America is still a deeply racist country

[sheshe2]

Gone is the overt, violent, and legal racism of my childhood in the 1960s. It’s been replaced by a subtler, still ugly version

A week after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, I walked into my old hometown bar in central Florida to hear, “Well if a nigger can be president, then I can have another drink. Give me a whiskey straight up.”

Only one day in the town and I thought, “Damn the south.”

I had returned home to bury my father, who had spent much of the 1950s and ’60s fighting for civil rights in the south. Consequently, my childhood was defined by race. It was why our car was shot at, why threats were made to burn our down, why some neighbors forbid me to play on their lawn, why I was taunted at school as a “nigger lover”.

It was nothing compared to what the blacks in town had to endure. I was just residing in the seam of something much uglier.

snip/

The rest here.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/12/america-is-still-a-deeply-racist-country/

[cantbeserious]

1. Racism Is A Classic Wedge Used By The 1% To Divide And Conquer The 99% - Yes Very Ugly

eom

[GP6971]

2. We shouldn't be surprised by this

What I don't get is that Obama is half white. Why is there no acknowledgement of that? Simple....detractors only see the color of his skin........that's enough for them. Nothing else matters

[Jamaal510]

5. I have said this all along.

I guess the "One Drop Rule" is paramount in this case.

[gtar100]

3. Sadly, the whole world suffers from it.

It may not be called racism but the prejudices against "the other" are palpable everywhere. I had hoped it was getting better in the US but the racists have gotten more bold lately. The good thing is that those of us who are not racists are feeling more empowered and are refusing to put up with their bullshit. Hopefully their idiotic rantings are just the screams of a dying breed. I'm just so sick of racism. This could be paradise, but it's not because of what we do to each other.

[AgingAmerican]

4. Racism is a symptom of ignorance, and is passed down from parents

A persons level of racism is inversely proportionate to their parents level of education. The less educated the parent, the more likely the kids will be racist. The more educated the parent, the less likely the kids will be racist.

Education is the key.

Of course racism will always be with us. A certain percentage of the population have enlarged amygdala, which lends them to paranoid and racist attitudes.

http://lcap.psych.ucla.edu/pdfs/amodio_natureneuroscience07.pdf

[sheshe2]

7. You are not born with it....

~ we are indeed not born with it. It is taught to you or not.

[AgingAmerican]

15. I think some are born with a tendency towards it

But you are right, we are not born with it. We learn it. That is why college is important. College educated people tend to be a lot more open minded.

[awoke_in_2003]

31. Yep, it is learned...

It can also be unlearned.

[marble falls]

11. I've seen racist kids of progressive parents, a lot of skin heads I know of come from hippieparents.

I don't get it.

[AgingAmerican]

14. Yeah

Children of educated parents TEND not to be racist, but there are always exceptions.

My older brother is a good example. Both my parents went to college. My mom wouldn't allow the 'N' word spoken in her house. Mo grandfather was racist and it disgusted her growing up. Two of my brothers and my sister and I are not racists. My older brother somehow came out Republican. He rants against blacks and Muslims, etc. When we were kids he was a sadistic asshole towards the rest of us. It's like he came from a different womb and upbringing.

He is the one with the enlarged amygdala.

[cstanleytech]

29. Your older one sounds exactly like my younger one. nt

[cstanleytech]

28. Actually its not always passed down by parents.

My younger brother is one and he didnt pick it up from mother but rather from the people he associates with at his church (an all white one) plus from the other people he does odd jobs for.
Makes me angry at him when i hear some of the shit he says but you cant force people not to be racist assholes not even your relatives.

[AgingAmerican]

30. My brother is the same way

He was always a jerk when we were kids. He was the oldest. He is the only one that came out Republican. Both my parents were Democrats.

[treestar]

6. It is very subtle sometimes

I see it where the letter of law is applied to black clients but the spirit to whites. Somehow the black clients always get the technicalities enforced against them to the max, and others of color.

[DeSwiss]

8. I know.

- K&R

[marble falls]

9. I thought it was getting better, then I saw all the crap thrown at the President, Trayvon etc....

and now I know better - racism is alive as ever.

[progressoid]

10. Published in The Guardian.

Do these kind of things get published in American papers? The few times I read our papers, they are full of crap.

[hibbing]

12. Agree

Yes it is, it was so blatant and promoted in the McCain Palin campaign it made me sick. Who is Barack Obama? He hangs around with terrorists! Where is his birth certificate? He's a Muslim! I remember the video of the idiot guy walking around with a monkey doll at one event.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

20. Hillary and Bill Clinton, too. They were disgusting!!

[Cha]

13. Tragically our country is full of insecure people who

who don't have enough self-esteem to think very highly of themselves. They're reduced to grasping onto age old ingrained racism to boost their moral. The hatemongering propaganda machines are just what they need to fuel their hatred of anyone who is different than they are.

We've made progress but there are those who have a Huge stake in dividing our country with racism and bigotry..and the only way to win is to let our collective Love Outshine their venomous hate.



there's your color, she~

[sheshe2]

17. That is absolutely beautiful Cha!

The color of change, so bright~



Thank You Cha~

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

16. It's not just white against (fill in the blank)

it's minorities against minorities and the right wing increasingly against science.
This country can be very hateful.

[Nye Bevan]

18. Actually, the US is one of the least racist countries in the world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/

I don't find this surprising. How many other countries have ever elected a member of a racial minority as head of state or head of government?

[sheshe2]

26. If indeed we are the least

then I am utterly horrified.

I don't find this surprising. How many other countries have ever elected a member of a racial minority as head of state or head of government?

And how many would call their elected President every foul name in the book? And call for him to be lynched! They disrespect him, not just the teabaggers yet members of congress.

That is just sad.

[CFLDem]

19. Well tribalism has always been a favorite human pastime

Unfortunately it's not something that will ever completely go away. The best we can do is contain it and keep it out of public policy.

[freshwest]

21. +1 for 'keep it out of public policy.' Exactly. n/t

[sheshe2]

24. Yes, exactly freshwest. n/t

[one_voice]

22. This...

I was taunted at school as a “nigger lover”.

I lived with that growing up, because my mom married a black man-- wonderful wonderful man who raised as if I was his blood. He is my dad that's what I knew and know.

They called my mom that me that it was hard but I wouldn't trade my wonderfully colorful family for anything.

When my daughter graduated from college 7 years ago we had a party at a restaurant that I'd rented a room in. When we were parking--my sister in her car me in mine--a truck pulled up next to my sister and was pissed she didn't park faster and called her and her very young children the 'n' word.

That was a mere 7 years ago.

Racism is still very much alive.

[sheshe2]

25. one _voice,

I just posted on your thread about your sons graduation...

I am so sad to hear what you went through. Seven years ago, just seven. That is so sad and bewildering to me. Yet the racism is very much alive.

I love your colorful family, they are so very bright and bold. They are the color of things and that is our future, The color of change.

[spanone]

23. k&r...

[Vashta Nerada]

27. Racism needs to die.

For years I thought racism was getting better. I thought people were finally seeing that there's really no difference between white people and black people. But then Obama ran for president in 2008 and I saw racist comments in forums and facebook feeds. Racism is not getting better. It's just as bad as it ever was. Look at people like Phil Robertson and Paula Deen and the people who defend them. It's sickening.