Racism and white privilege are dragging us all down.

[redgreenandblue]

It is the legacy of slavery and it is the single biggest issue that has prevented the USA from moving forward for decades. It has prevented us from having a decent social net, it has manuvered us into a state of perpetual war, and it today obstructs meaningful politics on all levels of government. That is ultimately why I see the upcoming election as so important. The underlying racial issues are of a more fundamental relevance than any other single issue, and there has to be a referendum on them before any other issues can even be addressed properly.

[BumRushDaShow]

1. It's going to take awhile

and alot of nationwide "soul searching", but I think we are still moving forward, despite all the nasty rhetoric that threatens to set us back.

[Blue_Roses]

2. well said

and so true. As someone who lives in the south-and have, all my life-I totally agree. Racism "simmers" until confronted. When Barack Obama was elected president, it brought racism back to the surface in ways we could have never imagined. It often feels like the Civil Rights Movement never happened when you see how the vote is trying to be surpressed with these ID laws and other oppressive tactics.

I definitely thought we had moved passed all this.

[Le Taz Hot]

3. I had privileges?

Who knew?

[baldguy]

4. Perhaps the OP should have said "Racism and perceived white privilege".

The worst perpetrators are often the most conservative and have the fewest privileges. They feel slighted, and need to blame someone else - the weird aliens who don't look like themselves.

[Solomon]

5. More to the point, it is white supremacy. A system we

all participate in. Its jnot just southern racists. It's the system we live in.

[Blue_Roses]

7. white priviledge is something that "whites"

often take for granted.

As a white child growing up in the south during the 60's, I never knew what it was like to have to fear that I might be harrassed just for the color of my skin. I never had to worry about having to drink from a seperate water fountain or go to the back of the bus because I was "colored," or get my food at the back door of a resturant since I couldn't go in.

It wasn't until I was much older that I realized that I had a very "priviledged" life even though my parents were "blue-collared" workers. I can't imagine what it must have felt like to be shunned for the color of my skin, but today,I certainly try to see it through different eyes. Many still don't. I'm not sure what brings someone to that point where they can "see" the plight of others, but I suspect it's a combination of how you were raised and "walking a mile in another's shoes."

[wickerwoman]

6. Assuming your post means you're white,

would you trade your skin color for any other?

I know I wouldn't... not because it's inherently better to be white but because I know damn well for all the struggles I've had in life being female, fat and working class I have had a considerably easier ride than I would have had if I had been any other race.

Failing to recognize and acknowlege this and to attempt through social investment to make amends for it is part of what is holding the country back (although I think a bigger problem is people voting against their own self interest so that "those people" don't get a cent "they" haven't earned.)

[Le Taz Hot]

8. I think Dr. King said it best:

" . . . a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

[wickerwoman]

16. So do you think we're there yet?

And you didn't answer the question. If you're white and you had a choice, would you honestly choose to be black for the rest of your life knowing what you know about where we are as a country now?

[ChazII]

19. Sadly,

our country will never achieve this dream. Just my opinion.

[lunatica]

10. Actually if you're a white man everyone knows, including you

So your perceived victimhood here smacks of self-pity.

What white men should be thinking is if they feel the pinch then imagine what other races and the other gender feels.

When was the last time white men had to fight for their civil rights or pass laws to make them equal? Oh that's right! Never.

[Le Taz Hot]

11. My, you read a lot into that.

All of it wrong, of course, but it gave me a good insight of your makeup.

[lunatica]

15. Likewise

Poor, poor you.

[uponit7771]

18. Not this shit again,...inability to recognize advantage doesn't negate it's existance

[JustAnotherGen]

9. Slavery

Our country's Birth Defect.

[upaloopa]

12. Of the total electorate, I think that less than one third are what you call racists white privileged

I don't mean to minimize the racial problem but I think you way overstate the idea.

The tea party idiots and their hangers on fit your description but please don't paint us all with that brush.

On edit:

I'm a white male. I didn't choose to be. Privilege was given to me. I understand all of that. It's what I choose to do with it that is important. In my way I try to let it not effect my relations with others. What I won't do is accept the guilt trip some people think white men should wear.

[redgreenandblue]

14. I'm not saying that everyone is racist. I'm saying the problem affects everyone.

[redgreenandblue]

24. Yeah, but that third is the problem.

I don't think everyone is a racist by far.

But I do think there is close to one third of (working-poor) Americans who would rather starve in the street than see a dime of cash (not theirs cause they don't have any) go to a black person. And precicely that is dragging everyone else down.

And I think the roots of this are deep and go back to the civil war and slavery.

[Nye Bevan]

13. Hopefully one day we will overcome this and elect a black President (nt)

[4th law of robotics]

21. One could indeed Hope for such a Change.

[NNN0LHI]

17. It is a sickness. Truly it is

I personally know some Republicans who would let their own children die from lack of health care if they thought that would get the "black fella", out of "their", White House.

I realize that to most of us here this sounds unbelievable. But unfortunately it isn't.

Lot of sick people out there.

Don

[XemaSab]

20. I disagree

I think the biggest thing holding us back is the fantasy of the rugged pioneer living alone on the frontier coupled with a healthy dose of the prosperity gospel.

Racism is definitely tied in with these things, but I think it's more of a symptom than a cause.

[HiPointDem]

22. race has not prevented us from having a decent safety net. that is just the technique the

ruling class used during a particular historical epoch. were race to be abolished tomorrow, the social safety net would not materialize, because the ruling class has many tricks up its sleeves and race is only one of them.

a race-blind 'meritocracy' would have no more of a safety net than a racist society so long as society is controlled by 1%ers and there is no real democracy.

[Mr Dixon]

23. Agreed

Well Said