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Racism is cultural which I observed in the South. In the South, racial identity is very important and one of the first things people notice and ask about is your race whereas in metropolitan areas outside of the South, people do not have the same curiosity toward one's racial identity because they have more diversity and are used to people of different races. When I lived in cities like Dallas, Oklahoma City, Memphis and Charlotte, the first thing people would ask was my race. I also noticed that separation of races is espoused in these areas with regard to marriage/dating/relationships. There was a double standard. It was okay to be friends with people of different races but opposed interracial relationships. Even people who claimed not to be racist were always trying to hook me up with another Hispanic person as if I wasn't allowed to date outside my race.And even among friendships, there were limitations. In the South, it was okay to be friends with minorities at school but it was an entirely different thing to have them over for sleep overs or be your neighbors next door. And this type of thinking is so prominent there that they don't find the view to be racist. They genuinely think they aren't racist by espousing these types of views. To them, it's just more of the equal yet separate mentality.
And they definitely frowned upon Blacks dating and marrying Whites. It starts in the teenage years where people will use race to put down others while simultaneously having parents tell their children not to date members of a certain race. It was ingrained at an early age in the South and many of those people are still ignorant and unaware of how racist they truly are. It is truly a product of bad parenting and non-progressive culture.
In the Charlotte area, I didn't find everyone to be like this, but I did find some people to be like this. I knew a lot of interracial couples but I also experienced a lot of people staring at us and yelling insults at me and my ex for being an interracial couple. More than that I just found people assuming I was dating and planning to marry my same-race roommate instead of being married to my different-race ex-wife. To be fair my ex was the same sex and I was visibly disabled so that played a big factor as well. IMO it's a mixed bag. It's not all one way or the other. One thing I did notice is that racial minorities enforce racial separation just as much as whites do. E.g. some of my ex's family members gave her a hard time about dating me cause I'm white. That isn't to say everyone enforces separate but equal, but when people do, the minorities are doing it just as much as the white majority.
Update my mindset? I have radically updated my mindset over the past two years. In fact, I was one of the largest supporters of Obama in 2008, watched his 2004 keynote address several times(you should watch it, I used to have it on my Iphone). The words of hope for the future, the idea that racism could be a thing of the past, and the prospect of the first black president were all jumping through my head for the longest time.
Two years ago I would have been much like yourself, looking at the world how I would like it to be, the way I dreamt it to be, but not the way it is. Two years ago I was big government. I was for not only an expansion of healthcare, I would have easily gone for the whole package, single-payer. I believed so profoundly in Unions(which I had been employed in and around for several years prior to that), that I actually believed the reason we avoided communism was directly related to unions.
It amazes me how much my view of the world has changed, that I often reflect on how exactly it happened. How my unwavering optimism for the future has waned into severe reality-induced pessimism.
To understand it, you would have to look at a chronology of events. Beginning with my wanting to move to California, in which I searched on these forums for information about where someone might move in the LA or San Diego areas that wasn't crime laden. If you ever make that kind of search in any metropolitan area, you will realize the easier thing to do is to look at racial makeup of an area. That is the best indicator of a nice place to live and what isn't a nice place to live.
I suffer from depression, so happiness is important to me. I was doing some research on the "happiest countries in the world". You know, where there aren't all the issues we face all day every day in America(such as racism). A country that isn't in practically perpetual wars, worrying every day about terrorist attacks, and getting our junk touched by TSA agents. When it comes to happy countries, it seems that small, homogeneous countries are by far the happiest. The vast majority of those countries are in Europe. And all of the countries are overwhelmingly white.
And you know, me being a strong supporter of healthcare reform, energy reform, and foreign policy reform. I wondered, why can't we be more like Europe? Why can't we be as happy as all those small countries in Europe? What is it that they do that we don't do?
About that time was the long debate about healthcare reform in this country, and the subsequent challenges to the healthcare reform that has passed. And after watching the news, looking at all sides of the argument. All I ever heard was people claiming racism, people talking about welfare, talking about entitlements and handouts. Which carried on to immigration reform and illegals being able to obtain healthcare under the laws. I realized that, racism was not going away anytime soon, that it almost feels like it has gotten worse since Obama was elected. And that racism, which is an inherent part of humanity, is holding us back from being a more unified group of people. This country is built on individualism, and diversity is actually driving us further apart not pulling us together. And that the only way that we can really be happy, is if we attempted to narrow the amount of diversity that exists. Basically, I feel like our best chances of happiness are to live in small, homogeneous nations. Where we would tend to agree on more things, where we would more identify with each as part of a group and not as us vs them. And it would help to prevent our constant abuse of military power.
Where California didn't have to worry about conservatives coming into power and passing laws it didn't agree with. Where Texas didn't have to worry about liberals and the courts trying to shove its ideology down its throat.
At that time, you still had the discussion about Texas wanting to secede from the country, with the governor Rick Perry. And I began thinking that secession might be the best approach to solve this issue. But most people I talked to about secession were very fearful of the idea. That would mean Texas would be in another country? All the people that live in Texas or in other parts of the country, would be sort of "cut off" from each other? That just cannot happen.
The funny thing is, the solution to this problem should have been so blatantly obvious to anyone with any knowledge of American history and principles, that I don't know how I could have missed it. The framework for such a conglomerate of individual nations already exists, it is in the basic structure of our own nation. That was its original intent, to allow a number of small nations to peacefully trade and traverse each other. To provide for a common defense to help resist foreign influence. If only this Republican form of government could be held in place, and to not overtake the sovereignty of the states....
So what happened to this country? What turned it from "these United States" to "the United States". What has destroyed our regional identities. Our individual cultures, and the real diversity of this country? Why do we allow a single entity in the Congress to have almost absolute dominion over our lives? Why do we allow unelected supreme court judges to have control over our morality? What is it that has completely destroyed the very nature of our republic?
The simple answer is, the Civil War. The Civil War was a tragedy in our history, an utterly avoidable war. If you believe it was about slavery, you are only half right. It was about state sovereignty, slavery was just the issue of the day, there were many other issues that almost caused a Civil War(such as the Alien and sedition acts, and tariffs). If another Civil War happened over the healthcare reform law, you might remark it was about healthcare reform, but the truth is, it is about individual and state sovereignty. Does the federal government have the constitutional authority to pass such a law?
Most states don't dare defy the federal government, or they might lose funding, or worse be marched upon by federal troops, and its elected officials imprisoned for treason. This fear of the federal governments power came as a result of the Civil War. And what gives the Congress and the supreme court such power over the individual? The 14th amendment to the constitution of the United States. Which states you are no longer just a citizen of your state, you are now a citizen of the United States. This is what made the people subject to direct federal control. It is what has completely destroyed any notion of state sovereignty. And the truth is, the 14th amendment was illegally ratified by a tyrannical Republican Congress, which kicked out its own members to allow itself to have the votes necessary to pass it through the Congress. It is a Congress which prohibited the Supreme court from making rulings on the unconstitutional acts it passed. It is a Congress which tried to impeach Andrew Johnson because they passed a law that took away the powers of the executive branch and handed them to the Congress(control over the executive cabinet and right to pardon). It is a Congress which punished the south through military governors who would imprison anyone who opposed them indefinitely for any reason. It is a congress that authorized to hold those states in such despotism until they agreed to ratify the 14th amendment, and they refused. So that same tyrannical Congress changed the ratification process and barred any opposition to its passage from entering the constitutional conventions, so it could be passed. That 14th amendment destroyed any notion of a peaceful nation of nations, and turned us into an all-powerful American empire.
We once attracted people from all parts of the greatest countries on Earth. Europeans once streamed to this country for freedom. Now the only people that come here are from third-world crapholes.
That is definitely something to look at. I picked up many things from TV. I used to watch this show called Puzzle Place. All of those children from different places, different ethnicities, and they were all there together. I thought "what a wonderful thing. It should be like that". I still hold on to that.
Exactly. Most kids aren't even aware of race until adults or other kids in their life point it out to them, even if it's just by treating them differently.
Exactly. Most kids aren't even aware of race until adults or other kids in their life point it out to them, even if it's just by treating them differently.
I wasn't that aware either. I knew I was Black, but I never really felt like I had to be a certain way. I could just be me and that was it. It was when some of the African-American kids started making fun of me for "not being Black enough" and some White kids bullying me that I became very aware of things. It made me appreciate being a kid in the 1990's as oppose to being a teenager in the early 2000's.
In this case, I have a question. I was beaten down by alot of White kids. Why don't I hate White people? One could argue it would be natural for me to hate White people, but for some reason, I don't.
Different people react differently. It also makes a difference if you were beaten down by white people but also had a lot of nice white people in your life. I was abused by a white man for a long time, and I had a lot of white male teachers that weren't abusive but also weren't outwardly loving and caring. The only loving/caring white male example I had was my dad, and he was in his own separate category from "the rest of the world." As a result, I hated white men for a long time. I was also abused by a black woman. But I also had a lot of loving caring black women in my life, so I never grew to hate all black women because my experience with black women wasn't exclusively negative.
If someone gets beat up or abused by an individual who is of a certain demographic, it's very possible they will overgeneralize and hate that entire demographic. But it's also that person's responsibility to eventually overcome their own trauma. Sometimes they won't end up hating the entire demographic cause they also have a lot of positive experiences with that demographic.
I wasn't that aware either. I knew I was Black, but I never really felt like I had to be a certain way. I could just be me and that was it. It was when some of the African-American kids started making fun of me for "not being Black enough" and some White kids bullying me that I became very aware of things. It made me appreciate being a kid in the 1990's as oppose to being a teenager in the early 2000's.
Same. I never even saw race until everyone started pointing out that I was befriending a black kid like it was something amazing. I just thought of him as C____, not "a black boy." But people pass down the mentality of categorization and separation through teasing you for acting a certain way, and even sometimes just pointing out race because that makes it a "thing" instead of just being a non-issue.
They probably learn it from watching people like Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on TV.
But those three persons don't represent everyone in the African-American community. I didn't even know who Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton were until I was 18.
One thing one must realize is that African-Americans are not some monolith. We are all different. There are good people. There are bad people. You have educated intellectuals like Cornell West and Tavis Smiley. You have criminals like Tookie Williams and Malvo. You have all sides. We need to show this for all ethnic groups. There are some differences, but there are similarities and learn the history too.
Different people react differently. It also makes a difference if you were beaten down by white people but also had a lot of nice white people in your life. I was abused by a white man for a long time, and I had a lot of white male teachers that weren't abusive but also weren't outwardly loving and caring. The only loving/caring white male example I had was my dad, and he was in his own separate category from "the rest of the world." As a result, I hated white men for a long time. I was also abused by a black woman. But I also had a lot of loving caring black women in my life, so I never grew to hate all black women because my experience with black women wasn't exclusively negative.
If someone gets beat up or abused by an individual who is of a certain demographic, it's very possible they will overgeneralize and hate that entire demographic. But it's also that person's responsibility to eventually overcome their own trauma. Sometimes they won't end up hating the entire demographic cause they also have a lot of positive experiences with that demographic.
It did get beat up by alot of White kids. Once I got jumped in the classroom. I also had some nice White people in my life. It made an impression on me when I rode the bus in 6th grade. An 8th grade girl walked on the bus and told me I was "cute". I was dumbfounded, but okay with it. I only expected this from adults, not school-age children. While I was getting bullied alot by White boys, it was mainly a few White girls who tried to do something about it. The bullying had an impact on me as it turned a naive, nerdish, socially awkward child into an socially awkward, nerdish, but angry and frequently depressed teenager. I was trying so hard to fit in. I didn't know where I fit. However, I think having some decent White people in my life was part of me not getting any worse. Being in church and participating in a Christian group in my high school and mitigated things as well. I also made it a point to seek out persons who were like me(of all ethnicities).
It did get beat up by alot of White kids. Once I got jumped in the classroom. I also had some nice White people in my life. It made an impression on me when I rode the bus in 6th grade. An 8th grade girl walked on the bus and told me I was "cute". I was dumbfounded, but okay with it. I only expected this from adults, not school-age children. While I was getting bullied alot by White boys, it was mainly a few White girls who tried to do something about it. The bullying had an impact on me as it turned a naive, nerdish, socially awkward child into an socially awkward, nerdish, but angry and frequently depressed teenager. I was trying so hard to fit in. I didn't know where I fit. However, I think having some decent White people in my life was part of me not getting any worse. Being in church and participating in a Christian group in my high school and mitigated things as well. I also made it a point to seek out persons who were like me(of all ethnicities).
Finding other commonalities can definitely help with the race thing too. The Deaf community is very racially diverse because the common thread is Deafness. Same goes for the Jehovah's Witnesses. Unfortunately it often takes that commonality to get people to stop thinking about race though, but at least it's a start.
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