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The end of racism?

I caught myself almost going into this rant on someone post and this really had nothing to do with the topic at hand.

So here's my question: Are we, as a nation, actually ridding ourselves of racism, or are we 'sweeping it under the rug' so to speak?

Now in my opinion I feel that we are right on track, if not ahead of schedule, in the process of ridding our nation of racism. This thought is based off of the fact that Africans have been enslaved by Europeans since the 1400s, meaning that Europeans had roughly 400 years of ingrained racism in their system before the slave trade ended in the United States and then another hundred years or so before African Americans took the stage to fight for serious equality. So after 500 years or so of European Americans considering themselves above the African Americans for us to have come as far as we have in the last 50 years to me is quite the achievement.

I'm definitely not trying to imply that we don't still have a ways to go, nor am I saying that we don't have to try anywhere near as hard to help our people in a time where all of the negative stereotypes of the African American is not only encouraged, but rewarded by the media.

So please share your thoughts with me.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Madison Burnett on August 8, 2011 at 1:20am

What actually brings this to mind and the reason why I'm posting this as a discussion is because my mother is consistently blaming everything that happens in her workplace on racism and I try to tell her that the world is changing, especially with how freely information now travels. We no longer have to fight through people who don't like 'coons', 'niggers', 'darkies', etc... just because of their parents. Some things are just going to take some time and for those who may be racist to eventually step down and leave businesses to the new generation.

Permalink Reply by Madison Burnett on August 8, 2011 at 3:02pm

This is true from what I've seen. For the most part racism seems to be more passive aggressive than anything else these days.

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on August 8, 2011 at 3:14pm

Racism gone? Around here in Cleveland, Ohio, maybe, but elsewhere? Ohhhhh, MAN!

Check this out ... but you may want to have some Pepto handy....

Permalink Reply by Madison Burnett on August 8, 2011 at 9:18pm

Yeah I wasn't suggesting that it was completely gone. Trust me I live in Southern-Middle Tennessee. I know it isn't completely gone and there are places here in this county that I won't go to, day or night.

Permalink Reply by De Mush Doctor on August 8, 2011 at 9:41pm

Racism still exist in all segments of society. Be it overt, covert or subtle. It remains a problem, and will be here for a long time to come. Just my observation. I think that we as black people,help so much to perpetuate this scourge of a fallacious farce, with deep distrust of each other, mixed with an infusion of self hate. I also think that religion has a lot to do with it where, we continue to see, or view ourselves as the inferior race, simply because the white man made fantasy bible says so...we are supposed to be the direct descendants of some mythical idiot fantasy character called Ham,and dammed to hell,while white people remain pure and heavenly, and therefore,God's holy children, the chosen ones...All total bull shit,but still a huge part of the deceptive equation.The bible really screwed our collective heads up as a black race,all over the globe...your call

Permalink Reply by Madison Burnett on August 9, 2011 at 1:34am

That's all true, Dr. Peets. Since you brought up how we treat each other as a race. What do you think of the validity of the Willie Lynch letter, in the terms of the psychological damage it could have done to our race. Whether the actual letter is bogus or not.

Permalink Reply by De Mush Doctor on August 9, 2011 at 5:47pm

Could you please expound on the relativity of the so called "Willy Lynch letter" and how it relates to this subject? Enlighten me on this please...respect.

Permalink Reply by Madison Burnett on August 9, 2011 at 6:26pm

My apologies. I was referring to where you stated "I think that we as black people,help so much to perpetuate this scourge of a fallacious farce, with deep distrust of each other, mixed with an infusion of self hate." Do you think that could be a possible influence for why we tend to act the way that you suggested we do towards each other?

It honestly doesn't really have a whole lot to do with the original subject, but I was just wondering how you felt about the correlation of those two items.

Permalink Reply by Ralph Dumain on August 9, 2011 at 10:51am

Limiting myself to the USA, I would say that the cleavages have deepened and become more intense of late. That is nothing new, as the USA has been in a virtual state of civil war since the beginning. Therefore, as racism decreases markedly in some segments of society, it gets even worse in others. As for European/white sense of superiority, it has not uniformly existed for 400 years, if for no other reason than the waves of immigration. People for the most part didn't know they were Europeans, let alone white, until somebody told them so, and then outside of Northern & Western Europe, they were themselves considered inferior races. So becoming "whiter" was the ticket to greater acceptance within the Anglo-Saxon order. People on the left resisted this, most others went along with the program, and still others remained ambivalent. The situation has improved markedly over the past 40 years, though in terms of class status it's gotten much worse for those who never moved up into the solid middle class, but for the revanchists who have supported the Republicans for 30-plus years, their vendetta against the 1960s has only intensified.

Permalink Reply by Madison Burnett on August 9, 2011 at 12:45pm

Yeah I won't pretend to understand the struggle that biracial people have to endure. Where I live in TN the tendency is for them to identify as African-American and they are generally welcomed, but I've been to other places in TN and AL where neither race will accept them.

Permalink Reply by Clarence Dember on August 25, 2011 at 7:46pm

This non acceptance of those different than us usually holds sway over the folks who've never been anywhere else than their own neighborhood. But what happens when a coworker refused to answer a greeting because he thinks you should be talking to him in Spanish since your like complected?

Permalink Reply by Madison Burnett on August 26, 2011 at 6:19pm

Ha funny story concerning that, but I did have to deal with a similar situation when I was visiting a friend over in San Diego. Evidently I was lightly colored enough and resembled someone in his family who was bi racial African and Mexican that he assumed I was denying my Mexican heritage by not speaking in nothing but Spanish. He didn't quite accept the idea that I was simply able to speak a little bit of Spanish and that only because I was taught by a couple of the Mexican families I grew up around.