Racial Divisions in the U.S.

Greetings! In another thread that I made, an interesting (and something I personally feel strongly about) topic was brought up. It's about the racial divisions in the U.S. (And don't hesitate to include your countries present state if you would like to)

It is no secret that in the U.S the racial tensions are high, more so than they have been in the recent past. This topic isn't solely about blacks vs whites, however the most prevalent of the tensions is the Black vs White attitude that I have seen so much of lately. A feeling that blacks present day are being purposefully and intentionally "suppressed" by the government on any large scale, or white people in general is becoming more common. A feeling that has fueled the creation of many different groups out there whom soul purpose is to promote black people in our society.

I must admit, that this topic brings out very passionate responses from people and is one of the topics more pron to bring out the worst in people when it comes to talking about it. Everyone's opinions are heavily based on values and what not, which almost never change. However, despite my tendency to be somewhat verbally aggressive towards those whom opinion blow my mind and utterly irritate me, I will make a powerful effort to avoid being that way and to be as objective as possible when seeing/hearing other peoples points of view. However do try to keep the topic somewhat centered on "present day". Reference the past only as an "x because of y (y being what happened in the past X being present day)".

So what is your opinion on the topic? Do you believe that blacks are being targeted unfairly by police or government in general? Do you think there is a such thing as white privilege? Do you believe you have a solution? Do you have any predictions as to how long this will last, and any lasting effects? Do you think other races are suffering more so?


My Opinion:

I believe that of course in the past the slavery that occurred was absolutely terrible. However, as a white man, I do not believe that I should be looked at in any way shape or form in a negative light because of it, as I did not participate in it. I also feel, that no black man should ever use that as an excuse for his anger, as he did not suffer through it. Although, mainly from my experience as a 911 operator, I have seen that many of the black community disagree.

It is also no secret that the black community is among, if not THE poorest (monetarily) community we have in America, this can be seen in statistics and by simply driving through essentially any ghetto in America that I have ever been to/am aware of. However, I do not believe this is because the government is taking any actions to make this happen, either purposefully or otherwise. I believe that is more a testament to the culture that more people in their community embrace, than in other communities. A "thug" culture that values selfishness over helping of others, a lack of problems solving skills outside of violence to solve their problems, a lack of desire for education, broken families, to just name a few aspects of that culture. Of course, as with almost everything, this culture is also in all other ethnic groups as well but appears to be much more concentrated in the black community.

I can say from experience, that I have lost a job opportunity due to me being white while they needed more hispanics. So I find it hard to believe that I benefit at all from "white privilege" that I have heard about.

I also personally find that throwing race into every issue, without significant evidence to show that race was actually a factor in the outcome, very irritating. And that seems to be a default argument for many, to the point it has been given a name...the "race card". I think that by throwing race into every issue, does not "fight racism by raising awareness", but instead has the opposite effect, it breeds it.

I'll cut myself short right there for the moment, as I don't want you guys to have to read a novel.

*Gets the Fire Department on standby*

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

My opinon:

That was a racist rant.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Fun With Fantasy Literature

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

Click for ghosts.​

Steven Brust, Yendi (New York: Ace, 1984):

Walking through the filth in the streets made me want to retch, but I hid it. Anyway, we all know Easterners are filthy, right? Look at how they live. Never mind that they can’t use sorcery to keep their neighborhoods clean the way Dragaerans do. If they want to use sorcery, they can become citizens of the Empire by moving into the country and becoming Teckla, or buying titles in the Jhereg. Don’t want to be serfs? They’re stubborn, too, aren’t they? Don’t have the money to buy titles? Of course not! Who’d give them a good job, seeing how filthy they are?​

It is more likely that the allegory originally referred to attitudes toward the Roma, because, well, that's how it works.

Still, the passage is quick to mind because it reflects a notion I've been aware of since youth, during one or another of David Duke's swings through headline infamy, having something to do with East Saint Louis demonstrating the inherent inferiority of blacks. It would be one thing if our history included a clean break from particular injustices, but the legacies still haunt us. From slavery through Jim Crow, Civil Rights, the Drug War, and into the era of Stand Your Ground hunting season and police departments going out of their way to demonize dark skin―or chasing the only black officer on the force out of town, or maybe city employees refusing the newly-elected black mayor access to city hall―it really is hard to figure just when American society hasn't been going out of its way to screw with black people.

Nobody gets to erase that history.

As I wrote last month↗:

In my youth, the prevailing societal discourse still held violence among black communities in a range by which it was at least acceptable to postulate such outcomes indicated fundamental human inferiority; 'twixt then and now we learned a few things about how human beings work, both in and of themselves and within community dynamics. You've witnessed the transformation to discussing economic and social justice; the chaos and damage we focus on in some minority communities is inextricably tied to human behavior under circumstances describing poverty, oppression, and alienation. The discussion always stalls at the sins of the empowerment class; this becomes a rhetorical battle line. And as Justice creeps into the gaps with e'er more nuanced comprehension of people and society, the fundamental argument against such change always comes down to the difference between black and white, or male and female, or Christian and everybody else.​

In a society that specifically seeks to disrupt certain people for ridiculous reason, we do not get to complain if targeted communities display signs of disruption. This would seem fairly straightforward, except, you know, they're black, so ... whatever, we need new rules just for them. No, seriously, we don't get to take it out on the skin color.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

It seems that the rhetoric of suppression long outlives any real suppression.

 

Which part? Because I believe what I said is just reality. If reality is racist...that doesn't make me racist. I dont dislike people based on the color of their skin, only based off of their attitude/actions.

 

I was going to respond to each point individually, but your post is full of insults both direct and indirect and as I predicted, I highly doubt any good discussion could come of it.

So in short I will leave it at this.

My education and critical thinking abilities are just fine and likely better than yourself, and I just have different interpretations than yourself, based no more or no less on actual facts than yourself. I personally find YOUR critical thinking to be lacking.

You seem to have already made up your mind about me and you literally couldn't be more wrong.

 

How are we disrupting them, and for what ridiculous reasons?

Is it police? Because the vast majority of the interactions are justified, including the shootings. Although definitely not all of them.

If you have something to show, some type of policy or procedure or something along those lines that following of which would lead to the natural conclusion that blacks are being surpressed by govt, police, white people, etc then I would absolutely change my opinion.

However, from any and all of the evidence I have ever been shown is evidence that could have any number of interpretations. Such as "more black people are in jail for X", which some interpret as the police unjustly targeting them but I interpret as "more black people commit X than others". In the end we dont have the ability to truly "know", but can only believe one way or the other. Or someone will link an obviously unjustified police shooting and pretend that shows beyond reasonable doubt that they are being unjustly targeted, not taking account into the fact that I could just link a justified police shooting.

Is there any evidence that goes beyond that?

Believe it or not this is a genuine jest. If there is something I am missing then by all means educate me. But I predict more responses like from FR, full of brash assumptions of myself and portraying his own interpretations as fact...and insulting.

 

You are a racist. Not in the "we all behave in racist ways without thinking about it" way, but in the "almost wearing a white sheet" way. What you are writing is not reality. You probably haven't really looked for reality. You certainly haven't listened to many black people.

 

Racism is disliking people due to the color of their skin. Which is not me. I dislike people for their attitudes and actions. You are wrong. Even bringing up this topic labels people are racist it seems.

I simply see the reality, and call it for what it is. That is not racist. The points that I made are absolutely true. Do you have something to add to the discussion that could show different?

 

Just about all of it.

I'm sure you do.

You opinions would make you racist not reality.

You seem to think attitudes/actions are tied to skin color - that is racist.

 

Thats entirely not true. I never once claimed that attitudes/actions are tied to skin color, in fact I stated strictly otherwise. You either have reading comprehension problems, or as I predicted would happen, the mere mention of the topic by a white man automatically gets labeled as racist without even the slightly look at what I believe. Nothing I said should indicate that I am racist, it is simply just truth, the same thing could be said by a black man (and has been) and would be taken more seriously...THAT is racist.

You are wrong.

 

No, it's much more than that. It is also a systematic bias in a society against a group of people because they can be identified (correctly or incorrectly) as belonging to a certain biological history. You demonstrate that you have bought into this bias.

I dislike you for your attitude and actions: your racist attitude and your actions of posting racist things. You label "black people" as coming from a "culture" of "thugs".

No, you do not see reality, and it is doubtful that you want to see reality. That is why your a racist.

 

Unsurprisingly, you have bought into a mob mentality. You are the racist for not even being able to actually read what I have said and judge me based on that. You half read what I said, seen that I said I was white, put your own twist on what I said, and then you label me a racist completely for bringing up a topic due to the color of my skin. Hypocrite.

I have no bias, I simply have seen the world for what it is and call it out. Nothing I have said is incorrect. Everything I have said can be reasonably interpreted from statistics.

You dislike me and literally have no idea who I am, and have made a judgement about me based on your own purposeful MISinterpretations of what I have said. I have posted nothing that is racist, I do not label blacks as coming from a culture of thugs, I stated that thugs come from any culture, but are more heavily centered in the black community. This is not racist thinking. It is a reasonable assertion taken from statistics. If you did any amount of research on the subject you would see this. But I am sure you just not believe the statistics...and call the statistics racist lol. Your failure to comprehend and to misrepresent that one point right there shows exactly the bias you have yourself.

And I do see the reality, but apparently according to you my skin color makes it racist for me to state the reality. That makes you a hypocrite, it appears that you are the racist.

Funny enough, I am not the first to say this. This has actually been said by many different people, including members of the black community. But the uneducated who share a mob mentality and are so easily riled up love to shout racism at everything.

 

So just to put things in better perspective. Here is a quick statistic that anyone can find on the FBI statistics page. Now, if you do not believe the statistics, then I guess we have nothing else to discuss.

In 2013, of the reported homicides there were 5375 that were committed by members of the black community. 4396 committed by members of the white community and around 4000 unknown. Seeing as the black community only makes up approximately 13 percent of the U.S. population, and they make up MORE of the homicide actors than any other race, it is reasonable to assume that there is likely some type of cultural issue in that community. That is not racist thinking, it is objective reason. Sure, it could have nothing what so ever to do with their culture, it could be the government framing them, it could be ANYTHING. But at the very least, those whom have any amount of an objective mindset, and aren't fueled by an agenda of throwing racism into anything would have to acknowledge the likelihood of a cultural issue.

There are more statistics of violent crime which look even worse for the black community nearly 40 percent in many cases. It is also worth noting that most of the homicides done to any member of any ethnic group, was committed by another member of that ethnic group.

 

\
No, I read what you wrote. You wrote the following racist content: 'I believe that is more a testament to the culture that more people in their community embrace, than in other communities. A "thug" culture that values selfishness over helping of others...'

Yes, you have bias. You are a) white, b) a former 911 call operator. You chose to believe that all the information that just happened to come your way is representative of black people. You live in a society that routinely portrays black people poorly and with systemic problems for black people.

I dislike you because you are racist. You have amply demonstrated that you are racist, so that is about all I need to know.

Again, you wrote: 'I believe that is more a testament to the culture that more people in their community embrace, than in other communities. A "thug" culture that values selfishness over helping of others'

Again, you wrote: 'I believe that is more a testament to the culture that more people in their community embrace, than in other communities. A "thug" culture that values selfishness over helping of others'

 

And yet you conveniently left out the part where I said "Of course, as with almost everything, this culture is also in ALL OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS as well". So exactly as I said, you have a mob mentality, you purposefully have misrepresented my position in hopes of further advancing some unknown agenda. All because I am pointing of reality while being white. You sir, are the racist. So objectively, nothing I have said is racist. You are wrong.

So according to you, because I am white, I am biased. And you are calling me racist? LOL. I am not bias, I am calling the reality for what it is and asking for a reasonable discussion about the reality.

I dont live in a society that paints black people as being poor (monetarily), this is statistically proven fact. *assuming you believe the statistics*. Sure, there are poor people and rich people from all ethnic groups, but that does not mean that there are not more in one place, and less in another. Please, either give to the discussion or emote somewhere else.

You literally have no idea who I am, you have based your opinion of me on your own and purposeful MISinterpretation of my opinion.

You are a hypocrite.

 

I really think that moron Trump has emboldened racists. We certainly seem to be getting more than usual on this site.

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Hypocrite

But it seems that the couple hypocrites that have responded have no reasonable arguments. Just insults and brash accusations and purposeful misrepresentation with 0 evidence.

I dont know why I expected any thing else.

 

You shouldn't expect anything else than the responses you're getting.