America is NOT a Racist Country.

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Not sure if you are aware but you appear to have linked Breitbart in your post

More evidence ...our last president ...

Trump: 'I'm the least racist person anybody is going to meet'
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-42830165

Well, I never claimed to BE America. But I have noticed that people who identify with the left have a difficult time accepting the idea that others have different views. The echo-chamber here on this board for instance.

Even more...

June 6, 2017: In more than 50 cases nationwide, children were heard bullying classmates with calls for deportation, references to Donald Trump's name, and blatantly racist language.  One eight-year-old girl in California said to a black classmate, "Now that Trump won, you're going to have to go back to Africa, where you belong".

January 18, 2018: Donald Trump appointee Carl Higbie, Chief of External Affairs at the Corporation for National and Community Service, resigned after racist, sexist, anti-Muslim, and anti-LGBT comments he made on the radio surfaced due to reporting from CNN's KFile.  Higbie had said, "I'm not afraid of [Muslim people].  I don't like them.  Big difference", and, "the black race" had "lax" morals.

August 13, 2018: With the approaching publication of Omarosa Manigault Newman's Unhinged, an account of working in the White House, Donald Trump went on a sexist, racist rant on Twitter, calling Omarosa "a dog" and "a crazed crying lowlife", and claimed that she "begged [Trump] for a job, tears in her eyes".  Manigault Newman, a former Apprentice contestant and Trump aide who announced her resignation in December 2017 citing concerns with the administration, suggests in Unhinged that there are recordings of Trump using the N-word.

October 31, 2018: Donald Trump tweeted a racist political ad depicting an undocumented immigrant who had been convicted of murdering two police officers.  The ad featured the tagline, "Democrats let him into our country. Democrats let him stay".  Luis Bracamontes, the convicted man, had a history of crime and was originally released by a sheriff's department that was headed by Republican Joe Arpaio.  He later illegally re-entered the United States during the presidency of George W. Bush.

February 27, 2019: In his testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, called the president a "conman", a "cheat", and a "racist".

July 17, 2019: At a rally in North Carolina, Trump ridiculed U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's name. "No, no", he said.  "I don't have time to go with three different names.  We'll call her Cortez."  Trump had made racist remarks about Ocasio-Cortez in the past.  During the same rally, he criticized Representative Ilhan Omar and let the crowd chant "send her back" for thirteen seconds before continuing his speech.

June 19, 2020: Twitter added a warning label to a doctored video that Trump tweeted, saying it went against the company's policies.  The heartwarming video, shared by many in 2019, showed a black and white child running to each other, then hugging.  The manipulated version posted by Trump included a fake CNN headline that read, "Terrified toddler runs from racist baby … Racist baby probably a Trump voter."

August 31, 2020: Trump suggested that a 17-year-old charged with murdering two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, acted in self-defense.  "That was an interesting situation", Trump said at a news conference.  "He was trying to get away from them, I guess it looks like, and he fell and then they very violently attacked him… I guess he was in very big trouble.  He probably would've been killed."  The shootings occurred during an anti-racist protest after Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by police.  Trump planned to travel to Kenosha, but Blake's family said they would talk to the president only if the family's lawyers were present.  Trump said he would not speak with them.

It really appears like your point was that because you said nothing about Obama,muslims, confederate flags, ect. that the views I described didn't exist.

I accept the idea that others have different views. If one's view is uninformed or misinformed does accepting that view mean not challenging it? You're entitled to have a view and I'm entitled to express why I feel that view is problematic. You're entitled to challenge my criticisms and vice-versa. How does me stating my disagreement with a view amount to not accepting that other views exist?

That really just seems like an attempt to shut down criticism that you're unable to respond to.

I agree with everything else you posted, but on the Kyle Rittenhouse shooting to be fair the guy technically did shoot in self defense. The 2 people he shot were trying to attack him, that's a fact

America is definitely a lot less racist than it used to be, and its definitely no where near as racist as Israel, India, Japan, Serbia and some of the more racist countries in the world, but to deny that a good segment of America's population is racist is just plain ignorant.

So to have any disagreement with any person of color reduces one to a racist? I have to agree with everything AOC or any other non-white person says?

I respect your opinion. Yes racists exist but I just don't believe America is an inherently racist country.

Maybe a clarification of the metrics we're using to define racism in nations is much needed in order. How do we define a country being racist? Do we define it by institutional laws, disparities in opportunities and outcomes between different groups, what large segments of the population think, whether or not its dangerous to be a minority, number of hate crimes, etc? Because depending on what metric we use to define racism then one can make the argument both for and against America being a racist country.

Kyle Rittenhouse brought an illegally-obtained firearm to the protest for the sole purpose of shooting someone.  He murdered two people who tried to disarm him.  He was labeled a fugitive from justice in a criminal complaint, which alleged that he fled the state of Wisconsin with intent to avoid prosecution for that offense.  Rittenhouse turned himself in on charges of First-degree intentional homicide in his home state of Illinois.  An Illinois court ruled that an extradition request was valid, and Rittenhouse was transported to Wisconsin on the same day.  The complaint against Rittenhouse lists six charges:

• First-degree reckless homicide against Joseph Rosenbaum.

• First-degree recklessly endangering safety against Richard McGinnis (a reporter who interviewed Rittenhouse before the shooting).

• First-degree intentional homicide against Anthony Huber.

• Attempted first-degree intentional homicide against Gaige Grosskreutz.

• First-degree recklessly endangering safety against an unknown male victim.

• Possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18 (the only misdemeanor charge, the others are felonies).

Nowhere in any of these charges do the words "Self Defense" appear.

Each felony charge comes with a use of a dangerous weapon modifier, which invokes a Wisconsin law that prescribes an addition of no more than five years of imprisonment for each of the charges if found guilty.  According to the prosecutors, the gun was later recovered by law enforcement and identified as a Smith & Wesson AR-15 style .223 rifle.

Save your opinions for the results of the trial.

No, I'm perfectly happy with you or anyone disagreeing with my opinion.
It is better to politely disagree rather than lambast a person with another opinion.
When the name calling and hyperbole starts all attempts at civilized discourse are lost.
Those who immediately hurl accusations of being an "Ist"or a "Phobe" immediately end the discussion and turn it into a fight. We should be better than this.

It is reasonable to assume that disagreeing with a POC does not prove racist intent.  However, considering the individual making these statements has demonstrated racist intent on numerous other occasions, it is also reasonable to assume that racist intent was behind the specific statements listed above.

Why is always lambasting when it's from the side you disagree with and polite disagreement when it's against the side you disagree with?

If someone expresses a racist or homophobic or transphobic or whatever opinion, should that label be avoided even when it's applicable? Those labels are fair to use and when a fight ensues it's often driven by the ego of the person who's offended over that word being used to describe their position.

Typically the fight will involve using much more terrible examples of the same sort of bigotry one is being accused of and an attempt to invalidate the original criticism or at least muddy the waters enough to slink out while feeling vindicated. Often that's where things get really ugly because everyone involved either has hurt feelings or is irritated by what appears to be dishonesty that from that point on it's just bickering.

That said, the descent into bickering isn't caused by pointing out bigotry, it's caused by the response to having bigotry called out or sometimes just politely disagreed with.

That simply isn't true, though, is it? I note you've provided no supporting evidence.

It is hard enough to hit the big time if you are born poor and white. If you are born poor and non-white it is 100x harder. Everything is set against you from the word go.

Bad living conditions, crime, poor diet, poor education, no rest, no stability, no healthcare, exposure to drugs and violence, lack of options, vulnerability to exploitation. That's not a culture or an ideology, that's being physically stuck in a hole with no way out.

What amazes me is that you lack the basic common sense and empathy to understand what that feels like or how it happens. Which bit of that wealth inequality link did you not understand? The wealthiest 1% of Americans own 40% of the nation's wealth. The bottom 80% of Americans own only 7%. Those at the very bottom are permanently mired in debt in excess of their worth. There are clear racial divides within this, and that's what ultimately decides whether a nation is racist or not. Not how nice people are to their neighbour's faces. When it comes down to it, are we prepared to play fair? All the stats say no. The ruling elite looks after itself and the ruling elite is predominantly white. It's also not Democrat or Republican, despite Trump's misleading claims. The defining characteristics of the American ruling class are skin colour, share holdings, property and bank balance.

"Wealth is usually not used for daily expenditures or factored into household budgets, but combined with income, it represents a family's total opportunity to secure stature and a meaningful standard of living, or to pass their class status down to their children. Moreover, wealth provides for both short- and long-term financial security, bestows social prestige, contributes to political power, and can be leveraged to obtain more wealth. Hence, wealth provides mobility and agency—the ability to act. The accumulation of wealth enables a variety of freedoms, and removes limits on life that one might otherwise face. Dennis Gilbert asserts that the standard of living of the working and middle classes is dependent primarily upon income and wages, while the rich tend to rely on wealth, distinguishing them from the vast majority of Americans. A September 2014 study by Harvard Business School declared that the growing disparity between the very wealthy and the lower and middle classes is no longer sustainable."

The "American Dream" of success being available to all, is a marketing myth sold to the people to keep them compliant. Everyone would rather live in the hope they might hit a 1-in-a-billion jackpot than actually pursue social policies that put a cap on high end greed (by businessmen, politicians, and civil servants) so that everyone can live moderately better overall. Psychologically we all think we're special, that we deserve to be showered in gold, but nobody else deserves a thing. No-one in America likes to accept the Scandanavian Model - that it would be better if everyone, together, had an extra stream of bronze instead. Even though that has proven quality of living benefits. Instead, Americans remain selfishly gullible (because that's what they're told success looks like) and so they'll keep on getting ripped off.

The mods are gravely complicit in allowing these disgusting threads to carry on as if it's "just politics".

FFS find your backbones & put at least a word in for the people whose lives are being marginalized. You claim to support people with ASD but I just see you supporting white people with ASD. It's confirmation bias, you let righties say all the nasty s**t they want because it's their "platform".

Whereas calling them out on it is a personal attack. You're basically moderating an imaginary little snow globe. Put one in for the people who don't want to see racial bias on your weak little site.