Its NOT A Race Thing....Its a POOR Thing!

I have had some time to look around at my surroundings. I know that it is wrong to feel fear, or hate for another based on skin, and I was upset with how many members have expressed themselves concerning the issue of race on ATS.

I wondered how so many hateful people would be on a site like this, white against black, Asian, against Indian, it wouldn't stop. I couldn't put my finger on it, all I knew is that it was happening. Then I realize what similarities were in common, and this was NOT a racial thing, because you know what to be honest, many of us, even those that may seem a bit racist aren't.

We just dont live in those times (that much) anymore. I tried to figure out, what are we over looking? What war is being implemented on a massive scale, but quietly? One that we wouldn't think of right away. And there it was right in front of my face.

The war between the HAVE'S and HAVE NOT'S!!!!!!!!!!

Which one is prone to crime?









Which one wants what you have? Which one will do ANYTHING to get it?

You dont have to share it here, but if you had a moment to yourself, and I didn't say anything, except that those were mugshots of criminals.... would you think twice?

In a white neighborhood, if a white man is shabby, and homeless, other whites will not help him. This is also true in black neighborhoods. I have passed about 1,000 homeless people in my lifetime in NYC, never, not once did I think about who they are, or if they really needed it.

All I thought about was that they could get their stuff together, and were probably lazy, on drugs, or alcoholics.
BTW, I am a Puerto Rican, just in case someone was concerned about my side of this thread.

I hurt. I hurt because the division is getting more and more intense. You cannot tell people to love each other, I cant hate someone if I dont know them. I dont know your story. Where you came from, or where your going.

I am willing to see my part, and willing to say that yes, I am ready to hear about experience. Tell me your story. Maybe someone needs a hug, or a jacket, hell... even a sandwich.

Can I really get man at someone who is homeless that wants to buy a beer? When Im not having a good day its called relaxing... when a homeless person does it their taking advantage.

All Im saying is. Are you telling a story, listening to a story, or even being part of a story, and knowing it first hand? Did the show COPS tell you how the prostitutes look and act?

Did CSI tell you how the perp, and their stereotypical movements and answers with of course their added hunch is always right? Shifty eyes, and a lack of cooperation?

Think things through, the division is deep and hurtful all the way around.

Peace, NRE.

I feel the same way. I have stayed away from all those threads due to all the hate. I grew up in a predominantly white small town.(white male myself), and was raised around racist and bigoted people but it never took with me. My intuition always told me it was wrong.

It wasn't until I joined the Marines that I understood why. I have served with so many people of a different race or skin color and I it has reaffirmed my intuition by showing me that we are all the same, and we are all here sharing this planet together. To me difference in skin color or ethnicity is no different than differences in hair or eye color.

I can understand why so many people hold the hate that they do though. It has been instilled in us all everyday by mainstream media and our current culture. Stories like the Florida incident is proof of that. Just when racial tensions cool down incidents are brought in the mainstream to fuel the fire.

I sincerely hope that someday we will all get oer ourselves and realize we are all the same and we are in this together. Until then we will never succeed as a intelligent species. If you look from an outside perspective it is very primitive of us to act that way and it's time to evolve past it. Anyway, just my two cents.

I agree with you mostly. People who have to work hard daily just to have food, a roof, clothes seldom have time to see color since many of those who live under bridges are white, black, brown and yellow, young, old and so forth.
Even though I have some money to get by on - I have to go to the food bank every month. I used to drink alcohol but now days booze of any kind isn't cheap. Oh, to sit back and relax and have a beer - it has been a long time. Nothing is cheap anymore unless it is made in China and then you might not be sure if it is poisonous to humans or not. The Chinese don't care if Democratic Americans die off like flies - the fewer of us to kill when they invade.
Since I opened my eyes once again to see the war mongers, financial strategists, and crooked politicians I feel ashamed to say I am a part of the human race. If I was God - a lot of selfish uncaring people would have karmic hell to pay and I curse the path TPTB have chosen!

You are correct OP. It's the haves and have nots. And they are pitting us against one another with this thing called race.

While I was driving on the Highway taking my child to school in city, I noticed while I was at a stop light a 'white' homeless man holding a sign, a black younger woman driving an SUV stopped in that busy section, gave him some McDonald's or some type of fast food he took it, put his sign down and walked away and had lunch. I cannot tell you, how that day my mind changed as regards ever judging anyone on their race, color, etc. I drove off very touched, telling myself this is how it should be done. I said to myself bless her heart, and Lord please make more people like this.

Now, when I pass I do the same thing. She had to have seen him first, then went through a drive thru and drove back to give it to him. That, my friends, is a very caring human being. I was touched. We are all human period.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


I couldn't agree with you more. The underlying problem is our magical fairytale made up economical monetary system itself. The fact that we have been forced to all become slaves at birth to a world that is run by a flawed system that expliots human greed. The human race has been duped. We were not meant to live in such a system. Everybody knows it is wrong yet why can we not bring ourselves to break the chains that money has wrapped us in?

I believe that there will never be peace until we find a way to rid ourselves of this archaic, outdated, and just plain wrong system. Life is not a competition, it is a journey, one which we all make together.

I find it sickening,how few people are willing to help each other out,and thats just regular folks.The homeless/those who still have a roof,but need to beg for food+clothing have it a million times harder.I always help out the vagrants+those worse off than myself,if and when i can possibly afford to-its actualy like a knife in my flesh,to see people who have to battle so miserably to stay alive.Maybe its because we are poor compared to most folks,i dont know,but i know what its like to battle.I think that gives one an understanding+compassion,that is not generally found in those who have always had it easy.We(the hubby and i) have had to make loans in the past,to get through the last few days of the month,when we were going through particular hard times.If it was'nt for his sister,i shudder to think how we would have managed-it was a MASSIVE waste of time+unnecessary humiliation to ask the well-off super-Christian "friends",anyway.They "dont believe in lending out money,sorry"...Strange,when you consider they sit in the front rows of the church twice on a Sunday-because they apparently believe in Jesus,who was all about compassion+helping others.Go figure...Thats why,if a beggar asks me for food or money,i will rather do myself short to help him/her-rather than leave them to the tender mercies of those that can WELL afford to help...Anyway,whats interesting to me is:you get two sets of the down and out+desperately poor-those who will commit crime to get money,and those who will rather beg for money+take the chance of going to sleep hungry RATHER than commit crime..which says to me,crime has less to do with poverty+desperation,than with anger+resentment,and a feeling of "them as wont give,has to be taken from".A certain mindset,in other words.Some may call it a predatory mindset,but with the monstrous injustices in this world (even just regarding financial prosperity+the advantages it brings, vs debilitating poverty+the miserably harsh lives THAT brings) i do understand the motivations of those who choose crime as a way of surviving.I dont condone it,especially not if its accompanied by violence,but i do understand it.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver

Point well made and though I've had moments and opportunities to help others in need, Im ashamed to say that I haven't always been that way because I was raised to believe that homeless people were dangerous.

That changed several years ago when I met a woman while waiting for a friend outside of the movie theater. She kept looking at me and followed me from bench to bench. I finally let my intuition take control and I looked her in the eye and realized she was no different than me - more down on her luck at that time and the words "there but for the grace of God" came into my consciousness for the first time in my life. Let me tell you, the gratitude I saw in her eyes when I gave her what little money I could spare left an indelible mark on my soul.

One last story that happened recently - I pulled up to a red light at an intersection where a jobless man was standing with a sign. I immediately opened my car window and explained to him that I too was currently unemployed but I would be happy to offer him some companionship because it was the most valuable thing I had to share with him at that time. Tears welled up in his eyes as I pulled my car to the side of the road and sat down with him in a little grassy area where we just talked and shared experiences for over two hours. In the end, he was the one who gave me encouragement; he told me to hang in there because you get in return what you give and mine was on the way. I never saw him again, though I looked every time i drove past tht spot, but I'll never forget him or the feeling of peace I had sitting there in the grass talking to a wonderful and insightful man.

Thank you for posting this important message!

Timidgal

Which one is more prone to crime? The extremely poor, as in half starving to death, and the extremely rich because they know they can have a lot of benefit with relatively little to lose.

Now these are the comments I like to see! The only race, is the HUMAN RACE! There is good and bad no matter what the differences beheld by the eye. If someone should be singled out, I think it should be those who have to lift themselves up, by tearing others down!

Well I guess petty crime is attributed to the poor,
but the rich are simply more sneaky and more sinister,
oh and greedy, with the crimes they commit.
Plus the more money you have,
the less likely you are to go to jail.
Just ask Tom Delay.

I hope this is a sign that the old ways of thinking are dying. The ones who used to have the power and influence are on their way out and a new generation with new ideas are coming in. It's the death rattle that we are experiencing and they are grasping at straws to keep everything as is. Change is inevitable! Look at the younger generation less and less of them are hung up on the old ideas. The old power structure will not die quietly but it will die. Some day future generations will look back at our backward way of thinking and acting and laugh at how prude, hung up and judgmental our generation was.

I've been thinking- where's occupy? It is spring.
No one is talking about occupy or the 99 % or foreclosures or anything-
everyone's too busy trying this case in the court of public opinion.

I don't know a single rich man that has not got that way completely legitimately

We're just scared of people more poor than we are because they will take what we need to get by.
Rich people take a bit from all of us, so it doesn't seem like such a threat. It's really a bigger threat because we are nickle and dimed and crimed to death by them.

Don't get the race thing. We are all the same species. Afterall we can interbreed can't we?

You know, I resent all you people that have such a hatred for the "rich" - "well off" or whatever other term you want to give to us. Yes that's right. I'm one of "them". The filthy evil rich. And you know what........

I BROKE MY FREAK'N ASS GETTING HERE. NO ONE GAVE ME NOTHING. NO ONE HANDED ME NOTHING.


You know how I did it....It's not a secret. I went to college, held down a job - paid my own way (my tuition) Graduated got a job and excelled on that job, gained experience and went out and started my own business.

And today......22 years later, I own a fantastic home, a boat, vacation every year, my retirement is secure.

IT WAS NOT EASY.

Let me tell you a little about my business.... I employ 32 people. 24 have families. All of them have children. All make over $100,000 per year. What is wrong with that? There is nothing "evil" about being wealthy or rich or well off.


So, why all the " hate " on a web site that is supposed to " DENY IGNORANCE " ???????

Every year we hold fundraisers for;

The Juvenile Diabeties fund
The American Cancer Society
St. Judes foundation
Coley's Anemia foundation.

If it weren't for us "evil rich" people - who would hold these fundraisers?

I tell you what....you folks here get a bunch of your "poor full of morals and virtue" friends together and I'll get some of my " evil rich " friends together. Lets go to one of these foundations and see which group the appriecate more...me and my friends who can donate $200,000 + to help pay for everything that supports these organizations or you and your "moral full of virtue people" with ....what was it you had to offer them?

Then we can have a discussion about how " us evil rich people " are destroying the world.

YOU MAKE ME SICK.

reply to post by johnlucchese


Maybe you should reread what was written. This wasnt about those that were well off and how they got it, but how those that have nothing, depending on circumstances which most overlook or dont care to know are treated.

You have, good for you, but thats not what this is about.

Peace, NRE.

Totally agree OP

It is absolutely about poverty, education and opportunities.

And feeling isolated and separate from society, alienated.

And for people to be that poor means a few are holding all the money.

Did you know that in 1066AD we were forced to start paying rent and this is when financial slavery actually came about. We have been in financial slavery for 1000 years.

Originally posted by johnlucchese
Every year we hold fundraisers for;

The Juvenile Diabeties fund
The American Cancer Society
St. Judes foundation
Coley's Anemia foundation.

If it weren't for us "evil rich" people - who would hold these fundraisers?

I tell you what....you folks here get a bunch of your "poor full of morals and virtue" friends together and I'll get some of my " evil rich " friends together. Lets go to one of these foundations and see which group the appriecate more...me and my friends who can donate $200,000 + to help pay for everything that supports these organizations or you and your "moral full of virtue people" with ....what was it you had to offer them?

Then we can have a discussion about how " us evil rich people " are destroying the world.

YOU MAKE ME SICK.

No offence intended but you just classified yourself above others in monetary terms. I don't believe that is the way to get your point across as you intend.

Originally posted by hadriana

I don't know a single rich man that has not got that way completely legitimately

We're just scared of people more poor than we are because they will take what we need to get by.
Rich people take a bit from all of us, so it doesn't seem like such a threat. It's really a bigger threat because we are nickle and dimed and crimed to death by them.

edit on 30-3-2012 by hadriana because: (no reason given)

This is what I was replying too.....this is a bull # line from an ignorant person. Rich people don't take from the poor --- the poor have nothing....what is there to take from them??? what an idiodic statment.