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This I agree with, and hopefully sub Saharan African nations can follow suit.
If Sub Sahara Africa were more politically stable and trustworthy--I'd invest in as much land as I could. It's cheap and I can't think of a more worthy cause. But until they decide to shovel the crap up, I'm not dropping a dime there.
In short, what you are saying is that we have always been a divided society and there isn't much that can be done about it.
What will be of those who wanted a truly integrated society?
I do think we have been divided in our history and along race lines, economic lines and now add gender, sexual preference, political, union/nonunion, government employees/private sector employees, bullies/victims, old/young and more as you think of them. Even in WW II there was racial division and it was quite ugly. German POWs brought to this country were afforded more respect than our black citizens. Asking or demanding that black people forgive and forget is the same as asking Jews to forgive and forget Nazi Germany. History still matters and I think always will. A child, a woman who was abused viciously by a male spouse, a drunk father lives with that all their lives. It has an effect. Yet, somehow, we don't understand that the effects of the black experience do exist or and somehow don't count. They do.
So, no. I do not think the divide will ever be closed no matter how much any one in either camp desires it. Now, throw Hispanics into the mix and it gets more difficult.
Often, it gets thrown out on these forums the crime committed by black people and the statistics flow like Mercury. Never a mention how white Wall Street Bankers robbed the country and killed the economy. Lots of white folks will never recover from the damage to their savings. No retirement. White dominated congress passed Obamacare which is going to break a lot of budgets. Household budgets. White dominated congress since congress was invented passed all the welfare, entitlement laws. White people got mugged on Wall Street yet the focus is on relative petty crime in the black community (not discounting horrible murder rates). Mass shootings? Whites.
We demand the black community clean up their act while the white community is full of "stuff" that makes you wonder about their sanity.
No healing. No "can't we just all get along". Not now. Not ever.
I second that, and am not even sure what point the author of this article is trying to make. I do believe however that Philly is still pretty much a racially divided city.
I went to Pittsburgh years ago and was shocked that I didn't see many black people. I asked someone if Pittsburgh was all white, and was told that they all lived in some other area. Coming from Houston it was a little shocking to think that the real segregation happens up north. I've lived around all different people my whole life here. There is hardly an area of town that's homogeneous.
When I want to explore, I just go! A map, a few books, some street savy and I make it happen. The biggest barrier was the language...it's not an anglicized friendly country (i.e. very little of anything is in English), but if you're black and ask questions--people will help you. I got many stares though in certain parts, but no hostility. As a matter of fact, quite a few people walked up to me and shook my hand lol!
Russia is a very interesting country though, the langscape, the psychology of the people; and you can clearly see the remenents of Soviet politics there.
I can deal with the language barrier(I'm into learning different languages). My safety is my number one concern. I have had to think about it because I have heard so many reports of racial violence in Russia, particular from Neo-Nazis.
I have a friend who is Nigeria. He went to Russia to study, and he had to deal with issues in Russia being Black. I asked him how he survived. He told me he had to be tough, he had to be in the gym and had to learn how to fight. He is at least 6'2" and around 190 lbs. I'm a 5'5" male with a compact, athletic build, not at all imposing.
I do think we have been divided in our history and along race lines, economic lines and now add gender, sexual preference, political, union/nonunion, government employees/private sector employees, bullies/victims, old/young and more as you think of them. Even in WW II there was racial division and it was quite ugly. German POWs brought to this country were afforded more respect than our black citizens. Asking or demanding that black people forgive and forget is the same as asking Jews to forgive and forget Nazi Germany. History still matters and I think always will. A child, a woman who was abused viciously by a male spouse, a drunk father lives with that all their lives. It has an effect. Yet, somehow, we don't understand that the effects of the black experience do exist or and somehow don't count. They do.
So, no. I do not think the divide will ever be closed no matter how much any one in either camp desires it. Now, throw Hispanics into the mix and it gets more difficult.
Often, it gets thrown out on these forums the crime committed by black people and the statistics flow like Mercury. Never a mention how white Wall Street Bankers robbed the country and killed the economy. Lots of white folks will never recover from the damage to their savings. No retirement. White dominated congress passed Obamacare which is going to break a lot of budgets. Household budgets. White dominated congress since congress was invented passed all the welfare, entitlement laws. White people got mugged on Wall Street yet the focus is on relative petty crime in the black community (not discounting horrible murder rates). Mass shootings? Whites.
We demand the black community clean up their act while the white community is full of "stuff" that makes you wonder about their sanity.
No healing. No "can't we just all get along". Not now. Not ever.
There is no "healing" because there is anger and mistrust from Blacks and Whites, not to mention, an issue of power struggle. There is also a "look out for number one and forget everyone else" mentality. All of this boils down to power and control. Many people don't understand what racism and the racial divide is really about.
I live in the Philly area.... the magazine came in the mail... I groaned when I saw the headline assuming it would be some guilt laden puff piece.... but was pleasantly surprised after reading. Thought it was well done.
Very complex and controversial topic and I thought they tried to cover different sides of the story.
I live in the Philly area.... the magazine came in the mail... I groaned when I saw the headline assuming it would be some guilt laden puff piece.... but was pleasantly surprised after reading. Thought it was well done.
Very complex and controversial topic and I thought they tried to cover different sides of the story.
It was a bit more balanced that I thought it would be. It put many things into reality, including one sad reality: We live in a very divided society, but the divisions in our society aren't as simple as one may thing. Alot goes into it.
There is one more thing to consider, that this article does not talk about. The belief of certain races being "inferior" and the hatred of others based on their skin color are basic elements of racism. That being said, there is more to the issue of racism. A very important element to consider when it comes to racism is the thirst for control and power. Racism is not only about hatred and snobbery. It is about power and control. It is an economic issue as well. It is about deciding who gets what, and a thirst for power. Here is what I mean discussed in the second paragraph.
Money is often considered power. Race has been used as a reason to deny certain people certain things. Look at slavery. It was an economic issue. Southern elite planters wanted to keep slavery around because they had something to gain from it. That is why so many slave codes were adopted. Black slaves were forbidden from learning how to read, from having anything even remotely resembling a weapon. Why? Knowledge IS powerful. If a slave knew how to read, a slave could free himself/herself mentally as well as being able to get out of slavery. The weapon laws were meant to keep Black slaves from defending themselves, not to mention the fear of slave rebellions(ironic because slave rebellions occurred anyway). Why were these laws made? Race was made a consideration because slavery was an issue of economics.
Jim Crow was was a race issue because it was about economics. The poll tax in many southern states was used to keep Blacks from voting. If you can vote, you have a say in what happens to you. However, considering that White supremacy had been the rule for ages, few people wanted to let it go. Blacks were forcefully segregated into the worst schools, and given second-hand textbooks. The idea was to make it hard for Blacks to challenge the system of racism that existed. Why? It was about controlling who got what. It was about keeping the power and control within one segment of society and keeping other people down. One might ask "why keep others down? it doesn't make sense". Well, in a moral sense, it does not make sense. However, you have to understand, the average racist doesn't think in moral terms. The thought process is in tune to power and control over others. Keeping someone down makes sense to that particular person because by keeping a person down, it makes it harder for that person to compete, and making it easier for someone else to win.
Last edited by green_mariner; 03-23-2013 at 09:08 AM..
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