Black people.

Racism can be really ugly

As part of my own maturation process I had to come to terms with some particularly ugly racism with some of the people I had to look up to as I was growing up. Young children will invariably bear the stains from character flaws their primary role models have and often parrot less flattering attitudes of their parents. A young and formative mind gets a conditional pass as far as I'm concerned- that condition being that at some point- barring any developmental issues, each person will attain the ability to distinguish between right and wrong on their own- without the aid of an outside moral compass.

Then there's the factor of the prevailing ethics of a culture that may accept as a given a system of unwritten rules that excludes or discriminates against a particular race and the reluctance of people to stand up and speak out against something that every one of their neighbors supports. I'm lucky enough to be able to loudly proclaim that I am against racism without the fear of my neighbors burning crosses on my front lawn and targeting me or my family for reprisals. It's very easy to say how I might have been willing to stand up and fight for true justice if I were alive in Mississippi or Alabama in the early 60's but would I be? I'd have been formed in a very different culture where my race (white) would presumably be the beneficiary of a cultural and institutional bias enabling my ability to get ahead economically while obstructing that of fellow citizens who did not share my skin color.

There was a time when unabashed racists held the cards in much of the country. I recall reading historic criticism of a sitting president (Eisenhower) who refused to speak out against the practice of Jim Crow laws and segregation as well as Klan brutality against blacks and people who dared to stand up and fight for them in the south. During the escalation of civil rights demonstrations in the late 50's and early 60's one of the major issues cited in defense of Jim Crow? State's rights. That's right, it was held by more than a few alive at the time that a state's right to enact its own laws without federal i8nterference trumped minorities constitutional rights and was hotly debated instead of the egregious acts being taken against black people at the hands of local law enforcement, judges, juries... and the whole country sat idly by for a long time before very reluctantly (at first) acting to force3 integration of a Mississippi (I think) school. Imagine being the black student being forcibly admitted to a white school- keenly aware that all the local people were enraged that it was happening at all- local people who may have thought nothing of setting fire to a home in the protective dark of night and murdering people advocating laws inconvenient to the local way of doing things.

That student was far more brave than I could ever be I think.

The person I looked up to growing up was a child through the 30s in rural Maine where latent racism was protected by the absence of anyone who wasn't white and the elder generations alive at the time were products of an era when human beings could be treated as livestock depending on their nationality. It does not make his racism right- nor does it negate his responsibility to discern right from wrong but in confronting his very deep and hateful racism I have to reflect on who I am and the deep reluctance I have to fight in order to stand up against a popular cultural ethic that I know to be very wrong. Would I have stood up against Germany's mass extinction of Jewish people had I been alive in Germany during the late 30's? I don't know that I can confidently reply that I would... nor anyone else if they are being completely honest with themselves.

It has taken a few generations to migrate the consensus attitude to where it stands- and there's a long way still to go before we become post racial- if we ever do. When I see (or hear) discussions about racism I become concerned with what direction they will take- not that I don't believe that we should keep open a dialog about the issue- but I'm mindful that the discourse can effectively undo decades of progress- not so much by what people say but by the weight given to racist words and attitudes. We'll never do away with the human capacity to be ignorant so we'll do well to desensitize ourselves from the ignorance that is almost inevitable.

 

Interesting question and answers that have preceded my answer. When I see black people,I wonder why the majority of them aren't wreaking some form of extreme hell on our society for having been virtually ignored in the vast ghettoes that exist in our cities large and small. Within this governmental and monetary system ,there has been such neglect of the decendants of those that began their lives in this country in such a horrendous way-as human machinery-that I don't really understand why there aren't or haven't been massive demonstrations daily-weekly-monthly- yearly- until money for wars and other useless, wastefull endeavers by the government is used to bring some sort of parity in fascilitating the opportunities for decent jobs and education. People can get so far down that nothing matters anymore -not even life.

When I see blacks, I occasionally remember that 3 million years or so ago--we all came out of Africa. Evolution has /is giving us a test. We're pretty much failing it,IMO.

In LA in 1945,when I was 6,an old black guy was in a service station where my gramma and grampa were getting some work done on their car. The old man cut his hand on something and was bleeding. He looked at me with a smile and said "look here,boy-it's the same color as yours. Don't you forget it". I haven't.

Tommy Smith. '68 Olympics. Fist in the air with John Carlos.
The Smiths are from my hometown. Graduated with a couple of them. Played ball with them. Damn good people as were the other blacks there in my school and hometown. So I don't really think much of anything when I see any race anywhere. Except what I wrote above,which is probably not what the OP was looking for.

My ancestors "owned" human machinery in Missouri and by the time I learned about that as a teenager--I understood quite a bit more about some of the strange attitudes and racist comments by the adults in my family.

 

I don't think anything at all. Colour is nondescript for me. I am a mixed-race girl who grew up in multi-cultural London though, may have something to do with it. People tend not to notice things that aren't relitavely unusual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyRwrrggxok"]Improv Everywhere - Meet a Black Person - YouTube

 

Ahhhh--classic!

 

Hello Ma, Pa, Sister, cousin, uncle, aunt, grandmother, grandfather, niece, nephew, or stranger

hotwater

 

Nothing comes to my mind. I wake up with one and interact with many daily. Just another person.

 

"please don't come over here and talk to me, i don't have time to deal with it."

just like when i see a white or hispanic or asian person.

 

I really like the "how people look at me" reply.

I don't take any notice - it can't really serve any purpose. Maybe how one grows up plays a role in one's attitudes at first, but I think dwelling on race and getting past/forgetting race are ultimately choices.

 

I'll be honest, I judge everyone when I see them, on everything. Skin color, hair color, clothing style, accent. I'm not sure why, I've done it my whole life and it's a problem that's never really been corrected, though it really is only a split second thought then logic kicks in and I realize you're just another person too. I'd have to say though, my main thing isn't with black people, the thing i feel most guilty about is the surprise that I feel when an obviously eastern asian person has a perfect american accent.. heh

 

I'm Glad Somebody Saw What I Did There...:2thumbsup:



Cheers Glen.

 

Come on you know you were asking for someone to post this video :2thumbsup:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbhBNEUNyRc"]Randy Newman - Short People - YouTube




Hotwater

 

Could rewrite the song for this particular thread, but then I would be subjected to numerous threats, called a bigoted racist, and probably get banned, so I'll just keep the new lyrics to myself.

as pressed rat noted, funny how every segment of society is up for ridicule and mockery, unless of course such things come from a Caucasian person, then.......

 

As long as it’s in good taste no one would criticize you.


Hotwater :afro:

 

next..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6JCCayPG7k"]White Boys / Black Boys - Hair - YouTube

 

I can appreciate what your saying to an extent, but what, I should feel guilty because I was born white?
That is just as lame as racism and is yet another form of it. You may not be be hurling insults and derogatory terms around, but that "white guilt" mentality does help to perpetuate the issue of racism in America.

I mean shit happens and shit happened throughout history.You didn't own any slaves, but somehow you feel guilty over it?, Sorry not buying into that one.

Then how far back in history do we go? Every race/ethnic group has been fucked over by some other race/ethnic group at some point or another.

Hell, if we were to be truly honest about it then we should all feel guilty about what has been done to the Jews.
Shit, they have been getting the shitty end of the stick going back many thousands of years, so historically speaking, the Jews are owed a helluva lot more than blacks or any other minority or ethnic group. Jews were being exported into slavery eons before blacks ever were.

Yet I find that the majority of members here have no problem disparaging Jews and making jokes at their expense. Some have even made it their central focus and reason for being, based on their posts. The now banned Geriatric Delinquent readily comes to mind, but there are many others. Now if Geriatric had made the same type of posts about blacks that he did about Jews, he wouldn't have lasted a week, but he was here for a fairly long time and was allowed to spew his hate shit quite a lot before getting the axe.

Sorry, but this type of hypocritical crap pisses me off.
I'm not Jewish, I'm not black, the best I could say about my heritage and how "my people" have been wronged is that I am part Choctaw, but I don't.

 

Yeah, right.
As soon as I posted "Black people got no reason to live" tempers would flare and I would be subjected to all I mentioned above.


Sadly some people are just like this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnRULKj0QjU&feature=fvsr"]Chris Rock in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back - YouTube

I have a neighbor who is like this.
I live in a predominately white area, and she is a black woman married to a white guy.
He is pretty cool, she won't barely even acknowledge anyone who isn't black. When my daughter and other kids see her kids out playing and go over, she runs out and makes her kids go in the house. My daughter came home crying one day because she couldn't understand what she did wrong.

So in essence she has segregated herself and family from a community that has no issues with her color or marital arrangement, sad.

So, sadly racist assholes come all colors and creeds.

 

Part Choctaw

Well you got your revenge against whitey when Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge



Hotwater

 

Hey. Settle down,pal. I never said I felt guilty. Just some stories of my life and learning and that's it.

 

But I'm not out for revenge. I should seek revenge for things that never happened to me or my immediate family (though my great, great grandmother did see her husband and sons murdered and was forced to give up land) and which I had no control or part of?
Revenge and grudges are a waste of my life and time.

(great, now that song is stuck in my head,,,thanks )

 

Kinda sounds like it a bit.
Also my "hypocritical crap" remark is not directed at you, it is a general indictment about how people will notice racism against one group and at the same time participate in it against another.

I guess currently it's just fashionable to be apologetic to blacks and disparage Jews at this time. In a few decades it will be some other groups I'm sure