Do you believe you live in a racist nation?

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fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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Northeast PA. 3 miles from the Pocono race track
As far as the US is concerned, I would have to say yes. This is my opinion. What is yours? We live in a divided nation-black and white, Asian, Indian, etc. There is a white culture, which stays all white. Can you guess the race of a Country /Western singer. It's no big secret whites harbor racists views. They interact with other races only when necessary, and certainly not live next to them. Blacks have their own culture, which stays black. Can you guess the race of a R&B/soul singer. They harbor racist views for other races. They also harbor a great distrust of the police. They interact with other races only when necessary, and certainly do not live next to other races. We have almost two independent societies. I believe it is difficult in the US for blacks and whites to shed racism. Both have unjustified fears and long, long traumatic histories.
 

haven't we always fuzzy? it's never going to end until people make a change for the better. it's sad.
 
"Racism" is, and always will be, endemic in human society. Virtually All races and societies believe they are superior to others. This is NOT just a U.S. thing, but exists all over the world....I saw it in my time in Europe, and Thailand. Racism extends as far back as human history, and I doubt it will ever be erased, until/unless there is a point in the distant future where interracial marriages create One race. The Best society can hope for is a reasonable level of respect and tolerance.
 
Don M. said:
"Racism" is, and always will be, endemic in human society. Virtually All races and societies believe they are superior to others. This is NOT just a U.S. thing, but exists all over the world....I saw it in my time in Europe, and Thailand. Racism extends as far back as human history, and I doubt it will ever be erased, until/unless there is a point in the distant future where interracial marriages create One race. The Best society can hope for is a reasonable level of respect and tolerance.
Click to expand...
You have stated what I was going to say. There is even racism in the Bible. Consider the attitude of the Jewish people towards non-Jews. Humans are part of the animal kingdom, and we have the same instincts as other animals. We are tribal and territorial. We feel threatened by those of different tribes. This is at the root of what we term 'racism'.
 
The answer Iā€™d like to have for this question is ā€˜noā€™ but that would be unrealistic. While I live in the worldā€™s most multicultural area, there still are racist and I believe there always will be. Reasons for this perceived superiority is as diverse as the weather but I think most people attitudes are reflections of their life experience.

My mom hates Japanese people. Her father was held prisoner and she held onto that resentment her entire life. She hated other races also. Being the daughter of someone with this mentality was horrible. The hate was so dark and deep it was like an endless pit . It was difficult sharing lives with adults who could hate so deeply. Hauntingly disturbing so I promised myself that Iā€™d never be that way. Itā€™s ugly.


To be honest, I was totally ignorant of how racist this world is until the last few weeks where Iā€™ve had a chance to view peopleā€™s opinions on the subject and itā€™s so disheartened. I know I often view life with rose coloured glasses on but my heart drops when I read some stuff. One man said that every race should have their own country. This is an area where the Internet has made us less tolerant of others. ,Before people would do their own thing and not worry too much about what others were doing personally. Now with the use of the internet we get to judge each other more intimately since we now can.

Iā€™d like to think we could all live in harmony together but birds of a feather, stick together so I donā€™t think much will change will change. Maybe itā€™s natural to want to stick up for your kind and I get that part. The part I donā€™t get is the hate. I canā€™t for the life of me wrap my head around that level of general hate about anything let alone a race of people.

As a kid I didnā€™t want to be in the popular group if that meant some couldnā€™t join. I was the kid being the friend to the other kid who didnā€™t fit in for whatever reason and I never regretted being that way. These relationships made a huge impact on my life since I realized that many others donā€™t fit in either, for whatever reason. These friends were not accepted by either of my parents so they werenā€™t allowed over but these friends made such an impact on my life and hopefully I was in theirs.

Where I live I wouldnā€™t notice any racism. If there is then people are really good at pretence however Iā€™d be completely naive to believe there isnā€™t any. Every race experiences racism. Itā€™s an embarrassing human character trait that some have adapted and Iā€™m proudly NOT one of them.
 
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i don't know about that raybar. given what's been going on as of late with gf's death i have to wonder.
 
I'm American and yes it has been a problem since our beginning. For a long while, overt racism was not socially accepted. It went underground in polite society but it festered and grew and in the past few years, it has blossomed and it has now become OK to be loud and loud of your feelings.

Racism and bigotry are learned behaviors. Infants and very small children do not display either. I thought that it was a generational problem and when older generations began to die off, the problem would lessen but evidently racists and bigots passed it along to their children. It is alive and well and there are people in power who push it.
 
i love people no matter what color their skin is. i never grew up around other races so it's uncomfortable because i don't wanna unknowingly offend. and i have before on accident. my rule of thumb is that if someone is nice to me....i'm gonna be nice back no matter what color they are.
 
In the Old Testament we learned that Egyptians used the Jews as slaves, so slavery is nothing new under the sun. In the days before international travel, just about every European country was inhabited by caucasians. When they first settled this nation, they saw Native Indians for the first time, and did their best to decimate them as it was not in their culture to accept these differences. In Asia, nearly everyone had a yellowish cast to his/her skin and Africa had different shades of black and brown. Along came more Europeans bringing their whiteness with them and there were many problems afoot. But, when young America brought African slaves to America, it was the scandal of the millennia. Thus began one of the worst periods in our history until today. The slavery mentality just cannot escape the African American for whatever reason and we resent it since we fought a terrible war, spilled blood to gain their freedom and we are still hearing that we are white supremecists. South Africa is still unhappy over the terrible Apatheid uprising and America is facing a similar situation. Slavery is very much alive in Africa and Asia and wherever anyone can get away with it. What does this say about the human condition? So, yes, racism will continue and I doubt there is a solution in sight other than we learn to simply tolerate each other.
 
Not since I came to Scotland.

Been here since 1957 and have only been subject to racism twice, both times because the perps thought I was English.

When I lived in England I was subject to racist remarks most every day. They even arrested me for wearing my national emblem on my national saint's day.

When I protest about racism it's personal!
 
If the human race was a bowl of M&Ms I would love them all equally but if the human race was a bowl of jelly beans I would love some more than I love others.

I realize that is a silly and frivolous response to a serious subject but we all have a bias in one form or another on everything in our lives.

What people perceive is what people believe and if someone believes that I'm a racist or that we live in a racist country then it's true to that person at that time.

We should all make an effort to control any bias we have and get along with everyone we meet.
 
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fuzzybuddy said:
As far as the US is concerned, I would have to say yes. This is my opinion. What is yours? We live in a divided nation-black and white, Asian, Indian, etc. There is a white culture, which stays all white. Can you guess the race of a Country /Western singer. It's no big secret whites harbor racists views. They interact with other races only when necessary, and certainly not live next to them. Blacks have their own culture, which stays black. Can you guess the race of a R&B/soul singer. They harbor racist views for other races. They also harbor a great distrust of the police. They interact with other races only when necessary, and certainly do not live next to other races. We have almost two independent societies. I believe it is difficult in the US for blacks and whites to shed racism. Both have unjustified fears and long, long traumatic histories.
Click to expand...
Start with this: define 'white culture.'
Think of how many foreign countries that are predominately white, had immigrants landing in the U.S. over the centuries. England, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and so forth and so forth...
Which of those countries or other countries do you believe describes the 'white culture' in the U.S.???

As only one example, German-Americans and Dutch-Americans are as radically different in terms of attitudes, beliefs, etc., as two groups could possibly be.. yet both are 'white.'

So what exactly do you consider to be 'white culture'???
 
"So what exactly do you consider to be 'white culture'???" .... good question!

I have friends of many races and I like it that way! .... I've been told by a black friend that I'm not white anyway, since I'm Italian, Greek and Russian.
I've never stayed up at night worrying about it ..lol
 
Unfortunately I think we do. At least the area where I grew up and live now seems to be accepting of all races.
The only time I personally became aware of racism was when I was working.The nursing home where I worked hired summer help. One girl I particularly enjoyed working with was black. We were the same age and had many of the same interests. I was already a practical nurse and she was studying to be a nurse.
We became very good friends. We hung out together on our days off and had great times together.
Soon the summer was over and she was going back to Florida where her mom lived.
I asked her for her address and said I would visit.
She shocked me when she said," Girl,do you want to get your head shot off?" I couldn't understand. She actually had to explain it to me.
It seems she lived in a black community where I definitely wouldn't be welcome.
We said our tearful goodbyes and I thought"I lost a good friend just because of skin color."
 
Well, I stand with the same beliefs I've always had:
To dislike/distrust/not want to associate with/etc. fellow human beings simply because of the color of their skin or where their ancestors came from, is flat-out stupid. And it's also flat-out stupid for anyone to consider themselves above or better than other human beings over skin color or ancestral heritage.
Even now, I cannot understand how people can be so ignorant- but as some posts here say, such attitudes/beliefs are taught.
 
Friend I had in NY said it didn't take much to get mugged if you were out after dark. Never said if there was any racial stuff involved in it.
 

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