Racism

[Noseypoo]

{soapbox}

Is it just me or does it seem like that there is a lot of racism going around?
Don't give me wrong, I'm not a racist in any way ... to me actions speak more then color of skin & words. So, now that this is out of the way ...
Let the ranting & raving begin ...
For instance, it is OK for african-americans to make fun of caucasian-americans, but it's NOT ok the other way around. Seems a little biased to me. It justs eats me up ... thanx ... that's all. {blush}

I know, it wasn't much of a rant {dizzy}

[theyeti]

I don't know... this is kind of a difficult time in history. We're between civil rights movements and don't know what to do. People of color have equal rights in law... but that doesn't mean we enforce them well enough yet. And while the younger generations see no problem with people of color doing the same things as anyone else... you've still got people who are old enough to have lived back when they hardly had any rights at all. So really, everyone's still feeling this race thing out.

Any widespread change takes many generations... it will still be a long time until we're "blind to race," as some people like to say.

[Alec]

There's a story out now about this black woman who is planning to open a restaurant called "Da Sto." People are already griping.Gillian Clark, creator and chef of Colorado Kitchen in D.C.’s Ward 4, plans to sell aprons, baked goods, wine, fridge magnets and the like. Busybodies on the egullet.com discussion boards have lit into the chef, however, calling the name choice obnoxious, stupid and condescending. She was accused of mocking the speech patterns of her black neighbors.

"It does not matter if the creator in question is black," one critic wrote. "It's still an unwise choice."

Clark got wind of the mini-controversy and joined the fray.

"I'm always interested to see a bunch of over-educated white people 'dissing' an over-educated black chef for calling her store (very tongue-in-cheek, I might add) a word she hears every day," she wrote. "None of my customers or employees who often say they're going to 'da sto' are ashamed of how they talk. It seems that only a small group of snooty white people attempting to be politically correct find fault with their pronunciation.

"White people think they're supposed to have this reaction in defense of the black community," the chef told the Post. "But the people who say 'da sto' don't see anything wrong with that. And the white people who criticize this are saying that there is something bad about saying it that way."http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,129051,00.html

I thought her quote was pretty funny.

[Alec]

I gotta be honest with you though, I still hear plenty of racism. I shudder at what some people say. I look at them and think, "Don't you know what year it is?"

The only thing I can say about it, however, is that I hear racism from all races. It is not the exclusive domain of whites.

I guess there will always be racism, but it sure is annoying.

[jamesglewisf]

I gotta tell a story. And I apologize in advance for the use of the n-word, but it is integral to the story. This story was relayed to me by the Cindy in the story.

There was a woman named Gerry who was visiting with a new acquaintance named Cindy. Cindy was a white woman who unbeknownst to Gerry, was married to a black man. Cindy was helping Gerry fix something in her home, and Gerry made a comment about "nig ger rigging" something. Cindy commented that she didn't really like that term. She preferred to use the term, "gerry rigging."

I must have laughed about five minutes straight when I heard that story. Cindy didn't even realize what she was saying at first. It just popped out.

[CuriousG]

Racism will always exist as long as their are cultural differences between the races. Some people just can't understand being different. However, racism occurs in people of every color and background, I don't think its fair anymore to say one race is more or less racist than the next. They all have their problems and it won't stop until everyone forgets about what color, etc. someone is and starts looking at the person they are on the inside.

[Justawoman]

http://www.pardonmyenglish.com/index.php?p=579
White people are not the only ones who find this new language hard to understand. Bill Cosby is getting some flack for calling African Americans uneducated and actually having the nerve to blame it on the parents.

[HHKev84]

I think that there are the neo-nazi, neo-facists out there in sporadic groups, but let's not forget the cross-burning and lynchings that took place in the 1920s and 30s when the Ku Klux Klan was on the rise. And the episodes at schools in the sixties and Rodney King and so forth. If you compare how bad it is, I can definately say that it is getting better as time goes on. In fact, if you want to look at the whole spectrum blacks have been trying for nearly four hundred years to end their oppression. It may take a bit longer before people can truly see there's no difference.
Which brings me to a point I'd like to make. Blacks use racism as a crutch in many cases. I work at Wal mart in an upscale section of town in upstate New York (not where I'm from in my bio, I commute). Now, it is a predominately white neighborhood/community with affluent denizens and stereotypical ideals. Every time policy is upheld for a black the same way for a white, the black people get all "Al Sharpton" on the person enforcing the policy, crying racism and that they were singled out "because they're black." RACISM HAS TO BE STOPPED ON BOTH SIDES....right now it's fifty-fifty with neo-facist movements and so on and the fact that a black person feels like its their duty to racially identify the white person as being wrong and a bigot.
One more thing about this topic thats bugging me is the NAACP. How are we equal when there is no NAAWP? How can we have equality when whites are slowly becoming the minority? Is this society's compensation for four hundred years of slavery? If we all want to be eqal we had ought to kill this "sky's the limit" mentality when it comes to giving other races (not just poor or disabled people but different colors) perks. Seperation will keep us seperate no matter what kind of barrier it is.
Another item before I go: gay rights. Hmm....don't get me wrong...before I start. I am gay and have as much "Pride" (I hate that word...let me get into it later) as the others out there, but for some reason, I can see that it took many minorities nearly four centuries to get what they wanted. Gay movements have come about in the last decade or so (strong enough to make an impact). I think gays everywhere have a LONG way to go and should be happy with the progress theyve made so far.
PRIDE--what is it? Being proud of achievements, who you have become, your abilities, skills, and whatnot. Homosexuality is not a, achievement...coming out is. So I'm proud I came out, but I'm glad I'm gay. See the difference? I am proud I got a book published....but I'm glad I'm tall. Proud I'm in college and have my own apartment....glad I'm smart and have blue eyes. I'm proud I dyed my hair blonde...but I'm glad I had light brown hair to being with. how can you be proud of something you didn't accomplish? You are proud of things you do, not things that happened to you via birth. I was born a certian way and I'm glad, but I'm proud that I wrote this post. This is why I dislike the word pride. If we want to be proud of things we did not control, we ought to have tee shirts that have TALL PRIDE or PROUD TO BE SHORT AND STOCKY.
Thanks, KD

[mec]

good points. a friend does family research and after weeding through the dexter, he began on the distaff. That side of the family was supposed to have " French" ancestry because of a certain curliness of hair and darkness of skin. He stumbled on this picture. American Gothic Arkansas style:
http://www.gunpix.com/gallery/Miscellaneous_and_Oddities/grandfather.jpg
The script on the back of the picture has the date "1841 Charles Walker. A free gentleman of color."

The current generation were both pleased and proud to learn that they have an african strain to go along with their scandanavian and scott-irish genes-none of which are accomplishments but all of which add up to a nice, diverse gene pool. One elderly family member in a nursing home came out of a profound alzheimer's fog to deny the possibility of such a thing but the rest of the family is happy.