Results 31 to 40 of 52
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03-05-2013, 07:58 PM #31
i do understand that side of it. I know that the reaches of racism are far. If someone wants to talk about the idea that racism still exists, let's do it because it does. If someone wants to talk about education rates, crime statistics, and other facts and discuss how that has been shaped by the past in this country, I will gladly do so and admit that it plays a role. But none of that says that I was born a racist because I am white and that I have benefited from my whiteness. The idea that these are hard and fast rules of life bothers me.
I will also admit that a lot of my opinions are shaped by where I grew up and how. Our elementary schools, jr. highs, and high schools were all pretty much 1/3 white, 1/3 black, and 1/3 hispanic. There were poor parts of town for all three and wealthy parts of town. Our schools were zoned intentionally so there weren't poorer schools and richer schools or schools with minorities and schools without. As such, for the most part, everyone, regardless of race or income, had the same opportunities.
As a result, I got to see that those who wanted to better their circumstances (this applies to all races) were able to do so. Those that didn't weren't doomed by race or income but by choices. I understand the alcoholic example you used. However, my father was an alcoholic, was my entire life and still is. It has been in my family at least since my great great grandfather. If I was an alcoholic, many would give me a pass because of my father and heritage. To me, that doesn't fly. I make my own choices. I might be predisposed, I may have had to overcome lower income, I may have had to overcome a lot of things but ultimately, I got to choose what I wanted my life to be.
I have never once benefited from being white and yes, I get offended when someone tells me I have. The idea that my whiteness has in some way helped me become who I am offends me.
I also very much agree with your last statement.
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03-05-2013, 08:53 PM #32
I'm not going to talk about you specifically because it gets personal and weird... however white people in general have benefited from racism and slavery for generations. (Our early economy was based on it, so if you have a home, job, etc today, slavery long ago did actually play a role) But, since we are talking about college in this thread we'll keep it on higher education. For generations you had to be white to go to college, then you were considered a "legacy" at that specific college and got YOUR kids into that same school and their kids got their kids and so on. Plus the educational system for urban areas (black americans) has been and is still underfunded and neglected... so they don't get the same 'fair shake' suburban white kids get.
Again, knowing this and talking about it doesn't make me "liberal" ... they are just facts.
Again, Is that class touting higher taxes for rich people? no. Cutting the influence of corporations? no. Supporting organized labor? no. Universal health care system? no.maccards44 everywhere 'bay, etc
Just Selling Right Now
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03-05-2013, 09:33 PM #33
I get what you're saying. Thing is the racism of yesterday affects today. You benefitted from racism the second you were born. Nothing will change that.
Where I am with you is the whole idea of white guilt. I don't feel guilty about any of it. One side of my family came to Canada via a few generations in the PA/VA area (see, I DO have a connection to the US. Come to think of it, my great grandfather was born in the US and my grandfather was a voting US citizen living in Canada. Amazing what escapes you sometimes) and as far as I know, we were not a slave owning family. So, no reason for guilt there. My other side came to Canada in the late 1960s, so no guilt there either. Even if yours was a slave owning family, I see no reason to feel guilt. What was in the OP was basically telling white people they should feel guilty and I don't agree with that one bit.
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03-06-2013, 12:16 AM #34
Well, that is A correct answer.
Of course they missed treating women like garbage, having an egomaniac as a god who loves to destroy, but at the same time he's love?
Yeah, yeah, yeah....you want the pretty answer.
They are all monotheistic religions which all derive from Abraham, and their god is actually one and the same.
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03-06-2013, 11:44 AM #35
No one should feel guilty because of their race or religion unless you act like a jerk about it. On the real white people have and a lot of them are still benefiting from institutional racism and most of us can agree. If you are upset over that then you need to take off your blinders and actually do something to give back to society as a whole. I also disagree that public colleges are too liberal. College is the perfect time to learn about other cultures and ideas besides your own. Some people are just too damn comfortable around people who look, talk and act just like them and as soon as somebody says something different than what they are use to they get all hot in the collar.
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03-06-2013, 01:02 PM #36
i will ask once more and then I guess I will bail on my own thread. How I have benefited from racism? Name one way my life has been easier because of my race.
I don't want to hear how it was for generations, I don't want to hear how things used to be. We are talking about now. How have I benefited from racism that non-whites have not?
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03-06-2013, 01:15 PM #37
Do this experiment. Take a black friend (if you have one) to an affluent store and see which one of ya'll gets followed around. Or better yet both of ya'll split up and stroll around an affluent neigbhoohood and see which one of ya'll they call the cops on.
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03-06-2013, 01:16 PM #38
Then you don't want to hear the answer and you're ignoring facts. Were you born in an inner city or other poor, predominantly black area? No? You benefitted.
Did you go to a decent school or an underfunded, understaffed piece of crap? If your school was decent, you benefitted.
You can sit there and say, "No one helped me because I'm white" and you'd be correct. I know no one has helped me for being white. Far from it.
But that doesn't mean I didn't benefit from racism. There's a reason white are called "the majority" and every other race is grouped together as "minorities". There's a reason the prisons are to this day filled with blacks and latinos. There's a reason the vast majority of inner city youth become inner city adults. Yesterday's racism set everything up for today. You can ignore it all you want, but that just makes you ingorant, which is a bad thing. Until you realize that the world was in fact set up for you and not for the black kid born at the same time, you're never going to understand the problems that other races still have. It's okay to not understand, but to do so deliberately is just stupid in my books.
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03-06-2013, 04:04 PM #39
and as well, white people have fought against slavery before we were even America, blacks and other non whites can get jobs, move out of the inner city, and have even more advantages than I do. it happens all the time, plenty of well off non whites. in fact they often can get a job, scholarship, and loan based on their skin color easier than a white.
If all whites were racist, we would still have slaves.
in fact the town I live in, Oberlin, is famous for having the first black regularly admitted students (along with females), the first black college president, first black female to get a B.A. degree and white towns people were arrested and jailed for freeing and hiding the slaves in their homes, they even marched on wellington and rescued a slave who was captured there.
like usual it is not all whites, just like it is not all Christians, all Muslims, all blacks, or all anything
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03-06-2013, 04:26 PM #40
It basically says, "If you're white, you're guilty of racism because you unwittingly benefitted from it. You should feel guilty and probably do right now. The rest of you are exempt from feelings of any kind."
I think the more important problem here is that it also suggests that other races can't be racist. That's crap. Some of the most racist people in the world are so-called "minorites".
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