Race

[Kamuro]

Well, I was talking with one of my family members about this recently and its something that really gets me heated sometimes. Racism. Now, I'm not a racist, but I don't think its fair for african americans to use "the race card", as its called, to explain something bad thats happened to them. An example, everytime you see cops theres always some black guy saying that hes getting arrested because hes black. Now because of the several weapons hes carrying, or the 7 bags of weed found in his pocket, because hes black. And it really gets to me.

For one, a lot of black people I know (not generalizing) bring up slavery. Truth is [I]you weren't slaves.[/I] Your ancestors were slaves, which is terrible, but you didn't go through that. You weren't shackled, beaten, or judged. Most black people bring this up constantly as an excuse to overshadow a real problem they're having, its terrible.

Secondly, I'm tired of black people saying I don't like them because they're black. Its just not true, I have tons of black friends, they're smart, fun, and I love to hang with them. I just don't like loud, annoying, obnoxious people and a lot of the black people I know fit this mold. They say "whateva whateva, you don like me cause I'm black. [B]NO[/B] I don't like you because you annoy the hell out of me. I could care less what color your skin is, if I don't like your personality, then I'm not gonna spend time with you, and I'm not gonna like you.

Lastly, I believe that there is just as many black people who are racist as there are white. Because of things that happened hundreds of years ago they assume that they could never trust someone whos white, therefore judge that kind of people before even knowing what kind of people they are. Its ridiculous that they classify all white people under one label and then expect us not to do the same.

Those are just the couple of the things I'm feeling. By no means am I racist or a person who hates black people. Take what I've said as you will. The question of the post is, what do you think? Do think the whole slavery issue is taken to far? Do you believe racism goes both ways? You can comment on anything I've said at all.

[Kairi]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkSlateGray][CENTER]Interesting thoughts.....and I'm going to be completey honest.
I agree overall the message that you were passing up above...the best thing though that I've found about looking at it...is......who cares.
I live a my life in moderation...and people will believe whatever they want to believe. No one, not you nor I, nor anyone else can tell them otherwise. Instead of fighting against people like that...I simply look at what their saying with an open heart and take it for what's it worth. A generalization; an assumption that yes...some people do hate them for being black, and there are scars left behind from slavery...even now in this day in age. But to use it as an excuse and justification for something is no better than those who enslaved them.

So I agree with you...and I dont. Only way you can do is look upon it from a third person perspective...can't really judge anyone like that cause we aren't them...nor could understand. But ones words do mean something...and if it's as weak as what you've said. Basically you just keep on walking in life...the issue is petty...and meaningless, cause it will a) never be resolved b) really isn't a life threatening or nation wide problem:)...I give them my love and respect...nothing much else to give. [/CENTER][/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Manic Webb]

Kakashi, you white devil! My people experienced hundreds of years of slavery and oppression! How dare you make such gross generalizations and stereotypes! Now if you'll excuse me, I want to finish drinking my grape soda before going outside and smoking my nickel of weed.

I'm joking, of course. I just couldn't help but crack a joke about black people who like to overplay the Race Card. Although, truth be told, I [i]do[/i] like grape soda. ;)

I was raised to never use my race/color as a crutch. I believe that any problems you run into are your own fault. I have an older brother in prison, and no one in my family shifted the blame to anyone else. My brother's a sheep who lets his friends drag him down, even though he's otherwise a very intelligent man. He's not in prison because he's black. He's in prison because he let himself become an accessory.

Anyone who's familiar with the Chris Rock bit knows what he says about there being two kinds of black people. There are the normal kind who try to make it through life by working for what they want, and there are the n-words who expect everything to be handed to them, and ruin it for the rest of us.

Kakashi, most of us are [i]not[/i] the second type. There is a [i]vast[/i] grey area between Bryant Gumble and (rest his soul) rapper Ol' Dirty Bas***d. If you meet a black person, don't assume they're going to play the Race Card, blame everything on white people, and call you prejudice just because you're white. If you do, you (ironically) really are being prejudiced. I myself have been known to dress in loose-fit pants and baggy shirts, wear a Kangol hat backward, and listen to Jay-Z. But (as I discovered while working for a marketing company) I apparently sound like "some white guy" over the phone. And I'm two days in direct sunlight away from Wesley Snipes. Make of that what you will.

[Retribution]

[SIZE=1]Being black myself, it's sort of strange to be fed up with the generalizations of your race. Some black people enjoy blaming "the man" or "the system" or "it's just the way it is." It's a deep-rooted problem that probably won't be fixed for a long time. Yes, it stemmed from slavery, but that's over too. The wounds still remain though.

After being emancipated, black folk were still treated like dirt. After [about] a century, black people weren't as discriminated against, but that's not saying much had improved. They were still being lynched, "colored" this, and "colored" that. Hey, perhaps even "colored" time. Har har. After the Civil Rights movement, things were still tense, but people eventually stopped being so racist. But blacks were economically challenged for reasons that are too complicated/deep-set to talk about now. So they went to the ghettos. That's where all the crime and shizzle came in.

But where am I going with? No idea. Haha.

Race in general is a double-edged sword. Perhaps it gives you a swelling feeling in your chest, that your race did something good. But it's also hurtful, easily used to separate people and judge them on it. If I had a choice, I'd keep my skin. It doesn't make me feel particularly proud that the leading cause of death in black males under age 21 is gunshot wounds. But it does make me feel good that we've come so far, and that great people have hurdled immeasurable obstacles to give me a chance at living good. I suppose a legacy like that is something to cherish.[/SIZE]

[Semjaza]

This in general is referred to by some people as the "white man's burden". It's one of those you can't win situations, as far as I'm concerned. Being white, you're almost scared to talk about anything related to race in general because it's so easy for anyone to deem you a racist for any comment.

Honestly, I don't find it to be all that typical. There are people who buy into it, but they're generally the same people who still find something to complain about when they have a life better than mine and get a free ride in college because they're part of a "minority". Being a normal white male with no exceptional traits gets you pretty much nothing, unfortunately. It's like original sin or something.

Usually I find the people who complain most have the least amount of reason to. My girlfriend had a professor in college that would make generalizations about how everyone in his class had it easy because they were white and how hard it was for him because he was black. My girlfriend's family was barely above the poverty line for years and she's diabetic, which is a major insurance problem. Considering the man is a professor at a major Chicago college, what exactly is he still complaining about?

It's really just not something I understand. I really don't think that even a majority of black people out there do either. Most I've met certainly do not. There's lazy people who expect everything in every single race, unfortunately. All you can do is hope that they don't continue to contribute to the gene pool, I guess lol.

[Kamuro]

I know, it sounds like a terrible generalization, but it wasn't meant to be that way. It just seems like a majority of black people fit that stereotype, and it annoys me. It seems that some people are destined to be great but are taken off track due to influence by their past or people from the present. I mean, it'd be a lot easier for someone to accept people, or work with someone, without having the thought of slavery in the back of their minds. Its stupid, and its not the way their ancestors or my ancestors would want it to be.

[Adahn]

Out of curiousity, what is the black/white situation in countries where black people weren't enslaved? Is there still racial tension, is there still profiling? I've never thought about what it would be like to live somewhere where black (and white) people didn't have such a terrible history.

[Minako]

Having lived in America, I understand the whole race situation, but my parents come from Finland (where I am as a foreign exchange student). Over here, it's very rare to see a person who isn't white. I, personally, don't care about that, but if a normal Finnish person were to see a black person walking down the street, they would probably stare. (the finns like to stare...at least the city where I live. heh heh.) My friend who was a foreign exchange student in the states last year was amazed by the amount of black people, but she didn't let it get to her. (She's not racisit!) It just bugs me how my mom, when she's driving, automatically assumes that black people are bad drivers. :animeswea I guess it isn't as bad as using a certain n- word, but it still bugs me. She goes "Tyhmä Neegerit!" I'm not going to translate the Neegerit part, but if you can probably guess what that word means, and tyhmä is stupid. It just bugs me.

I'm not trying to generalize Finnish people, or Finland in general, but these are just my observations living in a smaller town here.

[Xyandar]

I am against racism. In fact I keep racism out of my house. I do not like hearing anything about it! No names or anything so I keep it out of my house. If my friends say it, I tell them never to say that again. My friend does that too because he hates racism.

[Gelgoog Pilot]

You want my feelings on race? I think generally that people have messed up the meaning of a race of people...My definition is simple, we are the human RACE, not a culmination of different ones. That assumption is asinien. The differences in peoples are not different races but rather different adapted traits. Those who lived in more tropical areas have the darker skin to guard against the sun, those of us from the northern regions never needed such protection. I believe it as simple as that. I think people have just simply confused rascism with ethnical prejudices.

Now do I agree with your statements...Hell yes, I'm sure most people know there is a double standard with racism. You can either discriminate against a seperate group, or you feel and complain that your particular 'race' has it worse than any other. It should stop, not to sound cold or anything but, if you start playing the race card and a sob story, I stop listening and taking you seriously.

[Bloodseeker]

Take this as you will. I've had black friends in the recent past, and I don't align myself with bad people, but I'm really beginning to get fed up with the black community in general.

I live in an area where a lot of different nationalities gather. We have large numbers of Whites (from various regions), Blacks, Mexicans, Asians (I've noticed that the Asian population here is really jumping), and Arabs all living in this area. And out of all of the different races here, black people are the only ones that have at least 1/4 of them complaining about rascism and using their race as a constant excuse to justify going off on people for stupid reasons. This is despite the fact that the Arabs and Mexicans get it much worse with discrimination than they do.

And it seems like every other young black guy in the big city next to our little town is a wannabe gang banger. Its really annoying to have to listen to some decked out black guy talk loudly about how he cut up some other guy the night before every time that I go to see a movie. That's literally happened the last three times that I've gone to a movie theatre.

If you ask me, the modern day stereotypical black guy is a disgrace to their heritage and are doing a good job of helping to ruin the good reputation and standing in society that their dads and grandpas worked so hard to build. In all honesty, I think that the Klue Klux Klan and others that share their ideals would consist almost completely of hillbillies and red necks with an I.Q. of 20 (yep, those same guys that show blind support to our government without any thought as to what they're doing or what their motives are) and would be their way to decay right now if it weren't for them.

[quote]Quote:
Originally Posted by Gelgoog Pilot
You want my feelings on race? I think generally that people have messed up the meaning of a race of people...My definition is simple, we are the human RACE, not a culmination of different ones. That assumption is asinien. The differences in peoples are not different races but rather different adapted traits. Those who lived in more tropical areas have the darker skin to guard against the sun, those of us from the northern regions never needed such protection. I believe it as simple as that. I think people have just simply confused rascism with ethnical prejudices.

Now do I agree with your statements...Hell yes, I'm sure most people know there is a double standard with racism. You can either discriminate against a seperate group, or you feel and complain that your particular 'race' has it worse than any other. It should stop, not to sound cold or anything but, if you start playing the race card and a sob story, I stop listening and taking you seriously.[/quote]


Its stupid to see it as one big human race so long as minorities here continue to see themselves as Blacks or Mexicans or whatever. So long as that's there, and so long as the people continue to hold onto their heritage and keep their traditions, there will always be ethnical different ways of thinking and acting between the different races. The only way to eliminate that is to force everyone to modernize under one banner and brainwash them out their traditional cultures, and that's not exactly a happy thought either.

[b]Edit: I feel the need to explain myself a bit further here.[/b]

Do you think that people are ever going to stop hating each other so long we hold on to our traditional ways of thinking and acting? If we're going to rid of hatred, we need to get rid of individuality between races and groups.

Redneck: "White power! Burn 'dem blacks! Screw you too, ***! We still haven't forgotten about Pearl Harbor! God bless this great nation! Yee-haw!"

This guy needs to go. So long as he's here, there will never be peace between the races in this nation that he claims to love so much.

Wannabe Gang-Banger: "Get lost, white boy, unless you me to cut yo sorry ***."

This guy needs to go too if people are ever going to respect the black man.

Beaner Mexican: "I'm gonna go get my familia and my eses and we're gonna beat you good."

Ever wonder why some people really hate Mexicans? These guys are to blame.

Arab: *puts on turban and praises Allah*

As harmless as this may seem, two cultures so different from one another can't live peacefull side by side. Until he throws away his turban and either becomes an athiest or starts praising his new lord and savior Jesus Christ, there will always be people here that will never be able to accept him.

If everyone was open minded and open to people with differences, this wouldn't be a problem. But seeing as how there will always be idiots (both in and out of minorities) that won't be able to accept those that are different from them, the only way to elminate problems relating to that is to make everyone the same.

[silpheedpilot]

[COLOR=Blue][SIZE=1]Yeah, yeah racism is bad and the white man is the worst of them all! Shame you white-man!

Wait... I am the white-man! Shame me for being such a terrible racist!

Ooh, but what about the black-man? Is he such a terrible racist also? He very well could be. What I mean by that is; white-men aren't the only racists out there it goes all kinds of ways. What about Hispanic or Asian people? See you can't just say that white and black people are the only racist people out there. Granted, thats mostly what you see but its not the ONLY racism out there.

Now for someone to sit and say "the N-word" they are instantly turned into a racist against black people, but what about the black person who at the same time called a white-man a "cracker''? Is he any better than the white-man? Of course not.
Thats just an example of the words that COULD have been said, and an example of what races COULD have been involved.

Quite frankly I think racism is stupid and the world would run better without any trace of it but, sadly, that is not the case and racism is never going to die out. The only thing you can do is ignore it.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Kairi]

[CENTER][COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=1]Let's put it this way...as humans...yes, we all are one like Gelgoog Pilot said. But in our day in age, especially with how things are regualted compared to looks and appearances...I highly doubt that it will be so. Wouldn't that be a perfect world huh...I mean yea...Americans (no not all) seem to be intimidated for some reason by people of other cultures and ethnicities. Instead of comparing ourselves to other people...why not look inward.

Living in England, Italy,Japan, China and Thailand...with me being a white male, 6'1'' with an American accent... I stuck out like a sour thumb. Some people loved me...some people didn't...tis how the world is unfortunatley. As much as you try to please people...not everyone is going to like you. With blacks in America...not all are like that...a lot of friends of mine who are black and of other minorities couldn't give a rats ***. But some people are like that to where they hold onto stuff like that...and you really can't do much about it. You can't force anything on other peoples ideals...just doens't work like that.

Hopefully in the future these kind of issues will subside...till then...can't worry too much about it...part of life I suppose. [/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER]

[Bloodseeker]

[QUOTE=Kairi][CENTER][COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=1]Let's put it this way...as humans...yes, we all are one like Gelgoog Pilot said. But in our day in age, especially with how things are regualted compared to looks and appearances...I highly doubt that it will be so. Wouldn't that be a perfect world huh...I mean yea...Americans (no not all) seem to be intimidated for some reason by people of other cultures and ethnicities. Instead of comparing ourselves to other people...why not look inward.

Living in England, Italy,Japan, China and Thailand...with me being a white male, 6'1'' with an American accent... I stuck out like a sour thumb. Some people loved me...some people didn't...tis how the world is unfortunatley. As much as you try to please people...not everyone is going to like you. With blacks in America...not all are like that...a lot of friends of mine who are black and of other minorities couldn't give a rats ***. But some people are like that to where they hold onto stuff like that...and you really can't do much about it. You can't force anything on other peoples ideals...just doens't work like that.

Hopefully in the future these kind of issues will subside...till then...can't worry too much about it...part of life I suppose. [/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/QUOTE]

That's exactly what I was trying to say.

[Manic Webb]

[quote name='Bloodseeker']And it seems like every other young black guy in the big city next to our little town is a wannabe gang banger. Its really annoying to have to listen to some decked out black guy talk loudly about how he cut up some other guy the night before every time that I go to see a movie. That's literally happened the last three times that I've gone to a movie theatre.[/quote]
You want annoying? I run into those people all the time, and I live in the suburbs. I lived in 'da hood' with my mom until I was about 13. We used my grandparents' home address for me to go to school in the suburbs, so I used to travel back and forth between a rough neighborhood and nice neighborhood everyday. The only thing worse than a thug in the hood is a wannabe thug in the suburbs. It's one thing to 'mean mug' everybody when cocaine is being sold around the corner from your house and you occasionally have to sleep on the floor to avoid drive-bys, but holding onto your balls when you live in a town where you're not afraid to walk through the toughest neighborhood at night? That's ridiculous. I'm not saying the suburbs are a perfect haven, but the police don't raid the house around the corner every week.

Point is, I lived in an area where there really were thugs and [i]real[/i] gangs, and I decided I never wanted to be like that. It's the glorifying of these images in the media that bring black youth down to that level. Really, it sickens me. If you want to live that kind of lifestyle (and trust me, the people who live it don't even want it), then leave behind your Toyota Camry and $200 shoes [i]and go live that life[/i].

It's not a glorious life. Anyone who thinks it does and tries to perpetuate that image is really just bringing the rest of us down. Being a gangsta shouldn't have to be a staple in African-American culture. At all. The fact that it's coming to that is counter-productive to everything that happened over 40 years ago.

[Kamuro]

this is my point, you'd think if their life was so hard and wore them down so much, they'd want to forget about it and just move on. However, this isn't the case, they continually bring it up over and over again blaming mistakes they've recently made on their past or even their ancestry. I mean c'mon, a lot of these people didn't grow up in the streets, most of the black people at my school live down the street and have since they were yonug. Yet they still feel the need to bring up their "rough past" as an excuse for whatever is going on in their life.

Rappers do the same, a lot of them anyway. Continually bring up how hard their life was, when its been proven that half of them didn't have the hard life they claim to have had. Its all an image for the general public to eat up. In another post in the "Music, Movies, etc" forum I we're discussing 50 Cent, and someone claimed that he must be talented, hes number one on the charts. Well, that means nothing. It really has nothing to do with true musical talent. If their life was so hard, why re-live it in every song you sing? Just move on for god sakes.

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f]There are two student groups at my school, one supporting palestine and the other Israel. One thing that's beginning to get on my nerves these days is how the jewish students at our school continue to use antisemitism to get everyone on their side.

Once, the palestine supporting group, the SPHR had a display up in the University Community Centre. It discussed how palestinians were being mistreated by the Israeli government, which is completely true.

Controversy explodes over the display. The Jewish students kept claiming that the display was a hate crime, that it was putting all jewish people in a bad light, that it was connected the jewish students to the crimes commited against palestinians. One girl even said "I don't feel safe on campus". It was quite nausiating I must say. The display was simply presenting facts, and statistics from reliable sources. Yes, it is true that more Palestinians have been killed than Israelis, and that excludes suicide bombers. Why do they see these facts as offensive and racist?

The situation becomes so bad, that the SPHR was banned from having any more displays till 2006, but the display had been approved beforehand by the student councel!

That's funny, the year before, the Israel supporting group was handing out pamphlets claiming that 1 in every 5 muslims are terrorists. According to that statistics, one of siblings must be a terrorists! They actually got away with it! How is that fair?[/COLOR]

[Kamuro]

Yes, I hadn't even remembered hate crimes. Its nice to see other nationalities mentioned. Thank you Chabichou :animesmil . As for hate crimes, I believe that they are completely unnecessary. How can people possible try to live equally when there is laws based solely on a person's race. Crimes should be punishable equally. When a black person kills a white person, for whatever reason, its not considered a hate crime. Now if a white person kills a black person, then theres always that speculation of whether or not it was because of the person's race. I mean how stupid is that? Who cares what the reason is, they deserve an equal punishment (excluding other factors). It completely contradicts the constitution. We are not all equal in society when members of a certain race have special privelages. This law and some others don't neglect a person's race, they practically point it out.

[AnimeFront]

being black. i have to say, sometime (lots of time, depends on the area of the country) there will be the incident when the person was arrested for being black or watched more closely because they are black. And sometimes are stoping someone for being black and thet actually do have weed, but they were not stopped because of a suspispision of drugs.
when i am with my friends and they jokingly accuse me of leaving the cap off the soda or of burping, I go "cause i'm black" but not in serious situation, though i do anylyze the situation and if there are no other reson for why i get a ccused of something the i bring the race factor in to speculation. But rarely.
I was always taught it was an insult to be awarded extra something because u were black, kind of like pitying someone.
but x Kakashi x,yo u are a racist white devil, J/K. :D You are ok in my book.

[Retribution]

[quote name='x kakashi x']Yes, I hadn't even remembered hate crimes. Its nice to see other nationalities mentioned. Thank you Chabichou :animesmil . As for hate crimes, I believe that they are completely unnecessary. How can people possible try to live equally when there is laws based solely on a person's race. Crimes should be punishable equally. When a black person kills a white person, for whatever reason, its not considered a hate crime. Now if a white person kills a black person, then theres always that speculation of whether or not it was because of the person's race. I mean how stupid is that? Who cares what the reason is, they deserve an equal punishment (excluding other factors). It completely contradicts the constitution. We are not all equal in society when members of a certain race have special privelages. This law and some others don't neglect a person's race, they practically point it out.[/quote]
[SIZE=1]It's mostly due to the overcompensation of racism. Like you said, the white guy is always walking on thin ice, so they have to go out of their way, lest they be accused by someone ignorant of "being racist" or something. I think Tony said that it was called "The white man's burden." lol Although, that is a short collection of writing by Chamberlain talking about how Europeans should rule the world. >_<[/SIZE]

[Havokio]

[COLOR=Indigo]I'm black, and don't find this subject offensive. I can't stand the steriotype that looms over black people.

I'm GLAD for the fact that I don't follow "that" (loud, pot smoking, pants sagging, "yo yo, hows it goin doin in the hood") garbage crowd.

I agree with Kakashi completely. I LOVE being black, just not the steriotype associated with being black.

BTW...

Egyptians were the first people to have slaves. Slaves from europe. 4000 years worth. So, to my fellow black people, don't give me that garbage of slavery, cause as far as I'm concerned, they got VERY little payback.

L8R.[/COLOR]

[Kairi]

[CENTER][COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=1]Hey...let's here it up for the Native American/English Breeds! :D

And Havokio is right...Egyptians were the first to have slaves...and you don't see Jews getting bent out shape about that. Sure it happened a long time ago...but the point still remains.

Steriotypes are meaningless...why not find out who someone really is without passing judgement nor attributes against them without understanding them. [/SIZE] [/COLOR] [/CENTER]

[Kamuro]

Thats the whole point of this post, I just got tired of being judged and being accused of judging at the same time. Its incredibly stupid and narrow-minded to just assume things about a person, group of people, or even an entire race. Not everyone from that race is the crazy extremist that created the stereotype, we're just normal people. How can you expect me to not judge you when you do the opposite to me, c'mon.