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Several years ago reading about the different reactions of whites and blacks: If a white couple were in a restaurant and the server seemed to ignore them, the couple assumed it was just poor service, but a black couple would be thinking it was because they were black. So this has been going on a longtime, it's nothing recent.
I wonder why you are shocked that a black person might perceive racism, even when it doesn't exist.
Often times WHITE Americans go to the Caribbean and encounter lousy service, and return ranting that the "natives" hate "whites/tourists".
I can sooner empathize with the black couple, given that deferential treatment of whites, sometimes even by other blacks, isn't unknown.
Eric Holder, when he was already a lawyer, had encounters of embarrassing, and on at least one occasion, potential life threatening encounters at the hands of the police.
How many white lawyers with an Ivy League background can relate to that?
Why your shock that a black man with his background, who did what was expected of him, and yet still risked being treated like a stereotype, would discuss his experiences as a middle aged black professional man?
And why will you not note the subtlety of discussions of institutional racism directed at blacks (males especially), in contrast to a simplistic "all whites are racist".
Do you know about his experiences to criticize his views on race?
As to Obama. Hmmm. I am sure that you will argue that Ronald Reagan was a paragon when it comes to race relations. You will probably find some excuse also for Rush Limbaugh and Bull O'Connor.
Obama runs away from discussions of race (except when forced to deal with it) as fast as a cat does from hot water. How he becomes the most racist president is a wonder that only you can explain.
So basically, when Darius Rucker performed "White Christmas" at the Rockefeller Center, people somehow assumed that it was race-related or saw it in bad taste.
Personally, in my opinion, things like this are silly. I think they make the accusers look ridiculous (and frankly, racist, if they are seeing things like classic Christmas songs as a "black vs. white" type of thing), and I feel bad for people like Darius Rucker -- a talented musician who did a beautiful job of singing a classic Christmas carol.
Thoughts?
We reap what we sow. It's the nanny culture that we've created. People will step all over you to get what they want, if you let them.
From what I have observed I would say definitely. I knew this black guy in college and he was going over his grades at the end of the semester. For every low grade he got he claimed his teacher was a bigot and he was unfairly targeted because of his race. I know that his claim isn't true because it was a small college and I knew the teachers and knew that they were fair in their grading. Just one example.
This is a perfect example of how that excuse actually hurt the kid. Instead of owning his failures, and trying harder, he was told that crying racism was appropriate. Hope he ended up getting it together and graduating. After college, few folks ask about your grades. They do want to see that you made it through though.
Moderator cut: against forum guidelines YES people are very "race" sensitive these days. Especially black perceiving white. Whenever you see a white on black police incident these days it is ALWAYS assumed that the police are racist. The very few instances that white on black crimes occur and are reported it is ALWAYS assumed there is hate involved. Not so the other way around. Quite frankly a LOT of people are past sick and tired of the one-sidedness. What a way to divide a country and keep them divided and fighting with each other.
I agree, most of us are sick and tired at having to hear it. If minorities wanted to eliminate racism, they would keep their mouths shut, educate themselves, pull up their pants, stop committing crimes and outwork everyone to get where they want to go instead of looking for a free handout. Be model citizens and any of this perceived racism will go away. There are very few true racists out there, most people aren't racists, most people will give you a fair shot to get ahead if you have some talent, a good attitude and want to work hard....a very small handful of racists isn't nearly enough to keep you down if you really want to get ahead.
I agree, most of us are sick and tired at having to hear it. If minorities wanted to eliminate racism, they would keep their mouths shut, educate themselves, pull up their pants, stop committing crimes and outwork everyone to get where they want to go instead of looking for a free handout. Be model citizens and any of this perceived racism will go away. There are very few true racists out there, most people aren't racists, most people will give you a fair shot to get ahead if you have some talent, a good attitude and want to work hard....a very small handful of racists isn't nearly enough to keep you down if you really want to get ahead.
This is an ignorant statement. There are already many people who are minorities, including myself, who have gotten educations, who have jobs, are are pulling their pants up and aren't committing crimes. That hasn't stopped racism from taking place. Keeping one's mouth shut hasn't stopped racism. Keeping one's mouth shut has only made racism more quiet, not stopped it.
No one ever said one couldn't get ahead. Despite things I've ran into, I've managed to do good things. So has my father. This does not negate the presence of racism.
Your statement suggests that anyone who is a minority should never complain if they face racism, but if a minority, and in particular, a Black male, does something bad, people can complain all day long. How about this. If the goal is for minorities to keep their mouths shut, then maybe it would be a good idea to keep one's mouth shut and stop complaining about minorities.
It happens all too frequently among all the races these days as most people will try to claim victimhood at the slightest provocation. However, its also like nails on a chalkboard to hear white Republican and conservative types in this forum and elsewhere throw their tantrums. Especially considering how much crap they don't have to deal with for being white not just in America but around the world (try comparing the experiences of black and white people in Asia and you'll get the point.)
This is an ignorant statement. There are already many people who are minorities, including myself, who have gotten educations, who have jobs, are are pulling their pants up and aren't committing crimes. That hasn't stopped racism from taking place. Keeping one's mouth shut hasn't stopped racism. Keeping one's mouth shut has only made racism more quiet, not stopped it.
No one ever said one couldn't get ahead. Despite things I've ran into, I've managed to do good things. So has my father. This does not negate the presence of racism.
Your statement suggests that anyone who is a minority should never complain if they face racism, but if a minority, and in particular, a Black male, does something bad, people can complain all day long. How about this. If the goal is for minorities to keep their mouths shut, then maybe it would be a good idea to keep one's mouth shut and stop complaining about minorities.
I lot of the complaining is about PERCEIVED racism. Unless the racist tells you that his behavior is due to race, how are you going to know for sure? If a minority applies for a job, for example, and gets turned down, they can cry racism, but maybe they weren't the best candidate?
It comes down to this. If eliminating racism is the goal, the complaining about it hasn't gotten rid of it. All the whining from Al Sharpton hasn't brought races closer together.
You say that keeping the mouth shut has made racism quiet, not stopped it...so i'll ask you how has complaining about it made things better?
I have witnessed at least a few situations where the "racism card" is pulled out in non racist situations. The sad thing is that people tend to speak but say things they don't mean to say.
There was a situation in a class of mine, to learn a computer software. The instructor has to teach students but they varied in age. And the student who felt she was a victim of racism, felt furious because the instructor did not call on her after raising her hand for help. Thing is, the instructor has to teach many students who were on a beginner level. The funny thing is that there were at least two other students of color. The 'victim' student was African american. However she was not the only black in class.
One day she snapped and threw a tantrum. At first she threw her folder and school materials including her textbook towards the board where the teacher was, having enough of the class. The class of course, chose to ignore it and the instructor continued the lecture. 5-10 Minutes later the same student went up to the board and chucked the markers and dry eraser off the tray of the white board away as if to intentionally disrupt the class. You can even feel the atmosphere of the class feeling very dismayed and disappointed with her attitude.
There was another case in an english writing class, there were another 2-3 blacks, and 1 or 2 other asians including me. I have a knack of not having a good time with male blacks esp the overweight ones and almost every class where there is one, they would come to me to copy my homework. This guy was absolutely opinionated and immature and used the Racist Card for similar reasons. The male student I mentioned from the writing class looks at me and laughs at my blank look of disbelief. "What? It's not like I'm cheating." -he says. Cheating. Sure. But he's cheating himself of the opportunity to learn and gain something from education. It wasn't that he was black that disappointed me. It was his attitude. When we were to critique each other's essay writing, he was shocked to see me already marking things or writing notes down. In his view he probably thought I was attacking him and trying to find every fault possible as if to be racist. The teacher comes over per his request only to defend me that I was following directions and made a very good example of what critiquing another's essay is supposed to look like. And I knew because I had past writing classes before. When it came to my turn to be critiqued, he whipped out his yellow highlighter which he didn't for the rest of the group, and tried to copy me. As in, even though the rest of the group was critiquing my essay, I made marks on my own copy of my essay and he tried to put marks there while not knowing 'why' or "what" i wrote to get back at me.
Back to the two students, The reason? The students felt it was unfair that the teacher paid less attention to them. On my perspective, the teacher is only able to answer so many questions and is restricted by the amount of time available to teach and answer questions. In the cases where the black students were convinced there was racism involved, were pretty immature and childish to begin with. I'm very good at judging people just by looks and stereotyping and its the reason why I rule in Apples to Apples with strangers and not my close friends. Back to the issue at hand though, most 'good' students would wait after class to ask a question because that is where a teacher can truly give a one to one teacher to student help. Instead they throw a tantrum out of hurt and frustration because they feel they are being unfairly turned down. I look at this guy like how I was back then who was also immature and tried to gain attention but was too immature and opinionated and uneducated in the ways of debate and discussion.
This is from my experience and I do not believe every black acts the same as these two students do.
There are times when racism happen during non racist situations but also in racist environments. More like, every environment is racist to some degree not to mention white supremacy is creeped and carved into some parts of society including the media.
For example in Madison, WI, a black student was shot. I used to go to a high school in Madison and the security guards handled every troublemaking student appropriately. But this story got everyone very shocked because in a safe city like Madison compared to many others, this was last thing we'd ever think would happen. A bullet shot at a student and a black student at that?
However despite the ruse over a cop shooting a black student, it is also known through witness reports that the student was also very rude and disrespectful as well. It gives everyone else the image that black youth = hooligan. As I said in another thread about Christians, we can't label a few or a group to be representatives of a larger group or population. And yet we still hold onto such racism in the back of our heads! What hypocrites we are!
Even internationally, other countries view blacks poorly. Why? WHy is that? I always wondered why. It's not like they had any reason to! Or so I thought. Perhaps someone can clarify this with me.
During my sophomore high school year two tall young black males wearing very very long shirts, walked in a fast pace, or a fastwalk. I immediately felt my stomach or heart sink in fear and suspicion. I decided to ignore it and go back to eating my sandwich in the cafeteria during that lunch period. A minute later I heard a noise, something like a large Thud and some struggling. I turned around behind me and saw a security officer, pinning one of the black males I saw against a glass wall! And I think that was his other friend in white shirt behind the glass stuffing his face against the glass. I was unable to see if he was just peering through or what.
Later I heard, the officer pinned him down for trying to reach for his gun.
However just because I was fearful of these two black males, did not mean I feared blacks around me. As kids we usualy grow up not giving a care about race and color. So what brought us to fear them? Was it the media? Probably....most likely.
But thinking back, it wasn't just the media and entertainment. It was the witnessing of bad behavior associated with stereotypes presented in media confirming my own fears. I can only shake my head in disbelief, wishing it wasn't true or didn't happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wall st kid
I lot of the complaining is about PERCEIVED racism. Unless the racist tells you that his behavior is due to race, how are you going to know for sure? If a minority applies for a job, for example, and gets turned down, they can cry racism, but maybe they weren't the best candidate?
It comes down to this. If eliminating racism is the goal, the complaining about it hasn't gotten rid of it. All the whining from Al Sharpton hasn't brought races closer together.
You say that keeping the mouth shut has made racism quiet, not stopped it...so i'll ask you how has complaining about it made things better?
my mother firmly believes that if she didn't get picked for a job its either she is too qualified or under-qualified and she only has herself to blame for it.
Lets take Condoleezza Rice for example. Her mother told her to be double or triple better than other people in academics and everything else. Why? Because her mother knows that her daughter would receive discrimination for being black as well as being a female. Through hard effort and perseverance, Rice has achieved a higher status to an extent.
Those who persevere are the ones who win in the end if they choose to.
Those who trip up in their emotions and pull the "Race Card" are just making themselves look bad as well as others.
During workplace even whites get pressure and complaints just as much as those who are colored. All we can do is just suck it up from our superiors or co-workers to keep our job. School is more or less the same as well. It's a matter of tolerance and persevering.
Last edited by blackace125; 03-31-2015 at 03:47 AM..
Eric Holder, when he was already a lawyer, had encounters of embarrassing, and on at least one occasion, potential life threatening encounters at the hands of the police.
How many white lawyers with an Ivy League background can relate to that?
Isn't it just as elitist to assume that these things shouldn't happen to people because they've had an Ivy League education and they're "lawyers"?
Profiling is real - it's lazy but it's real - and it has to do more with the kind of people that police work attracts than it does anything else. We need to raise the bar for cops in terms of mental/psychological fitness but that also means raising the pay.
If you want a well-educated, well-trained workforce it costs money. If you want to save money you slap a gun and a badge on a bunch of ignorant thugs.
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