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The Talk
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
I'm confused as well. I don't think racism will ever cease to exist as long as there are races. In my opinion its much more productive to just let idiot be idiots when you know you can't change them. That being said, I've never been any race other than Caucasian, im sure if I were a different race I would have a different perspective. So, can we just put the Michael and Paul and share some beer? I'll have a can, u have a 40......we are both still drinkin beer
MJ5150 said:
I thought it was interesting. That is my only standard and the same reason I posted threads on a football coach and Ottoman Princess too.
I honestly hate when people try to act like blacks, whites, Hispanics,Asians, native Americans....etc (sorry if I forgot your race) are all the same. No we are not. We have different traits (good and bad), different physical features, different cultures, histories......etc. I think we should recognize these differences in a positive manner rather than say " you can't single out a certain race"....... Cause guess what? Yes I can.
- May 30, 2000
- 4,707
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- Disclosures
- Creator of: iGigBook Sheet Music Manager
There is only one race, the HUMAN RACE, everything else is just a social construct.
fixed it for you, and...
Huh?
you're a racist only if you yourself hold racist views.
defintion of racist from the online dictionary:
Noun 1. racist - a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others racist - a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others
racialist
Adj. 1. racist - based on racial intolerance; "racist remarks"
2. racist - discriminatory especially on the basis of race or religion racist - discriminatory especially on the basis of race or religion
+1
if you don't think we are all the same then visit several foreign countries and assess their social structures.
Makes sense. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something else. Thanks Doc.
I was embarrassed to read it. Not because I am white, but because people feel that way about others for whatever reason.
-Mike
What a lovely comment. I just really enjoy a nice, polite conversation. Of course we are not all the same; you and I certainly aren't.
If I had to guess, based on this comment:
I would guess that there is some attempt by the OP to draw conclusion that large portions of the white population would agree with this writing.
I read the article. It's just....silly.
Re: The Talk. Teaching respect, reserve and restraint when dealing with authority figures is something taught by all responsible parents to all kids. It really should be more a constant dialogue in their upbringing, rather than an event conversation held at the point that it becomes an issue.
I would say that guess is a poor one. I highly doubt the OP is drawing any such conclusion. However, what does "large portions" actually mean?
There are quite a number of white people who would agree with the writing, but I don't know what percentage that would be. It certainly wouldn't be any percentage that includes ME.
Well, I'm not sure if some of the points the author makes aren't true, except for the overtly racist ones, but I do know one thing, and that is that this thread will be lucky to survive until tomorrow unlocked! 
A lot of the advice given in the article is crap - simple fear of "The Other"
This, however, is Dead On:
I grew up in a majority-black neighborhood and spent better than half of my school days going to majority-black Public schools. IME the feeling (for that 5% or so) that "Whitey has it coming to him" is nothing at all like vague, it is absolutely unshakeable and acted on at every single opportunity. I didn't learn that from a book, or from my parents, or some academic study written by some suburbanite working in an Ivy League college somewhere
I Lived It
Every single day, for years on end
By the time I got out of 3rd Grade, the racially-motivated shakedowns, muggings, and just plain beat-downs had already numbered in the dozens. By the time I finished 6th Grade, I had lost count of the beat-downs completely. Never, Ever, a one-on-one fight. Always at least a four-on one mob, with the other kids on the streets or on the playground or in the halls (or even a few times, right inside the classroom) saying and doing absolutely nothing to so much as express the slightest disapproval, much less stop it from happening. Maybe half the time, there was even a soundtrack from the peanut gallery that went "Kill that White ************!!!" or some unmistakably race-based variation on the theme
Granted, these were what we locals call "the riot years" in Trenton - roughly 1967 to 1972 - and open hostility between the races was at its all-time peak. It also needs to be noted that one of my constant tormentors later ended up on Death Row (sentence now modified to Life Without Parole, by virtue of the State of NJ abolishing the death penalty), and that he was one Seriously Vicious MoFo. Most of the others who took such savage delight in beating me down regularly were part of the same extended family. They hated Whitey with a passion that could scorch the sun and send it running away, howling in pain from the burns
Almost forty years later, I've come to terms with the fact that such people exist, and that such people are certainly not limited to any one race or ethnicity. IME there is roughly the same 5% of the local Italian-American community that was (and is....) just as bad. Same with the relatively new Latino population in the area - again, roughly 5% active haters and roughly 50% who sympathise to the extent that they will not intervene (even to simply call 911) under even the most horrific circumstances
The only good that came from those early days is that it left me with a highly developed "Sixth Sense" for hostility from people who would just as soon kill me as look at me, based solely on the color of my skin. In this area, that small percentage of thoroughly vicious psychopaths is still dominated by American Black people. So be it. It doesn't stop me from treating the other 95% as fairly and as honestly as I possibly can, but I am not foolish enough to believe that I can simply walk down Southard Street, or Stuyvesant, and never encounter one (or more, since they tend to run in packs) of that 5% either....
This, however, is Dead On:
I grew up in a majority-black neighborhood and spent better than half of my school days going to majority-black Public schools. IME the feeling (for that 5% or so) that "Whitey has it coming to him" is nothing at all like vague, it is absolutely unshakeable and acted on at every single opportunity. I didn't learn that from a book, or from my parents, or some academic study written by some suburbanite working in an Ivy League college somewhere
I Lived It
Every single day, for years on end
By the time I got out of 3rd Grade, the racially-motivated shakedowns, muggings, and just plain beat-downs had already numbered in the dozens. By the time I finished 6th Grade, I had lost count of the beat-downs completely. Never, Ever, a one-on-one fight. Always at least a four-on one mob, with the other kids on the streets or on the playground or in the halls (or even a few times, right inside the classroom) saying and doing absolutely nothing to so much as express the slightest disapproval, much less stop it from happening. Maybe half the time, there was even a soundtrack from the peanut gallery that went "Kill that White ************!!!" or some unmistakably race-based variation on the theme
Granted, these were what we locals call "the riot years" in Trenton - roughly 1967 to 1972 - and open hostility between the races was at its all-time peak. It also needs to be noted that one of my constant tormentors later ended up on Death Row (sentence now modified to Life Without Parole, by virtue of the State of NJ abolishing the death penalty), and that he was one Seriously Vicious MoFo. Most of the others who took such savage delight in beating me down regularly were part of the same extended family. They hated Whitey with a passion that could scorch the sun and send it running away, howling in pain from the burns
Almost forty years later, I've come to terms with the fact that such people exist, and that such people are certainly not limited to any one race or ethnicity. IME there is roughly the same 5% of the local Italian-American community that was (and is....) just as bad. Same with the relatively new Latino population in the area - again, roughly 5% active haters and roughly 50% who sympathise to the extent that they will not intervene (even to simply call 911) under even the most horrific circumstances
The only good that came from those early days is that it left me with a highly developed "Sixth Sense" for hostility from people who would just as soon kill me as look at me, based solely on the color of my skin. In this area, that small percentage of thoroughly vicious psychopaths is still dominated by American Black people. So be it. It doesn't stop me from treating the other 95% as fairly and as honestly as I possibly can, but I am not foolish enough to believe that I can simply walk down Southard Street, or Stuyvesant, and never encounter one (or more, since they tend to run in packs) of that 5% either....
I don't expect or dare ask that anyone share my opinion. Just respect that I have a right to it as do you to yours. I just think racism is so dumb I'd rather dislike a person for who they are or what they do...etc. If they happen to be a certain race, hair color, religion...etc, well that's statistics. Do with that what you will
Was the only white kid on my bus in Pontiac MI, schools for 3.5 years. I can empathize. It was rough and I don't talk about it much.
It plain sucked.
I read the Derbyshire article. A sad thing really. I hated being in Pontiac, at that time, I hated the kids that tormented me, I hated the school administration that did nothing to help. My folks got divorced & my dad moved us there. He didn't even think about what he was doing. At the time, I hated him for that too.
Currently living just outside Detroit, the papers are filled with the tragedy that crime has leveled upon some of the citizens there. Along with that is the city's woes of mis-management, indictments, the plunder of the taxpayer's money, & jail time of city officials and it has left me wondering if Detroiters will ever be able to right the city.
Even after Pontiac, I wonder how people can think the way they do: the comments of some in the papers from news articles about the city are just...wow! So racist, ignorant, almost seemingly delighted to be so. Like they're happy to pile on the stereotypes. I just see a tragedy of human wreckage. Of what could have, may have been.
You develope friendships with folks based on personal chemistry, you either click with folks or you don't.
