Originally posted by xxpigxx

But seriously . . . the biggest racists are the ones claiming others are racist

i disagree. there are certain characteristics of racism that come through loud and clear. and merely identifying a racist doesn't make a person a racist.

Originally posted by KaginD
One of my closest friends is black and we have DEEP conversations about race. Neither of us get insulted, actually we end up agreeing on the views by the end of the conversation.

RIGHT!

That's because you're close and understand each other on a person-to-person basis.

but the topic's source is suggesting more of the mere "topic" being suggested.. regardless of personal relations.


most racism and static among people considering the topic stem from the fact that people pretty much see unaqquainted people of a different race OVERALL.. in a bell-curve AVERAGE... as something alien and fearful-of.


say you have a ton of friends of a different race?... you're not included inthis..


this racism issue is about people not seeing people as "people".. but as .. objects... objects of an aggressive and opposing nature..

and that's what "they" (insert woo-wooo sound here) ..want you to see each other as.


-

Originally posted by pieman
there is a "black culture",a "white culture", a "hispanic culture", and so on, in the states, race plays as much a part in peoples lives as the hobbies and interests they persue or the religous views they have.

For the purpose of your point, I suggest you look up the word culture. Your definition implies a level of universality. A black man from Wisconsin is vastly different than a black man from the Bronx, who is vastly different than a German black man, or one from Zimbabwe.

Originally posted by berenike
A black friend of mine brought up this topic with me, about how the first thing white people will ignore is the colour of a black person's skin. But, seriously, how do you acknowledge it without causing offence?

Why on earth would anyone feel the need to 'acknowledge' the skin color of someone else .. and why would the other person want their skin color 'acknowledged' to begin with. If they want their skin color 'acknowledged' or noticed then there is something wrong with them.

Originally posted by orkson

But I feel that it will be difficult for anybody to explain WHY 1 black male out of three will be jailed in his lifetime, when 1 white man out of twenty will.

Well, I could get into the details of racial isolation, socioeconomic ostracization, government introduction and criminalization of drugs and enforcer prejudices.....

But I think I'll go with the simple answer... "Because this country is racist!" (or at least was until a few short years ago)

Over the years I have seen a great deal of racism and most of it has been perpetrated by blacks against other blacks or Asians - it is certainly not a white only trait as some people would like to make it appear.

I once had two Somalis reporting to me. Both were hard working, trustworthy and earned my respect and friendship. The rest of the group who were mainly Ghanaians and Nigerians shunned them and were openly hostile towards them.
When I told them to buck up or they were out, I was the one accused of racism.
Truth is, people from all groups either integrate into the wider society or they choose not to, instead surrounding themselves with people of their own race or culture. I don't have a problem with that at all but these can often become fairly closed societies, suspicious of, and hostile towards outsiders.

Bottom line, people of different races / cultures either get on or they don't and no amount of forced political correctness is going to turn the world into some luvvy touchy feely huggy utopia.

I never avoid talking about races.
The horse races,the car races and the bike races.
All other race issues don't interest me.Its the blind leading the blind.
I prefer talking about a good race issue instead,like which horse is more doped up.

And as far as drugs go rural areas are worse, it is eveywhere it knows no boundaries

I hate it.

I have watched it destroy to many lives rich and poor, black and white.

Just for responding to this thread, makes you all racists.

Example of how foolish people are today.

side note: I didnt mean it, I was just pointing out the irony of it all.

Originally posted by Hellish-D

Originally posted by orkson

But I feel that it will be difficult for anybody to explain WHY 1 black male out of three will be jailed in his lifetime, when 1 white man out of twenty will.

Well, I could get into the details of racial isolation, socioeconomic ostracization, government introduction and criminalization of drugs and enforcer prejudices.....

But I think I'll go with the simple answer... "Because this country is racist!" (or at least was until a few short years ago)

Data on inmates in the prison system are readily available on the internet. An overwhelming majority of inmates are in the system for drug possesion ranging from 65% to 91% depending on the location of the prison. Blacks are the majority of the population, hispanics then whites.

A way to adjust this would be to remove the legal side effects of certain recreational drugs or to impose some equally as effective legal side effects to wine coolers and appletini, IMHO

legal side effects of marijuana were introduced to qwell mexicans in the population just as the legal side effects of cocaine were introduced to qwell the blacks in population. The legal side effects of alcohol were repealed becase the whites preferred to drink and they held the majority of the control.

There's a pure and simple example of racism in America and somebody needs to fix this! Either make it all illegal or make it all legal.

Of course this is an over simplified representation of the problem, but I think it delivers the point.

Because everyone wants to invite a discussion about what a sack of poop they are for a half hour.

Sound familiar? It is also the same reason why someone's spouse changes the subject or shuts down rather than discuss their many shortcomings that you are about to inform them about.

Nothing one can say is right. Even if you say something true, you still coming out looking like poop. Plus the conversation relies on the assumption that you are responsible for the actions of people you never met and don't agree with and can't change and have no influence over. It also assumes that those people in history were not also under the influence of some oppressive force that was moving them, often by force of some sort.

Does it have a net effect? Sure. Should one do something about it where they can. Sure. Are you really trying to blame me for something that I wasn't even alive for? Yes.

[edit on 2009/2/20 by Aeons]