Do you consider yourself a racist?

We were not always the modern humans we see today. We lived in social groups like our ape ancestors did as hunter/gatherers. Life was difficult and survival was dependent upon being part of your social group. Other groups were competitors for what scarce resources were available. Those who were able to survive developed an “it’s us or them” attitude which was passed down in our genes.We discriminate now, be it racially, ethnically or religiously because it’s in us…in our genes. Since we also have reasoning, we have the ability to reason our way around it, in our behavior anyway. Does it still persist in our psyche? I say maybe.
 
My test results aren't surprising considering I have a lot of real life interaction with both, related to both. Our community is close to 55/45 white/black.

"Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between African American children and European American children."



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Lavinia said:
Personally, I dread that happening. I think the different races make the world a more interesting place. I think it's important for people to keep their own culture alive. If all countries and all people were the same....what a boring place the world would be.
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You might want to read up genetics, psychology and history.

With as large a gene pool as Earth currently has it is doubtful, no matter how much indiscriminate coupling there was, that we will reach a point where we would all be exactly the same color, same bone structure. Visually there will always be diversity. Even children from same two parents have differences in their DNA, while sometimes half siblings look more a like than full ones in a family because one of the full ones might have more of say Mom's DNA, while the others and the half sib got more from their shared Dad.

Then there's the fact that despite all the talk of varying kinds of 'conditioning', 'indoctrination' etc (which i often suspect is just another way to avoid taking responsibility for oneself) we are all individual consciousnesses, i think there will always be enough differences to keep life interesting.

Cultures don't disappear because they embrace the richness of other cultures and their right to exist. They most often are killed. They disappear because some 'might makes right' culture commits such a pervasive genocide that within a generation or two there is no-one left who remembers what their culture valued, how It expressed itself in various aspects of life.

Of course that's just my somewhat informed opinion.
 
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Sassycakes said:
Do you consider yourself a racist?
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No, but that doesn't mean I don't harbor some residual prejudices, I believe they are impossible not to have. I just do my best not to let them effect how I treat people. I think even those prejudices quickly go away after meeting someone, its easier to be prejudiced with regard to strangers.
Sassycakes said:
Do you have a problem with mixed races getting married ?
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No, but that is a different question. My niece is married to a black man and they recently had a child. The man fits into the family well and seems a good man. However I am sure many of us family members looked more closely at him than we would have "one of our own". I have noticed that family members are quicker to praise him than others who have married into the family. I think that is not because he is any better, its because he is black and we need more assurance that he's ok or that we believe he is.

I also have family married to Asians, Hispanics, and Jewish people. Seems to be less an issue. They are also well accepted, but you don't see the same level of having to reassure that they are ok, its just accepted.

The good thing - it's a whole lot better than things would have been a generation or two back.
Islander said:
I attended a lecture several years ago where the speaker made the distinction between racism and discrimination. His argument made a lot of sense to me. The term racism has become so politically charged that using the term to describe someone immediately ends productive discussion. On the other hand, discrimination is an emotion that most people will agree is an internal emotion that is very difficult to avoid. It is when someone ACTS on their discrimination that it can become racism. He proposed this distinction as a way to improve, even enable, what is otherwise difficult to address in open discussion.
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Really well put @Islander !! It is our actions we have some control over, our emotions not so much.
 
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RFW said:
Getting a forbidden error message here.
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Might be an unsecured webpage. I'll try to see if Youtube has this video. It should because Lord knows because this rather racially tolerant railfan started a veritable sh*tstorm behind that remark.
 
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My mom was a racist to some degree. It did not rub off on me. I see people beyond the color of their skin... the heart speaks louder than their race. I love and respect everyone... that does not make me weak, it makes me very wise. You disrespect me.. I wish you well and I am done with the situation until you are ready to discuss it.
 
This thread gives me a public chance to publicly briefly address a couple hot button topics I normally won't touch with ten foot poles, race and gender politics. I was brought up in a list of lily white suburban California areas where over 13 years just saw a couple other African Americans in those schools, neither in any of my classes. The only thing I knew about either was what I read in news media. As a 19 year old, the military during the Viet Nam War was at the other extreme, and as someone ideal minded, that did not go over well with the many in that era with strong attitudes.

As an adult, there are few urban regions with such a mix of different races as here in the SFBA so I've worked with and was often managed in professional engineering environments with those of other races. Obviously my success as a peon over 4+ decades speaks without explanation to how I got along with many unlike others. And have worked in teams with and been under direct leads with these other gender types because my managers knew my attitudes.

The above noted, indeed have a resistance to politically correct pressures and on the web a long history of not being baited by others into discussions on those subjects regardless of how hard some have tried. There are many reasons to choose one person over another for a wide range of subjects and circumstances. Some others will demand whatever has to do with race or gender while I would disagree and point to things like culture, attitudes, personality, education, religion, language, physical attractiveness, and other such facets. Arguing such points online is full of land mines and likely to trap one in nonsense, especially if ganged up by others. When choosing who I might consider for say romantic dating, I have narrow body type and attractiveness considerations.
 
In my 20's, I had a casual friend for a few months who later moved to the Philippines & got married - his 4th. We sometimes chatted on Facebook. He's a church "Elder" whatever that is & he considered himself religious. With all his adultery, I'd always chuckle at his lifestyle & talk of being a member of the "Church of Jesus Christ." He knew I wasn't religious at all.
He told me a racist "joke" that included the "n" word & he thought I would find it funny. Initially, I told him he was a hypocrite & a racist, but what really made him angry was when I asked him, "You claim to worship Jesus; what would Jesus say about the "n" word?"

I told him I was glad he lived 12,000 miles away & I didn't care to chat with him on Facebook, either. He called me a "Bitter Old Man."
A few months later, I saw a photo of him on Facebook & he looked bad; like he only had a few more months. He was only 63. I figured, "Well, he's not going to visit me, & he doesn't have much time left & it's important to him that we be "friends," so I made up with him & we chatted until he died of COPD a few weeks later. (he was a lifelong smoker).
 
Here is a PRIME example of racism/racist view. We all remember the Landmark Supreme Court decision of the interracial marriage case of Loving v. Virginia in 1967 where they struck down the VA law. Here is an excerpt from the VA trial Judge's decision upholding the miscegenation law.

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."
 
ohioboy said:
Here is a PRIME example of racism/racist view. We all remember the Landmark Supreme Court decision of the interracial marriage case of Loving v. Virginia in 1967 where they struck down the VA law. Here is an excerpt from the VA trial Judge's decision upholding the miscegenation law.

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."
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That judge was one stupid ass. However this stupidity is still around.

He doesn't consider ancient migration of humans. He's not smart enough to think.
 
feywon said:
You might want to read up genetics, psychology and history.

With as large a gene pool as Earth currently has it is doubtful, no matter how much indiscriminate coupling there was, that we will reach a point where we would all be exactly the same color, same bone structure. Visually there will always be diversity. Even children from same two parents have differences in their DNA, while sometimes half siblings look more a like than full ones in a family because one of the full ones might have more of say Mom's DNA, while the others and the half sib got more from their shared Dad.

Then there's the fact that despite all the talk of varying kinds of 'conditioning', 'indoctrination' etc (which i often suspect is just another way to avoid taking responsibility for oneself) we are all individual consciousnesses, i think there will always be enough differences to keep life interesting.

Cultures don't disappear because they embrace the richness of other cultures and their right to exist. They most often are killed. They disappear because some 'might makes right' culture commits such a pervasive genocide that within a generation or two there is no-one left who remembers what their culture valued, how It expressed itself in various aspects of life.

Of course that's just my somewhat informed opinion.
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You are correct to some extent. There will never be a time when all people are exactly the same. The tribes of Africa each have their physical differences, as do the Europeans. There are racial 'types'...Slavic, etc.
I don't know if this is diverting from the subject, but we hear a lot about 'white supremacy'...yet so many people immigrate to 'white' countries and adopt the lifestyle of white people...and wish to be thought of as belonging to their country. Are they not proving the concept of white supremacy?
When Europeans lived in Africa and India....they kept their own culture, they didn't adopt that of the natives.
 
I came to terms with racism many years ago. I found that any kind of hate will devour me from the inside out so I try to avoid it at every turn. I will say that by hook or crook the current climate in our world seems to feed the racial fire with gasoline.
 

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