Booman Tribune ~ Comments ~ Race, America and Me (Part I)

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Race, America and Me (Part I) | 16 comments (16 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Race, America and Me (Part I) (none / 1)

Steven,

Thank you for tackling this important and very sensitive issue.

I agree that to a large extent "race" is a construct rather that a biological reality. It is shorthand for referring to someone else as "other."

I also agree that a lot of this construct came about from economic initiatives. It is much easier to exploit someone who has been deemed inherently lesser.

I think that racial prejudice has been drummed into the heads of all of us, even the most liberal. (And I do mean all of us.) We tend not to see what doesn't doesn't affect us. For example, the war in Iraq is doesn't seem real to many of us since it doesn't touch us. We don't tend to see our own racial biases
but that doesn't mean they aren't operating in destructive way.

I, personally, struggle with the whole issue of group identity. For instance, geneology is of little interest me. The fact that my great, great uncle was a Lutheran Bishop in Helsinki seems completely irrelevant to my day to day living.

I sometimes feel that the issue of diversity has become an excuse for divisiveness. I think that may be because we've yet to go far enough with our discussions of our expectations, our hopes, our fears regarding ourselves and one another.

I look forward to this discussion and congratulate you for starting it.

If you want things to get better, be prepared to deal with change.

by Kahli on Tue Apr 10th, 2007 at 08:48:30 AM EST

Re: Race, America and Me (Part I) (4.00 / 2)

Personally I think the worst racists are the ones who don't know they're racists because they've never examined their own beliefs/assumptions about other people. The ones who have Nazi swastikas tattooed on their forehead aren't the real problem - at least they're aware of being racists and everyone else can see it and they're just a bunch of inconsequential morons anyway. No, the real racists are the perfectly "nice" people who just happen not to have any actual black friends or acquaintances - and have never asked themselves why. Its one thing not to think you're a racist, its something else when your white middle-class daughter brings home an African-American boyfriend!

by hass (hassani1387@yahoo.com) on Tue Apr 10th, 2007 at 10:43:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Race, America and Me (Part I) (none / 1)

No, the real racists are the perfectly "nice" people who just happen not to have any actual black friends or acquaintances - and have never asked themselves why. Its one thing not to think you're a racist, its something else when your white middle-class daughter brings home an African-American boyfriend!

These are the people I see every day in my little corner of the world. Today it's the African-American's turn to be "THEM", tomorrow it's an Hispanic and the next day it's the Asians. Next week it's "the gays". I really don't understand this predisposition that the majority of people have to use racial, gender or sexual orientation labels to classify people's worth as human beings. I guess it's a mixture of fear and ignorance that drives this. It is a very complicated dynamic that can only begin to understood by discussing the issue openly and honestly.

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity"

by MikeInOhio (miken45054@yahoo.com) on Tue Apr 10th, 2007 at 11:26:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Race, America and Me (Part I) | 16 comments (16 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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