Race/Racism discussion

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Perhaps this thread is not really about racism in countries other than America? If so, I apologise for my contribution in advance. I am confused. I live in a multicultural society. Providing they obey our laws, people can be as diverse as they wish.

We believe it strengthens us a nation. I believe that it is not necessary for us all to be the same in order to view each other with mutual respect. I welcome the opportunity through my work with refugees, etc, and

friends of different cultural heritage, to grow as a person. Is this not a good thing? I would find a homogenous society depressingly vanilla. Not to suggest that Canada is above racism, sadly we are not. We are still under construction as far as

that goes. We are currently undergoing a period of shame over the very belated realisation of just now marginal are the lives of many indigenous Canadians. Several years ago, we were cited by Amnesty International for the lack of action by our previous govts over the decades of unsolved disappearances of hundreds of Aboriginal women.
 

Sunny said:
This is a great discussion. I've enjoyed reading it.

About the question of why the N word is supposedly all right when used by black people but not by anyone else, here's a guess on my part: Maybe it's a way of disempowering the word. If it's used jokingly, commonly, all the time, including by the people it refers to, maybe it loses its capacity to hurt? (Probably not, but that may be the thinking behind it.)
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My daughter spent years 5 and 6 at a multiethnic school. At that time 'wog' was a common insult thrown at ME people. Fair skinned Aussies were called 'skips' after Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

She and her friends decided to take this on and proudly wore the wog label. At the same time Lebanese comedians were weakening the insult value of this word with stage shows like 'Wogs out of work.

During WW II Aussies were defending Tobruk harbour and they were besieged by German troops seeking a port for supplies to support their desert column. The defenders refused to give in and the German propaganda machine labelled them the Rats of Tobruk. I don't know how the British reacted to this intended insult but our men adopted it as a badge of honour. Ever since the Rats have been revered by Australians.
 
I've been thinking about this and from my viewpoint I believe racism is more common in large cities because the races seem to separate themselves. I hear on the news about "black communities", Hispanic communities" and such.
I live in a small town where there are no such separation. People of all races are scattered all over. I've never lived in a big city so I can only guess but I think if the people were scattered about in big cities like they are in small towns there would be less racism.
 

In my city the various communities have more to do with poverty than ethnicity or race, I think it would actually be nice to live in a city with thriving ethnic communities.
 
JaniceM said:
(I haven't been on forum for awhile, noticed this topic is similar to one on another forum, and also the subject of a blog post I wrote but haven't had time to post, so I hope it's o.k. if I start by replying to yours)

I fully believe the main reason it's been worsening in recent years is the divisive approaches of 'multiculturalism and diversity education.' All these approaches do is emphasize 'differences,' and that's not the way to encourage people to interact and get along with each other.
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When multiculturalism is taught as diversity education does it feel more like Americans being taught to assimilate to other cultures?
If taught as part of a geography class then it becomes understanding of where we all came from before we assimilated to being diverse Americans who are willing to accept and celebrate what we've learned.
I'm so glad I know about and have learned to cook foods with ingredients I never grew up with.
We've used a pinata, etc, etc.
Maybe some people feel it's forced.
Applecruncher, you mentioned integration was necessary. Do you feel the same about diversity education?
 
applecruncher said:
Has anyone heard/seen Jeff Foxworthy lately? I've always liked him. I cringed a few times at his "redneck" jokes - although not racist. I thought some of them were really funny, and his delivery and expression was on target.
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I'm more of a Louis CK fan. But warning, he uses some rough language.

 
rkunsaw said:
I've been thinking about this and from my viewpoint I believe racism is more common in large cities because the races seem to separate themselves. I hear on the news about "black communities", Hispanic communities" and such.
I live in a small town where there are no such separation. People of all races are scattered all over. I've never lived in a big city so I can only guess but I think if the people were scattered about in big cities like they are in small towns there would be less racism.
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I've lived in a large city for over 40 years and the races don't separate themselves.

In many cities/towns as soon as minorities moved into an area whites would move to get away from them. It was known as White Flight.

I'm not buying the theory that minorities are to blame for the racism displayed towards them. That's grasping at straws.
 
Warrigal said:
Fair skinned Aussies were called 'skips' after Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.
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That one really hits my funny bone! I think because when I was a kid a friend had a dog named "Skippy". Anf after a while that name morphed into "Skippy-doodle."

And then later it became "Dippy-scootle". They all had heavy southern accents and I can still remember how it sounded when they called that dog to come home.

"Dippy-Scoodle"!

:lofl:
 
Haven’t read all the posts
Not gonna
But
Here’s my two pence;

We’re quite spoiled here in the US
All of us

We conjure up stuff



Lived a few other places on this globe
Various cultures, people
Learned one thing
If under the roof of an individual’s culture…
That’s the one to abide by

Man, what a bland world we’d live in if there was only one race/culture


Still
I’m not yet accustomed to dining on dog
 
RadishRose said:
I agree on your basis' from racism, AC but-

For some of us, there is a base of fear. Great fear. As stupid as this sounds now, to me, a small child in an all white neighborhood, things on TV made huge impressions.

TV show and movies which featured "the Natives" scared the hell out of me! Tarzan, Ramar of the Jungle, certain cartoons, etc. featured black people with scary painted faces, spears and were always ready to kill white people, or so it seemed. I even had nightmares.

Of course, that all changed but one day, as a young and obvious mother-to-be, I was walking downtown when 3 black male youths were walking toward me, abreast, and took up the entire sidewalk. I had to stop and the one on the end actually shouldered me aside and off the curb into the gutter. Fortunately, I kept my balance.

Their hate was obvious and I felt so very hurt and also frightened. I still wonder what that was all about.
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Yes, hate and fear go hand-in-hand. "Prejudice" is a collection of pre-concieved notions about a different racial or cultural group. Hate and fear are 'primal' emotions, tools for survival from long past

-an except from Psychology Today:

Recently, several members of a group calling itself “Respect the Flag” were sentenced to prison for terrorizing guests at the birthday party of an 8-year-old African-American girl in Georgia. Pointing a shotgun, they yelled racial slurs and death threats at guests, including children.

It wasn’t an isolated incident. According to a recent study, there are at least 917 organized hate groups in the United States. The study, based on data collected by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and presented in their annual census of hate groups, looked at the presence of hate groups on Twitter. SPLC found that the number of likes and comments on hate group accounts grew by 900 percent in the last two years.


Why do we hate? The reasons are complex, but following are some of the factors that may play a role in helping us understand hate and, hopefully, work toward change.


Fear of “The Other”


According to A.J. Marsden, assistant professor of psychology and human services at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida, one reason we hate is because we fear things that are different from us.


Behavioral researcher Patrick Wanis, cites the in-group out-group theory, which posits that when we feel threatened by perceived outsiders, we instinctively turn toward our in-group—those with whom we identify—as a survival mechanism. Wanis explains, “Hatred is driven by two key emotions of love and aggression: One love for the in-group—the group that is favored; and two, aggression for the out-group—the group that has been deemed as being different, dangerous, and a threat to the in-group.”


Fear of Ourselves


According to Washington, D.C., clinical psychologist Dana Harron, the things people hate about others are the things that they fear within themselves. She suggests thinking about the targeted group or person as a movie screen onto which we project unwanted parts of the self. The idea is, “I'm not terrible; you are.”


This phenomenon is known as projection, a term coined by Freud to describe our tendency to reject what we don’t like about ourselves. Psychologist Brad Reedy further describes projection as our need to be good, which causes us to project "badness" outward and attack it:


"We developed this method to survive, for any 'badness' in us put us at risk for being rejected and alone. So we repressed the things that we thought were bad (what others told us or suggested to us that was unlovable and morally reprehensible) — and we employ hate and judgment towards others. We think that is how one rids oneself of undesirable traits, but this method only perpetuates repression which leads to many mental health issues.


Lack of Self-compassion


The antidote to hate is compassion — for others as well as ourselves. Self-compassion means that we accept the whole self. “If we find part of ourselves unacceptable, we tend to attack others in order to defend against the threat,” says Reedy. “If we are okay with ourselves, we see others’ behaviors as ‘about them’ and can respond with compassion. If I kept hate in my heart for [another], I would have to hate myself as well. It is only when we learn to hold ourselves with compassion that we may be able to demonstrate it toward others.”
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Article
 
RadishRose said:
Of course, that all changed but one day, as a young and obvious mother-to-be, I was walking downtown when 3 black male youths were walking toward me, abreast, and took up the entire sidewalk. I had to stop and the one on the end actually shouldered me aside and off the curb into the gutter. Fortunately, I kept my balance.

Their hate was obvious and I felt so very hurt and also frightened. I still wonder what that was all about.
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That's unacceptable. I can cut black guys a lot of slack for being hostile towards white people because of the way they've been treated, but picking on a pregnant woman?, no. They crossed a line there. I'd like to go Negan on those guys.

 
No, this thread is not just about racism against blacks in the US.

Elsewhere I posted a video of Marlon Brando portraying American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell in Roots: The Next Generation. Rockwell said he didn't believe the Holocaust happened.

(For better continuity I should have included this in that same post, but anyway...)

Elie Wiesel (1928 - 2016) was a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor. He was the author of 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration and extermination camps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elie_Wiesel

I read the book "Night" and I also saw the Oprah show where she talked about going with him to visit Auschwitz in Poland.

 
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applecruncher said:
I've lived in a large city for over 40 years and the races don't separate themselves.

In many cities/towns as soon as minorities moved into an area whites would move to get away from them. It was known as White Flight.

I'm not buying the theory that minorities are to blame for the racism displayed towards them. That's grasping at straws.
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I'm not blaming anyone. I don't know the reason(s) for separate communities and you are

right about the whites moving away, years ago, but I don't think that would be the case today.

My point is that separate communities do exist in large cities. Black people have black neighbors, white people have white neighbors, etc. When the races are mixed as they usually are in small towns and rural areas, people of different races get to know each other. And getting to know each other is where racism ends.
 
It's the concentration of minorities in the major cities that creates the problem. If they could (somehow) be dispersed into the countryside and be more representative of their numerical proportion...life would be easier.

I am prejudiced by my experiences. We must use stereotypes to think. If we differentiate between prejudice and blind hatred, the stereotypes can be benevolent and useful...if not, they assume a malignancy of the soul. Our instincts ensure prejudice...admit it and go on.
 
rkunsaw said:
I'm not blaming anyone. I don't know the reason(s) for separate communities and you are

right about the whites moving away, years ago, but I don't think that would be the case today.

My point is that separate communities do exist in large cities. Black people have black neighbors, white people have white neighbors, etc. When the races are mixed as they usually are in small towns and rural areas, people of different races get to know each other. And getting to know each other is where racism ends.
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I've lived in rural areas for fifty years. I've never seen any race mixing. Oh yes, blacks receive a warm welcome in some small and liberal towns, but they'll always be excluded from any socializing even there. I saw it in Colorado. People don't move to an area that's monoracial because they're looking for diversity.
 
Big Horn said:
I've lived in rural areas for fifty years. I've never seen any race mixing. Oh yes, blacks receive a warm welcome in some small and liberal towns, but they'll always be excluded from any socializing even there. I saw it in Colorado. People don't move to an area that's monoracial because they're looking for diversity.
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I see you are from Wyoming.

Isn't that where they call Indians "Prairie Ni*#ers"?
 
People are all equal at birth, from them on some change that. I have lived through a lifetime of Military Service and Law Enforcement & Affirmative Action programs so many times the forced acceptance did nothing but push relations farther apart. We had some unwritten rules in the military of who did what when it concerned our safety all learned from experiences.
 
Wayne said:
People are all equal at birth,from them on some change that
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So Julio Rodriquez, born in Immokalee Florida to migrant farm laborers had the same opportunities as Baron Trump when he was born? And from then on what they make of themselves is all up to their own personal gumption?
 
Wayne said:
People are all equal at birth, from them on some change that. I have lived through a lifetime of Military Service and Law Enforcement & Affirmative Action programs so many times the forced acceptance did nothing but push relations farther apart. We had some unwritten rules in the military of who did what when it concerned our safety all learned from experiences.
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Hmmm. Really?

That would be news to people who lived for almost 50 years in South Africa under apartheid, the millions who were killed in Nazi concentration camps, and also victims of lynch mobs in the US.

(btw Affirmative Action is not just about race; didn't help that many black people. The people who benefitted most from Affirmative Action were white women.)

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/affirmative-action-white-women_us_56a0ef6ae4b0d8cc1098d3a5

https://www.bustle.com/p/who-does-a...women-are-some-of-its-biggest-opponents-74034
 
Some people just won't accept reality.

Take a field trip to an area university where there are large numbers of different races. Wander through the dining areas at lunch time. Note how people form groups.
 
Big Horn said:
Some people just won't accept reality.

Take a field trip to an area university where there are large numbers of different races. Wander through the dining areas at lunch time. Note how people form groups.
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I used to notice that in some of our larger office parks when I was working. To me the big difference is between being able to make the choice to join or form a group and being unwelcome or intentionally excluded from a group.

I spent many years in a small town with only one elderly black couple and a few native American families. Everyone seemed to get along but IMO it was because we all knew our place and not because we were all free from racial bias.
 
Big Horn said:
Some people just won't accept reality.

Take a field trip to an area university where there are large numbers of different races. Wander through the dining areas at lunch time. Note how people form groups.
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And exactly what is (your version of) reality?

So people form groups. So what? :shrug:
 

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