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Old 11-17-2018, 10:59 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
29,696 posts, read 34,240,753 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thriftylefty View Post
How do we get to live in a society that doesn't care what race you are if we condone asking people what their ethnicity is? Sometimes I call people "census takers." People who need to ask intrusive questions of everyone they meet , its like they need to check all the boxes before they decide if you can be their friend.
But keep in mind that a "colorblind" society means that we treat people equally regardless of their racial or ethnic backgrounds. It doesn't mean that we ignore cultural differences or don't ever speak of race or ethnicity--inequalities and commonalities shouldn't be dismissed. People of color or of the non-dominant culture don't have the luxury of ignoring race or ethnicity. That might be what the OP's teacher was clumsily trying to do--one's background colors how they see the world, and she might have thought the OP had insight on a topic.

Last edited by fleetiebelle; 11-17-2018 at 11:38 AM..
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Old 11-17-2018, 11:21 AM
 
8,085 posts, read 5,221,990 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nirvana07 View Post
We are living in a world where everyone is perpetually offended
+1.

It's insanity.
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Old 11-17-2018, 11:27 AM
 
Location: Middle of the valley
48,445 posts, read 34,627,532 times
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I think true acceptance is when you can discuss the differences openly. Like with genders, you can acknowledge differences, while accepting them.

Here it's not uncommon to joke about the stereotypes of different races/ethnicity, and no gets offended.
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Old 11-17-2018, 01:21 PM
 
28,623 posts, read 18,673,721 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikala43 View Post
I think true acceptance is when you can discuss the differences openly. Like with genders, you can acknowledge differences, while accepting them.

Here it's not uncommon to joke about the stereotypes of different races/ethnicity, and no gets offended.
I remember one morning listening to a very popular radio DJ in Honolulu running down a list of ethnic stereotypes:

"Japanese are...
"Chinese are...
"Samoans are....
"Filipinos are...

And then he got loads of laughing callers saying things like,

"Yeah, we Chinese are like that and also...."
"Yeah, we Samoans are like than and also...."

And all morning long it was just a bunch of hilarity going back and forth.
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Old 11-17-2018, 01:23 PM
 
28,623 posts, read 18,673,721 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thriftylefty View Post
How do we get to live in a society that doesn't care what race you are if we condone asking people what their ethnicity is? Sometimes I call people "census takers." People who need to ask intrusive questions of everyone they meet , its like they need to check all the boxes before they decide if you can be their friend.
Because this is not yet a colorblind society, and there are still plenty of bigots in decision-making positions.

If we pretend otherwise and do not keep some kind of measure of the ongoing status of people of color or some other non-majority ethnic status, then we would have no way of gauging the effect of those bigots or identifying where and who they are.

Last edited by Ralph_Kirk; 11-17-2018 at 01:31 PM..
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Old 11-17-2018, 01:28 PM
 
28,623 posts, read 18,673,721 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gentlearts View Post
I really don’t understand why anyone is sensitive about their heritage, unless they are ashamed of it. I also don’t understand why so many forms ask for this information. Perhaps medical forms have a reason, but not others.

I have a granddaughter now who is half Puerto Rican of Spanish decent, and half Swedish English. She has platinum blond hair and blue eyes and very light skin. What will she call herself? Why should it matter? Her mother named her in the Latin way, including her father’s last name, and the baby’s father’s last name.
And we have just heard a news story of an elderly woman of north European heritage whose Social Security was cut just because she has a Hispanic last name--by marriage--and some clerk in a decision-making position in the Social Security made his own decision that people with Hispanic last names needed additional proof of citizenship.

When brought to light, a Social Security Administration official has admitted to the mistake of cutting her benefits first and asking the question later...but the woman is still being required to provide additional proof of citizenship.
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Old 11-17-2018, 01:50 PM
 
33,058 posts, read 12,319,303 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikala43 View Post
My race, height, weight, age...... it is what it is, so why would I get offended?

Or like Parnassia said, make a joke or something "They said I'm the milkman's baby, so I have no idea what my race is." Ok, that was lame, but yeah, humor fixes a lot of awkward moments.


My mother used to say to me "You know you aren't the milkman's baby, because you have your father's feet".

(By the time I was 13, I had the same sized large feet that my father did, and my feet looked like a younger version of the exact same feet)
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Old 11-17-2018, 02:07 PM
 
5,455 posts, read 3,358,318 times
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Storming out does not solve anything.That doesn't mean you have to take it but act to change it with some positive action. Take your grievance to your school counselor. Find out what you can do about it.
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Old 11-17-2018, 03:15 PM
Status: "117 N/A" (set 2 days ago)
 
12,920 posts, read 13,611,483 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk View Post
Because this is not yet a colorblind society, and there are still plenty of bigots in decision-making positions.

If we pretend otherwise and do not keep some kind of measure of the ongoing status of people of color or some other non-majority ethnic status, then we would have no way of gauging the effect of those bigots or identifying where and who they are.
Sometimes asking some one their race doesn't give you enough information about them. Even looking at someone who is obviously, white , black or brown won't tell you anything about them from a cultural standpoint. A relative of mine has white foster kids and they are raising them basically in black neighborhoods ,churches and schools.

I grew up with a white kid in my all black neighborhood and school. He was still in diapers when his mother married a black man in the neighborhood. That white kid grew up to be more "black" than black people I have met who grew up in small all white Midwestern towns.To me its no different than looking at someone who looks obviously male or female and making assumptions about their sexuality.

Kansas might be a little unique be cause Its ant- miscegenation law was only on the books for four years being repealed in 1859 and in Iowa the law lasted from 1839-1851. Yes there was bigotry but these were states that black people didn't have to fight those battle alone. Both of my grandfathers are (were) bi-racial and they were born in the 1880's.

Last edited by thriftylefty; 11-17-2018 at 03:26 PM..
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Old 11-17-2018, 03:54 PM
 
28,623 posts, read 18,673,721 times
Reputation: 30904
Quote:
Originally Posted by thriftylefty View Post
Sometimes asking some one their race doesn't give you enough information about them. Even looking at someone who is obviously, white , black or brown won't tell you anything about them from a cultural standpoint. A relative of mine has white foster kids and they are raising them basically in black neighborhoods ,churches and schools.
A bigot doesn't care about the culture behind the color.

It's the actions of bigots that the government needs to be concerned about.

Quote:
I grew up with a white kid in my all black neighborhood and school. He was still in diapers when his mother married a black man in the neighborhood. That white kid grew up to be more "black" than black people I have met who grew up in small all white Midwestern towns.To me its no different than looking at someone who looks obviously male or female and making assumptions about their sexuality.

Kansas might be a little unique be cause Its ant- miscegenation law was only on the books for four years being repealed in 1859 and in Iowa the law lasted from 1839-1851. Yes there was bigotry but these were states that black people didn't have to fight those battle alone.
I suspect racism was what kept that black man in that black neighborhood with his white wife. Up until the the 70s, even in states where there were no anti-miscegenation laws a white person effectively lost his "white card"--lost the privileges of being white-- if he or she married black. That was far more true, of course, of a white woman who married black than a white man, but white men got pounded pretty hard by society as well if he showed up with a black woman on his arm.

Back in the early 90s in Nebraska, I knew an elderly French woman who had married a black soldier right after WWII. She had come to live in Nebraska with him in the late 40s.

Man, oh man that pale little lady despised American white people with a purple passion.

Quote:
Both of my grandfathers are (were) bi-racial and they were born in the 1880's.
Your grandfathers were born in the 1880s? How old are you?

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