Racism and Bigotry: Are they Still a Problem?

[QUOTE="GabuEx"]

[QUOTE="Snipes_2"]

So, Racism, oppression ,and unequal laws cause Drop Outs, Single Parent Households, Obesity, Diabetes, Poverty, and incarceration? I don't think you can blame all that on something that happened Decades ago. What "Unequal Laws" are we talking about anyways? I'd say all of these are user error.

bigdcstile

The environment in which one grows up plays a huge role in the person whom one ultimately becomes. One may change one's course if one has the will to do so, yes - but where does that will come from? It tends to be a vicious cycle: an environment in which education is not highly encouraged, in which marriages tend to fail, and in which people are poor and prone to criminal behavior is also an environment that will produce people who are poorly educated, who do not try hard at marriage, and who are poor and prone to criminal behavior. In that sense, the specter of racism still looms over the black community: even though the bonds that shackled them down have long since been lifted, their effects on that community linger on. To say that they need to just get over it or whatever is to completely ignore all of the effects that such things have on a person's psyche.

environment

Yes it is, If you just watch tv go to the ghetto, people are being murdered and jumped because they are black or if their homeless.

It quite sad what people do for fun nowadays.

As I have said before, racism is only a problem because we still have a word for it. Now, I'm not saying there aren't white guys that still hate black guys, because there will always be. Just like there will be black guys that hate white guys.

However, I think most "racism" nowadays comes from the fear of being racist. We tell our kids that there are certain types of people we can't talk about, certain words we can't use, and certain groups we can't get angry at. It is about socialization, and our country does a good job at scaring the poop out of young white children (I can only speak from my side here, as I have never been a black guy).

While people talk about it and make rules about what is socially acceptible and what is not based on the person you are encountering, then you will always have racism. Just like there will always be sexism while you have separate rules for women and men (I never got the whole women's movement, as they want to be special and equal at the same time...which is impossible).

[QUOTE="Snipes_2"]

[QUOTE="peaceoutmedusa"]

So according to you, all of those things are black peoples fault. So all of the years of racism, oppresion, and unequal laws in the past isnt the reason why it is like that??? WOW.

wstfld

So, Racism, oppression ,and unequal laws cause Drop Outs, Single Parent Households, Obesity, Diabetes, Poverty, and incarceration? I don't think you can blame all that on something that happened Decades ago. What "Unequal Laws" are we talking about anyways? I'd say all of these are user error.

You realize that No one alive today was or has owned a slave right? There was Racism against white people too, and various ethnic groups, not just blacks. They seem to have "Gotten over it".

As I have said before, racism is only a problem because we still have a word for it. Now, I'm not saying there aren't white guys that still hate black guys, because there will always be. Just like there will be black guys that hate white guys.

However, I think most "racism" nowadays comes from the fear of being racist. We tell our kids that there are certain types of people we can't talk about, certain words we can't use, and certain groups we can't get angry at. It is about socialization, and our country does a good job at scaring the poop out of young white children (I can only speak from my side here, as I have never been a black guy).

While people talk about it and make rules about what is socially acceptible and what is not based on the person you are encountering, then you will always have racism. Just like there will always be sexism while you have separate rules for women and men (I never got the whole women's movement, as they want to be special and equal at the same time...which is impossible).

UltimoIce

Yeah, That's pretty much the way I feel too.

Yes there is still a lot of racism today. Even today we are still more racist and intolerant than ever. In Brazil for example, a developing country, blacks really don't like whites after what whites did to them in the past and rightly so and as a response whites do not want to associate with blacks and the cycle of racism and discrimination continues where blacks are still confined to the bottom of society. In Brazil, blacks still make most of the poor and most live in overcrowded and unsanitary shanty towns while many white people live in big apartments with two cars and a swimming pool.

[QUOTE="wstfld"][QUOTE="Snipes_2"]

So, Racism, oppression ,and unequal laws cause Drop Outs, Single Parent Households, Obesity, Diabetes, Poverty, and incarceration? I don't think you can blame all that on something that happened Decades ago. What "Unequal Laws" are we talking about anyways? I'd say all of these are user error.

Snipes_2

You realize that No one alive today was or has owned a slave right? There was Racism against white people too, and various ethnic groups, not just blacks. They seem to have "Gotten over it".

[QUOTE="wstfld"][QUOTE="Snipes_2"]

So, Racism, oppression ,and unequal laws cause Drop Outs, Single Parent Households, Obesity, Diabetes, Poverty, and incarceration? I don't think you can blame all that on something that happened Decades ago. What "Unequal Laws" are we talking about anyways? I'd say all of these are user error.

Snipes_2

You realize that No one alive today was or has owned a slave right? There was Racism against white people too, and various ethnic groups, not just blacks. They seem to have "Gotten over it".

How did you get the impression that being born after an event means a person will feel no effects from it? You are either very young, or very ignorant.

Where the hell was there racism against white people? There was (and is) discrimination against immigrants, but that isn't racism.

I go to high school, an especially ethnically diverse high school. There is still a lot of racial jokes that go around.

I live in San Francisco, and despite its reputation as a gay mecca", homophobic slurs are everyday occurences. Though homophobic sentiments are not as common.