Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
also, do you think that (I can't think of the term) act that gives people preference based on race feeds into the problem? Sometimes I feel like it's kind of just saying 'gees we don't think you can do as well as other people because of your skin color so here's a special seat just for you' I know there is a huge problem with academic success statistics and race but could this be some sort of self-fulfilling principal? Like, 'oh OK, I'm not suppose to be able to do as well'.
also, do you think that (I can't think of the term) act that gives people preference based on race feeds into the problem? Sometimes I feel like it's kind of just saying 'gees we don't think you can do as well as other people because of your skin color so here's a special seat just for you' I know there is a huge problem with academic success statistics and race but could this be some sort of self-fulfilling principal? Like, 'oh OK, I'm not suppose to be able to do as well'.
Self-fulfilling prophecy is a HUGE part of EVERYONE'S life - both in good and bad ways, and on all levels.
There's a lot of things that can contribute to racism. For example my mother (chinese) happened to grow up in a predominately black neighborhood and school. You can't imagine how much she and her 3 siblings were picked on by them. They had very little money and couldn't afford to go to a better school. This was back in the 60's and because of her childhood she's pretty racist towards black people although it has lessened somewhat over the years. I can see why she feels the way she does though, after all she is human. Parental upbringing is very important. If parents instill in their kids at an early age that everyone is equal they'll grow up that way. Its just unfortunate some of the things parents pass on to their kids though.
I am not racist and its in my mothers generation where the racism ends in my family. One can only hope racism dies out more and more with each future generation.
There is racism because there are racist people. For example, those who post threads with titles like "World White Population goes DOWN!!!" with caps and three exclamation points after it, trying to make it seem like it matters.
Racism will be around, as long as there are people.
I think that your statement is convenient fallacy because the concept of race is a rather modern one. Most students of ancient history cannot find any indication that Greek or Roman society held views that would indicate a sense of racial superiority or inferiority based upon physiognomic reasons. According to Prof. Michael Babaoukas, of the Univeristy of Piraeus;
"...ancient Greek antiquity, bondage, racial discrimination and racial
prejudice had nothing to do with physiognomy or skin color. It is true that various Greek writers insisted that slavery should be reserved for ‘barbarians’, but they considered Ethiopians no more barbarous than the fair Scythians of the north. Skin color and other somatic traits they attributed to the effects of climate and environmnent. The ancients put no premium on racial purity and were unconcerned with degrees of racial mixture. It is important to emphasize that the overall Greco-Roman view of blacks was highy positive. Initial, favorable impressions were not altered, in spite of later accounts of wild tribes in the far south and even after encounters with blacks had become more frequent. There was clear-cut respect
among Mediterranean peoples for Ethiopians and their way of life. And, above all, the ancients did not stereotype all blackcs as primitives defective in religion and culture”
We don't begin to see ideas of racial hierarchies until shortly after the exploitation of Africans as a source of New World labor. In short, modern racism as we know it is the rationalization for the exploitation of one race by another using the justification of inherent superiority.
There's a lot of things that can contribute to racism. For example my mother (chinese) happened to grow up in a predominately black neighborhood and school. You can't imagine how much she and her 3 siblings were picked on by them. They had very little money and couldn't afford to go to a better school. This was back in the 60's and because of her childhood she's pretty racist towards black people although it has lessened somewhat over the years. I can see why she feels the way she does though, after all she is human. Parental upbringing is very important. If parents instill in their kids at an early age that everyone is equal they'll grow up that way. Its just unfortunate some of the things parents pass on to their kids though.
I am not racist and its in my mothers generation where the racism ends in my family. One can only hope racism dies out more and more with each future generation.
I think you may be a little confused. It wasn't a result of your grandparents teaching inequality in the home that made your mother 'racist'. It was the result of years of exposure to feral classmates and being surrounded by a dysfunctional and poor culture. I bet your mother didn't raise you kids in the same kind of environment she suffered with. You should thank her for that.
Some people say "racism" when they really mean any prejudice. I've seen people say that someone is "racist against Muslims" despite the fact that Muslims aren't even all the same ethnicity let alone "race." (They're not even really all the same cultural or religious outlook. A Senegalese member of a Sufi order is likely quite different than a Bahraini Shiite cleric) It's a bit lax use of terminology, but I've seen it.
Racism allowed one to have a class of slaves that could be distinguished from non-slaves without things like branding or mutilation or special clothing. Granted a part of me finds this explanation unsatisfactory. Having "Slave of Blank House" tattooed on a slave seems more workable for doing that especially as most Southern states had free blacks. (The master could just add "former" if they manumit) Still things like tattooing and branding did have infection risks. They may have decided racism was less expensive. Or they were just lazy and didn't think of that.
Anyway one reason I think racism retained appeal is it gave people a sense of power and group-spirit. No matter how poor and pathetic they got the white person could still have the egoboost of ordering around any black person they found. Hence some of the harshest segregationists were "white trash" or in the North "Southies" or sometimes poor "off-whites." (Italians, Irish, etc) They could take comfort in the feeling of power and that "at least I'm not colored." Just as working-class men could "compensate" for their relative powerlessness by being tyrannical to their wives. It degrades the dignity of the various parties, but could still be seductive.
Some of this sounds really bashing of working-class whites, but obviously there was an advantage to this for the rich too. I just think the advantages to the rich whites seems more obvious. (Exploitation, ability to be ruder or more amoral than they could to whites in polite society, etc)
White slave owners created racism. They needed the world to look at blacks as less then human, otherwise they would not have tolerated slavery. And then the slave owners would lose money, and they couldn't allow that. Now, black people keep in the back of their mind what happended to their ancestors, and they react with racism. They feel safer within their own race and keeping their distance from white people.
People also just generally feel more comfortable with those that are similar to them. While racism may end someday, generalizations/stereotyping will not.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
