Can we PLEASE talk about Racism?

[Skarekrow]

So just the other day the Department of Justice concluded it’s report of Fergeuson, MO. and it is terrible.
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/do...rt-on-the-ferguson-mo-police-department/1435/

[h=1]Ferguson Police Chief Resigns a Week After Justice Department Report[/h]http://abcnews.go.com/US/ferguson-p...k-justice-department-report/story?id=29560538

Can we quit all the BS and beating around the bush and talk about how racist America still is?

This whole city has been found to be racist, like disgusting so…a city Judge has ever resigned.

Can we have an honest and open discussion about this please?

Our social-structrue is racist…some states less so than others…our police, courts, and prison systems are racist.

Our media is racist.

Thoughts please?

 

[Skarekrow]

Well…I guess the answer is “No”.

 

[MeerkatMama]

Do prejudices exist? Yes and human survival depends on it. Racism? By its true definition, very few people are actually racist.

 

[ZcM4xzkjgzCjytBc]

By its true definition, very few people are actually racist.

I don't think the distinction matters. Prejudice/racism effects people's lives dramatically. Despite even if a tiny fraction of your time is spent on a prejudice thought. It takes one simple decision to change someone's path.

 

[Skarekrow]

Do prejudices exist? Yes and human survival depends on it. Racism? By its true definition, very few people are actually racist.

I would have to disagree that very few people are racist.
I think very few people realize what is happening here in the US.
I mean this ENTIRE police department…judges, etc. were found to be extremely racist in how it conducted it day to day business…they clearly, and purposefully targeted African Americans.
Then we have things like NY with its stop and frisk…who gets stopped? The white guy…no.
I would hate to be black and to just be involved in a normal traffic stop…especially in some areas of the country…I would fear for my life I think?
Our prison system is very clearly racist = https://www.opendemocracy.net/bill-...at-prove-us-criminal-justice-system-is-racist
Or if you will...


[video=youtube;_Pz3syET3DY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_Pz3syET3DY[/video]

 

[MeerkatMama]

I don't think the distinction matters. Prejudice/racism effects people's lives dramatically. Despite even if a tiny fraction of your time is spent on a prejudice thought. It takes one simple decision to change someone's path.

So you favor relativism, am I correct? We should just burn dictionaries, because definitions don't matter, right?

Yes, prejudice and racism can effect a person's life dramatically. I'm not sure what point you're making here to my comment about make a distinction between what they are defined as. Can you elaborate?

People make decisions everyday that affect the lives of everyone around them, good or bad, but most of the time, it has nothing to do with prejudice or racism. When it does have to do with prejudice or racism, it can also lead to saving someone's life, not harming it. So I'm not sure why you view this as a negative thing. Human survival depends on people making decisions to keep themselves safe, which means they have to notice patterns, which is what prejudices are based on. We need prejudice to survive or humanity would have died out a long time ago. There is a reason people don't sleep with lions or bears. On the other hand, we do not need racism to survive. Racism does not serve a good purpose, while prejudice can and does save lives. Like most anything, a good thing can also be turned into a bad thing, which prejudices can do, and for that, it is truly unfortunate when it does happen.

 

[MeerkatMama]

I would have to disagree that very few people are racist.
I think very few people realize what is happening here in the US.
I mean this ENTIRE police department…judges, etc. were found to be extremely racist in how it conducted it day to day business…they clearly, and purposefully targeted African Americans.
Then we have things like NY with its stop and frisk…who gets stopped? The white guy…no.
I would hate to be black and to just be involved in a normal traffic stop…especially in some areas of the country…I would fear for my life I think?
Our prison system is very clearly racist = https://www.opendemocracy.net/bill-...at-prove-us-criminal-justice-system-is-racist
Or if you will...


[video=youtube;_Pz3syET3DY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_Pz3syET3DY[/video]

I truly do understand why you believe that and trust me, I am angry about our prison system. However, I do not believe it is solely based on racism. I live in a primarily black neighborhood and the police drive through my neighborhood every day. I've lived here over a decade. My home has been christened with lead and I've witnessed prostitutes being dropped off in front of my house late at night. My husband grew up in a neighborhood where dead bodies were found in the park across the street from his house. Yet, neither of us have ever seen police just randomly stopping the numerous black people walking around just to harass them.

Racism does exist today, but not on the scale people want to believe based on the media hype. Prejudices exist and rightfully so. Living in my neighborhood, you can bet I have to make constant prejudice assumptions in order to make sure I keep my family safe. Most of the people around me would never, ever harm our family in any way, but there are certain people who, if not held back by the threat of jail/prison time, would do my family a great deal of harm. With the multitude of kids in this neighborhood with absent fathers, there are quite a few older teenage kids I never turn my back to. Am I wrong for being prejudice towards them? Should I ask them to babysit my kids? Be honest.

As an INFJ, I have strongly desired to reach out to these kids and have tried. I have found elementary and middle school kids are reachable, but high school and older are a very tough reach. Very tough. Police know this, too, and it is NOT their fault these kids almost always have absent fathers and choose to run with the wrong crowd, doing things to harm others, and going to jail for it as a result. I'm not a fan of our current prison system, especially the war on drugs, but I'm not going to say there is an injustice somewhere when there is none. The injustice lies squarely in the hands of families who have dropped the ball in raising their children to respect themselves and others. There is hardly any racism in that when it's their own people doing it to them.

There isn't an easy answer to this problem when most people are complacent to watch TV, browse the internet, consume worthless stuff, and otherwise just not give two carps about the people around them. It saddens me, but unfortunately, there isn't much I can do about it, because the powers that be will squash anyone who tries, unless the whole nation rises up against them. Good luck with that.

 

[ZcM4xzkjgzCjytBc]

So you favor relativism, am I correct? We should just burn dictionaries, because definitions don't matter, right?

With this response, you chose to ignore context for the sake of being correct generally.

Yes, prejudice and racism can effect a person's life dramatically. I'm not sure what point you're making here to my comment about make a distinction between what they are defined as. Can you elaborate?

Yes. The point is how people are effected/affected by racism/prejudice. A more suited point to the discussion than nit picking definitions.

People make decisions everyday that affect the lives of everyone around them, good or bad, but most of the time, it has nothing to do with prejudice or racism.

There being a shit-ton of decisions unrelated to race, does not interest me, and has not point. What does interest me are the decisions that are related to race. You don't get to hide the fact that your racist decision is less impacting because they're piled in with other decisions. Furthermore, racist decisions are those that exclude people from groups, and limit what they can do. This is arguably the most important enablement we have as humans - our ability to network, make friends, and generally participate in life. In other words, racially prejudiced decisions are important decisions.

When it does have to do with prejudice or racism, it can also lead to saving someone's life, not harming it.

That is a strange edge-case you chose to include...

So I'm not sure why you view this as a negative thing.

Your argument is like asserting Hitler wasn't a bad guy since he was supportive of his own people.

Human survival depends on people making decisions to keep themselves safe

So here's an idea: While you make decisions to keep yourself alive, also try not being racist.

which means they have to notice patterns, which is what prejudices are based on. We need prejudice to survive or humanity would have died out a long time ago.

I get it, prejucide is not necessarily a bad thing. I assert that racial prejudice is mostly unwarranted bullshit.

There is a reason people don't sleep with lions or bears.

What I do in my own spare time is my prerogative.

 

[MeerkatMama]

Skarekrow, I tried to reply to your response, but it was deleted and I don't know why.

 

[MeerkatMama]

O_q, I'm sorry if you are offended by truth.

 

[ZcM4xzkjgzCjytBc]

O_q, I'm sorry if you are offended by truth.

At this point, no one is taking you seriously right now.

 

[Skarekrow]

Okay…
[MENTION=5511]o_q[/MENTION] and @MeerkatMama

This thread was not intended to start fights…it was intended to have a REAL discussion about race and discrimination in this country.
I mean watch the John Oliver video…but I have also posted this elsewhere…
A black man, has a 10X higher rate of conviction than a white guy.
Is that not a real thing happening?

 

[Kgal]

So just the other day the Department of Justice concluded it’s report of Fergeuson, MO. and it is terrible.
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/do...rt-on-the-ferguson-mo-police-department/1435/


Can we quit all the BS and beating around the bush and talk about how racist America still is?

This whole city has been found to be racist, like disgusting so…a city Judge has ever resigned.

Can we have an honest and open discussion about this please?

Our social-structrue is racist…some states less so than others…our police, courts, and prison systems are racist.

Our media is racist.

Thoughts please?

From what I witness here it's more about the fact they pit one group against the other when it comes to money and resources.
The non working class - historically the black populations here - get resources and assistance - whereas the working class - historically the white population - does not get any services. They see themselves as paying all of these taxes leaving them with less take home pay so others get the services and don't have to work. Then it rolls in to one big racist perspective as them blacks vs the whites.
The Hispanics get rolled in to that view as well.

There aren't really enough jobs here anyway but the whites don't see that.

In the meantime children get caught up in the storm.

 

[Skarekrow]

From what I witness here it's more about the fact they pit one group against the other when it comes to money and resources.
The non working class - historically the black populations here - get resources and assistance - whereas the working class - historically the white population - does not get any services. They see themselves as paying all of these taxes leaving them with less take home pay so others get the services and don't have to work. Then it rolls in to one big racist perspective as them blacks vs the whites.
The Hispanics get rolled in to that view as well.

There aren't really enough jobs here anyway but the whites don't see that.

In the meantime children get caught up in the storm.

This - [video=youtube;GQdMgtncpoE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GQdMgtncpoE[/video]

 

[Skarekrow]

Go figure.

[video=youtube;H0SGvJEfgh4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=H0SGvJEfgh4[/video]

 

[Yva]

Im not sorry to say that it is all white superiority. Since most of whites are in power they are looked upon as desirable than any other. The majority of these people like to view themselves as innocent when really they are the opposite! These ignorant souls with pale skin claim they except all people when really they only except those that are similar to them. Deep down they give into stupid stereotypes they had gathered themselves ever sense they were little.

No other race knows how it is like being black. I see injustice happening right before my eyes and it hurts. I learn to keep my mouth close because no one will ever understand. I know I cant change people in this world to see what I see so I just watch and take it all in. When I was younger I've been bullied because I was black, I could choose to be bitter and hateful to whites if I wanted to but I decide not to. I see what happens to bitter black people. They act as if the whole world is against them and they want others to understand their pain. As a result they SEEM racist when really they are deeply hurt. These ones hate because of experience.
In my opinion racism will ALWAYS be a problem.

 

[MeerkatMama]

Unfortunately, there are so many variables to this issue, it would be difficult to narrow it down to a single factor. Racism will always exist and the United States is not immune to that, so long as people exist within its boarders.

 

[MeerkatMama]

Im not sorry to say that it is all white superiority. Since most of whites are in power they are looked upon as desirable than any other. The majority of these people like to view themselves as innocent when really they are the opposite! These ignorant souls with pale skin claim they except all people when really they only except those that are similar to them. Deep down they give into stupid stereotypes they had gathered themselves ever sense they were little.

No other race knows how it is like being black. I see injustice happening right before my eyes and it hurts. I learn to keep my mouth close because no one will ever understand. I know I cant change people in this world to see what I see so I just watch and take it all in. When I was younger I've been bullied because I was black, I could choose to be bitter and hateful to whites if I wanted to but I decide not to. I see what happens to bitter black people. They act as if the whole world is against them and they want others to understand their pain. As a result they SEEM racist when really they are deeply hurt. These ones hate because of experience.
In my opinion racism will ALWAYS be a problem.

Yva, I am truly sorry you were bullied. No one should ever be bullied for simply being different from someone else. I cannot express how very sorry I am.

When I was younger, I was raped by two black men. Only one served jail time, because the other could not be found. Each instance happened separately and were not related. I was laughed at by one of them for being a "white girl dominated by a black man. How does that feel?" I was a naive child. At the time, I didn't even understand what he meant, because this was the same man who told me to do certain acts that completely went over my head, because I didn't know what they were and he beat me for it. In another words, I was a true victim of his hate crime towards me and I didn't do anything, except be at the wrong place at the wrong time during a very difficult time in my life.

Despite what happened to me, I am not racist towards black men, but I certainly have every right to be. I do not hold all black men accountable for what a few did to me. I do, however, expect every human being on this earth to have the same courtesy to one another. Two wrongs do not make a right.

Like you said, racism will always exist, but what we do about it on an individual level is solely up to us. I've chosen to love my fellow human beings and judge people individually for who they are, not the color of their skin.

 

[Skarekrow]

Im not sorry to say that it is all white superiority. Since most of whites are in power they are looked upon as desirable than any other. The majority of these people like to view themselves as innocent when really they are the opposite! These ignorant souls with pale skin claim they except all people when really they only except those that are similar to them. Deep down they give into stupid stereotypes they had gathered themselves ever sense they were little.

No other race knows how it is like being black. I see injustice happening right before my eyes and it hurts. I learn to keep my mouth close because no one will ever understand. I know I cant change people in this world to see what I see so I just watch and take it all in. When I was younger I've been bullied because I was black, I could choose to be bitter and hateful to whites if I wanted to but I decide not to. I see what happens to bitter black people. They act as if the whole world is against them and they want others to understand their pain. As a result they SEEM racist when really they are deeply hurt. These ones hate because of experience.
In my opinion racism will ALWAYS be a problem.

Please don’t think that all white people are blind to what is happening and are not trying to make things better for us all.
I’m about as white as you get…I grew up in an 80% hispanic city…so I was the minority there.
Racism sucks no matter who is doing what to whom.
People I think (despite this stupid college chant on the news the other night) are becoming less racist at least in certain areas.
I cannot speak for those in the south…up in the Pacific Northwest no one seems to give a flying fuck what anyone looks like.

 

[Yva]

Yva, I am truly sorry you were bullied. No one should ever be bullied for simply being different from someone else. I cannot express how very sorry I am.

When I was younger, I was raped by two black men. Only one served jail time, because the other could not be found. Each instance happened separately and were not related. I was laughed at by one of them for being a "white girl dominated by a black man. How does that feel?" I was a naive child. At the time, I didn't even understand what he meant, because this was the same man who told me to do certain acts that completely went over my head, because I didn't know what they were and he beat me for it. In another words, I was a true victim of his hate crime towards me and I didn't do anything, except be at the wrong place at the wrong time during a very difficult time in my life.

Despite what happened to me, I am not racist towards black men, but I certainly have every right to be. I do not hold all black men accountable for what a few did to me. I do, however, expect every human being on this earth to have the same courtesy to one another. Two wrongs do not make a right.

Like you said, racism will always exist, but what we do about it on an individual level is solely up to us. I've chosen to love my fellow human beings and judge people individually for who they are, not the color of their skin.

Thats just awful. You have every right to be bitter however you are right about how two wrongs don't make a right. How did you cope with what happen to you?