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I have lived decades longer than you and I can tell you from the experience of having lived through it that race relations in this country are eons better than they were when I was young. I lived through the Civil Rights Movement, I saw REAL racism and I can tell you I am proud of how far my country has come.
Yes, there is still racists of all colors and there probably always will be but you don't have a clue how far we have come because you weren't there. |
I'm sorry, but I prefer not to be satisfied simply with how far things have come and how much better race relations have gotten. I don't want to make myself feel better that way and ignore the injustice that still exists today...
And the dictionary definition you are giving me doesn't matter, it isn't a scholarly definition that people use when they study racism.
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| Racism, defined most completely, is the practice of employing a decision-making methodology according to which decisions can be changed based specifically on the race or races of the people affected by the decisions |
or
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| Racism extends considerably beyond prejudiced beliefs. The essential feature of racism is not hostility or misperception, but rather the defense of a system from which advantage is derived on the basis of race. The manner in which the defense is articulated - either with hostility or subtlety - is not nearly as important as the fact that it insures the continuation of a privileged relationship. Thus it is necessary to broaden the definition of racism beyond prejudice to include sentiments that in their consequence, if not in their intent, support the racial status quo |
I dunno, I just found these by googling "sociological defition of racism". But racism is something that interests me which is why I knew before I looked this up that racism is something greater than just preaching hate. It is very subtle and takes a lot of analyzing to understand it. I have seen and experienced it and I've just thought to myself "WOW that doesn't seem right" and I couldn't even come up with exactly HOW what happened was racist but I knew it was. This is why I've looked at how scholars define it and study it, in order to understand it better, and sure enough I know that others have documented and explained what has happened to me and how race plays in it...Anyway I don't want to get off topic.
Oh and the N word sign was something I saw around Atlanta actually..
I understand that to you guys it may not seem like criticisms against Obama are extreme. I don't know maybe you are right, I am biased since I am liberal, and I have definitely been guilty of calling Bush names. I mean, one thing is for me or other people to call Bush names, I know i've called him a retard, clown, a million other things. But it's completely different when it's a congressman that calls Obama a liar while interrupting his speech..this is what bothers me. But I am sure people see him as a hero and I could understand that too- I know I'd have been happy to hear someone call Bush a liar, and it wouldn't have mattered if it was a tactless jesture.
But what I could not understand is why people are yelling out that racism is over and race plays no issue. I'm sorry but if race plays no role to YOU, that is GREAT, but it doesn't mean that's the case. You can't just dismiss something just because you don't feel like it pertains to you. I am not saying that I am sure that Wilson is a racist! I could never be sure of something like that and I don't think anyone else can either.
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| Yes, that usually happens when one group of people are in the majority, Black people constitute what percentage of the U.S. population? 12% |
Actually I was talking about comparisons of population vs. representation in certain jobs, and black are under represented for their population. It's the reason why they came up with affirmative action (not to start another topic)
