Racism...

[Darthphere]

Paula Graces. *drools*

White Castle. *drools*

Teddy

 

[PyroChamber]

Here's something I've always wondered...

If you're a minority and you say that you're proud to be whatever you are (black, hispanic, asian, etc.) then it's ok. But can a white person ever say that they're proud to be white without it looking racist?

 

[ShadowBoxing]

We have Crystal down here. It is a pale and naivish representation of White Castle. Or as I call it Casa de Blanco.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Here's something I've always wondered...

If you're a minority and you say that you're proud to be whatever you are (black, hispanic, asian, etc.) then it's ok. But can a white person ever say that they're proud to be white without it looking racist?

Depends on how you word it. It's okay to be comfortable with your race, or say "I would not want to be anyone else". But if you start throwing around words like "white pride" it starts sounding like "I am proud to be the majority" - which is a very dangerous statement.

Things that apply to minorities often don't apply to majorities. The worry of any Democracy, and a problem we still have, is tyranny of the majority. This is especially problematic if you have a group(s) that is singled out. So if majority groups become empowered by their own status they can supress or even enslave the former group.

This could apply to any race, ethnicity or socioeconomic class depending on the country and circumstances. Also power plays an important role in determining majority, it does not translate to sheer numbers.

You also have to understand Black Pride, or Black Power, is simply a way to empower them to determine their own destiny. Almost like reving the engine of a car in a race to catch up to someone. You naturally have to take stronger stances the further back you are.

 

[Darthphere]

We have Crystal down here. It is a pale and naivish representation of White Castle. Or as I call it Casa de Blanco.

Actually, it would be Castillo Blanco. And I have neither down here.

 

[Erzengel]

Here's something I've always wondered...

If you're a minority and you say that you're proud to be whatever you are (black, hispanic, asian, etc.) then it's ok. But can a white person ever say that they're proud to be white without it looking racist?

First off, if someone asks my nationality I say I'm an American. Then they are like err..uh..I mean...

If I'm asked to describe myself I don't say well, I'm this and that. I say well I'm pretty f'ing funny, loyal....etc.

I'm proud of what I am, Asian and White but I don't wear it as a badge and I don't identify myself by my ethnicity.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Actually, it would be Castillo Blanco. And I have neither down here.

None in Florida. They must stop south of DC then.

 

[Erzengel]

We have Crystal down here. It is a pale and naivish representation of White Castle. Or as I call it Casa de Blanco.

I had White Castle the other day. It goes down so good especially after drinking.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

I had White Castle the other day. It goes down so good especially after drinking.

On Thanksgiving me and my [mom's side] get drunk (Uncles and everyone) and we go to White Castle. We were there at 1 am last time the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was awesome.

 

[Darthphere]

I hate all of you.

 

[Erzengel]

I think I might have 5 sliders with a fries and some of those chicken rings. Mmmmmm..

 

[Darthphere]

I think I might have 5 sliders with a fries and some of those chicken rings. Mmmmmm..

Way to rub it in.

 

[War Lord]

Jews have been known to be very ambitious and have very good work ethics that didn't mean they gave up on reclaiming what the nazis stole from them. That's because they're not idiots. They said why should we let the poeple who tried to destroy us keep our inheritance? That would be ******ed.

Everybody know blacks worked without pay for hundreds of years. Everybody knows blacks never recieved the wealth our forfathers deserved. Everbody knows it but would rather spend billions rebuilding Iraq than enhancing the education of black children. All because America hasn't changed. Back then it was the slave trade, now it's the oil trade.

You want blacks to be more responsible but the government is teaching us to cheat and steal. It's teaching us to exploit and lie. America should take responsibility for the past and give blacks their inheritance. Doing so gives blacks a reason to work like slaves again. Because it will be understood that such work will pays off eventually.

The difference is that Jews were going after what was theirs from within their lifetime, not what was taken from them 400 years ago. What was taken from them 400 years ago, they let go, as you should.

Everybody, except you apparently, also knows that every ethnic group has had its period of enslavement and that having worked for free and not gotten anything back from it and won't get anything back from it. Their response has been to move on and build a life for themselves and their descendents as you should.

The government isn't teaching you to steal, because there are no classes of "Theft 101". If you're being a common criminal, you are learning those lessons on your own time. In fact, because there wasn't any legal requirement to pay slaves, you are trying to claim something that doesn't belong to you, which is theft.

The government should not be required to pay for wrongs in the past because it has no legal obligation to do so. What is legal, though wrong, is still legal and therefore the government doesn't have anything to make up for. The only time the government owes anybody for any wrong is when it has done wrong under the current law. If something is legal, though morally wrong, the government doesn't owe anybody anything, but if the government continues to do that moral wrong when it has made that wrong illegal, than it owes compensation.

 

[War Lord]

Yeah yeah. Forget about injustice and go back to work. What's this? 1825?

The truth is if my forefathers had a choice they wouldn't have bled, sweat, and cried sacrificing everything for nothing but the fact remains they did and America benefitied immensely. You call it "whining" but staying silent while America continues to withheld funds from our people would ultimately be more shameful.

I do what my forefathers couldn't do without being whipped and flogged. I relax and enjoy myself. I'm not even trying to get reparations so I can buy a hummer. I'm doing it so millions of black children can get a better education. That's probably what those unfortunate slaves wouldve wanted. Not for me to shut up and work like they did at gunpoint.

The fact that you can relax and enjoy yourself, as well as maximize opportunities for yourself, means that you have gotten what your ancestors fought for. Nothing else is owed.

You're not doing it so millions of black children can get a better education. If you were, you'd be fighting for them to get a better education in the elementary and secondary school levels, which is already paid for by the taxpayer. You're doing it in the hope that you can get a free cheque, period.

 

[War Lord]

Since all blacks were eligible to be slaves back then all blacks would be eligible for benefits today. And reparations would be given to ambitious school children in the form of school vouchers.

Ambitious children with talent can get through the system on their own steam. Nothing else is owed.

I do support school vouchers for every school child though.

 

[War Lord]

There's really no excuse why the richest country in the world that spend billions every week building Iraq never give blacks their 40 acres and mule. I don't want a paycheck but there's no excuse why the government can't do more for black children. The legacy of injustice continues.

This post really needs to be responded in the same way I heard a black father respond to his teenage son when he complained about the government not fulfilling its agreement on 40 acres and a mule.

"Shuddup! What are you going to do with a mule!

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Just thinking about it is silly.

Am I wrong in thinking that at the root of racism is having a dislike for people for where they are from? Isn't it because of they time that a particular group of people has spent in a certain land caused their bodies to adapt to that land? Is not this the reason that African people are black, that Asian people are normally short to a lot of other races? Can't all physical qualities of a race, be explained through adapting to the land they from?

So at it's root, racism is having a dislike for people for where they are from. What is the difference in this, and say Northern people from the U.S. sterotyping Southern people because where they are from?

I'm not anthropologist, so if someone is, or can correct me, please do.

Racism comes from power struggles and economics. The term caucasion (or white) did not exist until the 1700s when a historian found a skeleton in the caucus mountains. They falsely placed the "being" at the top of the food chain to justify the system of slavery. Several philosophies and doctrines were created as well to enforce the belief that blacks were racial inferior.

Racism and where you are from have little, if anything, to do with where you are from. Plessy, from the case Plessy v Fergusson, was as white as you or I (clocking in at a 1/8 black) and still denied access to white reserved areas.

Homer Plessy (denied access to white only rail car).

 

[KingOfDreams]

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but I beleive it was the French that specifically created the word "race" in order to make themselves "superior" to other groups of people.

 

[War Lord]

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but I beleive it was the French that specifically created the word "race" in order to make themselves "superior" to other groups of people.

Obviously the're trying to compensate for their shortcomings.

 

[inspiritonly]

Jews have been known to be very ambitious and have very good work ethics that didn't mean they gave up on reclaiming what the nazis stole from them. That's because they're not idiots. They said why should we let the poeple who tried to destroy us keep our inheritance? That would be ******ed.

Everybody know blacks worked without pay for hundreds of years. Everybody knows blacks never recieved the wealth our forfathers deserved. Everbody knows it but would rather spend billions rebuilding Iraq than enhancing the education of black children. All because America hasn't changed. Back then it was the slave trade, now it's the oil trade.

You want blacks to be more responsible but the government is teaching us to cheat and steal. It's teaching us to exploit and lie. America should take responsibility for the past and give blacks their inheritance. Doing so gives blacks a reason to work like slaves again. Because it will be understood that such work will pays off eventually.

Oh please, Don't tell me you actually believe that whites owe blacks compensation for slavery? Blacks were captured by other blacks and Arabs, and sold into slavery to Europeans and Americans. I actually think that if you seek compensation you need to start by asking Africans. Then you can send your request to the Arab countries. I'm not going to allow any of my money to go toward compensation. My ancestors were dirt poor and didn't own slaves. In fact my ancestry is Irish and Native American. My Native American ancestors were enslaved, slaughtered man, woman and child, had their land taken from them and were forced onto reservations. My Irish ancestors were forced into slavery and viewed as inferiors as late as 1957. So don't cry to me about ancestors. If you think that you have had any wealth taken from you, visit Africa, sit in a one room-hut and talk to the people. Believe me your chances of being wealthy are a million times what they would have been should your ancestors have remained in Africa. You have opportunities they never dreamed of. It was a long hard road, but your ancestors made changes and bettered themselves. You just want to bellyache and claim money for yourself that they earned.
Stop living in the past. We are in the here and now. You can go to school, get a degree and become anything that you set your mind to. If you don't make anything of yourself you have no one to blame but yourself! Nobody owes you anything!

 

[ShadowBoxing]

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but I beleive it was the French that specifically created the word "race" in order to make themselves "superior" to other groups of people.

I believe you may be right.

 

[KingOfDreams]

My gf is part black and the only racism she ever got was from Blacks because she didn't act Black, had white friends and attended advanced classes.

Believe me, this is not a racist comment, it's just an observation...but I think that as a whole one of the reasons why the black community is "kept down" so to speak is because success is frowned upon. It can be seen as "selling out."

As far as answering the reason why racism exists, I kind of agree that it's somewhat rooted in geography...in the sense that people from different places can look different from other people...and people tend to fear and hate what's different or what they don't understand. Customs probably have a lot to do with this too. Primitive can mean inferior to many people...and that notion continues even as a society grows and changes.

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

Just thinking about it is silly.

Am I wrong in thinking that at the root of racism is having a dislike for people for where they are from? Isn't it because of they time that a particular group of people has spent in a certain land caused their bodies to adapt to that land? Is not this the reason that African people are black, that Asian people are normally short to a lot of other races? Can't all physical qualities of a race, be explained through adapting to the land they from?

So at it's root, racism is having a dislike for people for where they are from. What is the difference in this, and say Northern people from the U.S. sterotyping Southern people because where they are from?

I'm not anthropologist, so if someone is, or can correct me, please do.

Its a shame a discussion about this topic cant really be done,because it just ends up being an argument because some people cant handle the truth about certian things.

For example,Americans now hate the French because France does not want anything to do with America`s useless war in Iraq.That is really a childish and pathetic excuse,since France has done much for America.But that seems to dissapear due to current thoughts.

When you get right down to it,im not really sure where Racism originated.It could have just been that some people did not like anything different than what they are,the lack of understanding.People dont want to change how they think,and that is sad.

 

[Hotwire]

It must be nice to pretend slaves and their descendents didn't get shafted by the US government. I guess it would be cool if whites for the next 400 years were prevented by the US government to be paid for work or own property. 400 years of whites working night and day from childhood to the grave for nothing. Meanwhile the government gets rich and powerful.

Now here's the kicker after whites have been exploited for hundreds of years their great great great grandchildren still get nothing. Then rich black people can laugh in those disenfranchised white people's face and say "stop crying. get a job!" lolz!

There's really no excuse why the richest country in the world that spend billions every week building Iraq never give blacks their 40 acres and mule. I don't want a paycheck but there's no excuse why the government can't do more for black children. The legacy of injustice continues.

Never said that slaves didn't suffer. I know they did, and what happened to them was very wrong. But what you are suggesting is not even close to feasible. You would first need everyone in the country to reace their geneology. You'd have to make sure no one cheated on this. Gotta make sure that the descendents of slaves and slave owners are all identified. Then we would need to figure out exactly each descendent is owed. I mean some slaves were treated better than others and some weren't saves for very long. This would be impossible to do, since they aren't alive anymore. But even if we came up with a figure of $1,000,000 for each slave. Would we then give each of his/her descendents $1 million? And what if they never had children? Or what if the children they had were with their white master? Now the descendent is white! Are they still entitled to the money? Then there's the matter of where to get all this money. According to the US Census Bureau, as of 2002 there were about 37,000,000 black, non-hispanic people living in this country. Now, even if only HALF (18.5 million) of them were direct descendents of slaves, at $1,000,000 each that is a rough total of $18,500,000,000,000 or $18.5 trillion dollars!!! This country already opperates its budget in the red, and while it would be very noble for the government to pay this money out, the money just doesn't exist. You are going to have to accept this, move on, and make your own way in the world.

 

[Hotwire]

because any black child was a fair target for slavery therefore any black child today will be the target for school benefits.

This entitles my daughter!! See, I'm white, but I married a Puetro Rican woman who already had a daughter by a black man. This means, by your logic, I should get money for her. Cool!! How much money do I get??