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Full Version: the racial chasm in america
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imo there is a racial chasm in america. place whites on one side and blacks on the other and different minorities who tend to drift somewhere between the two groups.
my own racial makeup is my dad is indian from india my mom is part african and part scottish, so breaking it down 50% asian 25 % black and 25% white. i grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood i live in a predominantly white neighborhood. i would say my sentiments always lie with the underdog. i do have a foot in both worlds and i seem to be able to drift between the two worlds pretty comfortably.
heres the view i see from the black world.
i am black . i dont trust the police the police are racist and want to hassle me . if they stop me i have to be careful as i could wind up being dead very easily. most whites are suspicious of me think im stupid and want something from them. the government and society in general are racist.
heres the view i see from the white world
the police are to be trusted and are here to protect us. i am suspicious of most blacks and minorities and feel that they want something from me. i dont want them moving into my neighborhood because there go the property values. i have never had a black person in my house for a meal and never will. that is the way i like it and i dont want my kid in a relationship with a black person or a minority. the government has my best interests at heart.

just a few personal experiences. first of all when u look at me u cant tell what race i am. i have been mistaken for everything the whole spectrum.
i work for new york city transit. when i first joined i had a lot of white dudes make derogatory racial jokes around me . i had to tell them dont go there with me i dont play those games; what i found interesting is that they automatically assume that the same hatred and prejudice that lived in them lived in me and that i was down with their hatred. and they werent ashamed to display that hatred at all. and they didnt even know who i was but they assumed i felt the same way as them.
when i was in college i was kicked out of a fraternity when they decided they didnt want anyone who wasnt 100% white.
in the service in basic training at the end we went out to a bar to celebrate graduation. as we were standing outside one of the dudes said to me " we dont want no n*****ers here. which was a surprise to me as we had just been thru six weeks of basic training together. the dude was from texas. we went at it and got broken up and later he apologized for what he said. what i find curious is that ive found u can know someone for a while and race is never and issue and all of a sudden out of the blue it becomes an issue . like where the hell did that come from. and i've seen it from more people than just this dude believe me. it like it is an issue but its hidden and then all of a sudden one day it pops up..
my friend at work was told when he was applying for a promo that he wasnt going to get it " because we already have our token" meaning they already had one black manager that one was enuf.
etc etc i have seen plenty of instances. living here in the nyc area i would say on the average the police kill at least one young black man a year and then they never ever get prosecuted. they always get away with it. period.
the positives
i do believe that music has broken down some of the divides between the races . that is a good thing and it does seem like the younger generation has more cross racial relationships. which is a good thing. hopefully this trend will continue. and this is a very complex topic . i like to know people individually before forming an opinion about them. believe me their are a ----s of every race of that there is no doubt. i think that the solution will be as more and more people live together that will break down stereotypes between the races. i would say it is going to take time for sure for sure

norral :heart:
The idea of "divide and conquer" is alive and well.

This is another reason why we must think for ourselves. Our concept of self, should not come from "without." Society should not tell us who we are. When we think and feel from within our own selves, untainted by society and its workings, we start to get to the truth.

My recommendation for all humans is to disconnect from the media. Peek in once in a while to see what's going on, perhaps. Number one: don't watch TV.
excellent advice diana. thanks for sharing your wisdom. i believe also
have someone over to your home and break bread. spending time with people tends to break down stereotypes.

norral Heart
norral,

I am also of mixed races. I call myself "American Mix". But I appear to be white, and have experienced that same hatred and prejudice from black, native american, hispanic and even from British folks. My family moved between 9th & 10th grades and my new high school was newly "integrated." I lived in the middle of the "black" neighborhood and over the summer before school started got to know some of the kids I'd be going to school with. I walked to school, down a big hill, and entered the school from the North side. The school administrators had assigned all the black kids lockers on that end of the school, and all the white kids had lockers on the other end of the school.

I was completely oblivious to any racial tension, and always took time to speak to the black kids as I walked through them on my way to my locker. I would ask to be introduced to their friends that I didn't know etc. Then as I got to know the white kids, I'd introduce people who had similar interests. My senior year my classmates gave me an award for being "The Glue" that bonded us all together. Incidentally, our class president was a black guy - very smart guy, great football player, and quite handsome!

I had a conversation recently with a cashier at a hardware store about race and she said something about "you're white, you wouldn't understand." I asked her why she assumed I was white, and of course she looked at me and said because I look white. Then she smiled and said, "woah, I guess I'm the one being prejudiced now." It was really interesting to see the "light" come on in her face.

I had another experience with a black waitress at a local restaurant. She was obviously not feeling well, looked really tired, and was really kind of snarly with me at first. I scooted over and asked her if she could sit by me while taking our orders, because she looked so tired. We are fast friends now! And SHE has told me that I helped her see that she was the one prejudiced against white people.

The point is, I agree with you that we need to get to know people as individuals and not make judgments based only on the color of their skin.
Ruth, thank you for that post. It touched my heart.
(04-06-2012, 01:05 PM)Diana Wrote: [ -> ]The idea of "divide and conquer" is alive and well.

This is another reason why we must think for ourselves. Our concept of self, should not come from "without." Society should not tell us who we are. When we think and feel from within our own selves, untainted by society and its workings, we start to get to the truth.

My recommendation for all humans is to disconnect from the media. Peek in once in a while to see what's going on, perhaps. Number one: don't watch TV.

I absolutely agree--turn off the TV; one can be "informed" enough without it. How I "peek in" without getting hugely involved emotionally? I get a wonderful little magazine called The Week (https://secure.palmcoastd.com/pcd/!e.Srv...=IWS6&ck=Y if you're interested). I just dumped my facebook page too.
It is clear that the Elites are currently trying very hard all over the world to create separation.
blessed be the peace makers ruthie. one thing i have learned is that u cannot tell a persons racial makeup by looking at them. and there is racism in every race there are black racists filled with hate and vice versa.
what i make clear to people is that i dont want to hear their racial hatred. if they dont like a particular group that is there business but keep your poison to yourself. for whatever reason people enjoy putting groups down , probably because they feel if they put others down they will be elevated. its not true but it is the way they see it. so this country has a lot of work to do but as we move into 4d things are going to become much better imho.

norral Heart
I've just spent 6 weeks in Texas (I fly home to Sydney tonight) and the racism here is so ingrained in certain peoples upbringing they don't even know they're being racist. It was a bit of a culture shock. While we're not perfect in Australia, I've never come across anything like this. As kids in high school we would all make fun of racism to undermine its power, because it seemed so silly to us. For example an asian friend might say something like "Dean, I think your dog is scared of me because it thinks I'm gonna eat it", or a black kid might say to me in class if I got in trouble off a teacher "Dude, it's cause you're black!" (I'm not). We never had any problems and everyone got along.
I think every country on the planet is still dealing with race issues.

for eg, in Australia we have influxes of paid foreign students who want to study at our universities. They are pretty much viewed as cashcows to be milked.

immigration to solve skill shortages also takes place to continue to keep the social structure running. Yet all those cleaners and housekeepers are viewed as an inferior lot.

I can only say that the depiction of Mexicans through the US media is not the best. They don't seem to be regarded as people at all.

equality, as a basis for interaction is still something being learnt.

its interesting to hear an australians view of the america racial atmosphere.
oftentimes when u come from outsdie a society u have a less biased outlook as u are not emotionally involved. check out my poem today on equality . it will be up later.
I was having a conversation one day with an American friend about the "idiot American" stereotype. I said to her I don't think the problem is intelligence. Most of the people I met were really well spoken, had the smarts to get things done etc, but that the issue is more a limited worldview.

I was considering the geography (and I don't know if this is a fair assumption). If you live in Europe, you've got different cultures left, right and centre. You can drive from one country to the next in a day and you're always exposed to it. Here in Australia, we pride ourselves on being a "multicultural" society and have strong European and Asian ties. When I was in America, it felt like I was in a bubble. Their exposure to other ways of living is so limited, it's almost like it has become feared more than anything else. Someone told my sister she thought Australians spoke Spanish!

So where do they get their education? The TV. Whatever is on the TV seems to be all they know and they trust it 100%.

Now, to be fair I only spent time in Texas. And a lot of time in east Texas which is more than a little backward. Had I have gone to LA or NY or somewhere else, perhaps I would have had a different perspective.