Racism is the belief that one race is naturally better than another. Not merely different but better. And not just better through some accident of history or the current balance of power, but better naturally, better because they are just born that way.
That is the dictionary meaning, the one I use here. In America there are two other common meanings:
- The White American meaning: racism = prejudice + hate.
- The anti-racist meaning: racism = prejudice + power.
The first I call Jim Crow racism; the second, institutional racism. The racism that most White Americans practise is neither of those but colour-blind racism. That is the kind where white people say they do not see colour – until you want to marry their daughter. They do not hate blacks so much as look down on them. They see them through stereotypes, most of which go back to slave times. Like how it is all right to overwork black women, not respect them and think they are oversexed. All that comes straight from when they were slaves.
Some important points to keep in mind about the racism of White Americans against blacks (and, more generally, whites against people of colour anywhere in the English-speaking world):
- Race is social. It is a fiction of society that made keeping slaves seem right and good, one that is still used to excuse white privilege – the unfair advantages that whites enjoy, like better schools and safer neighbourhoods.
- Racism is not natural but learned. Some societies divide the world by race, but most do not. Religion, language and nation are far more common.
- Racism is the air that American culture breathes. America was built on racism, having robbed the natives of their land and blacks of their labour. It has become built into its culture – into its schoolbooks and television shows and jokes. It is hard to escape or unlearn.
- Whites are still racist and it still matters. Their racism, while not as bad as it once was, still has measurable effects on unemployment, income, health, education, etc.
- Whites are largely blind to racism. Because it does not affect them directly; because they do not want to admit they are racist since they are taught it is a bad thing.
- Blacks are racist too. But their racism is mainly directed against themselves – internalized racism.
- White racism affects American society way more than black racism. Because whites hold most of the positions of power.
- Blacks in America cannot afford to be colour-blind. Because they live in a white racist society.
- Shutting up about racism will not make it go away. It will only allow it to live on in people’s hearts and minds unexamined.
- White people use certain stock arguments about race. Most of them shift blame and attention away from their sins. Or they make it about their feelings, as if their feelings are more important than the truth.
- Saying bad things about white people is not the same thing as hating them. Their errors need to be pointed out.
See also:
Had me thinking then
What is White Global Supremacy as advocated by Cress Welsing & Neeley Fuller, and if it exists at all??
Either way controversial…
http://www.zimbio.com/RBG+Afrikan-+Centered+Cultural+Development+and+Education/articles/xAHjEKdCSIU/Dr+Frances+Cress+Welsing+Gigantic+Lie+Dr+Neely
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Brother! Abagond, I was thinking about a definition of racism just recently! I was thinking more along the lines of a true definition. And yours is the best I’ve seen. At my own blog I posted on “minority” racism against blacks from one person’s perspective. I’m sure you could do that subject justice more than I. I need to read through your posts on this very interesting subject. It seems that these days with the Tea Party acting up, racism is coming out of the closet and roaring! All the old school stereotypes from the 1920s that white folks would have been ashamed to speak out loud are now easily slipping and sliding off of their tongues! MLK’s name is on a lot of their lips as well. I liken this movement momentum to Freaknik, or Mardi Gras, or a mob of young men who feed off each others’ bad behavior: one or two boys light cars on fire, then the group follows suit. Or: a small group of boys start groping on girls at an outdoor concert, then a whole mob forms and rips girls’ clothes off! Racist behavior feeds off of itself! Is this evidence of superiority? I’m just saying.
black-folks.blogspot.com
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Ah, the 11 Commandments of racism — more accurately they are the 11 rationalizations blacks use to avoid a meaningful self-analysis.
Where are we today? A black president (who is on the road to a failed presidency). Black political representatives in every district with high percentages of black voters. Unprecedented black prosperity, which includes a growing middle class. A surging number of wealthy blacks who have risen to the top of their professions — mostly sports and entertainment/media.
However, black academic achievement continues to lag — a lot, and violent crime is many times more prevalent among blacks compared with whites.
The standard social pathologies afflicting the black community are still doing damage: fatherlessness, illegitimacy, substance abuse, and the previously mentioned violence and low academic achievement.
If these rationalizations had merit, somewhere in the world there would exist a black nation populated by mostly prosperous blacks living in a modern setting with clean water, accessible healthcare, effective public education, a mix of industries and a culture of innovation.
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Gosh no_slappz making the same irrelevant arguments yet again!
Whoever saw that coming? (Please note that the question had major sarcasm!)
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vindicator,
My positions are as valid now as they were the first time I shared them here.
You, however, seem to be in a state of perpetual denial.
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Wonder what the significance of the picture is?
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Finally, I knew you was going to say the whole “denial” thing!
Typically predictable!
And the whole “Perpetual Denial” thing you’re one to talk!
Troll!
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This is an excellent article for all of us who are repeatedly being told the myth that the wealthiest or the majority of Blacks are successful mainly through sports and entertainment
http://www.blackenterprise.com/blogs/2009/02/27/warmed
-over-myths-of-black-wealth/3
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@Nicia
You shouldn’t have posted that! Now the trollish tool no _slappz is going to go on a long and totally inane supposed rebuttal of those facts!
Which will include:
1. You are wrong
2. Sidestepping the argument and then coming out with an argument which is completely irrelevant!
3. Ending with something negative towards blacks and muslims!
4. “You’re in denial”
Wait a minute! He’s going to do the same with post as well! Oops!
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This list also shows the worlds Black Billionares,very few made their money in sports and entertainment
http://www.hvpress.net/news/167/ARTICLE/…/2008-03-26.html – Cached – Similar
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@Nicia
Didn’t you see what I just wrote!? LOL!
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Haha, I know Vindicator! I stopped reading this person’s
posts but today I read it!
Their arguments are so O.T.T that it makes me chuckle. Sorry I JUST saw ur post LOL I’ll ignore all those posts from him from now on again…..
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I believe that Abagond himself was the one who said that most wealthy blacks got that way because of sports or entertainment. If I can find his post I will put it here.
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We know all about racism. How do we (as Blacks) fight against internal racism? We have no control over White racism, but we can exercise control over “mental slavery” and internalized racism.
Black girls still prefer White dolls – despite all the “Black and I’m proud” rhetoric of the 70s and beyond.
http://diversityinc.com/content/1757/article/1301/
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Patricia Kayden
We know all about racism. How do we (as Blacks) fight against internal racism? We have no control over White racism, but we can exercise control over “mental slavery” and internalized racism.
Black girls still prefer White dolls – despite all the “Black and I’m proud” rhetoric of the 70s and beyond
I totally agree. It’s not white people’s fault that black girls still prefer white dolls. That’s the parents fault. They should caught off the tv and sit with their children and teach them to love themselves.
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This blog only talks about “black people” and “white people”. I haven’t found a post that says “black people and white people are alike”. I’ve said this before, we should try to minimize our differences and magnify our similarities. We should speak to the human race NOT blacks and whites. We are all human, I think we can agree on that.
We should seek to unite rather than divide. Join rather than separate.
Unity by any means necessary!
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Pat,
I believe that we have to take education into our own hands. It’s time to buy books that show pre-colonial African Kingdoms and Black inventors, take them to African-American museums, take them to meet Black professionals or read stories about them on a regular basis. Have the magazine Black Enterprise magazines around.
Read to them about all the thousands of Black entrepreneurs around the world who made it in life.
Don’t expose them to stereotypes through TV etc.
If you start young, this will build up a mental barrier to all the negativity they might face later on.
A teacher tried to put my brother into a lower educational level when he was young. My Dad who came from Black country, challenged him.
My Dad had the confidence to realize that my brother (who was smart) just LACKED CONFIDENCE growing up in a white environment.
Even in school, some of his White friends tried to get him to quit school and my Dad cracked the whip on my brother and banned him from these loser’s influences.
Today, my brother is one of those wealthy Blacks with a 6 figure salary who got his science and business degree. All because my Dad fought and exposed us to positive influences. My Dad himself is financially very successful because he valued education and tuned out negativity from some White people
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nicia, you wrote:
“This list also shows the worlds Black Billionares,very few made their money in sports and entertainment”
The list may show the source of wealth for black billionaires around the WORLD, but I specifically confined MY comment to wealth among blacks in the US.
However, now that the issue of black wealth around the WORLD has been raised, I will comment on the article.
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Vindicator, i’m apologizing in advance,,,, haha This is another interesting article. This is not for Slappz (whose posts i’m ignoring from now on, I promise!) but for
All of the Black folk that are fooled by the White media into thinking Black people’s best hope is in sports
THESE STATISTICS ON BLACK ATHLETES ARE VERY TELLING!
For example,
out of 35 million Blacks in America, only 1200 Blacks are professional athletes!!
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/…/index.htm
I don’t know how many Black entertainers there are but i’ve heard that Black millionares( not counting billionares) number into the 6 figure sum. and I think there are even greater amount of Black people (like my brother) whose net worth is in the 6 figures. I’m I’m PRETTY sure that there aren’t THAt many Black entertainers LOL
We really need to do our OWN research as Black people and feed positive upbuilding facts to our chiildren!
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Whoops! don’t think that link worked!!
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1139954/index.htm
This is the proper article
It’s called Delusions of Grandeur by Henry Louis Gates.
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Black Enterprise Magazine needs a new writer. Alfred Edmonds wrote:
“Warmed-over Myths of Black Wealth
Newsflash from CNBC’s NEWBOs: If you’re black and can’t rap or play ball, forget about making it in America.”
The preceding conclusion is a false reading of the facts.
If you want to examine black wealth, then it’s best to deal with the real numbers. Black athletes and entertainers are often well paid. Some manage their money well, and others squander it. But getting to the upper regions of wealth always involves some risk, and many people drop like rocks along the way.
Meanwhile, the writer claimed the belief about blacks succeeding through athletics and entertainment was false BUT offered NO alternative scenario. Why? Because it does not exist.
He simply offered the fact that it is Assets NOT Income that is the true measure of wealth. Wow. Who Knew? But that is another way of saying black athletes blow their big incomes rather than build wealth. Perhaps that’s true. But during their years of big earnings, they are nevertheless “rich” compared to ALL Americans.
Edmonds wrote:
“It’s 2009 and a black man is President of the United States of America. So why is CNBC still programming like it’s 1989 and the only way black Americans can hope to achieve wealth is via a sports contract or a record deal?”
The report merely states that some blacks are making it big in these two areas. Sounds like good news to me. The other conclusions added by Edmonds are paranoid views with no connection to scope of the report.
He writes:
“CNBC’s NEWBOs: The Rise of America’s New Black Overclass, a special which aired last night, is wrong on so many levels.”
Nowhere in his comments does he show how the report is “wrong on so many levels.”
He says:
“But its biggest disservice is that it is based on two stereotypical myths about black wealth that are just not supported by the facts:
“The best–and even the only–avenue to real wealth for black Americans are through sports and entertainment.”
Nowhere is it said or written that the only way to wealth for blacks is through sports or entertainment. Nowhere. This report, and others like it, recount the current facts of black income and wealth. It’s that simple.
He says:
“An exception is RLJ Development CEO and billionaire Robert L. Johnson—the only subject featured who can make a credible claim to being “uber-wealthy.” Of course, he made his fortune by creating and marketing a cable channel featuring black people singing, dancing and rapping. (Oh, and unless you’re Oprah Winfrey, black women need not apply—apparently there are no female NEWBOs.)”
Actually, Robert Johnson became wealthy by SELLING his cable channel. For whatever it’s worth, I wrote an investment report on BET in 1991 and interviewed Johnson. Interesting experience.
Edmonds said the second myth about black wealth is:
“Black athletes and entertainers are among the richest black Americans and among the nation’s wealthiest Americans.”
No credible person has EVER said black athletes and entertainers are among the richest Americans. However, Oprah and Johnson are among the richest Americans, and they are both in the entertainment business.
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Here’s the core of the article on the WORLD’s black billionaires. It is worth mentioning that Motsepe the mine owner made big bucks by paying low wages to black mine-workers.
“Collectively Black Americans are the richest blacks in the world. But, only two Black Americans can claim a nine-figure net worth.
“Times are changing and Black Africans are making more money than African-Americans and have made it onto Forbes’ list of the world’s wealthiest billionaires.”
“Ethiopian-born Mohammed Al Amoudi is the richest black person in the world with a total net worth of $9 billion. Al Amoudi is ranked 97th on the Forbes list and followed by billionaire blacks such as Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote ($ 3.3 billion), American Oprah Winfrey ($2.5 billion), London-based Sudanese Mohamed “Mo” Ibrahim ($2.5 billion) and South African Patrice Motsepe ($2.4 billion). BET founder Robert Johnson’s divorce dropped him to just a $1 billion fortune.”
“Al Amoudi made his fortune in construction and real estate before betting on Swedish and Moroccan oil refineries. His Svenska Petroleum conducts oil exploration from the Nordic shelf to the Ivory Coast. He is the largest private investor in Ethiopia, putting money into such diverse assets as a hotel, gold mines and a food processing plant.”
“At the age of 21, Aliko Dangote became a stock trader off a loan from his uncle. After he built his company, The Dangote Group, into a conglomerate with interests in sugar, flour milling, cement and salt processing, he struck gold when his sugar production company was listed on the Nigerian stock exchange last year. The Dangote Group dominates the sugar market in Nigeria and is the country’s largest industrial group. Dangote is ranked the 334th richest man in the world.”
“Oprah Winfrey is 215th on Forbes’ 2008 list.”
“Sudanese-born Mohamed “Mo” Ibrahim ranks 462 on Forbes’ 2008 list. A communications entrepreneur, Ibrahim founded Celtel, a mobile phone company that now serves 15 African countries. Sold it in 2005 for $3.4 billion; pocketed $1.4 billion. ”
“Johannesburg mining magnate Patrice Motsepe is South Africa’s first black billionaire.
“Born in the sprawling black township of Soweto and then trained as a lawyer, Motsepe has grown in business and dubbed the “prince of mines” by many because of the vast fortune he has amassed through his company African Rainbow Minerals (ARM).”
“Motsepe bought low-producing gold mine shafts in 1994 and turned them profitable by using a lean, and mean, management style. Now, not only is he the executive chairman of ARM, but he also holds a 42 percent stake in the company.”
“The Robert Johnson everybody knows, is now only the 1062nd richest person in the world. Founder of Black Entertainment Television, Johnson became America’s first black billionaire in 2001 by selling BET to Viacom for $3 billion. ”
“His ex-wife, Sheila, took a big chunk the following year in a divorce settlement. “
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In his article, Henry Louis Gates said:
“Standing at the Bar of an All-Black VFW post in my hometown of Piedmont, W.Va., I offered five dollars to anyone who could tell me how many African-American professional athletes were at work today. There are 35 million African-Americans, I said.
“”Ten million!” yelled one intrepid soul, too far into his cups.
“”No way…more like 500,000,” said another.
“”You mean all professional sports,” someone interjected, “including golf and tennis, but not counting the brothers from Puerto Rico?” Everyone laughed.
“”Fifty thousand, minimum,” was another guess.
“Here are the facts:
“There are 1,200 black professional athletes in the U.S.
“There are 12 times more black lawyers than black athletes.
“There are 2� times more black dentists than black athletes.
“There are 15 times more black doctors than black athletes.”
Gates’ may have provided FACTS, but how relevant are they? Since the issue is black WEALTH, the comparison should involve the wealth of black athletes and entertainers versus the wealth of the other black professionals he mentioned.
Plenty of lawyers make very little money. Plenty of dentists earn unimpressive incomes and have modest wealth.
Gates accomplished only one thing with his article — he highlighted the fact that many people erroneously believe the number of professional black athletes is higher than it truly is.
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I am always curious as to why some whites insist we set aside differences and only focus on commonalities. “Look we are all people!!” To me this falls in line with the “I’m color-blind!”paradigm that some whites use, which is deeply troubling. The issue is not that we have differences, but rather that the ways in which African Americans and other people of color differ from whites is vilified, devalued, or exoticized by most of white society. Most whites have historically acted as if these differences make people of color NOT human.
I am reminded of a conversation on swpd where a white commenter basically was like, “You people of color need to be nicer if you want white people to listen and work with you to end racism!” Ummm boooo ….
I fail to see how ignoring differences, which some people of color value about themselves, and/or black people watching their “tone” is really going to help any. When white people ask people of color to ignore differences they are asking us to deny part of ourselves. It is very dismissive. And annoying …
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Being a white person, I somehow feel I should comment here, but I don’t really have anything productive to say (is that a bad thing?)
Maybe I’ll just comment on #11:
Saying bad things about white people is not the same thing as hating them. Their errors need to be pointed out.
But seriously, how many white people visit this blog regularly? How many really stop to read and think about it, at least for a second longer than the usual time needed to defend themselves?
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With regard to:
“I am always curious as to why some whites insist we set aside differences and only focus on commonalities…”
Well if you ‘cannot’ understand or ‘choose not’ to understand then you can easily come to this position
QED…No…Maybe…Hmmm!!
No seriously for me I think one of the predicaments White people face in confronting racism is that they may have to tear down their own civilization and this is something they are reluctant to do.
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Having a brief look again on what was written. I was reminded of: quote by Dr. Martin Luther King pertaining to
3. Racism is the air that American culture breathes. America was built on racism, having robbed the natives of their land and blacks of their labour. It has become built into its culture – into its schoolbooks and television shows and jokes. It is hard to escape or unlearn.
which also has a somewhat distinct similarity.
“Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race.
Even before there were large number of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the 16th century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population.
Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or to feel remorse for this shameful episode.Our literature, our films, our folklore all exalt it…”
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An interesting paper
The Culture of White Supremacy
Click to access 2_Culture_White_Sup.PDF
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There was also a continuation of the excellent BBC series. The Lost Kingdoms Of Africa. It brings out how there were ancient busts found in Benin I believe. They were so technologically advanced that the Whites didn’t want to believe that Africans had made them. As a matter, it shows that when something shows Black people in a dignified light, racist whites assume it cannot be true and strenuously work hard to pick proven facts apart with no success I might add.
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J:
I agree they are reluctant. So they should stop acting like they want to end racism … For many (not all) its all an act. So they should stop asking people of color to “be nice” so we can work together or recognize we are “all human.”
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Moreover, the REAL point is the racism that underlies asking people of color to do these things.
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This post by abagond heads in the general direction I mean:
This recent post as SWPD is also related:
http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/2010/01/supposedly-forget-that-obama-is-black.html
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@Angel
Exactly, I watched the whole series and the most repeated phrase was that europeans coud not believe scratch that DID NOT want to belive that the so called primitive Africans could build anything or do anything becasue they wanted to belive that the Africans dark skin made them inferior. That is why those white racist will love to argue up and down that those African kingdoms were probably built by arabs or some kind of outside influences and say that they were not black
Get out of town with that mess
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out of 35 million Blacks in America, only 1200 Blacks are professional athletes.
That’s almost certainly too low a figure. First of all, Gates’s article was written 20 years ago. Secondly, there are lots of African American pro athletes abroad. For example, in various European basketball leagues alone, there must be hundreds of black American players, if not more. Not all of them are making top dollar, but they are pro athletes nevertheless.
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Wow!!! I know racism exists within all 4/5 of the races, but probably not as rampant as you would suggest. You don’t have to agree with me, but both of our statements are fair and subjective.
You should stick to the proper definition of the term “Racism” and give no promotion to the “other” meanings. It makes communication less complicated. I’m not as educated as you 🙂 and the definition of racism is not subject to interpretation.
However, I cannot completely deny your colour-blind racism theory in my personal paradigm. But let’s call that what it is and not make up another meaning of racism.
I will be back to address your “11 points to keep in mind”. Just to let you know my background: Race=Caucasian/Mongilian(is there a “1drop” rule for that?)
Note: I generally consider myself white, as that is where most of society places me.
Racist=No. I believe that all men are created equal and that God is no respecter of persons.
Prejudice=Yes. I feel it’s geared more towards appearance than race, but you may know more about what I feel than I, given your in depth study and intellect.
I found your blog by referral and was shocked such beliefs were so alive and encouraged. As stated earlier, I believe that I am not racist, but visiting your blog may help me learn if I am really what you say I could be.
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all i know is racism is getting worse, not better.
In my poli sci text book, it had a table that shows that 67% of people in 2004 feel its okay to have books in libraries (schools etc) that say blacks are inferior. In the 1970s the table showed 62%…
Although the table did not reveal how many were asked, and what races specifically were asked, or age groups or location, so its hard to know…but with the increased paranoia and the socially acceptable covert racism displayed by white people, I wouldn’t be surprised if those statistics were true….I wouldn’t put it past white people (or other non-blacks) to still think that way…
my motto in life is to trust no one.
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AR101, you cannot claim to know that racism is getting worse, not better. That’s too general of a statement. I cannot argue one way or the other either, but if you’re going to make an absolute comment, stick to what you actually know.
I’m glad to see that you admit, your poli sci text book could be inaccurate in it’s polls or at the least recognize the possibility of manipulation of said poll. But anyway, you look at it, those numbers would be disturbing.
Is the “increased paranoia” you speak of, a reaction or do you think it’s propelled by a movement? I hope you are sticking to the actual definition of racism, because it would be very difficult to be covert if someone displayed racism. LOL.
I wouldn’t be surprised nor expectant of such stats and thanks for stating your “white people” comment in the form of an opinion. I can respect that.
You leave yourself limited opportunity for growth if you really trust no one. I hope that changes someday.
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@jallen
I don’t know you or want to know you. I don’t argue with ignorant people.
I am stating what I know, I read news articles and observe peoples behavior. I am a history major. I know racism is getting worse…common sense tells you that.
Go bother someone else with your colorblind racism ideals. I look at the world realistically. I am not going to pretend to save the feelings of some racist out there. Abagond even says that colorblind racism is not good for blacks.
Do what you want. I don’t care if you want to be part of the problem.
Don’t tell me I don’t know something that I do know about.
Patronize someone else. I don’t deal with people like you on the internet.
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I am a misanthrope with a great hatred for humanity so I have no reason to trust others. I will NEVER trust others. If people hate me for it then fine…won’t be the first or last.
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alwaysright101,
You are right. Racism is getting worse every day. Everywhere you look, it’s nothing but asians and blacks, asians and blacks. Turn on the TV and you get newcasters who are asian or black. Watch sports and you get more blacks, except in ping-pong and sumo-wrestling. Then you get asians.
Movies? It’s Denzel and Will all the time. Comedy? Lopez, Lopez, Lopez. TV? Nothing but Oprah. Politics? The endless speechifier himself, Barack.
It’s tough out there for whites.
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once again, slappz has decided to “contribute” his usual racist banter…he must really have nothing better to do than to once again troll the blog…
yawn.
stop being such a broken record and actually says something of value in your life for once…its not hard, all you have to do is use your brain…well it may be hard for you since you probably haven’t used your brain since you were a baby and had to get mommy’s attention to feed and diaper you.
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alwaysright101, you wrote:
“stop being such a broken record…”
It’s amusing, today, when people use the comparison to a “broken record.” At this point, the use of this phrase shows how out-of-touch the person is.
alwaysright101, you probably do not realize it, but your comments are self-parodies.
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this coming from a troll who does nothing but prove all the posts about white people to be correct?
nice try, slappz, but we all know that you have nothing of value to say.
you get bored too easily since you are always trying to start fights with everyone on here….you are like the blog joke on here. a running gag that is always trying to prove the truth that is in the posts.
we all know you are out of touch with reality, you don’t have to tell us that.
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AR101 I don’t hate you for not trusting anyone and I can’t make you not hate me. But you are stating what you perceive and not what you really know.
I’m sorry you had to revert to name calling, but if that’s how you know to express yourself, I will tolerate it. 🙂
Is Abagond your God and do you go against your motto and trust him? Even he, as highly educated and intellectual he may be, needs to be questioned.
But I’m not here to banter with anyone. I just wanted to address the subject Racism 101.
I have no intentions of bothering you, so don’t let me. LOL, just ignore my posts. I will ignore your posts as well. 🙂
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@Jallen
Abagond is NOT my God. I don’t trust him, in fact, I have disagreed with various postsof his.
And its not your place to tell me what I do and don’t know. I am a pretty good judge of the things I have seen.
The fact that you are trying to dictate to me my experiences, puts you in the category of racists who try to tell others how their experience should be.
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Abagond you really should reconsider and ban No Slappz, what is the point of having someone like him/her on this blog??
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AR101, YOU ARE the best judge of the things you have seen. But you should remember that “things are not always at they appear” and what you have seen is limited to only what you have seen. If you want to say that “racism is getting worse from my point of view”, I can’t argue that. But you cannot make that statement as an absolute truth, unless you absolutely know the truth of what everyone is thinking.
Please know that I would never dictate what you have experienced. And the only thing that could place me in the category of Racist, is if I believed one race is superior over another.
What do you think? Do you think that one race is superior over another?
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Whew, I went through each point and made a comment. After all of the reading, I have to say that I don’t think racism was the subject for a lot of the points.
But whatever you believe, know that you can do anything I can do. It may be tougher for you, but the victory would be that much sweeter.
Does anyone on here actually believe that their race is superior to another race?
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alwaysright101, you probably do not realize it, but your comments are self-parodies.
No_slappz, you probalby do not realize it, but your comments are self-parodies.
alwaysright101,
You are right. Racism is getting worse every day. Everywhere you look, it’s nothing but asians and blacks, asians and blacks. Turn on the TV and you get newcasters who are asian or black. Watch sports and you get more blacks, except in ping-pong and sumo-wrestling. Then you get asians.
Movies? It’s Denzel and Will all the time. Comedy? Lopez, Lopez, Lopez. TV? Nothing but Oprah. Politics? The endless speechifier himself, Barack.
It’s tough out there for whites.
Another fictional account brought to you by our friendly neighbourhood commentator….no_slappz!
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Hi Vindicator!
You’d be proud of me! You’re right! Slappz wrote some comments but I completely skipped over them. LOL
So I have no idea what he said!
But Jack who quoted that there are Blacks who are athletes outside America,,,,
I’m sure there are BUT living in Europe, soccer,polo, rugby and cricket are played, not basketball or football.
I doubt that there would be a lot of Americans would go outside to play these in these European sports, especially as I don’t think America has training for these sports
If you look at Black wealth (net worth), there are FAR MORE Blacks who have become millionaires by means outside of sports and entertainment.
Even if there are 10,000 Blacks in sports/entertainment, the point is…the number of wealthy Blacks( in the USA) are in the 6 FIGURE RANGE!! This doesn’t even include upper middle-class Blacks who are Dr’s, lawyers, dentists, entrepreneurs…
Then there are the regular middle class Blacks who earn enough money to live extremely comfortably..
Black Enterprise Magazine wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t a demand for it….
But they aren’t telling you or flashing their wealth around for the world to see like the entertainers/sports stars.
They don’t get exposure but live quietly under the radar…..
Even some rap or sports stars have raised enough capital, then quickly branched out to businesses because they always had a BUSINESS mind but had no CAPITAL to finance their aspirations…like JAY-Z, PUFF DADDY..etc.
They are mainly business people who are just rapping on the side..But if they didn’t have a sharp business mind, they would have just turned out just music and nothing else.
Last of all, an American middle-class Black live better than the average European, maybe only Scandanavian countries might be close…
To get an idea,, just use a property search engine for Europe. For example, France… It’s horrifying to see the state of thousands of these homes in pictures!! dirty, derelict, run down.. I purchased a property in Europe and it was a nightmare searching for something that had proper heating and didn’t look like a garbage dump.
If you see how many awful cramped european homes on the internet, you’d be thinking that White people are only successful through the media and sports!
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Now this was something that I definitely had to respond to:
“Blacks are racist too. But their racism is mainly directed against themselves” – that’s absolute bulls-!!!
I’m not from the States but I’ve travelled a lot in your country (much due to my father’s job – mainly NY and Washington) and although I’ve never said anything racist to another individual but I’ve definitely got to verbally experience the racism of young black men against me as a white boy/man – I’ve been called everything from “honkey” to “cracka”, I’ve been, as a teenager, stared down on by groups of significantly older black guys in clear attempts to intimidate me (to be honest, I was afraid, thinking of America’s liberal gun-policy). Although I doubt the verbal attacks hurt me in any way as much as the n-word might hurt a black man, I definitely can say that representatives of the black community tried to at least hurt or intimidate me because they were racists.
I do in no way deny that there is racism in the American society, but I believe that there are just as many black racists per capita as there are white racists – the difference is that whites in America clearly outnumber the blacks.
So I can say that I get mad everytime I see someone trying to claim that if blacks are racists, then they are mostly racist against themselves, or that blacks are racists because of history or because they can’t afford to be colourblind – that’s, to me, a complete lie in an attempt to, in a very sophisticated way, justify one group’s racism..
If young black men are constantly told that they are allowed to feel that way against white people then who knows what choices they will make in the future. Clearly I’ve got to meet quite a few who had made up their minds and not in a good way.
And I do find it quite scary.
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@ Mike
I find it quite scary ( being female 5’1 120 pounds) when I’m at the light rail station on my way home from work ,minding my own buisness, and White males passing by in their vehicles scream “go back to Africa you Nigge*” I’ve even had things thrown at me. This has happend to me and other female members of my family on several occasions.
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@ Leaveumthinking
Okay, my response wasn’t meant to show what level of racism I’ve experienced (and make it into a competition) but I wanted to underline that blacks are just as capable of racist thinking and attitudes as whites are – while Abagond claimed that blacks are mainly suffering from self-loathing and aren’t racists against whites in the same way as whites are racists against blacks, which is wrong – the difference is that whites, in America, outnumber blacks.
This does to me look like he’s trying to claim that blacks, in this way, are morally superior to whites and any animosity that blacks might feel against whites is a response to white racism, or any black evil is a response to white evil.
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This list of liberal dogmas has more holes in it that a Swiss cheese shop.
1)Race is social -> WRONG: Race is a combination of majority biological and to some extent cultural factors. And the “white privilege” idea is just a total lie. As for the “safe neighborhoods” blacks behave like whites have some safe neighborhood magic powder that they refuse to share, when in fact the reason why they are safe is because they are not rife with criminals. The same with the schools. In Washington DC they have the second or third place on money spent on education per student and still the schools suck. Race isn’t social, societies are racial.
2)Racism is not natural but learned. -> Perfectly correct. We are not born “waicist” but as time passes we draw our own conclusions from our life experience and the available data.
3)Racism is the air that American culture breathes -> I noticed that the term “robbed the land” is only applied in the liberal discourse to populations so backward that it couldn’t be actually called a proper conquest. As for the “racist schoolbooks ” most of them are practically hagiographies of blacks and Third-Worlders
4)Whites are still racist and it still matters.-> Please Whites are practicably breaking in half trying to appease black “grievances”. Of course by know “anti-racists” define racism as not having a religions epiphany every time a POC walks by.And maybe lashing yourself one or two times as penance for your “privilege”. As for employment and education this translates into “whites haven’t reduced the standards low enough and instituted enough quotas so the lower average IQ black population can appear statistically equal”
5)Whites are largely blind to racism. ->It’s pretty hard to see something that is not there while trying your hardest to cover your eyes to the real reasons of black failure
6)Blacks are racist too.-> I think this is because they know much better from what direction the wind is blowing
7)White racism affects American society way more than black racism. ->Whites are still a majority and for the rest see point 4
8)Blacks in America cannot afford to be color-blind-> perfectly right. In a color-blind society blacks would be in a even worse position that they are know without the helping hand of affirmative action , quotas, “disparate impact” and other crutches. Therefore the race industry can never stop and the “legacies” of slavery and Jim Crow will never be “eradicated”. Not now, not in a hundred years.
9) Shutting up about racism will not make it go away. -> It might make anti-white racism go away, but as I say blacks stand too much to lose to ever shut up.
10)White people use certain stock arguments about race-> Like the liberals are such innovators in the race domain. Sorry I take that back. They are innovators. Every time blacks fall short again they invent some new explanation how it’s all whiteys fault again.
11)Saying bad things about white people is not the same thing as hating them.-> Not only are you not “hating ” them but you don’t have to bring any proof of your assertions no mater how outlandish. If a white dares to say a bad thing about blacks , no mater how backed they are by facts and undeniable data they are always “hatin”
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MerriMay said:
“Abagond you really should reconsider and ban No Slappz, what is the point of having someone like him/her on this blog??”
Why not just ignore No Slappz? That’s what I do. Just don’t read his “comments” since they add nothing to the discussion anyways.
Abagond has already expended enough posts on this idiot.
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@Davi
If Abagond is just a racist liberal Black man, why bother responding to his post at all?
@Abagond,
Davi and the other Whites posting comments here is why I do not worry about racism. Whites are not going to change their racist ways. IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
Blacks just have to know what Whites are and work around them — life is too short to be consumed by evil people. Thank God that things have progressed in America to the point that we are no longer under their thumbs. We are living at a time when Blacks can secure a good education, get good jobs, live in nice neighborhoods, and be successful. What the “White man” thinks about me has not held me back, and shouldn’t hold back any other Black person with ambition.
Your next post should be about successful Blacks with an explanation of how they became successful, despite the racism in this society. That would be more uplifting.
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If Abagond is just a racist liberal Black man, why bother responding to his post at all?
Indeed, why? Is he doing this to entertain himself? If so, go to a gossip site or read the ‘National Enquirer’ for fun.
What the “White man” thinks about me has not held me back, and shouldn’t hold back any other Black person with ambition.
Exactly! Some of these posters seem to think that all we do is sit around, probably in some beat up abode, with no job, with no education or skills, blaming all our ills on white folk. Well I am sorry to disabuse those posters with those views of these notions. There is a difference between discussing modes of speech and behaviours and actually giving them power to hold one back. Obviously these posts have struck a sour note, else, why even bother to post? To what purpose? Who are you trying to convince? Your whole comment is an example of what the blog author is talking about.
Your next post should be about successful Blacks with an explanation of how they became successful, despite the racism in this society. That would be more uplifting.
An excellent suggestion as is the rest of your post Patricia!
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Thanks Herneith — sometimes I believe that writing excessively about racism does Blacks no good.
Let’s accentuate the positive – there are thousands of African Americans and other Black Americans who have done exceptionally well despite racism.
And, I am not talking about celebrities or sports figures — I am talking about ordinary Blacks, such as those I work with, go to church with, live beside, etc.
Racism no longer has the power over us that it did over our ancestors. That’s something we must emphasize for the younger Blacks coming up today. Otherwise a constant talk about racism can be discouraging.
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@ Patricia:
Right you are!
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“6. Blacks are racist too. But their racism is mainly directed against themselves – internalized racism.”
Oh really? Allow me to enlighten you just a bit.
http://theinjusticefile.blogspot.com/2010/09/black-racism-black-hate-black-violence.html
And,
“Nowhere is it said or written that the only way to wealth for blacks is through sports or entertainment”
You forgot one: LAWSUITS against white businesses and the White tax base
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i just ran across this post, interesting dialogue, the brother who posted this post is right and exact. esp… on the many definitions and categories of racism.
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Wow! I read a lot of the comments and racism STILL EXISTS. No matter the discussions of facts and statistics, no matter (America) has a true African American(that is an actual person of African and American decent) president, the minds of people who have been built on the racist ideas of American history(fore fathers who are all white skinned) and its slavery mentality are deeply rooted in the truth of how people with white skin consciously(and sub) perpetuate the myth that they are superior thru the right of skin color. Whites have taught their offspring racism by not addressing their history in slavery and its long term devastating effects on people of color(not just Blacks) in the rearing of their offspring. Black children perfer white by reason of that same neglect of real education about their history in America and anywhere else in the world. Asians and many other races who grace our shores, were made to believe Blacks are images of the stereotyping set in their minds by the powerful white washing of the media. T.V. Images of ‘Black on Black’ violence are inundating them and solidifying the idea that Blacks are angry. While this anger(for so manyBlacks, a valid feeling) is not being addressed as a product of how they(blacks) are still being underminded by Whites(who own much and will never allow a person of color to usurp their possessions), continue to also repeat they are not racists(by definition), Blacks are just not equal in overall intelligence or (the other wealth) financial intellect.
The walls of racism are deep and high. The idea that white children don’t think themselves racists is perpetuated by the strenght of their family not (admitting their forefathers were slave ownwers and still(generations later) move about their lives with little or no need to network or otherwise interact with( or address why) a different race of people whose skin is darker than theirs.
We all breathe the same air but since Babylon, we remain divided by some reason we validate our positions on this planet, be it race, religion or political ideas. Being aware of whom you deal with(racial ‘attitude’ at the top) helps individuals address and move beyond color barriers. Perpetuation only can go on when we, people, choose to keep others oppressed or disenfranchised based on skin color.
I wonder how the world would move if we were all the same color! Probably, find another reason to divide and conquere…Sad at the state of the world but realistically, only capable of changing the hearts of those I come to meet or accepting the racists(negativity) as unchangable.
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# 6. “Blacks are racist too. But their racism is mainly directed against themselves – internalized racism.”
The person who wrote this blog here is just woefully uninformed, and also a person desperate to try to keep the white guilt-tripping going. Many blacks believe THAT is the source of all their free goodies in America. I have done a VERY extensive research on the black race since Lincoln’s election (1860). After 1965, blacks were in fact A FREE PEOPLE. Oh How hey want white people to forget that. They were free to build their own towns, cities, industries, or colonize a place in the vast expanses of unsettled land after 1865. Other than a few town, blacks none none of the other above. Starting in the late 1950s, black arched for integration rights. Not equal rights. Blacks were suppose to be a separate and self-reliant people. They chose integration – and dependence. In 1964, white people gave the black race what they were demanding (freedom, dignity and manhood). White males GAVE them integration…across-the-board. There was no constitutional right to receive it. In fact, no people in human history EVER received across-the-board integration rights from another people. Blacks, who built no cities, no industries, no tax bases, no political systems, no urban housing for their people, were GIVEN all this by another people. The most generous and charitable people on earth: white Christan males.
Now we get to question # 6. My research has shown (on my site–drop by if you want) that almost 98% of all violence that crosses racial lines comes from African Americans…and their exclusive victims are whiite people. In fact, blacks are – statistically proven – the most hate-filled race group on planet earth. Don’t believe me? … drop by my site and you can see all the racism and hate-filled violence coming form the people who continue to lie and claim its white people who are practicing racism in America. White racism is a myth! If white people were really as evil as blacks like to make them out to be…WHY ON EARTH WOULD THESE PEOPLE MARCH DOWN AMERICA”S STREETS AND DEMAND INTEGRATION INTO ALL THAT EVIL??? Yes, it makes no sense. Blacks need a homeland in America. The quicker they receive it, the better off white and blacks will be. I long for that day.
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[…] https://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/racism-101/ […]
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[…] Racism 101 […]
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Shutting up about racism will not make it go away. It will only allow it to live on in people’s hearts and minds unexamined.
^^^^
This above is so true many people feel uncomfortable talking about racism and white supremacy ideology because (well, my opinion) they feel like there participating in that same ideology. Which they are!
I was watching a YouTube channel of a White Brit explaining what racism is in his head. Apparently to him racism is the dictionary definition sadly he has alot of followers.
God knows how long this will keep up we need massive organisation of Africans and by extension Asians and Indigenous Australians and Americans.
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@abagond There is a story about President Obama’s father returning to his home in Kenya and his father telling him he could not bring that white wife or mixed race son back home to mix with the Kenyan blood.
If that is a true story is that racism and do the elite in Africa practice some sort of elitism. And could elitism be racism or does this term only apply in the United States and white Europe?
I suspect the term racist in general only applies to how whites think about blacks.
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@ Allen Shaw
Frankly, Mr Shaw, I think you should go to Africa and see by yourself if what you think, not only about this specific issue, but in general, is true or not. People in First World countries do not pay much attention to what is happening “down there” in Third World societies, to really know what those societies really look like. This is my advice.
There are aspects of human relationships that are really symmetrical, that is, they change sign, when you go from a society “A” to society “B”. But this is not an universal rule. Other aspects remain identical or similar (with the same sign) and others go neutral across societies.
For example, you say that Obama father’s family didn’t take lightly the fact that their son brought a woman from another racial background. Quite similar to how many White American (or White European) families would object to their sons or daughters bringing girl/boy friend or husbands from another race. I think there is some symmetry here, from what I observe in real life both in Africa and Europe.
But when you jump to a reflection about the feelings and behavior of the elite you are already crossing the line from truth to falsehood.
White elites have created a culture that denigrates other races, specially Blacks, whereas Black elites haven’t. So a Black family feeling uneasy because its son or daughter wants to marry a White person doesn’t mean that they consider White people to be inferior. In fact, not few families – specially in elite circles – would feel honored when one of their sons or daughter marries a White person.
So to make a symmetry here about the behavior of the elites, Black and White, is not correct.
But the main thing that is wrong with your train of thought is your tendency to jump to generalizations.
Africa has over 50 countries. Each is different from the next one. Some were British colonies, some French, Portuguese, Belgian, even one was a Spanish colony. A few African spaces were never colonized.
The different colonisators brought with them different ways of thinking and impacted differently those African spaces. For example, the amount of race mixing varies greatly between British colonies (very little) to Portuguese ones (much more). Those differences lasted to nowadays. So it would be foolish to expect a Mozambican citizen (Mozambique was a former Portuguese colony) to see as strange a love relationship between a White person and a Black one, or to see as even more strange the offspring of such a relationship: people with a similar phenotype – so-called Mulattoes – are everywhere to see and socially to interact with, in all wakes of life. Maybe in a very remote village in the countryside. Just maybe…
Besides love relationships…
Did you know that in all governments from the country’s independence until now at least one White person (in fact, likely more than one!) was there as a cabinet minister (in Mozambique)? In South Africa too, despite all the talk, from some circles, about Black on White revenge pos-Apartheid, etc.? As I speak they have following non-Black members of government: Rob Davies (White) and Ebrahim Patel (Indian descent), Mohamed Enver Surty (Indian descent),
Andries Nel (White), Gert Oosthuizen (White), etc.
Have you heard of Guy Scott? He is a White Zambian who became acting President of that country for a few months between 2014 and 2015. See the respective Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Scott.
So Black people in many, if not most, African societies are quite comfortable to deal with White people in different roles. The uneasy with which many White societies deal with people of other colors is something that sprung from their recent history of domination of those (colored) people.
As I said in another thread, better is to show pictures to open people’s eyes and minds.
Read following article about mixed pairs in Nigeria:
https://buzznigeria.com/nigerian-female-celebrities-who-got-hitched-to-white-men/
Or watch a little bit of social interactions between Blacks and Whites in Mozambique in following video-clip taken a few years ago:
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Another webpage with mixed pairs in Nigeria:
https://omgvoice.com/lifestyle/12-nigerian-celebrities-interracial-marriagesrelationships
Unfortunately I haven’t found a similar page from my own country.
But the point is clear, I think.
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@ munubantu
Followed your Buzz Nigeria link. Surprisingly, two of the “White” men wed to Nigerian beauties are American. One is African-American and the other is Latinx-American. Strange to lump them in with “White” unless “White” is synonymous with foreign in Nigeria.
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@ Afrofem
I noticed that too.
I think that whoever wrote the article was somewhat sloppy and perhaps didn’t notice that the content of the article changed a little bit as he/she wrote it, demanding, in the end, a more appropriate title.
But you are on track regarding the language thing. I cannot assure you if this is the case in Nigeria or parts of it, but in my corner of the world we have the word mulungo in Tsonga (a Bantu language family in the southern part of Mozambique) and a similar muzungo (in Bantu languages spoken in the northern parts of the country) which mean at once “foreign” and “White person”.
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@munubantu
“”@ Allen Shaw
There is a story about President Obama’s father returning to his home in Kenya and his father telling him he could not bring that white wife or mixed race son back home to mix with the Kenyan blood.
Frankly, Mr Shaw, I think you should go to Africa and see by yourself if what you think, not only about this specific issue, but in general, is true or not. People in First World countries do not pay much attention to what is happening “down there”
If you read my portion you will see that I asked a question.
I did not state a fact. I could not possible go to all of the many different parts of the world to “see for my self”. I spoke of one situation only, you decided I was talking about Africa. Now to be more correct: If the story was true was President Obama’s grandfather a racist is the question?
As far as my using the word elite, that may be my error and I will not bother to try to find a word to satisfy the conversation.
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