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So…the general consensus here seems to be that racism is just manufactured by the media and politicians. There is definitely truth to the idea that politicians and the media exploit issues of race for self-benefit bc race is one America’s favorite past-times. However, denying the lived experiences of those affected by racism is far worse.
My personal belief is that race relations will get better bc the moral arc of justice bends that way. However, I am definitely disappointed by where things stand today. I’m almost 40 and in my experience, I’ve witnessed only incremental change for the good. Racism is still very much an issue throughout the country and very much impacts minorities to varying degrees. I do think people’s perception of race can very much be influenced by geography, your political persuasion, and your social circle. My wife grew up in an extremely diverse DC suburb. Her closest friends are white, Black, Asian, Hispanic and everything else. She personally didn’t experience much racism growing up, but she’s experienced it when living or visiting areas that were not diverse. I am white and grew up in a predominantly white town that has only recently accepted minorities into the town. It’s now about 85% white, but was 99% when I was growing up. I never understood why there were so many racists when they had no interactions whatsoever with minorities. I guess ignorance is bliss though. The ignorance towards minorities is still prevalent but slowly getting better. But still terrible considering it’s 2022. I really don’t know how you change the mindset of people living in towns where there are so few minorities. How do you change the mindset of people who have very little connection - let alone exposure to minorities - when they form their opinions from (mostly conservative) news/media? It’s starts in the home. Schools can only do so much.
Gleaning the posts on this board, I get the sense that many people here are not willing to accept that racism exists. Listening and acknowledging that a problem exists is the first step to solving the issue - or at least making some positive change. You can debate all you want on the degree to which it’s an issue, but you can’t just arbitrarily decide it’s not an issue when such a high % of minorities- especially African Americans- are repeatedly telling the world it is.
I don't know of anyone on this board that thinks that racism doesn't exist or isn't an issue in some places. However, the complaints about it by some or many minorities are directly due to them wanting to keep the past alive so they can play eternal victim today. Some live in a past that they were never a part of also.
The best way to lesson the hate is to promote and champion mixed families.
Hard to hate when its your son or daughter or niece or nephew.
Water it down so race doesn't mean anything anymore because most people are mutts anyway.
It is going in that direction.
The most recent census had a hard time deciding how to categorize race and the people filling it out an even harder time.
The younger generation seems to be much more OK with it than the older folks.
I am hopeful.
So…the general consensus here seems to be that racism is just manufactured by the media and politicians. There is definitely truth to the idea that politicians and the media exploit issues of race for self-benefit bc race is one America’s favorite past-times. However, denying the lived experiences of those affected by racism is far worse.
My personal belief is that race relations will get better bc the moral arc of justice bends that way. However, I am definitely disappointed by where things stand today. I’m almost 40 and in my experience, I’ve witnessed only incremental change for the good. Racism is still very much an issue throughout the country and very much impacts minorities to varying degrees. I do think people’s perception of race can very much be influenced by geography, your political persuasion, and your social circle. My wife grew up in an extremely diverse DC suburb. Her closest friends are white, Black, Asian, Hispanic and everything else. She personally didn’t experience much racism growing up, but she’s experienced it when living or visiting areas that were not diverse. I am white and grew up in a predominantly white town that has only recently accepted minorities into the town. It’s now about 85% white, but was 99% when I was growing up. I never understood why there were so many racists when they had no interactions whatsoever with minorities. I guess ignorance is bliss though. The ignorance towards minorities is still prevalent but slowly getting better. But still terrible considering it’s 2022. I really don’t know how you change the mindset of people living in towns where there are so few minorities. How do you change the mindset of people who have very little connection - let alone exposure to minorities - when they form their opinions from (mostly conservative) news/media? It’s starts in the home. Schools can only do so much.
Gleaning the posts on this board, I get the sense that many people here are not willing to accept that racism exists. Listening and acknowledging that a problem exists is the first step to solving the issue - or at least making some positive change. You can debate all you want on the degree to which it’s an issue, but you can’t just arbitrarily decide it’s not an issue when such a high % of minorities- especially African Americans- are repeatedly telling the world it is.
Incremental changes is what we have to live with.
There are two types of racism: Institutional and Customary.
We had institutional racism when racism was explicit in laws and enforced by governmental powers. But customary racism is personally held and often covert.
When president Harry Truman forced the US military to desegregate, he did away with institutional racism in a sub-group of the American society. But he could not do the same for the many personally held racist beliefs within the ranks. This is where racist superiors used any mean they could to harm Blacks and other minorities. They could no longer appeal to the institutions within the US military to overtly exercise their racism. So they had to abuse minorities other ways such as ranks, assignments of work details, performance reviews, and so on. But over time, the US military became the least racist sub-group of the American society.
The racism that we are experiencing today vis-a-vis Whites against all minorities are individual customary racism. It is personal and covert. So far, God have done nothing like Truman did so we have to let racists live out their lives and let their odious beliefs die with them. Incremental change is better than none.
It is apparent that many in ignorance ( not their fault ) do not realize that it is the communist agenda to stir division.
Those that do the stirring believe that they will be the ones in power, but those that put them there to divide will soon remove them seeing they don't get what they may have been promised. Communists lie a lot to get what they want.
Communism had been working for many years to break this country down and they are doing it with the help of the democrats. I have been watching this for over 50 years, and am presently 71 years old.
Even TV shows tended to make a mockery of those attempting to expose the communist infiltration.
Now the corruption is so thick in government even those we trusted to hold a firm hand are afraid to speak.
What made America strong is now gone with liberal glee with the compromise to moral values, much like was seen in Hitler's reign. I have magazines of the time to prove it, I will not post them, it is inappropriate.
Point is to fix this people need to actually look at the source they are listening to and what is their real agenda.
My last point.
If you don't support the American Constitution go to another country that fit's your agenda.
If you don't like our freedom of speech, go to another country that fits your agenda.
If your skin is so thin that you are easily offended move into the woods, other wise accept the fact that your opinion is not widely accepted.
No doubt my opinion is not widely accepted, that does not drive me to tears, move on, and maybe listen to conflicting opinions, I don't have to agree but I don't get hurt over it either.
Being teachable one can learn something, being stubborn one can learn nothing. If you have no opinion, figure one out and prove it to yourself and be sure it has a foundation, not fantasy.
I try to befriend all people I meet, if they keep their distance there is nothing I can do about it.
Standing ovation! Always makes my day when others see the light! So many don’t! “It’s a big club and you ain’t in it.” George Carlin.
There are ways, but there’s a sizable portion of this country that are too apathetic and ignorant to invest the energy needed to address the core underlying issues. There’s a sizable portion of the country that refuses to even acknowledge a problem exists and refuse to acknowledge concerns expressed by racial minorities in this country. If we can’t acknowledge there’s an issue and who it primarily affects in a negative way, then there’s no chance for a true reconciliation and tensions will persist.
I do think solving racism is a deeply complex issue bc it’s so ingrained in our country. I am myself white and grew up in a town that was about 98% white and suffocatingly racist. I knew it was racist, but it didn’t affect me too much bc again, I’m white. I loved history and took honors/AP courses. Reflecting back, it was damn near criminal how little history was taught that included non-white people and their perspectives. It always perplexed me how Nat Turner (pretty much the only Black figure mentioned prior to the late 1800s) was portrayed as a crazed terrorist while guys like Andrew Jackson were celebrated as heroes and freedom fighters. I could sense the hypocrisy. I knew racism existed bc such a high percentage of the people around me were comfortable saying horrible things about minorities - despite having no meaningful connections or interactions with racial minorities. I just needed a context for understanding how deep it is and how connected it is to current conditions. That does take time and effort to understand bc you will never be taught that in schools..at least that’s my experience and I graduated in 2001.
I digress…my point is, racism is a complex issue and takes careful examination to truly understand and address. People of color - especially African Americans as they’ve been here over 400 years - have been gas lit to believe we live in a color blind society when that’s not close to truth.
Much more progress needs to be made and sadly it will be stalled if we don’t start listening more and be willing to challenge our beliefs.
Inconvenient truth or hate speech to the white supremacists.
Anyone who knows the talking points espoused in white supremacist groups know that one of the primary strategies is to propagandize that the problem doesn’t even exist. Meant to demoralize their opponents and beat back progress. I am confident that that strategy is now backfiring on them.
There are plenty of ways to fix race relations, for example.
Stop complaining that your life is being affected by slavery when it ended over 150 years ago.
Stop telling white people that they are racist simply because they are white.
Stop blaming racism for every single little problem in your life.
Take responsibility for the bad decisions you've made in your life.
Stop blaming racism for every police shooting.
Wake up and realize that some people are just more intelligent, more productive, and more motivated to succeed than others and that they succeed in life due to those attributes.
Gleaning the posts on this board, I get the sense that many people here are not willing to accept that racism exists. Listening and acknowledging that a problem exists is the first step to solving the issue - or at least making some positive change. You can debate all you want on the degree to which it’s an issue, but you can’t just arbitrarily decide it’s not an issue when such a high % of minorities- especially African Americans- are repeatedly telling the world it is.
Nice post. It’s not that we are not willing to accept racism exists. It does and it’s unfortunate. However, I’ll counter on a few things.
1. Our government was designed to govern. They neither have the expertise or bandwidth to solve this problem. Too many in this nation now look at government as a solution to all of their problems and they are only setting themselves up for failure when the government doesn’t come to the rescue.
2. With the above in mind, there are other worldly issues that exist that are ignored and eclipsed as everyone is polarized on racism and COVID. Case in point. Turn on NPR radio and count the minutes before they start talking about racism or COVID.
When a topic reaches its point of saturation, it loses importance. People tune it out. I love the Beatles. But if I listened to Sargent Pepper 24/7, I’d start tuning it out.
It will fade over time. Pollution isn’t eradicated immediately. It’s curbing it from generation to generation that will make the difference. If we treat it like Rwanda treated the Hutu and Tutsi terms after the genocide (outlawed), it WILL fade.
Maybe, and maybe not. When it comes to Race prejudice, I don't see it the same way as pollution. Pollution can be reduced dramatically by simply not putting pollutants into the air.
We can get rid of racial categories on applications and on the Census. However, there are many who still have that "stick to your own kind" mentality.
Rwanda is a weird case. It might not be the powder keg it was in 1994. However, it still has the legacy of it. Some tension still lingers from that time. The government does not do race classifications. However, many people still do.
Sometimes, we are the ones who need to take a good look at ourselves. We need to talk to whoever is in the mirror and ask what we are doing to contribute to racial strife.
repair race relations is quite easy. stop paying attention to the divisive left wing propaganda
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