todd 8.7
Matthew 9.0
Jay 13.2
Brad 15.9 10/63
Black Male
———-
Rasheed 3.0% 2/67
Tremayne 4.3
Kareem 4.7
Darnell 4.8
Tyrone 5.3
Jamal 6.6
Hakim 7.3
Leroy 9.4
Jermaine 11.3 6/53
So Jermaine and Leroy are more likely to get a call back than Neil, Geoffry, Brett, Brendan, Greg, Todd, and Matthew. And Ebony and Latoya are more likely to get call backs than 77% of the White men than Jill, Anne, or Emily. What strikes me right off the bat is that there were more call backs for women than men of any race race and the sample numbers are low. Does this mean I don’t think is bias.. ? No… but it does make think that the people who conducted the study have their heads in 1965 when the vast majority of employers were White and applicants were White or Black with only a handful or Asians or Latinos. Neither condition is currently accurate.
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To Jas0nburns:
It’s not an alternate definition really, it just includes something that the websters version doesn’t. Power. I’m wondering why you don’t seem to think the power component is significant.
Perhaps another word is needed since some people feel that they racism is only prejudice plus power. The problem with this is that it basically implies that White people can not be racist in places like Haiti, Jamaica, Bolivia, Venezuela, sub-Saharan Africa (outside of SA..) etc.. which I think is a bit ridiculous.
I would submit that if someone of another race is holding a gun on your or is beating you to death (or multiple people of another race are beating you to death..) that those people hold power over the victim regardless of their respective races.
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@ jas0nburns
“And I think a healthy sense of entitlement would naturally develop in anyone”
Not really. Not if parents aren’t raising their children to have a healthy sense of self respect, self worth and yes, a sense of entitlement about the right things. In my opinion this is the no. 1 problem in the Black community today by far. I believe it’s worse than institutional disenfranchisement/racism.
It was not always this way. Remember, Blacks have been routinely denied good services and entitlements since we arrived to this country. That’s nothing new. What has changed is that many parents are not parenting in our communities anymore, not instilling a sense of value, self respect and standards. Rappers, ball players and movies have been delegated this responsibility somehow and it has been nothing short of a disaster. Slavery and Jim Crow laws (true institutional racism) used to be the no. 1 problem facing Blacks but now I believe it’s this.
I don’t see how we can expect Whites or anyone else to take our complaints seriously when they see how we run our own families or what we tolerate in our own neighborhoods.
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@ Uncle Milton
Despite the numbers for Leroy and Jermaine, the numbers clearly show that the black names as a group consistently underperform white names as a group. You seem to recognize this with women over everyone else but not with white Males over black males. Why I wonder?
This type of thinking is typical I find for some whites. If one or two black situations beat out whites, they seem to focus on that to show how there really is no problem or that somehow it’s whites that are discriminated against when the numbers as a whole say something completely different.
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@ lookingforanswers.
“many parents are not parenting in our communities anymore”
I’ve noticed, and I think that’s a big part of why the achievement gap is still so wide. But how did that happen? What role does racism play in that do you think?
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I suppose that whenever I see any difference in the way blacks do things from the way whites do things, I assume that racism is a factor in that difference. Because otherwise there would be no difference to observe in the first place. Does that make sense?
So when somebody says something like “it’s not racism, blacks just need to do X” I can’t totally agree. Blacks may very well need to do X but that doesn’t mean racism isn’t a factor.
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@ jas0nburns
I think a lot of factors contribute to the lack of parenting, the achievement gap and a general decline of Black communities.
The decline of the role of churches and religion as institutions in the Black community plays a big part in why parents aren’t parenting properly anymore. Because of churches/religion, people in the Black community generally felt the need to (or at least give the appearance of) adhering to a basic moral code and raising their children to follow it also. From what I have observed, the White culture in this country generally does not utilize religion this way. Their culture already tends to be based on keeping your “true feelings close to the vest”, not “tipping your hand” and “maintaining the appearance of peace or civility” while exhibiting very passive aggressive behavior (probably adopted from the British). This is what they teach their children from young through example and these are the norms that develop in their community generally speaking.
Anyways, once the role of churches declined, this obligation of a moral code or standard in the Black community declined with it. As the expression goes “people no longer have shame”. Why? Because people no longer have a moral sense of right and wrong to be shamed about because this sense of right and wrong traditional came from Church/Religion in the Black community. To compound the issue, the standards are now set by the media, rappers, ball players, etc… and are usually not very high. Why did Churches decline? I guess at some point people stopped making their children go with them so when the children grew up, the habit was not there and they did not go at all. I can’t say for sure though.
Here’s the part I think “Institutional Racism” (not institutional disenfranchisement) plays. School text books have ignored almost every single contribution that Blacks have made to this country and to the world in general. You would think only Whites have contributed to civilization. This fosters that feeling of superiority that Whites have as well as the feeling of worthlessness that Blacks have. Just ask any young black teenager who Ben Carson is and you will see what I mean. This is partly why I think people are trying so hard to tear down Barack Obama and undo everything he does. I believe many secretly would prefer he made no imprint on history at all so they could justify completely writing him out from future textbooks (like most presidents are) to perpetuate the idea that only certain Whites have contributed anything of lasting value.
I think criminalization of marijuana in this country is also a form of institutional racism because it largely impacts minority communities more than White communities, encourages other criminal activity, needlessly breakup families and expose simple substance abusers to hard core criminals in jail. (By the way, I must say, Whites at least have the good sense to smoke weed inside the house than out on the corner, park or the stoop where people always get busted). I don’t smoke weed and don’t think other people should either but I can still see that criminalizing it does more harm than good.
The part that institutional disenfranchisement plays in all this is in the lack of job opportunities for Black men. It’s difficult for any man (black or otherwise) to feel good about himself or be positive in general if he can’t support himself or his family. And as we all know, lack of employment has a straight line to crime rates, domestic violence, etc.
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So Jermaine and Leroy are more likely to get a call back than Neil, Geoffry, Brett, Brendan, Greg, Todd, and Matthew. And Ebony and Latoya are more likely to get call backs than 77% of the White men than Jill, Anne, or Emily. What strikes me right off the bat is that there were more call backs for women than men of any race race and the sample numbers are low. Does this mean I don’t think is bias.. ? No… but it does make think that the people who conducted the study have their heads in 1965 when the vast majority of employers were White and applicants were White or Black with only a handful or Asians or Latinos. Neither condition is currently accurate.
Ummmmm, no. I think you’re over generalizing. Those names are not considered “black”, its ghetto. I have family members with names like Annie, Norma, Nora, Chico, Juanita, Elaine, or Frances. My mum would be very upset if I were to name my son Lashwan or something. Sora is okay, though. I’ve known a white girl named Kisha, Latoya and Latasha. Stereotypes are only true up until a certain point. It should never be use as an absolute rule for everybody. Ebonics isn’t a black thing, it’s a ghetto thing. There’s ghetto Spanish, Japanese and French. There are a lot of ghetto ass white people and only want to point it out when blacks are doing it. I do feel that Blacks are racist, too. I hated that they follow the one-drop rule. United all of us, my a**. It that was the case there would be no colorism, classism, homophobia, or culturism in the black community
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Rasheed 3.0% 2/67
Tremayne 4.3
Kareem 4.7
Darnell 4.8
Tyrone 5.3
Jamal 6.6
Hakim 7.3
Leroy 9.4
Jermaine 11.3 6/53
Those names sound really weird. i would never name a dog that let alone a human being. Does it mean anything ? What’s wrong with Amber or Sophie. Ophelia is beautiful, too.
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@ Usagi
What is the one-drop rule?
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if you look at all black African, even just one bit, then you are considered to be black in American society. Because, you know, whites are pure,
It destroys the uniqueness and diversity of Black dystopia
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Jas0nburns said: “I suppose that whenever I see any difference in the way blacks do things from the way whites do things, I assume that racism is a factor in that difference. Because otherwise there would be no difference to observe in the first place.”
Says who?
This is a classic example of what’s often called “guilty white liberalism”, and while it might seem like a caring kind of statement, embedded within is paternalism and disrespect.
It’s a kind of statement that putatively enlightened whites make when they’re “down with the brothas”.
Another example is sam’s comment yesterday about being a lost white man “in middle of blackest Africa” (his words) where the drunken noble savages surprisingly gave him succor. It read like a passage straight out of 19th century Afsploitation lit.
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To Usagi:
Ummmmm, no. I think you’re over generalizing. Those names are not considered “black”, its ghetto.
That was from a study that Lookingforanswers cited.. not my personal beliefs about whether those are or are not Black names.
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To Lookingforanswers:
That study is often cited but when you look at the numbers and the methodology you realize that it is really problematic. I can find a study that I think is a good quality study but the “names” study has issues in my opinion. As I said I am not discounting discrimination but I do wonder why other ethnic groups were not included and why do they think that this is solely White prejudice..? Could not the hiring managers be Latino, Asian, or heck.. Black. (Because there are Blacks who are prejudiced against other Blacks.. and as Usagi pointed out.. why are those “Black” names…? He thought they were Ghetto names…) I am guessing if you threw all ethnicities into the mix and targeted center businesses you would find that
Asians would get more call backs for IT jobs.
Women would get more calls backs for (moreso White and Asian women..) sales jobs.
Black men would get more call backs for bouncer, security, and DJ jobs.
Latinos would get more call backs for construction, kitchen staff, and landscaping.
I will try to find a study that I read that shows that Whites with prison records are more likely to get hired than Blacks without a record. I consider that study well crafted and revealing. But I still have a problem with it since it leaves out 21% of the population (Asians and Latinos..) and just compares Blacks and Whites. The Latino workforce has been rising dramatically in the past decade at the expense of both Black and White workers. Is that an example of White privilege…?
I’ll elaborate when I have more time.
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To Lookingforanswers:
When I hear figures about discrimination I try to think about how this affecting Black people as a whole. While researching about US Black wealth and the US Gini index I found some revealing figures. In 1970 Black families had 25% of the median wealth of White families. That made since we were coming 100 years of de facto and de jure discrimination for jobs, housing, and education. As for affirmative action and anti discrimination laws.. I found out in 1970 that there zero Black state troopers in Alabama. (a state with a 25% Black population at the time…) So I would guess in many parts of the US discrimination was still pretty rampant. So one would that such wealth disparities may have lessened in the past 41 years. But in reality they have become much worse:
“Median net worth for black households dropped from $9,300 in 2007 to $2,200 in 2009, far less than the $98,000 owned by the typical white household.”
So Blacks now have 1/10 of the wealth per capita vs Whites than in 1970. Clearly something is wrong… I tend to believe this is due to globalization.
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@ randy
I wish Abagond would let me tell you what you really are.
Unfortunately I just have to stick to telling you why you’re wrong. again. (as if it matters)
First of all. i’m not guilty. I don’t feel guilty about anything. I know where you’re coming from because when I first started hearing a lot of this anti-racist rhetoric I felt the same way, Like people were trying to make me feel guilty for being white. But luckily I’m an adult and I was able to move past my initial tantrum and actually listen to what people were saying and I realized that’s not the case. I hope you will be able to do that someday but I doubt it.
now when I said:
” suppose that whenever I see any difference in the way blacks do things from the way whites do things, I assume that racism is a factor in that difference. Because otherwise there would be no difference to observe in the first place.”
All you have to do is look backwards at relationships between whites and blacks and it becomes quite obvious that without racism we would be living in a very, very different country. First of all without racism, There wouldn’t be that many black people here at all. There would be some from the time before slavery was racialized but because it was racialized it went on way longer than it otherwise would have.
And then of course if whites didn’t force all blacks to live on top of each other from then on and not allow any type of mixing between us (besides raping black women of course) then there would be no such thing as “blackness” there would be no perceivable group difference between us in any way. the black people that did live here would have just fully integrated into American society and that would be that.
And then of course you have white flight and all the rest. We probably wouldn’t even HAVE suburbs if it wasn’t for black people. What reason would we have to flee the cities in fear?
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@ Randy
So anyway. that’s funny coming from the undisputed king of pretending to give a sh*t.
Don’t you see it’s not about paternalism or taking care of or being “down” with the brothers. It’s about the truth. It’s about acknowledging what actually goes on in this country, treating people like people. and upholding the principals we wre founded on instead of behaving like a bunch of hypocrites. guilt doesn’t factor in. Your guilty white liberals are just as off the mark as you are. well, almost.
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@ randy
obviously, we wouldn’t have whiteness without racism either. So everything you think of as white or non black wouldn’t be observable without racism. it wouldn’t even be possible for you to believe you were white.
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Jas0n,
You seem like a pleasant and well-intentioned person, but some of your statements have rather awful implications.
You said, “I suppose that whenever I see any difference in the way blacks do things from the way whites do things, I assume that racism is a factor in that difference…Because otherwise there would be no difference to observe in the first place.”
and
“And then of course if whites didn’t force all blacks to live on top of each other from then on and not allow any type of mixing between us (besides raping black women of course) then there would be no such thing as “blackness” there would be no perceivable group difference between us in any way.”
What you’re basically saying is that the people of the world are nothing more than automata, like little Newtonian clockworks that merely function according to their winding and environment. This leaves no room for culture, for group values, or shared heritage.
In other words, black folks are just white folks who have been oppressed.
Not only does this strip black americans of their identity borne of a shared history, it’s also profoundly disempowering. Sorry black folks, nothing you can do about your circumstances. Just stay where you are until the white folks finally bestow their beatific and beneficent blessings upon you, and allow you to become just like them.
To me that type of argument is disrespectful and paternalistic.
You might not care to believe this, but I’ve spent years volunteering for anti-poverty philanthropy projects. I’ve witnessed numerous well-intentioned folks come across with a “let’s assist the poor helpless negroes” attitude. The vast majority probably don’t even know that they’re doing it. It pisses me off to no end. That’s probably why I’m giving you a hard time when I read what appears to be a similar framing.
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Randy:
1. I think you are reading way too much into what Jason said. He is saying that without racism there would be no white or black in America but just Americans. Skin colour would mean as much as having freckles: it would be just a bit of physical description. Because without racism Africans would have melted into the melting pot, genes, culture and all, just like the Irish.
2. I also find it particularly odd that you take anyone to task for paternalism. You are the one who wants me to be satisfied with sending my children to a shit school, who blames my parenting rather than the schools for the bad education that my children and most black children receive. So, right, you are not paternalistic. You do not make the mistake of helping those you look down on – you just look down on them.
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Abagond said, “1. I think you are reading way too much into what Jason said. He is saying that without racism there would be no white or black in America but just Americans. Skin colour would mean as much as having freckles: it would be just a bit of physical description. Because without racism Africans would have melted into the melting pot, genes, culture and all, just like the Irish. “
You could be right, although the irish are still proud to be irish. Wouldn’t black people want the same thing for themselves?
“2. I also find it particularly odd that you take anyone to task for paternalism. You are the one who wants me to be satisfied with sending my children to a shit school, who blames my parenting rather than the schools for the bad education that my children and most black children receive.”
At both rich schools and poor schools, parents who instill in children a love of learning and hold them accountable for their performance produce successful students. Parents who don’t put their children at risk. Certainly, the risk is significantly less at better schools.
Why should that be? For one thing, bad schools are often plagued with endemic discipline problems, requiring metal detectors and armed guards. Learning cannot easily thrive in such an environment That is pure parenting fail.
Hiring black administrators and teachers hasn’t proven to create successful schools, and neither does simply throwing money at the problem. This indicates that racism and funding aren’t sufficient to explain school success or lack thereof
If I’m missing some solution which produces large numbers successful students in the absence of proper parenting, then I would like to hear of it.
“So, right, you are not paternalistic. You do not make the mistake of helping those you look down on – you just look down on them.”
Describing the responsibilities that people have isn’t the same as “looking down”. The latter is a value judgment, the former isn’t.
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I have read a quite a few of these comments. Why are white people in this country persecuted for slavery? Many other country’s had African slaves including Mexico. Is it not true that Africans were sold into slavery by there own people? My ancestors did not own slaves EVER. and yet because I am white I have to deal with the stigma of things that happened hundreds of years ago. I just try do dismiss this line of thinking by thinking to my self “we never owned slaves” it is just ignorance.
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@White guy
**Many other country’s had African slaves including Mexico. Is it not true that Africans were sold into slavery by there own people?**
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
**My ancestors did not own slaves EVER.**
Your ancestors reaped the full benefits of racism against blacks.
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serpentus says,
@White guy
**Many other country’s had African slaves including Mexico. Is it not true that Africans were sold into slavery by there own people?**
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
**My ancestors did not own slaves EVER.**
Your ancestors reaped the full benefits of racism against blacks.
laromana says,
EXCELLENT response, serpentus.
There is NO justification for ANY aspect of African slavery and EVERYONE involved was WRONG for taking part in this CRIME against humanity (including EVERYONE who reaped/continues to reap the full benefits of ANTI-BLACK racism) .
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Hello Laromana, do you visit vogue italia?
Have you seen these blogs:
http://www.beautyisdiverse.com
http://darkskinnedblackbeauty.tumblr.com
http://hi-imcurrentlyobsessed.tumblr.com/
You should buy the latest issue of American Vogue. There are two editorials featuring blk models. From very light to very dark skinned.
Look up Ajack Deng, of all the blk models this season, she gotten the most high profile shows. Even shows where she is the only blk model like Chloe.
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Race is won by an individual who finishes a run by crossing the endline first. Those who were last will be first and those first will be last.
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Justifing white ppl buying slaves by saying Africans sold other Africans into slavery is embarrassing (it was mostly to prevent their own as*es from going) not a financial gain of any sort.
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Yes Africans sold other Africans into slavery however whites routinely raided the British Isles for slaves and those whites who were permanently banned from the British isles were to go into PERMANENT servitude (i.e. slavery) in either the 13 colonies, Jamaica or Barbados.
Enslavement of whites was discontinued SOLELY due to the fact that a slave had to live at least 2 years or the slavemaster lost his investment. No white slave lived longer than 2 years thus the raids on the British isles and permanent bondage laws were stricken from the books.
This history is suppressed in order to paint Africa as a barbarous nation that routinely sold each other and practiced cannibalism and paint Europe as this civilized nation in which everyone got along in peace and harmony. You can look up the white SLAVE ships in any reference section of your public library that deals with geneaology.
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White Americans are deeply racist because the racist American “powers that be” wanted them like that, as a way of keeping whites, and the country itself, as ‘white’ as possible (as slavery ended they couldn’t have the US turning into another Brazil, where mostly every person was at least partially Black, now could they?!).
Whites (and consequently everyone else) have been indoctrinated to be doggedly anti-Black, and they don’t even know it. Some will even say that the reason that non-American whites may be less hardcore racist against Blacks is because they simply “don’t know any better” (I’ve actually seen this brand of ‘logic’ in writing)…nahhh, it’s because their societies didn’t undertake a long-term and systematic mindfck over its citizens in the same way the US saw fit to do….
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good new everyone,we have permission to talk about the race problem in this country!bad news is,we can only talk about it to ourselves behind closed doors.but the upside is that we can discuss race relation problems.
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I am from Mississippi, born in the sixty`s. I know what racism is first hand, and it is very ugly. Doctors office and restaurant was still segregated in the eighties. White men could murder an Afro-American and never get investigated or charged, just read about about what happen with the killing of Craig Anderson in 2011 by a Southern Confederated Taliban name Deryl Dedmon. Derly Dedmon, and his friends beat Craig Anderson unconscious and drove over him multiple times, until he died including some young white females ( that was never charged) that was involved in the killing. Deryl Dedmon was`nt charged at first until it made national news headlines. One of Deryl Dedmon male friends was charge with simple assault, and no one else was charged. It was a group of people men and young females, that state is protecting some of them. Now my point is we are at war with Islamic terrorist. Islamic terrorist and Southern Confederate are the same. They lie, cheat, steal, and kill to get their message heard. I am not talking about all white people, because the good ones are the reason we are better off today.
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@whiteguy…
Your self-righteous views are the reason racism exists today. You turn your head because your family did not own slaves. Well I turn my head to you…because you are not important either!
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White Americans persecuted the black people because the white people were slaves of the black people and white people are avenging of the black people. It is a matter of slavery fight between whites and blacks.
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Hello, rasismsuk, you have dropped a bomb to Japan. Personal defense. Okay and it is alright. But, do not forget who is higher than you, it is God. You live, you eat and you drink because God gives you all the things to you. United States prosper because God has prospered you and he has given you all of to you gold and silver that you may be exalted and have all the power and be a super powerful nation as the Lord has promised you. But, do not forget that God has blessed you and given you to be enriched of all the riches and glories and joys and powers. If God does not need you, he ceases you to prosper and send you to live just as a common nation like any nation. Thus saith the Lord: All of the gold and silver is mine. By me the kings and princes rule. Without God, you are nothing. With God, you are all who you are. That’s why you prospered and God has given you gold and silver to reign with power and dignity and has taken you on high and you are on the level. God bless America. 🙂
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hello to all of you.most comments are well founded and most are just talk.however,we as a people share the same things in life,this planet.i thought this might sound good,i hope?
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I’m from the south and there is racism everywhere. I’ve grown up with it. My grandmother’s great-grandfather was a plantation owner who owned salves. We’ve all heard stories about it in the family. He wasn’t mean or harsh to them and he set some of them free, but of course he was a racist. It seems racism is more common in the southern states. Personally, I’m not a racist. I don’t mind blacks at all. I love Obama, my family voted for him.
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Racism is common all across the USA, I am afraid. It is not just a southern thing.
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Great article. I do believe most White Americans are racist because of the way they were raised, indoctrination by the racist White media and subconscious and unconscious thinking that Whites are better than Blacks and other minorities. Like the article stated, some Whites have had experiences that made them change their ideas about race but most of them don’t. They already live in a majority White nation and society where everything they do and think is supposedly right hence the saying, ”White is right”.
No, I don’t hate Whites at all but the truth is, you can’t trust most of them LIKE you can’t trust most people in other races either. Many of them can be nice and friendly to your face but talk bad about you and your race behind your back or online. Same goes with other races too. I will like to believe that we can live in a society where people look at the ”content of your character” instead of the ”color of your skin” as important but as long as White supremacy and institutionalized racism exists, America will always be a racist country.
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mostly racism was handed down by family members and friends.if you didnt go along with thier type of hate,you were against them.and that made you the enemy.eithere you were with the racists,or you were one of those people the racists hated.because of slavery the black populists wanted to keep thier hate alive for every generation of white euro people.at the same time now,curtain whites in office wanted to atone for what happen to the blacks in this country.so they put together giveaway programs so as to appease the ancestors of the slave eras.but to them that was’nt enough.they wanted the blacks to understand that curtain white officials were on thier side.but inorder to do that they neede scape goats,white people.keep blaming whites for everything.thats what the new hate was for.redirect it at whites and only whites.media,publications of all sorts,real and imagin.this has been the norn for the past 50 years.the whites are not all racists,they are tired of being every minorities punching bag.and sick of the media and jurnalims anti white hate mongering.if you think whites are racists,you probubly are right,but concider the source:s
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@Abagond You need read more about liberia – colonized mostly by blacks, becamed an shithole.
The ex-slaves from U.S.A enslaved people from the local tribes.
So, white man’s guilty? NO WAY!
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It is such a shame that racism is still so prevalent in today’s world. I am the general manager of a hotel in Pennsylvania. Two employees of our front desk staff are African American and our entire housekeeping staff is Hungarian and Gujarati Indian. Recently, we had a Caucasian businessman stay with us… During his stay he refused to even acknowledge the existence of our housekeeping staff and taped a sign to the door of his room which read “KEEP THE F**K OUT OF MY ROOM”. Because of the language on the sign, we removed it every day of his stay. After checking out of the hotel he called in to speak to “a white person” in charge concerning his so called “problems” with the hotel. During the conversation he referred to the housekeepers as “those things you have working in your housekeeping department”. And, he referred to the two African American desk employees as “monkey whores”; accusing them of running a “brothel service” out of the hotel at night. Because of the severity of that accusation, I was required to research the claim. My hotel has a fully integrated camera security system and upon review of the camera records, I discovered that his claim was a balled-face lie (which I knew before looking at the video). His entire “problem” with my hotel was the fact that we have a very culturally diverse staff. I am very proud of the diversity in my hotel, I believe that it strengthens the hotel by having so many different view points!
I am Caucasian but my wife is African American and my children are obviously mixed race. I took great offense to his comments and found it very difficult to be professional with him after discovering he is nothing but a racial bigot. After completing the conversation with him, I instructed my staff to “black list” him. He will never be allowed to stay in this hotel, nor any hotel owned by this company ever again. I don’t care how much they may bring into the business, I don’t want money from bigots.
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it soo funny.blacks say,whites have no idea what it’s like to be black in america.and yet,they seem to fully understand what it’s like to be white in an opressive society.they stick to their own devision of life and thrust their envy and hate to any and all whites openly and covened.the blACKS STILL BELIEVE THAT THEY HAVE it WORST then any othere group.they wouldnt attack every sect of a people,only those the goverment deems racist.and who do they deem as the only racist<the same people you are calling racist.whites do not fear the racist boogy man,however,the blacks seem to shiver wvry time the white boogy man is in town.
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@Gene Willis
You are apart of the problem not the situation. As a young, Black woman , I believe that most White Americans are very racist (80% of them anyways) because they think that their White skin and being apart of the ”dominant” race makes them better than Blacks, Latinos and other minorities. Although a few White Americans like David Duke are blatantly racist and bigoted, most White Americans hide their racism. Most White Americans subconsciously and unconsciously think that they are better than Blacks and not even realize it.
And you are one of those Whites who think that you are better than Black people subconsciously. I can tell from reading your comments.
”the blacks seem to shiver wvry time the white boogy man is in town.”
Honestly as a Black woman, I get scared when I see a White male in the dark! White men commit more murders and shooting than any other race of males on the planet. Whites have oppressed, lynched, enslaved, killed and marginalize Black people for centuries and still continue to do so to this day. We have the right to be scared of you people! And Whites are the most violent race on the planet and history shows that too.
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I HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE BLACKS ON THIS FORUM,CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN WHY THEIR ARE NO RECORDS RECORDED FROM AFRICA ABOUT EUROS OR SPANIARDS MARCING THROUGH AFRICA and taking slaves?every othere nation has had a record of some sort that showed what transpired during the last 2000 years.where are the records from africas library showing whites raiding villiges to take people away.where is that piece of history?and why has’nt any african american taken time to reserch?what are you afraid of or afraid to learn?africa has been around longer then the united states.were are the records from africa depecting whites stroming through africa collecting slaves?
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@gene willis
The real question is why have you not taken the time to research and find those records? You are the one that wants to know so badly.
On top of that from most blacks recollection they were sold to whites, but I am guessing you were attempting to make the point resulting in passing the blame. Doesn’t matter where it started. Does not take the blame from the whites that participated in it nor the blacks.
Now if you want to some further information into this idea you just brought up I suggest you check out the forum that Abagond wrote on it. LOL
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Oh and Gene…another little bit of information I would like to add to your limited researching. Not all blacks came over here as slaves, but could be taken as a slave at any point in time if a white person wanted them as one. I would say trying google but reading a book would be your best bet.
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Furthermore, there are several museums, forts, encampments, and any number of World Heritage and historic sites throughout Western Africa which provide all the details Gene seeks, both in terms of their actual physical existence, but also in terms of their collections and artifacts. Additionally, Arab, European, and American merchants kept meticulous records of their “transactions,” so there’s plenty of documentation to support the physical evidence that exists throughout Western Africa. I suspect Gene’s trying to suggest that since he knows of no written documentation by Africans, they must be too primitive to be fully human, and thus their enslavement was justified. Or since he knows of no written account by actual Africans, these European raids didn’t happen, and the slave trade was all a hoax. Either way, his motives are transparent, and he has shown himself to be just another troll. Best to ignore him.
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sharina asked,
The real question is why have you not taken the time to research and find those records? You are the one that wants to know so badly.
He wants to play us, using us as indentured servants to find information for him because apparently he is too lethargic or not too experienced in knowing how to find research to do so himself. So, he wants us to waste our time finding information that will be shot down anyway. Even if you buy a plane ticket to an African nation and present some actual records from actual Africans, he would still consider it as phony. So, the only point in him asking is because he is bored and angry.
Gene,
Just because YOU don’t know of any documentation of European slavery and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, doesn’t suggest that there was no slavery or slave trade. And it’s out there for YOU to find. But, I don’t think you’re genuine in learning. If you did, why not attempt find that information yourself and see? We are not here to teach the unteachable, and we are not here to be your information servants.
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@Gene
Go read a history book, you idiot! And my family came here from the Caribbean. I don’t see why you keep on coming on here and disrespecting Black people so much.
BTW All Black commenters on here, trolls like Gene just show me how White AmeriKKKlans see us and the more I know their true colors, the more I want to stay away from White people for good. They truly are an evil group of people.
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Gene Willis:
I HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE BLACKS ON THIS FORUM,CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN WHY THEIR ARE NO RECORDS RECORDED FROM AFRICA ABOUT EUROS OR SPANIARDS MARCING THROUGH AFRICA and taking slaves?
Watch ‘Mankind: The Story Of All Of Us’ and in particular episode 8/12 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzcg-bTf_6o). They broach the subject of slavery and show how the Spanish and Portugese, responding to the demand for human labour to work on the plantations. Whilst the Africans used to provide criminals and captured people from other tribes for this, the demand for sugar increased and the Europeans went and started capturing and enslaving the people they used to trade with. The majority of them were from Central Africa.
Apparently today in America, over a fifth of the population can trace their ancestry back to africa.
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^^^^^
My comment is pending but if you start at around 33:10 this is the bit that I am talking about.
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To be honest…in most trolls today I see two emerging arguments.
1. Slavery is a hoax
2. Whites participated in civil rights to.
The first one is appearing more and more.
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@Sharina
Slavery did happen and it is not a hoax. Your and my ancestors were enslaved and the psychological effects of slavery is still affecting Black people to this very day. No one should ever tell me slavery didn’t happen.
Yes there were Whites who participated in the Civil Rights Movement but they are still a racist group of people. Thus I don’t ever trust them.
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@MrSatan
You fit your screen name lol.
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I am biased against White Americans because of my bad experiences with them. I am not rude or act nasty in person but they always try to disrespect me and my race. I don’t like that. That is the truth. When I graduate, I will try as hard as I can to stay as far away from them as possible.
I will also more about my history and try to enlighten other Blacks too.
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@Adeen
I know slavery did happen, but it is so darn funny watching these trolls come up with any type of nonsense.
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@ Gene Willis: Read a history book and get a clue while you are at it. Your ignorance is showing, and it’s not a good look.
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@Sharina and all other Black commenters
I agree. I wonder why they tell us to always remember the Holocaust and 9/11 but forget slavery. Both events were horrible and detrimental to the victims that were involved yet Whites want to throw slavery under the bus as if it isn’t a big deal. What is up with that?
Black Americans, Black Latinos and Black Caribbeans had their ancestors enslaved and brought to the ”New World” which is modern day Caribbean, America and other Latin American countries like Brazil, Colombia etc. We descended from these slaves and we still feel the effects of slavery in our psychological mindset and the way many of us think and feel. For anyone to downplay slavery and it’s effects is wrong.
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And to be fair not all my relatives were slaves. Abagond did a post on Melungeons which helped me explain and find many mysteries to my own relatives. My grandfather was what many would call a Melungeons. Of those in my area I am in some way related to a majority of them.
My grandmother side of the family was however descendant of slaves and though I have not traced back fully, stories of those days have been passed from my grandmother to me from my great grandmother and be
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Sharina and Adeen
My English ancestors were probably slaves in the Roman empire. They were caucasian, as I am. They may have become slaves to Norsemen when they raided England for slaves and loot. My Scotts Irish ancestors were slaves to the English, and they were banished from their homes in Scotland following Culloden, they were shipped to colonies (Carolinas) and used for labor for 7 years, indentured servitude.
I’m not a slave, nor were my parents or grandparents. I am not affected psychologically, at least by the slavery in my families past.
We are different, you and I, but our ancestors have had similar expereiences. I don’t expect you to think like me. I just want you to be happy and have a good life.
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@Riverside_Rob
What you fail to realize is I am happy and have a good life. I have always been this way despite the past of my ancestors. My grandparents taught me well in judging people on an individual basis. I do that, but I lack trust or respect for online whites because most of them I have run into use these online boards as a means to be racist and not get caught.
B.R. and Rick have my respect because they have been respectable to me. I would respect them even if they butt heads with me because for one they are older and two they have respected me.
I respect you because you are older but I can honestly say you have said somethings in here that have really bothered me (were a bit ignorant), but trust I have no ill will towards you regardless. Not like that no matter how many times you attempt to paint me as such. I also don’t carry a hatred of white people….no matter how much you try to paint me with that as well.
P.S. This is somethings that I have been wanting to say to you for a while. Finally just said it.
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It truly is a shock to see so many African Americans on here stereotyping all Caucasian Americans as racists… I do see all the racism and bigotry coming from many Caucasians, but not all of us are that way. I always felt that African Americans were more level headed and tolerant then we are. As I said in my last post, I am Caucasian but my wife is African American and we are very happy together, we have 2 children together and we have a third on the way! I love my wife and my children with all my heart and if I could prevent it, I would never allow anyone to belittling them because of their skin. On the same note, I also wouldn’t dream of belittling anyone on the basis of anything except their OWN actions.
My wife has always been more tolerant of racist people then me. I have been in more then a few fights (both verbal and physical) because someone makes a racist comment about my wife or about the two of us together. I see it as defending my wife’s honor but she is always the one to pull me away and helps me to get over it because fighting is just stooping down to their level. In that way, I have to agree that Caucasians are more easily angered or offended and more prone to violence. It seems to me that most African Americans have grown to simply ignore the ignorance and bigotry of racist Caucasians. And, in being able to simply ignore the bigots and move on with their day; they prove that they are the more reasonable, responsible and mature race.
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Domanihatu
It truly is a shock to see so many African Americans on here stereotyping all Caucasian Americans as racists… I do see all the racism and bigotry coming from many Caucasians, but not all of us are that way.
So many? A few people writing on this blog does not make many. Instead of judging them about how they come across, why dont you try to learn about the experiences that have made them form this view.
It seems to me that most African Americans have grown to simply ignore the ignorance and bigotry of racist Caucasians. And, in being able to simply ignore the bigots and move on with their day; they prove that they are the more reasonable, responsible and mature race.
Why the hell should they? At the first sign of trouble, you got lairy and raised your fists. I presume you are not currently on bail, writing from a jail cell or at the very least, have a criminal record. Imagine if a black person reacted the way you said you have. What do you think would happen? When your children grow up, do you think they will be judged by who they are and what they can do or what they are? It is a sad truth that I see all too frequently.
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@ Domanihatu
Please quote where it said anything about all and then we can proceed, but considering you can’t comprehend that much…I doubt this is even worth proceeding.
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@ gene willis: Comment deleted for use of racial slur.
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@Omnipresent,
Indeed, Domanihatu committed a “Reading while white” behavior by thinking that so many people are talking about him or talking about all whites when a few non-whites label certain whites as racist, or talk about institutional racism embedded in society.
Besides that, I think you are on to something. A white person who is anti-racist can say and do a lot more anti-racist things and get away with it much more than a non-white person can.
When our house was attacked and vandalized every day for weeks on end when I was a child, with property stolen and also including signs saying {racist slur} GET OUT OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, it was my mother, not her non-white husband, who reacted the strongest. She contacted the police and went up and down the street knocking on neighbor’s doors threatening to have them arrested if they did any more vandalism or theft of property again. If my father had done it, they, including the police, would have simply written him off and there probably would have been no corrective action taken by the police or the neighbors, or it might even invoke even more threatening behavior.
So Domanihatu’s ability to react more strongly to obvious overt forms of racist behavior is actually a form of white privilege. More often than not, non-whites have to keep it much more low key, else risking their jobs, maltreatment from the police, or further trouble.
My mother could react to overt forms of racism more easily than my father, but she was almost blind to 2 others:
– the idea that “white privilege” was “normal”. It was silly in her mind to challenge the concept
– internalized racism — the kind that you find in the media, entertainment and education, the kind you get after thousands of daily microaggressions.
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How can whites be racists they put our president in the white house.
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Hey Colin Flaherty, don’t make White Americans angry:
The school busing of Black high school students (Boston 1970s)
The Japanese automobile movement (Detroit 1970s and 1980s)
Darrly Williams (African American) and Vincent Chin (Chinese-American) were victims of angry White Americans in the 1970s and 1980s, respectively.
http://espn.go.commentary/news/story?page=lapchick/100402
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