iamsupermanv2, to answer your post, very little of what I have said in this thread was in response to you. I found your posts mostly interesting and
open-minded. I have no problem with most of what you said.
I try to be clear about to whom I am responding.
Originally posted by iamsupermanv2
do YOU think we should or should not, in this day and age where personally i think we should be past this all. Maybe not when the obama's were in
college, but certainly by now?
Here's what I think about that.
I REALLY wish we were "past it all". And I have great hope that someday soon, we will, for the most part, be
past racism. I think some racism will ALWAYS exist, but Obama's election has fanned the flames of racism in this country. In other words, people are
talking about it. I think that's good. Just as in my marriage and friendships, I believe that if there's stuff to talk about, then I don't believe
in shoving it under the rug or pretending everything is OK.
As far as being past it all, I don't believe that's for me to say. I'm white. I have never been black. I can't say how it is to be black in
America. I have never experienced it. So, for ME, I don't believe that I'm in any position to say that it's time to move on past racism.
Discrimination still happens every day. Black people face racism and discrimination every day. Who am I to tell them to "get over it"? They will
"get over it" when they are no longer discriminated against. They will get over it when they no longer face racism as they walk down the street or
enter a store. And they will let ME know when it's over. I don't have the authority to say, "It's over now, let's move on".
I see racism as a terrible injury to a group of people (black people, in this case). Because I'm not black and cannot possibly know how the injury is
healing or how much it hurts, it's not my place to tell them that they're all better now and should start acting differently. THEY have suffered
racism and discrimination. THEY will say when it's time to move on. And with help and "rehabilitation" from people like Bill Cosby and Barack Obama
(who I think ARE over racism) the black community will rise up and come into their own and start feeling their strength and equality and then we will
know that it's over and time to move on.
But it would be the height of arrogance to assume that I, a white person, can tell black people that their pain and suffering is over now and let's
get on with it. The best I can do it to treat everyone with equal respect and talk as I have been in this thread to maybe help others understand what
I do.
I hope that answers your question.
