Quote:
Originally Posted by lucifer_sam
Really? Not fifty years ago was legislation enacted to prevent others from being denied the pursuit of happiness on account of race. True enough, as a whole, America is indeed a far less racist country than China, South Africa, or a derth of other backwards nations. But she is far from pure. What I call racism is the absence of equality, the dichotomous society in which we live. What I call racism is the fact that African-Americans account for less than 15% of the gross population but more than 50% of the prison population. What I call racism is the fact that crack cocaine and heroin possession charges are given more stringent sentences than those of cocaine (thus discriminating against the poorer addicts). And if you think that the huge economic disparity between white and nonwhite is BS, then perhaps you should question yourself where your own prejudices lie. As for me, I am sick of playing the devil's advocate, but I leave you this:
Racism is still a very real problem in America.
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Assuming a distinction in prison population and\or financial inequality suggests racism is a huge leap. You'll find a much higher correlation in terms of the financial background of those incarcerated then you will in terms of race.
50 years is two generations, it's also the vast majority of my lifetime. When my family first started coming to America at the turn of the century they experienced intolerance for their Irish heritage, forced to live in squalor and work the same jobs for less wages. The world my parents and I grew up in 50-60 years later was very very different. African-Americans and other Black Americans still do deal with discrimination as do, all races on occasion when dealing with ignorant or bigoted people. There are more interracial married couples per capita in the US then any other nation. Almost all of the most diverse Cities and Universities of the World are in the United States.
White people make up the vast majority of the wealthiest and poorest segments of America.
People who are incarcerated or stuck in a low pay dead end job\unemployed are also extremely more likely to come from single parent homes or to have less then a high school education.
The drop out rate and the rate of children born out of wedlock in the African American and Latino communities is dramatically higher then in Asian-American or Anglo-American populations.
It's easy to assume we are a racist country because there is no shortage of people who want it to be a racist country. There are, as I previously conceded still issues of racial inequality and prejudice in the US and likely always will be. However it's indisputable that all the evidence suggests we're moving in the right direction and have been since the 1960's.
Above all else I use m own life experiences as an example. Growing up in Detroit, mostly post riots during white flight albeit, but even then at the most hateful and tense time between blacks\whites I've and anyone born after 1980 in the US has ever experienced the majority of both races were cordial to each other. It was a small percentage of both blacks and whites who insisted on being violent and divisive.
Still Detroit today is a perfect example of how a few divisive racist can destroy a community, it's not a cultural thing it's much more an independent prejudices thing. But because both communities (now city\suburbs) are made to believe the other dislikes them neither will do what's necessary to strengthen both. This is perhaps racism but even at it's worst it's passive and spiteful more then hateful. There are plenty of blacks in the suburbs (apx 22%) and there is no division at all.
I don't know one person who I believe is a racist and I taught in a mixed ethnicity community for several years meeting a lot of people young and old. I know a lot of harmless ignorant people, and a few stubborn a-holes for lack of better term but they don't differentiate in how poorly they treat based on skin color, they are insufferable human beings all the time.
All my blathering aside, the greater is point is that I believe a lot of the still present division that exists between races\cultures in the US stems from the constant accusations or racism in our media. How often do you experience racism in your life?, I guarantee not daily, yet there are multiple allegations of it in the newspaper and on TV everyday. Reminding us it exists.
People like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson etc. cry racism anytime an incident involving a black victim of injustice occurs. They draw a line in the sand and tell people if you don't agree with them you are racist. They exploit and undermine their victims for their own personal benefit. That's real racism and it never gets labeled as such.