South just cannot give up racism

[Nasty Jack]

The Citadel is known for its traditions in the South and the South is know for its tradition of racism. And, it hasn't been able to shake off this custom of demeaning African-Americans, in spite of a War plus the Civil Rights Act of 1968. I grew up in the South and experienced all this prejudice before leaving in the 1950s, only returning periodically to visit my family. Now it's fairly obvious that these Citadel cadets knew what the Ku Klux Klan garb meant before donning the dress and, if not, perhaps the level of learning at this institution is not as high as professed.

And don't these goons pay attention to the media? I Googled "Recent incidents of racism" and got 832,000 results. At the very least this school does not teach learning by example. The hierarchy immediately suspended those involved but it remains to be seen what and if there will be any real punishment. The time has come to start prosecuting these crimes for the seriousness they are and the grief and pain they cause the African American community.

Nasty Jack Blog

[stonecutter357]

1. K&R!

[brer cat]

2. How would you compare the actions of the Citadel cadets

with Tau Kappa Epsilon of Arizona State U's "thug party" to celebrate MLK Day, or the students who wore black face to a Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity/Alpha Phi sorority party at UCLA? Unless you were highly selective in what you read, you surely recognized that those 832,000 results for recent incidents of racism occurred all across the country.

South bashing is one of DU's favorite past times, but in reality it fails to shed any illumination on the issue of racism. Ignorance, fear of anyone "different", the need to feel superior to another group, or to have a scapegoat are not unique to any region (or even country), nor can they be dismissed as some remnant of a war that ended 150 years ago. To suggest otherwise, imo, is to trivialize one of, if not the most important issues we face as a country.

All whites have an obligation to confront racism, to attempt to educate the ignorant, to encourage peace within diverse communities whether our ancestors once supported slavery or fought to eliminate it. Just as all whites benefit from white privilege, we all also benefit from hundreds of years of black, brown and red backs being bent and broken to serve a white-elitist society. I believe the increase in highly vocal racism we are seeing these days, while certainly due in part to the election of our first Black president and the constant bloviating of idiots like Trump, is due mostly to the whites looking around and seeing their numbers dwindling. Perhaps a better title for your thread would have been "USA just cannot give up racism" because all whites, not just Southern ones, are in that boat.

[Conch]

3. South?

It is everywhere and it crosses every racial and economic demographic.

[Canadian Interloper]

4. Which is why you should give up the South

And by "give up," I mean expel, as those fools are bringing down your country!

[solemandd67]

5. Expel

I agree. They lost the war but hate and prejudice from many White Americans towards minorities will never be eradicated when it comes to the rights of Black Americans. We were slaves. America was built on our backs. Their hate is rising everywhere. Not just in the southern states. That's why we have a Donald Trump. The truth is there are a lot of White northerners who feel the same way. The media isn't based in the southern states. Nor is the Dept. of Just Us, White Wall Street or any landmark of Americas political/socioeconomic foundation.

Only when Black Americans collectively stood up and exposed their hypocrisy to the world did they secede basic human rights to us. That was a smoke and mirrors act. They just gleefully accepted and adopted the prejudice and intolerance rooted by their Southern White comrades , filtered the extremist rhetoric away and kept applying it institutionally.