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Uh; ain't Obama "Black"? What about Oprah? Condi Rice and Clarence Thomas? In 1960 who'd have thunk it that we'd have a Black POTUS, the richest woman in the US is Black, not 1 but 2 Secretary of State are Black and so on.
The biggest Black hating racists out there are other Blacks. It ain't us "Whiteys" keeping them down in the hood in 2012. Sheesh!
Obama and Oprah both speak and behave in ways that many otherwise racist people deem as "the exception" to Black people, and therefore are willing to "accept" them...which is probably what helped them get to the top. A Black/mixed/whatever you want to call Obama POTUS doesn't erase racism, just like Stevie Wonder doesn't erase the discrimination against the blind that leads to a 70% unemployment rate. They're seen as exceptions to the rule, with that "rule" ("Black people are barbaric and unruly, athletic but not intelligent", etc.) still being very much in place in the minds of many. Many people who respect Obama, Oprah, and Stevie Wonder will just as readily racially profile the next Black guy that walks into their store and browses the aisles.
By the way, I completely agree with you that there is a LOT of Black-on-Black racism and "self-policing" within the Black community. But where do you think that started? Internalized oppressions stems from outward oppression...a lot of the "self-policing" is with the end goal of "trying to please the White man." But by doing that, that sends the message that Black people as they are, aren't good enough for White people, and that it's on Black people to acculturate to the majority White culture, and not the other way around. A lot of the "self-policing" is about about who has lighter skin and "Whiter" facial features/hair, etc., which is often equated with being prettier...where do you think that comes from? White is the default. You go into a CVS and buy bandaids--they are colored to match White skin. If you order a bra online or get a hearing aid and request "flesh color"...that "flesh color" usually means "flesh color...for White people." Those might seem all like minor instances, but when you come across that every day your whole entire life, it sends the message that White is better and White is Beautiful and Black is not.
Oprah and Obama have had to face a lot more obstacles than the average Successful White Guy to get to where they are now. They've had to constantly shatter and re-shatter people's ideas of what they could do, and had to prove to the people around them time and time again that they aren't "just another statistic". They still have to deal with being racially profiled. That's a burden that White people do not carry, and so even their success points to the fact that racism still exists and is prevalent. Even Oprah and Obama aren't completely immune to racism. Oprah has reported being racially profiled while shopping, so to some people, even Oprah, at the end of the day, is "just another Black person".
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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No, just stating the facts is not racist (by facts I mean facts, not by presenting 'facts' to fit an agenda) - if the black community doesn't acknowledge the problem with crime amongst a SEGMENT of it's population how will it ever get fixed? It's very much their problem as most of the victims are fellow blacks. And it's not because of their DNA, it's because of the whole society, the whole attitude: sure the racist legacy of the past and in some cases the present is perpetuating it, but it takes two to tango. There are probably plenty of African Americans who just get up and do what they have to do, and those who cry victim all the time. Others have their part to play. Some people cling to racist, ignorant ideas, while others treat everyone as a human being. If we just stopped seeing colour at all - no 'affirmative action' based on race, just on economic situation.etc, then we'd actually begin to fix the problem.
Stop making race the focus of everything...black pride is good, but it shouldn't colour ('scuse the pun) your entire worldview. It's so stupid that we make such a big deal over how much melanin you have in your skin...
You really don't think that deMar is a black man, do you? I don't see you wanting to discuss anything but what you consider wrong when you copied all those statistics but you only want to discuses them from the standpoint of I am black and you aren't. I see that you sure wouldn't ever want to listen to Uncle Toms like Bill Cosby.
Us Irish were terrible back in the day: we were LOWER than "free persons of color" 150 years ago. We went from being Shanty Irish to Lace Curtain Irish. We did it tho a few of us are still drunks and fools in 2012.
Just so I can be sure I'm understanding you, what do you mean by "terrible" and what do you mean by "lower"?
I stand by everything I said. 90% of the people on this thread should be ashamed, for talking about race AT ALL. It's about being in poverty, which affects everything from the quality/absorption of your education to how likely you are to join a gang. On average, Blacks and Hispanics are making much less than white people, so that and that alone would explain their higher likelihood of involvement in crime. It's just plain annoying to hear of "black people keeping each other down" (no matter who it comes from), when tons of broke white people are doing the exact same thing. Doesn't matter what color you are. If you grew up in a ghetto, you're not as likely to have parents that are doing an all around good job with you as kids in upper-class families. If you grew up in the projects, you've probably seen and been involved in more criminal activity than 99% of the people living in nicer neighborhoods.
That's why people might just call all this "racist", because the attention is being brought to race unnecessarily.
This is part of what worries me about these violent "flash mobs" too. If those kids go to prison for violent behavior and stealing, then so be it. However, individuals like me decide to exercise their individual responsibility and live as decent people. I have 5 weeks before I graduate from college. I'm not out there stealing and committing acts of violence on other people. However, when stuff like flash mobs occur, that stuff could end up on my head simply because I share the same skin color as the persons who did all of that crap.
I remember reading an article about some kids from the suburbs of Portland,OR. A group of them went into an Albertson's grocery store, looted it, then went to the parking lot and harassed other people. I went down through the comments. I found one that said something along the lines of "why won't the article say 'black youths' instead of youths"?
That's the part that the people who are refusing to acknowledge racism don't get. That is racism! Mentally tying an incident of flash mobs to a woman about to graduate from college...simply because they share the same skin color.
When people project an image of who they assume someone to be--e.g., a thief--without even giving them a chance to show who they really are--a college graduate--that's discrimination.
It doesn't matter how many flash mobs there really are out there. It doesn't matter what percentage of Black people commit crimes. The fact is that the percentage is not 100% or 98%, so treating all or even the vast majority of Black people like criminals for walking through a store is racism.
I don't think you're racist, but you and the writer of the author I think are ignorant because your article is false in the fact that there is not a distinctive "black culture" also in that all black people have a "victimhood" complex and that it mistakenly said that "the divorce and unwed mother rates were no different than white communities" (today it is only 1.5 times higher than whites so some could see this as an improvement, I don't but some could). That last quote is incorrect as black unwed mother rates have always been at least 3 times higher than that of whites in this country. Also it is incorrect as even today, the divorce rate amongst black couples is pretty much the same as white divorce rates.
So I don't view it as racist, because it is not espousing hate of black people. BUT it is perpetuating stereotypes of black people, ones that ignorant people widely believe are true, and because of that is perpetuates prejudices and ignorance about black Americans.
I would share a recent e-mail I got about why some fertile young black women are considered the bread winners in some families. I would also say that I seldom see a black college athlete who has the same name his mother has but one that Kansas U. is getting next year has a straight 4.0 grade average and comes from a home that has a mother and father in it. So many of that team's black players are like that and all make good grades.
I think that you got unhappy after reading some of that one and just stopped and cut loose. Too many of the black athletes I mentioned are from 2 parent homes and I wonder if that isn't part of the reason they are recruited by a coach who demands that they make passing grades and graduates nearly every player who doesn't go to the NBA before being a senior. Almost all of the blacks I have ever known closely had two parents at home. I guess that is because almost all of them came in my earlier life before divorce got so important.
It's the old "I'm not racist - I have a Black friend" line! Lol.
You just said that whites should know blacks personally and then you make fun of someone who says they have black friends... so what is it..??? offended someone said they have black friends... blacks are the same as whites.
But not all whites are the same nor all blacks the same.. I know very distinguished blacks who are wonderful and many blacks have good families and lovely children. Is that offensive too? They don't need a welfare check and live in good neighborhoods and are good neighbors .
Obama and Oprah both speak and behave in ways that many otherwise racist people deem as "the exception" to Black people, and therefore are willing to "accept" them...which is probably what helped them get to the top. A Black/mixed/whatever you want to call Obama POTUS doesn't erase racism, just like Stevie Wonder doesn't erase the discrimination against the blind that leads to a 70% unemployment rate. They're seen as exceptions to the rule, with that "rule" ("Black people are barbaric and unruly, athletic but not intelligent", etc.) still being very much in place in the minds of many. Many people who respect Obama, Oprah, and Stevie Wonder will just as readily racially profile the next Black guy that walks into their store and browses the aisles.
By the way, I completely agree with you that there is a LOT of Black-on-Black racism and "self-policing" within the Black community. But where do you think that started? Internalized oppressions stems from outward oppression...a lot of the "self-policing" is with the end goal of "trying to please the White man." But by doing that, that sends the message that Black people as they are, aren't good enough for White people, and that it's on Black people to acculturate to the majority White culture, and not the other way around. A lot of the "self-policing" is about about who has lighter skin and "Whiter" facial features/hair, etc., which is often equated with being prettier...where do you think that comes from? White is the default. You go into a CVS and buy bandaids--they are colored to match White skin. If you order a bra online or get a hearing aid and request "flesh color"...that "flesh color" usually means "flesh color...for White people." Those might seem all like minor instances, but when you come across that every day your whole entire life, it sends the message that White is better and White is Beautiful and Black is not.
Oprah and Obama have had to face a lot more obstacles than the average Successful White Guy to get to where they are now. They've had to constantly shatter and re-shatter people's ideas of what they could do, and had to prove to the people around them time and time again that they aren't "just another statistic". They still have to deal with being racially profiled. That's a burden that White people do not carry, and so even their success points to the fact that racism still exists and is prevalent. Even Oprah and Obama aren't completely immune to racism. Oprah has reported being racially profiled while shopping, so to some people, even Oprah, at the end of the day, is "just another Black person".
You have a lot of racial baggage.
Plus the beaches in NJ are full of whites trying to get a nice deep tan..
You just said that whites should know blacks personally and then you make fun of someone who says they have black friends... so what is it..??? offended someone said they have black friends... blacks are the same as whites.
In my experience most people who use that line don't really have any Black friends, and are counting their coworker they had lunch with once as a "Black friend". More often than not, they are using that line as an argument for why their opinion, which is usually not based on any living, breathing Black people, is valid.
Quote:
But not all whites are the same nor all blacks the same.. I know very distinguished blacks who are wonderful and many blacks have good families and lovely children. Is that offensive too? They don't need a welfare check and live in good neighborhoods and are good neighbors .
Great, so I guess now you can stop talking about Black people as if they're all thugs, since you seem to know all these well-off well-adjusted two-parent Black families personally?
Godfather politics is a cesspool of nonsense... I thought you vetted your sources better then that Roy???
I see you don't have me on ignore. Maybe I should apologize to you for thinking that.
Do not ever read anything from that place because there is a chance that you may be able to learn something. What lefty blog did you get your info about Godfather from? Cesspool of nonsense!!! Mercy me it sure seems that you failed to read any part of that link. I have never said anything about vetting my sources and a large part of it is that when lefties refuse to read any of them I feel safe in posting them.
You didn't read it, did you? We would have something to discuss that is much more probably true if you had.
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