Why did we segregate people??? (generation, racism, independence, speech)

[iColt1]

So in English we were discussing Martin Luther King. His speech "I have a dream" he said that in the Declaration of Independence that all people made equal. If so then why did we segregate a black from a white since we have no control over the color of our skin; since it's a pigment in the skin that causes us to be a certain color. actually if this is true then we should never have had a civil war.

[Omaha Rocks]

Ummm... It's called racism. Some people honestly believe that their race is superior to other races of people.

[Memphis1979]

People back then didn't know that it was simply a pigment of skin tone that caused them to be dark.

They talked different, looked different, had different morals and values.

Racisim started in America because rich slave owners didn't want the poor farmer and black slave to rise up against them in the colonial days. So they started the "black is inferior" thing to keep the poor white farmer on their side. It grew into much more than that later.

What I find is funny, is that people tend to self segregate, if you haven't noticed.

Go to a black church, how many white people do you see there. Go to a White affluent church, not many black folk there either.

Same with towns and communities. Black people go to their part of town, whites to theirs.

Thats going to be the slowest thing to change, in my opinion. Hell, when I worked in Detroit, I used to have people yell at me, "Whatchya doin' down here White Boy!"

People believe what their eyes see. If you took an alien and gave him a white guy, and a black guy, their first instinct might say two are different. Its a basic genetic normality. You don't see several members of the same species living together. Gorillas don't live with Chimps, Chimps don't live with Orangatans, they seperate, divide, and become something new.

[jtur88]

Because the blacks were brought here as slaves, and designated as an inferior class of people within the context of our society. Human society is based on structures of kinship, and even if people are ths same color and appearance, any group of people will segregate themselves from outsiders.

Segregating your own kind from others is a social defense mechanism, to give strength through kinship, to protect your own kind from the ambitions of others. There has never been a culture, or a family, or a clan, or a tribe, or a linguistic group, or a color, or a religion, or gang, or tattoo pattern that did not do that. And there never will be.

[Thomas R.]

I think a strong element really does relate to the concern black men would "get it on" with white women, but possibly not in the way one would immediately think.

There's no denying maternity. And what I mean by that is if the slave owner's daughter had a child by a slave there'd be no denying it's her child. This could make things "awkward" as the slave could now, in a sense, have a "claim" on a child born in "the master's House." (By "House" I mean in the sense of familial dynasty) However a man who impregnated a slave could just choose to not claim it. Or play a bit of a "is it or isn't it" game with it.

After slavery ended the urge to keep whites and blacks apart remained with the "purity of white women" being a big part of it. Many to most segregationists would mention fears of "miscegenation" when discussing their opposition to integration. This was so potent I believe a few early integrationists would even say they didn't want that to happen, that they wanted to be with whites but that they would not bring up the right to marry any of us.

Granted a small complication is that slavery was not originally by race. Race-based slavery is largely a "modern", as in post-Medieval, phenomenon. Still at a certain point it was deemed advantageous to have the slaves be a separate race and blacks were believed to be better in warm climates while being "hardier" than American Indians. That's the more noted factor. Blacks were deemed an inferior slave race and so discouraged from mixing with whites.

Note: There is a small part of me that's happy a kid in my home state of Arkansas could find segregation completely inscrutable. There are things I don't like in the younger generation, but they really do seem to have left much of the racial prejudice behind and that's great!

[Chango]

Originally Posted by Memphis1979

People believe what their eyes see. If you took an alien and gave him a white guy, and a black guy, their first instinct might say two are different. Its a basic genetic normality. You don't see several members of the same species living together. Gorillas don't live with Chimps, Chimps don't live with Orangatans, they seperate, divide, and become something new.

Except humans aren''t different species like chimps, gorillas and orangs.

A interesting genetic study shows the average human population worldwide has less genetic variation than two populations of chimps on the opposite sides of the same mountain. Every human has the capability to be any human color; it just depends on whether the genes turn on the melanin production. We are incredibly alike as a species...everything else is superficial

Chimps outdo people in genetic diversity. - Free Online Library

[2mares]

People believe what their eyes see. If you took an alien and gave him a white guy, and a black guy, their first instinct might say two are different. Its a basic genetic normality. You don't see several members of the same species living together. Gorillas don't live with Chimps, Chimps don't live with Orangatans, they seperate, divide, and become something new.

Interesting. When I was a little city girl, I visited my aunt who raised black angus cattle. We were driving thru the pasture and there was one white calf among the black calves. the black calves were chasing and fighting with the white one. I asked why they were picking on that one and my aunt told me it was because the white one was different and that was common behavior.

[dsrich98]

Originally Posted by iColt1

So in English we were discussing Martin Luther King. His speech "I have a dream" he said that in the Declaration of Independence that all people made equal. If so then why did we segregate a black from a white since we have no control over the color of our skin; since it's a pigment in the skin that causes us to be a certain color. actually if this is true then we should never have had a civil war.

I don't know if I should think of this as a good thing or a bad thing that a young person in this country could be so ignorant about the history of racial issues in the United States.

Good because it seems like an innocent question about how something so terrible could be allowed to happen. But also scary that someone is so unaware of the legacy of racism in this country.

I don't know what to think.

[2mares]

Originally Posted by dsrich98

I don't know if I should think of this as a good thing or a bad thing that a young person in this country could be so ignorant about the history of racial issues in the United States.

Good because it seems like an innocent question about how something so terrible could be allowed to happen. But also scary that someone is so unaware of the legacy of racism in this country.

I don't know what to think.

I agree. I recall by the 10th grade slavery, the civil war, racism, the civil rights movement and the declaration of independence had been covered.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by 2mares

Interesting. When I was a little city girl, I visited my aunt who raised black angus cattle. We were driving thru the pasture and there was one white calf among the black calves. the black calves were chasing and fighting with the white one. I asked why they were picking on that one and my aunt told me it was because the white one was different and that was common behavior.

Yeah, I doubt it. Dogs of different breeds get along just fine, and they display far more genetic diversity than different races.
The best analogy to human races would be something like different types of Labradors. Put them together and they get along fine.
Race is mostly a social construct. There are genetic differences by race, but you could slice up humans in any way you like (by continent, by hemisphere, by eye color, by height) and by there will be some genetic difference found as well.