... and here come the racists
What about when those hassled kids grow up and turn into racist cops? It's a cycle, and you need to break the whole thing if you're going to have any impact at all.
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“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson
I went to majority black schools up until high school, and it wasn't pleasant; should I have been comforted from the bullying and cruelty because in the long run, people who look like me had done far worse to people who looked like my antagonists?
I went to school in Little Rock and we got bused to inner city schools.Maybe it's different for boys,but I didn't encounter extra bullies.The worst bullies are mean rich white girls.I also went to Central,never had any problem with anyone,and we skipped and roamed around the neighborhood.Bought food at the cafe by the train tracks and beer at the seven-eleven,joints in the parking lot.We loved the hood.
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I am the dust that dances in the light. - Rumi
I think black people are viewed as the most racist, because of the persistent accusations of racism.
More Americans View Blacks As Racist Than Whites, Hispanics
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... _hispanics
Survey: "Among black Americans, 31% think most blacks are racist"
Zimmerman seemed to have no racist motives, yet was made out to be like a KKK white person. If the forensics backs up Officer Wilson's story, then i think it will further back up said view.
Racism is more of a problem than "reverse racism" because it is more pervasive, it is institutionalised, and it actually oppresses. "A black person was a bit mean to me" doesn't compare.
I'm not talking about 32 year old present me, I'm talking about 12 year old then me; should I have been comforted? More importantly, I managed to avoid turning into a racist myself only through a lot of thought and self examination, which not to flatter myself, but isn't something everyone can or will do, it would have been very easy to allow my experience to shape my view of an entire race. So, do you think treating people like me like 'poor little white boy, people were mean to you' is constructive, or more likely to result in more racists?
People have no sense of perspective. The unemployed in our countries have it hard, but thanks to government support they're a lot better off than people were 100 years ago, or a poor family in Somalia today.
Sure, you had it tough. The fact that other people had it worse than you doesn't make you feel any better. But you shouldn't say that you've experienced racism, because you haven't.
It is like the fable of "The boy who cried "wolf" ....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_Who_Cried_Wolf
After many false accusations, e.g. "OJ Simpson was framed by racist white cops", "Zimmerman was targeting black people" ... etc. etc. Then people stop believing the accusations, and assume the person is a liar. Black people have played the "race card" so much, that I think that is why the survey showed they are viewed as the most racist.
Kraichgauer
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What about when those hassled kids grow up and turn into racist cops? It's a cycle, and you need to break the whole thing if you're going to have any impact at all.
While that's possible, I suspect most racist cops were the bullies when they were kids.
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-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer
Okay, sergeant semantics, if you want to go that way, you don't actually know if I've experienced racism or not, you only know what I've told you about this particular period of my life, when I experienced 'being targeted for antagonism due to my race', if you insist. However, I'm not here to claim some sort of victimhood, I would have used a hypothetical example if I hadn't actually had the experience that I did. Again, if I was interested in some sort of victim pissing contest I could relay some more textbook cases of racism I've experienced, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here, which is that all racism needs to be taken equally seriously if the issue is ever going to gain any real traction, otherwise more resentment is just sown.
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“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson
AngelRho
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Okay, sergeant semantics, if you want to go that way, you don't actually know if I've experienced racism or not, you only know what I've told you about this particular period of my life, when I experienced 'being targeted for antagonism due to my race', if you insist. However, I'm not here to claim some sort of victimhood, I would have used a hypothetical example if I hadn't actually had the experience that I did. Again, if I was interested in some sort of victim pissing contest I could relay some more textbook cases of racism I've experienced, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here, which is that all racism needs to be taken equally seriously if the issue is ever going to gain any real traction, otherwise more resentment is just sown.
I think you and I both know in real-world practice, you wouldn't gain any traction that way, either. All you'd get is an equal amount of more resentment on all sides. I mean, the trick is to actually GET everyone to take both sides of racism equally seriously, and I just don't see that happening.
Kraichgauer
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Location: Spokane area, Washington state.