Southerners and Muslims share one thing in common (Taliban, legal, Afghanistan)
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The Muslim world is overwhelmingly composed of peaceful individuals who are not violent. That being said, the Muslim world contains a disproportionately higher number of terrorists that base their actions on religious principles than any other faith group. When the Muslim community is approached with this, they get defensive as opposed to taking a more proactive approach by admitting there is a problem and that it should be addressed. They will respond with things like "There are terrorists who were Christian and Jewish too" That does nothing to rectify the situation aside from creating more resentment and doing nothing to curb the growing violent fundamentalist population among them.
Similarly, the South responds in the same way. The overwhelming number of Southerners are not racist yet when approached about their disproportionately higher number of hate crime events, hate crime groups, history of racist events, history of electing openly racist politicians, they get defensive and claim the rest of America has the same problems. The rest of America has those problems but not to the same degree that is found in the South. And I think even Southerners are aware of this but unfortunately respond with a defensive retort out of some misguided sense of pride.
Neither actions benefit either community. I think the rest of the country would view the South differently if they stopped taking this denial approach and instead started working to correct those mistakes done by their predecessors regarding race relations. Similarly, Muslims would probably be embraced more if they more openly decried the actions of Muslim terrorists and took a more a active role in addressing the violent fundamentalist segment of their community.
The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks the numbers of hate groups per state and the number of hate groups in the South alone outnumber the total number of groups in the rest of the country. The SPLC's objective is to identify and track hates groups. They have no agenda to smear the South yet their numbers show an overwhelming number of these groups exist in the South.
Just because some will raise their voice, doesn't mean others aren't remaining silent.
Believe me, I saw just as much, if not more prejudice and hate up north than I did in my own community back home when I left. Now, it used to be quite bad, back in the 80's, but not nearly as much in the 90's, and today, its far less.
Just because some will raise their voice, doesn't mean others aren't remaining silent.
Believe me, I saw just as much, if not more prejudice and hate up north than I did in my own community back home when I left. Now, it used to be quite bad, back in the 80's, but not nearly as much in the 90's, and today, its far less.
Very true Memphis,
Also, when I went to vote in Georgia I do not recall running into thugs dressed in paramilitary gear holding patons in thier hands shouting racist rants. Hmm, where was that? Oh yeah, Philadelphia. That would be Pennsylvania not Mississippi.
Also, when I went to vote in Georgia I do not recall running into thugs dressed in paramilitary gear holding patons in thier hands shouting racist rants. Hmm, where was that? Oh yeah, Philadelphia. That would be Pennsylvania not Mississippi.
Most of the cities I lived in up north had a population of 95% or higher white. When I'm in the south, it mirrors the demographics of the area I'm in. Seems like Detroit was divided. Black part, white part, rich part. Most of the cities in the South, don't do that.
I believe there is still a law on the books in SC that says stealing a horse is a felony punishable by death, whereas killing a black person is malicious mischief.
Most of the cities I lived in up north had a population of 95% or higher white. When I'm in the south, it mirrors the demographics of the area I'm in. Seems like Detroit was divided. Black part, white part, rich part. Most of the cities in the South, don't do that.
Racism exists everywhere. You have to be blind to think racism is far from dead. There's racism in the North, racism in the South, racism elsewhere, it just plays out a little differently depending on where you are. Some places are more open about it, others are more secretive about it, but the beliefs are still there.
Here's another example. The other day I went to my friend's baptism with my grandmother-in-law and my great-aunt-in-law. They're both black. I'm deaf-blind and white. Every single person that talked to my grandmother asked her if she was my social worker, my caretaker, caregiver. Never mind that I had a friend, coincidentally a white one, interpreting the service and guiding me around afterwards. Other social workers there didn't even ask, they just asked what her sub-specialty is. They didn't even conceive of the possibility that maybe my relation to her is of one that's on an equal basis. She's my family and I'm her family. She's not working for me, I don't pay her. But people still think in those terms because many people, whether or not they're aware of it, still think of black people as working for white people. It's that kind of more subtle racism that's still everywhere today, sometimes in addition to more blatant forms, sometimes not.
No one outwardly said anything about race, but my grandma and I both knew they wouldn't be asking those questions or making those assumptions if we were of the same race. This happens to us constantly. Once when we were eating out my family and my in-laws, and we were pretty split down the middle between white and black, people came over and asked if we were part of a social work program. Another example is that when blind services came over to train me on some new technology, they asked if I was living in a group home. That was their only explanation for why I'd be living in a black household. It's those little incidents, but it shows the thoughts that go on in people's minds. Many people still see black people as one class lower than whites, whether or not they even realize it. That, right there, is racism.
Last edited by nimchimpsky; 08-17-2010 at 11:07 AM..
True. Look at the northern cities of Pittsburg, Detroit, Chicago - are things really better for blacks than in Houston, Atlanta?
not at all and the only southern racism is a myth, when blacks started migrating north and west all hell broke loose and this goes back as far as the 1800's but really took off in the 1900's up to the 60's where riots were out of control in my city(milwaukee,wi) blacks could not cross the viaduct a long long bridge that seperates the south and the north side a white man by the name of father groppi lead blacks across the bridge which started riots from polish whites
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