Utterly and Completely. "Racism" is now nothing more, really, than Bad Manners or Rudeness. Only 12% of the US population can be classified as African American, and President Obama won by a much larger majority than that. That means that ALL races of Americans voted for him. If an African American man can be freely elected President in our society, that is de facto proof that "racism" such as is defined by the repression of a person who's heritage includes that of a minority race by a member of the majority race, is done, finished, finito. Even full blown racists have now been marginalized, making them more buffoons than anything anyone should take seriously.
But we live in a society where nearly everyone wants to feel like they are somehow hard-done-by. Dawn Steel was the President of Paramount Studios years ago, yet many women subscribe to the idea that somehow there is a "glass ceiling" which prevents them from achievement. Indeed, now many white Americans (whatever that terms means) feel that THEY are losing out on opportunities due to their not being Black/Mexican/Insert-your-definition-here.
We have got our kids into the act, too - labeling some "lactose intolerant" or with "peanut allergies" (did kids just DIE when I was in elementary school and they ate peanuts? I can't remember a single one, and neither can the 10 grown-ups I polled unscientifically), with the resultant "special treatment" - peanut butter banned from school, special seating in the lunchroom, etc.
But I digress... The mere fact that our President is literally 1/2 African is an amazing testament to the hard work, sacrifice, and devotion many people (of all races) in this country have taken to ensure that REAL racism (think fire-department water hosing peaceful protesters, or cops setting German Shepherds after people) is a thing of the past.
Any African American who says they can't get ahead "because the White Man" is holding him down needs to look at the shining example we have living in the White House. A man who rose to the most important, powerful position on this earth by the power of his own imagination, will and mind.
How can anyone say that racism is no more? Everytime you turn your head someone is saying that the Mr. Obama is black. Or " He did this because he is black". Or " You don't agree with him because he is black". The very reason he was (elected) is because he is black. That and a more smooth talker than the rest of them. Also the fact that the majority of the people that are on government subsidized programs are black. Why? The belief that they still feel that America owes them restitution for their "ancestors". If you ask if I am racist. No. I am however prejudice towards anyone that can do for themselves but refuse to. No matter what color or where they're from. I have never asked for a handout and will never. Nor will I give one. This is the basis for alot of the problems that plague this Republic. Policy that was enacted many years ago that was meant to give a hand up, not a hand out. But it got abused. Now, I ask you who the majority of those people are? Why are they like that? I'll tell you, it because of racism. Not ultimately the white hating the blacks, but blacks feeling they are owed something. Or just plain laziness. These said programs are just enabling the problems. Again, racism is not gone. It has just taken on a different form.
Oh, sure, once we've got tokenism it must mean that the problem is fixed.
If we have one black president out of 44, no female presidents out of 44, 2 black SCOTUS justices out of 111, 3 female justices out of 111, one hispanic Justice and no hispanic presidents, and no Asians anywhere to be found ... well, hell, an average representation of about 2% female to 98% male or of 2% black to 98% white just MUST mean that racism and sexism are things of the past.
The existence of a female executive, likewise, just MUST be evidence that sexism no longer affects women at all, since we can point to that one token woman and say "well, look." Never mind that 70% of Americans living in poverty are female; the fact that 70% of the poor are women must just be some sort of weird aberration if Dawn Steel can head up a film studio (and I believe it was Columbia Films at which she was top exec; Steel was president of production at Paramount for a bit but Ted Nanen was president of the company. Then in 1986 Paramount demoted Steel because she got pregnant -- no sexism there -- and in early '87 Steel went over to Columbia).
Currently, women make up 14 out of the 500 CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies -- that's more women CEOs than ever before. That's almost a whole THREE PERCENT, ladies, c'mon, ain't two to three percent representation in political and economic life GOOD enough for ya? You're only 51% of the population, after all.
AND, there have been eight black CEOs in Fortune 500 companies since they first began indexing them as "Fortune 500" (five are current). That's well under one percent of all the Fortune 500 CEOs that have ever been, but what the hell. Black people have a full-on 1% of Fortune 500 CEO positions now, so racism must be a thing of the past.
Really, now, isn't a fair balance in political and economic life 97-99% white and male versus 1-3% black or female? How could anyone possibly find that kind of balance unfair or nonrepresentative? Sheesh.
No, it's far more logical to believe that 98% of nonwhite or nonmale peoples are just lazy or incompetent, rather than believing in some bolloxed-up idea that systematic disempowerment, sexism, or racism still exist in our society ...
No, not everything has to be 50/50. Not everything has to be 98/2, either. I think that as a general principle we can all agree that 50/50 represents a more equitable division than 98/2 ...
Your point about basketball players is just spurious. But the answer to your question is that the NBA is about 80% black players and 20% other races. That's still a whole lot different than 98/2.
"Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. I don't say the split should be 50-50. It could be 60% men, 40% women, or the other way around. It shouldn't be that women are the exception."
I think that we may have finally gotten it out of our system. I mean, if any one played the race card on me I'd be like, "Yo homie, you got your boy up there in the white house so don't be giving me any of that crap!" ;)
Seriously though, the U.S. once voted for a Catholic president (JFK)... once!
And now we can say that the U.S. once voted for a black president... once! ;)
I'm itching to find out if the U.S. will vote for Obama again. At this rate.... who knows ;)
"Seriously though, the U.S. once voted for a Catholic president (JFK)... once!"
One JFK was a very bad Catholic (the thing with Marylin Monroe). For some reason many people think that if a Catholic becomes President, the US will become a vassal of the Pope. Now if these people realized that the Pope is not the political figure he once was, they would understand that the Pope is a spiritual leader.
Are you suggesting that the people who would have a genuine reason to be offended by my comments would do a drive by shooting? OMG!!! You're more racist than me!!! At least I used my smileys to denote that I was only kidding.
Besides, the people who would have a genuine reason to be offended by my comments don't have computers and if they did they wouldn't waste any time on an intellectual site like CD ;)
except that your comments suggesting that "Yo homie, you got your boy up there in the white house so don't be giving me any of that crap!" is a valid argument in any debate, let alone given the circumstances under which you claim that you would employ such an argument does imply that you are at least a little racist.
Moreover, there are plenty of African American's (such as myself) who do not find such comments amusing.
That said, I'm not going to kill you for saying them. just stay off of my lawn.
Lol. I can't be racist because I'm a minority. I have never had a "chip on my shoulder" though.
Let me explain. Like I said, I am a minority. Yet, I was in the U.S. army and and I made sergeant in two years (which is the smallest amount of time that anyone can make sergeant).
So what?
Well, like ThePyg said, it's all about attitude.
I knew this black man while I was an enlisted man. The difference between us was that he had a different attitude than I had. He thought everyone was racist.
One day we were on the chow line waiting to be fed and we were talking to these white guys. It took quite a long time. Anyway, after we got our food I went and sat with the white guys we we had been talking to. They said, "where's Travis?" and I looked for him wondering the same thing. I finally saw him and I said, "He's over there sitting with the brothers." ;)
Anyway, Travis heard me and threw his plate of spaghetti at my head. He missed ;)
He threatened me (he was bigger than me) and I said, "Travis, don't threatened me. You are the one who segregated himself from us. We did not segregate ourselves from you."
Needless to say, Travis saw the truth in my statement and I'm still alive (like I said, he was way bigger than me).
Moral of the story: If you have a chip on your shoulder, you wont make it in America. At least..., that has been my experience.
Now, I'm a minority in an apparently racist country and my income has 6 figures. A lot more that the amount of most Americans (black or white) as quoted by you. ;)
Do you think that Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Bill Cosby or any one like them would have a hard time making it in America? Look at their attitude. They are my role models.
Now, don't think of this as an attack on you. It isn't. Think of it as a way for young black men to make it in this country and support me. No smiley here. I'm serious about this. Serious as a heart attack. I want them to make it. Like me. There's no reason they can't.
Well in that I think we can both agree. Hopefully more minorities in this country will be able to better themselves over time. I don't believe that this negates many of the serious racial issues that this country does still actually have.
Now, I'm not being hyperbolic about this. In my experience there is nothing to tell me that the majority of white people are out to get the majority of non-whites. However, my cousin in Pennsylvania does also live across the street from the local head of the KKK. I have encountered neo-nazi thugs. There are a lot of systemic problems which lend themselves more to ignorance of racist actions rather than overt and intentional racism.
These need to be addressed if we're to get over the race problems that do exist in America completely. That said, there are just as many racist perceptions among minorities which need to be addressed. Until we come to an honest and open discussion on the matter though, the "race card" is hardly a non-point.
OMG, OMG, OMG!!! You are so going to be on the news any moment now. I'm getting of the computer right now and turning on the TV. It wont be long before I'm saying, "Yup! I told him. He had it coming. All those freaking points didn't help him and now they've gone to waste!"
Well, the race card has always been a retarded ploy to try and suggest that black people are never at fault.
But at least they can't blame the man. Well, those like Feracon and the Black Panthers will try to say that Obama doesn't have any real power or that he's only half black; but for most, it's really hard to blame "the man" when "the man" is black.
First of all, Obama cannot be classified as black or white president. He is half black half white, and it cannot be said he is the first black president. Surely, in many cases it is beneficial for him to say that he is African-American to appeal to blacks for votes, for example. However, in many cases it is more beneficial to associate himself as a white person, and i am sure that if obama openly said that he is neither white or black, he would have lost a lot of popularity from the African-American community is that was one of their biggest reasons for electing him
I believe that it has lost some value here in America. African Americans can't continue to complain and make excuses for not giving themselves better lives. Even though I may disagree with most (if not all) of Mr. Obama's views, I admire him for how he overcame so much adversity to get to where he is today. If he can get through that much adversity and become president of the United States, I think the sky is the limit for African Americans. Granted, he is a gifted individual, but that does not mean that any other person of color could not do the same thing he did if they put their hearts and minds to it.
The race card--or the gender card--is utter bullshit. It's not an excuse for anything, and playing it is just pathetic and not taking responsibility for yourself.
The election of an African American president by no means signs the death knell to racism in America. If anything, the fact that anyone could ask such a question as to whether or not we have arrived at a post-racial America only goes to illustrate the very ignorance which remains in this country of just how much further we have to grow when it comes to race relations in America, despite how far we may have come. If you think that insinuating race into political and economic arguments in America is merely the playing of some special interest card which somehow invalidated due to the fact that the 44th president of the United States is less European than his 43 predecessors, take a look at the following facts:
- A typical black household makes just 62 percent of the income of a typical white household - a gap that has changed little in 30 years. In 2007, the median household income was $33,900 for black households and $54,900 for white households.
- Blacks, Latinos, and Indigenous peoples are nearly three times as likely as whites to live in poverty. In 2007, 24.4 percent of blacks had incomes below the poverty line, compared to 8.2 percent of whites.
- Life expectancy among blacks is, on average, about five years shorter than it is for whites. In 2005, life expectancy at birth was 76.5 years for black women and 80.8 years for white women. Life expectancy was 69.5 years for black men and 75.7 years for white men.
- Whites are more likely to have college degrees than blacks. In 2007, 31.8 percent of whites 25 and older had college degrees, compared to 18.5 percent of blacks.
- Blacks are more likely than whites to be sentenced to prison, though incarceration rates for blacks have dropped in recent years even as they increased for whites. In 2006, black men had an incarceration rate of 3,042 per 100,000 residents, compared to a rate of 487 for white men.
- Blacks are less likely to have health insurance than whites. In 2007, 19.2 percent of blacks did not have health insurance, compared to 10.4 percent of whites.
- Blacks, are three times as likely as whites to be poor and twice as likely to be unemployed.
- Black men with college degrees were still earning 30% less than their white counterparts.
- Black men with high school diplomas were still more likely to be out of work than white male dropouts.
- Businesses owned by white men were still receiving about 91% of all government contracts.
When these facts are no longer the case, continued discussion of race relations and racial perceptions in the United States will become less important. Barrack Obama's presidency has not created a post-racial America, it's only made a marginally interesting talking point.
So basically, once minorities can get their shit together white people will no longer be racist?
That's... retarded.
If you fail at life, it is YOUR fault. Don't try and justify yourself just because you have a different skin color.
I'm glad you brought out these statistics,though. I used to get labeled as a racist for pointing out that African Americans have a 50% high school drop out rate.
When there is historical evidence within recent history of such statistics being due to systemic social problems I think over-generalizations such as the pure social responsibility arguments are a bit excessive.
Minority responsibility says nothing to the fact that law enforcers are more likely to suspect African Americans of drug possensions when the stats show that whites are ten times more likely, if pulled over to be in possession of illegal substances. It says nothing to the fact that border security spending along the US' southern border far exceeds that along the US' Northern border when stats show there is quite a bit of undocumented crossing in both. It says nothing to the fact that as previously stated, blacks with higher degree of education are less likely to get hired than white high school drop outs.
Do I believe that this is due to overt racism among white Americans? No. I do think, however, that centuries of culturally inherited perceptions of race in America cannot be automatically overturned or changed in the century and a half that these perceptions in which these perceptions have been gradually challenged.
1. I've worked with cops for 4 years and suspicion of people is based on the attitude of the suspect. If blacks are suspected more than whites, this is because the blacks that are stopped have much ruder attitudes towards cops (I know, I've seen it first hand).
2. Drug trafficking, prostitute smuggling and even some diseases are coming MUCH MORE often through the Southern border than through the Northern border. Immigration is one of many issues when it comes to enforcing borders.
3. With the fact that African Americans have a 50% high school drop out rate, I find it very hard to believe that those who do make it through High School find it harder to get a job than a white who doesn't get a high school degree at all. This I need some kind of study done (credible, of course). If so, there could be a correlation, but correlation does not prove causation. And 1 out of so many other reasons for not being able to get a job hardly helps at all, either.
Life is built on attitude. It is safe to say that Whites have a much different presentation of respect towards another. You also have to consider environmental factors. Most white, high school drop outs live in the south where jobs are more spread out than in areas where many black drop outs live (Southern living creates many more jobs than industrial poor areas). If a Southerner drops out of high school, he can still basically work at any of the motel, hotels, inns, convenient stores, or even as a helper at a house (painter, carpenter, no one cares about credentials in the South). In ghettos and projects, it's more demanding of qualifications. Whites, as well as blacks, find it much harder to get a job in these areas if they don't have the right education for it. Plus, most jobs in industrial areas require education. And, since blacks take up only 13% of the population even less of them are going to have jobs.
1. If blacks are suspected more than whites, this is because the blacks that are stopped have much ruder attitudes towards cops (I know, I've seen it first hand).
Did it occur to you that perhaps it's the other way around, and greater numbers of black people are rude and suspicious towards police because they are unfairly placed under suspicion and harassed far more frequently than whites? Note that you refer to blacks who are stopped, e.g., who have already been singled out by the po-po as suspicious (whether accurately or not). So that doesn't explain police suspicion since by your own example the rudeness happens after the police suspicion.
2. Drug trafficking, prostitute smuggling and even some diseases are coming MUCH MORE often through the Southern border than through the Northern border.
Well, that explains all the Canadian pot.
I'd like some evidence for this, since a lot of human trafficking goes to and from Asia.
"Latin American 'coyotes,' commonly used to transport aliens across the southern border, are also used in leading trafficking victims on foot to the US . . . [but] Traffickers also transit Canada en route to the United States. Organized smuggling rings have capitalized on Canada’s visa waiver for Koreans to bring Korean women through Canada to the US where they enter without inspection. Asian traffickers may also use alien smuggling routes to bring their victims into the US . . . In Vancouver, British Columbia, an INS investigator in Vancouver reports that a group of American Canadian pimps, calling themselves the West Coast Players, are actively involved in trafficking Canadian teenagers to Los Angeles for the sex industry. There are indications that the West Coast Players are establishing links with Asian organized crime groups in British Columbia. Canadian law enforcement officials also believe that American girls are also being trafficked from the US to Canada." -- https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/trafficking.pdf
3. I find it very hard to believe that those who do make it through High School find it harder to get a job than a white who doesn't get a high school degree
LOOK. IT. UP.
"Take employment rates: from 1960 to 2000, black high school dropouts saw their employment rates drop 33 percentage points –– from 88.6 percent to 55.7 percent -- the authors found in their analysis of census data from 1960 to 2000. The decrease for white high school dropouts was only roughly half that –– from 94.1 percent to 76.0 percent." -- http://www.nber.org/digest/may07/w12518.html
"Black women and men in the high school class of 1982 were actually more likely to continue high school and attend college than their White classmates with similar mathematics and verbal test scores. After leaving school, however, Blacks had far lower employment rates than Whites with similar test scores. These schooling/employment patterns are consistent with evidence from 1980 U.S. Census data." -- http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-17781879/blackwhite-differences-schooling-and.html
4. It is safe to say that Whites have a much different presentation of respect towards another.
Uh . . . it's safe to say that if you're a total racist, yeah. Otherwise, you're going to need some empirical evidence to back that up. By "empirical evidence," I mean something a little more solid than "it sure seems like that to me."
First of all, in order to make anything credible in court, a police officer would have to establish probable cause. A cop can't just search anyone based off of his intuition, despite what movies might say. If a cop felt that he could get drugs off of a black, he would need probable cause to search him in the first place. If not, EVERYTHING is thrown out of court. PC would be something like "DUI" or "when he opened his window a bunch of marijuana smoke hit me in the face".
Second, to approach someone at all he would need AT LEAST "reasonable situation" which must be presented in court or else that will be thrown out as well. Reasonable suspicion would be something like "hanging out behind a Wal-Mart at 3 AM".
Third, the "stop" i was referring to was a traffic stop. This is because most individual drug busts are made on traffic stops because it's usually easiest to know if they are holding or not. What happens is an officer will often become a lot more aware of his suspect if the suspect is rude or not (experience from ride alongs). pertaining to 4, it's not from racism, it's from experience.
2. Canadian Pot vs. Cocaine and Heroin all the way from Columbia going through the Mexican border... hmm. I do understand that border enforcement is needed in Canada as well, but this does not mean that Mexico needs less.
3. Your first stats compared black drop outs to white drop outs. WTF did I say about that in the first place, pertaining to if that is the case. I already rebutted the stats before they were even presented.
" It says nothing to the fact that as previously stated, blacks with higher degree of education are less likely to get hired than white high school drop outs."
Why would a higher educated person want work in job where a high school dropout would get the same job?
Yeah, but minorities are more than 90% responsible for drive by shootings (less than 10% for whites). If minorities spent less time in drive bys and more time in educating themselves, then maybe the other statistic will change too. I mean, I know it's a radical idea but maybe we should give education a chance. ;)
BTW, 68% of all statistics are made up on the spot ;)
That might be a good argument if it weren't for the fact that the number of minorities enrolled in colleges across the US far outstrips the number of minorities who have been involved in a drive by shooting.
So you are implying that the hundred or so drive by shootings that might happen every year exceeds the millions of minorities currently enrolled in college?
If by "groups" you mean those gangs committing drive bys, I would agree with you. If you'd said that those individuals who commit drive bys are of low education, than I would agree with you.
but when you make blatantly false and hyperbolic statements suggesting that either more minorities are engaged in drive by shootings than are engaged in furthering themselves by pursuing a greater degree of education, you're only discrediting your own level of education.
I think people overestimate the number of times minorities actually "pull the race card". From my experience it's often nothing more than an illusory correlation.
no way . the fisrt time a black turns out to be a president and that too, he has not affected the business a lot. i am sure that people who are saying that barack is bad will soon realise that they are wrong