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It is, biologically...but in the social reality, humans have divided themselves by sets of physical features.
Look around. Therefore race is not an inconsequential trait.
There is biologically speaking, only one race. We are all members of the same race. I am a member of your race and you are a member of mine. I do not need to see your skin color to know that, because there is only one race and as humans, we are all members of it.
People who perpetuate the radically wrong and biologically baseless ideology that that humans are dividable into different races based are in fact promoting racism. Racism is in fact the odious theory that there are different races and that these people groups are fundamentally different because of these "racial" differences.
It is not so.
People are unique from birth, every one, and are different because of a wide array of factors. But from a scientific perspective, "race" is not one of them.
The idea of having pride for something you have no control over and no hand in makes zero sense to me. I never understood someone being proud to be black, or Italian or a woman or whatever. You didn't accomplish that. You didn't make it happen through hard work or dedication.
How about the classic children of economically privileged families who will tell you all about how hard they worked to have what they have, when it is clear as day their lives would have been pathetic had they not hit the birth lottery?
It is true that human societies would have a whole lot more to gain if humans were encouraged to feel humility and refrain from feelings of "pride".
For Goodness sake, there is a reason why the Bible itself talks of pride a a sin, not as a virtue.
But the declared pride of a variety of non-white groups is nothing but a defensive reaction to the historic arrogance of the white group whose self-love and self-admiration is historically unsurpassed.
There is biologically speaking, only one race. We are all members of the same race. I am a member of your race and you are a member of mine. I do not need to see your skin color to know that, because there is only one race and as humans, we are all members of it.
People who perpetuate the radically wrong and biologically baseless ideology that that humans are dividable into different races based is in fact promoting racism. Racism is in fact the odious theory that there are different races and that these people groups are fundamentally different because of these "racial" differences.
It is not so.
People are unique from birth, every one, and are different because of a wide array of factors. But from a scientific perspective, "race" is not one of them.
I agree. But as you can see, people perpetuate the divisions anyway. So something's going on.
They continue to separate themselves into groups, because the artificial divisions by physical traits (that began extremely long time ago) also resulted in huge cultural differences on the way. You can't erase those over night, by shrugging your shoulders and saying "we are all one single race".
Just as it is true that BIOLOGICALLY we are all one race, it is also true that humans have a deep seated need to congregate with people they perceive to be "their kind" - people they can relate to.
At this point in history divisions and separations based on both physical-traits and culture are too entrenched to suddenly become irrelevant.
Rather than pretending we can all erase these historical divisions over night, we would be better served by starting with small steps and showing kindness and accommodations for other groups. This means both inter-racial congregating and the wisdom and decency to allow people of various groups to congregate with their own, simply because they relate to people like themselves better. And yes, it is therapeutic and comfortable, especially for groups who have had a historically hard time.
I do not think that intra-group congregations or momentary separations should automatically lead to inter-group hatred.
Think of it as a "girls' night out". Sometimes you just want to be with the girls.
It doesn't mean I secretly resent my husband, my son, my dad or my male friends.
As a white person, I never felt threatened by events like Black History Month.
Then again, I am also an immigrant from a country that has never been a historical power.
So maybe I can empathize better than the American-born whites whom I have noticed on a frantic racial defensive ever since I first stepped foot in this country.
You know that chip on the shoulder? It's still there.
So you would support a White History Month? The cries of racism would be deafening, as you know very well. And they would be right.
We are past time when it is desirable to be promoting our differences along "racial" lines, which Black History Month very certainly does. If you want to have a festival or a conference or something fine. But Black History Month is a racist institution that is promoted by our own federal government that appears focused on inhibiting the melding of the black community into the larger American cultural melting pot and emphasizing the "racial" separateness of black people.
You want to celebrate your culture or remember your ancestors, fine. You want to promote "racial" divisiveness and "racial" differences, that is racism, which is not fine. And yes, that is even true when black people do it.
Black History Month is names as such because black people in America have no other cultural connections to our ancestors. I do not know which tribe(s) in African my black ancestors were from. If I did, I could easily have an ethnic tribe month, similar to:
Polish American History Month (October)
Jewish History Month (May)
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (also May)
Caribbean American Heritage Month (June)
and etc, etc.
Black history month does not "promote differences." It celebrates black history.
During black history month, there are many festivals, events, and conferences, that is the point of it.
LOL at it being a "racist institution" (fwiw, I posted my previous post prior to reading this and I knew that you were going to diverge into a crazy tirade against bHM since that happens at least every 6 months on this forum, probably more than that. I giggle picturing you all stewing about us dam blacks celebrating our cultural history in America. I imagine you finger shaking "you dam blacks!!!" lol). It is really ludicrous BTW to think something that involves festivals and conferences and a review of accomplishments of specific people of the African diaspora as a "racist institution." A celebratory month is not an "institution" at all.
No one is promoting racial divisiveness with BHM. Again, it is a celebration of culture. I recently went to the German American Festival in my area. I go to the Polish festival every year. I love Irish history of Ireland and here in America. As stated, I am an amateur history buff, mostly of black history, but I am pretty well learned in general American history as well and via study of black history and general American history and Colonial history and European history (basically an in depth study of the world) one realizes that all of our histories are VERY similar. We are all connected by our humaneness. Due to so many people viewing people of African descent in a negative fashion worldwide, it was the goal of Carter G. Woodson, creator of "Negro History Week" which later became Negro History Month/Black History Month to include the history of the people who recently descended from Africa. By including this history, no one else's is being denied or rejected.
It takes a skewed, biased point of view to state that Black History Month in any way is 1-an "institution" because it is not or 2-something that "promotes differences" as black history actually shows that we have more in common than not in common if you really look into it. Even the Civil Rights Movement's non-violence tactics practiced by Dr. King and the SCLC had its roots in the Asian Indian independence movement via Mahatma Ghandi. There is a sculpture of Ghandi at the King Center in Atlanta as an homage to the non-violent tactics used in India to secure their independence, which inspired King and others to take similar measures here in America.
We are more alike than different. If you studied black history, you would know this. If anything, your comments and others show that we still do need a Black History Month so that you will at least "think" about black history in relation to our universal experiences as human beings on this earth.
Your analogy between this video and "racial pride" doesn't compute... it doesn't work.
Why? Because the " star-bellied sneetches" in your video weren't just proud of the star on their belly, they actually thought that the star made them better than those who lacked it...
There's a big difference between being proud of your heritage, your race, and it's accomplishments, and actually thinking that being that race makes you better than other races.
The former imo is perfectly appropriate and acceptable, the latter, not so much.
Ok, give me an example of something in the mainstream that conveys a message of white pride, and I'll gladly agree with you that it should go...
Except you can't give an example, because there is nothing in mainstream society that conveys a message of white pride. It would not be tolerated by the PC freaks.
Basically what I'm telling you is that we're not giving up ANYTHING and when and if we ever do decide to give something up, WE'LL be the ones to say what and when it'll be done. If you're not black, you don't get a vote.
I don't care about what white based celebrations do or don't exist. That has nothing to do with what we have going on over here. What you do has no bearing on what we do.
Black history month, HBCU'S, BET, Black Biker Week, Essence awards, UNCF, etc.. it ALL STAYS IN PLACE.
Movie time kids! Many of you failed this lesson back in Kindergarten so it's time to set that little life oopsie right now... seriously, take 12 minutes out of your life and rewatch this classic, cause it's exactly what's happening now with this BS "race war".
"Sylvester Mc Monkey Mc Bean" is currently working "the beach" in America.
Nobody should look down on another human just because of their superficial body features, but neither should anybody BE proud simply because of their superficial body features. One belief leads to the other in a giant circle-jerk feedback loop, leaving us ALL the suckers for slightly smarter and decidedly crooked folks who are more than willing to profit from the "opportunity" that "old school" human behavior presents. Unfortunately, unlike the cartoon, real human lives are at stake... we're all the same species in the end...why is that so hard for so many to realize?
Carlin had a great monologue on this:
Quote:
“Pride should be reserved for something you achieve or obtain on your own, not
something that happens by accident of birth. Being Irish isn't a skill... it's a
****ing genetic accident. You wouldn't say I'm proud to be 5'11"; I'm proud to
have a pre-disposition for colon cancer.”
You sure in the hell like to defend white
people though...that is what I do not get.
What's not to get? I'm not really defending white people, and I'm certainly not defending them because they are white. I'm defending a segment of the population that is being unfairly and wrongly blamed for the modern-day shortcomings of another segment of society who refuses to take any responsibility whatsoever for the problems plaguing their community.
Quote:
Cool....you are a great person. You are not racist. You never owned a slave. You
never lynched a Negro...and all that Jazz. Yet....many whites have done those
things
None of that is an indictment on modern day whites, sorry. I don't feel any sense of responsibility for what my ancestors did. Do you feel a sense of responsibility for your ancestors in Africa selling their own down the river so that they could buy rum? You certainly shouldn't, as you had nothing to do with that.
Quote:
and many whites today are racist and the cumulative impact continues to plague
the black community.
Where's your proof that "modern white racism" is holding the black community back today?
Quote:
Yet.....you keep defending the honor of "whiteness"
I do no such thing. There is no inherent honor in being white, just as there is no inherent honor in being black.
Quote:
by turning this dysfunction in the black community into a SELF INFLICTED
wound....
And you keep defending the honor of the black community by making excuses, inventing fictitious force fields like "white privilege", and shirking responsibility for the failures of the black community, so where does that leave us? I can't help but to think that 150 years after the abolition of slavery, 50 years after a successful civil rights movement, and 7 years in to our first African American presidency, that the black community should bear at least some of the responsibility for the extreme dysfunction that plagues their people today.
You said it yourself last time we had this discussion that blacks have forgotten where they came from, the struggles they had to endure, and the hardships they faced. They lost their sense of community and with it, their respect for one another.
Quote:
either to protect the image of reputation of whites
There's no need to protect the image or reputation of modern whites because there is no indictment upon them.
Quote:
and or to promote a doctrine and belief in black inferiority.
No one is promoting a belief in black inferiority. That's just another of your inventions to feed your incessant need to feed your victim mentality. Ones race does not make them inferior or superior, it's a persons actions that determine their value.
Basically what I'm telling you is that we're not giving up ANYTHING and when and if we ever do decide to give something up, WE'LL be the ones to say what and when it'll be done. If you're not black, you don't get a vote.
I don't care about what white based celebrations do or don't exist. That has nothing to do with what we have going on over here. What you do has no bearing on what we do.
Black history month, HBCU'S, BET, Black Biker Week, Essence awards, UNCF, etc.. it ALL STAYS IN PLACE.
That's all there is to it.
Here's desertdetroiter promoting his separatist ideology again...
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