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Conversations on Race, Ethnicity, & Culture

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Despite decades of progress, the concepts of race and ethnicity continue to influence lives. Let's discuss the roles & effects that these concepts play in our lives, what they mean, & how to live together in a diverse society and world.

Location: Global
Members: 222
Latest Activity: Jan 22

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Welcome!

Racism and the effects of ethnocentrism are alive and well in the 21st century. Racism and humanism are incompatible by definition.

The most human, and humane, thing that we can do is acknowledge and support the humanity of people who are different from ourselves. Curiosity about what makes us human, by necessity, includes curiosity about our human ethnic heritage.

We are incredibly enriched by immersing ourselves in a diverse world. We are intellectually and emotionally impoverished when we exclude others who are not our mirror image.

This discussion group includes many topics about race and ethnicity. Feel free to comment to new threads, or resurrect old threads, if any spark your interest.

My 2 cents. Sentient Biped.

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Comment by Sentient Biped on December 16, 2011 at 10:03pm: "If I have to stick up for my white rights, I have to stick up for my white rights. It goes both ways" WTF? Every time I think people can't shock me with their stupidity, someone does.

Comment by The Nerd on December 16, 2011 at 1:24pm: Hey, that was totally Not Racist. http://www.amptoons.com/blog/2011/12/16/things-that-are-not-racist/

Comment by Dallas Gaytheist on December 16, 2011 at 1:21pm: Yeah for history!

Comment by Dallas Gaytheist on December 10, 2011 at 3:27pm: Cool.

Comment by Sentient Biped on December 10, 2011 at 3:07pm: Dallas, Ben is a sometimes member of Nexus. I don't know if he has been active lately. He is a former minister.

Comment by Dallas Gaytheist on December 10, 2011 at 2:51pm: Sorry, didn't read. Just passing along. May be of interest to some: Black, atheist and living in the South

Comment by Sentient Biped on November 30, 2011 at 9:20pm: Former KKK leader and LA congressman David Duke arrested in Germany. wwltv.com

Duke was reportedly scheduled to speak to a right-wing nationalist group, before German authorities arrested him... Duke, 61, is 'obliged to leave German territory without delay,'"... Duke "'was dubbed an 'undesirable foreigner' and detained in Cologne...

Comment by Dallas Gaytheist on November 26, 2011 at 4:24pm

Comment by Richard Goscicki on November 26, 2011 at 1:27pm: The general point I wanted to make was that native Americans(regardless of tribe) would have different stereotypes and the professor was incorrect to use the words "we all."

Plus, these stereotypes are changing dramatically in modern times. A lot of the millenial generation kids have very limited racial stereotypes if any.

Comment by Sentient Biped on November 26, 2011 at 12:15pm: I wonder if these issues are different for strangers as opposed to, in person. It seems to me that the videos all involved strangers. Who knows what day to day exposures the perpetrators had - if they have relatives, friends, lovers of different race, did they have the same unconscious reactions. Personally, if I saw a man of any color stealing a bike during the day, I might think it is his own, because who would steal a bike during the day? At night it would be different. I did have a bike stolen at night.

Of course, once he has basically admitted to stealing the bike, it's time to take a cellphone photo and call 911.

We could also throw in gender, or age. If the perpetrator was a woman, what would happen? Would people stop to help her? I suspect yes. Because we know that women are more honest than men and would not steal (this is sarcasm but demographically that might be true. gender profiling). If those men were beating up a woman of any race, would people have intervened? I suspect yes. If women were beating up a man.... they would probably have cheered (I don't know this, but I suspect).

If the person cutting the bike locks was an old man, what effect would that have on bystanders? Would people call the police, or stop to help? What does that say about us?

I would be afraid of any group of young men on a darkened street at night, regardless of race. I would also be suspicious of a group of women in a dark alley at night, different but still suspicous.

As for the store clerk story, that is so egregious I think I would tell off the clerk and see if I could find out who the owner was. If the owner supported that behavior, I don't know what i would do. At least I would like to think so, no one can say unless it happens.

But I suspect my exposures and experiences are the reason for how I feel about trust/compassion/fairness/race, not because of some personal quality or ideal. I grew up very isolated from people of other races, but with almost no indoctrination. When I was bullied in school, all of the perpetrators were white. And my friends in youth were white, but there were not many. Once I was in the greater world, it was a fully mixed race world (army) and the primary reaction was of curiosity, and the overwhelming experiences were very good. Even when the sense of "the exotic" wore off, my cross-ethnicity experiences have often been more rewarding than within my own race.

Richard, a historical side note, Cherokee were slave owners and brought their black slaves with them on the trail of tears. When they became a nation, their slaves were emancipated and made citizens of the Cherokee nation. This year, the Cherokee disowned their black citizens (freedmen). There were also other tribes that had slave ownership, and racial mixing, including the Seminoles of Florida. While most Navaho may not have had a lot of exposure with African Americans (maybe those who have been military), people of some other tribes do.