Personally I think only time can solve the problem.. that and continued education on the subject. We are far better off now than we were say 25 years ago and I can only hope we will be that much better again 25 years from now. I really think that most people in today's society realize that racism is wrong. Some know it's wrong but still have racist tendancies passed down from their parents and grand parents... those people will become less each generation... and hopefully those who truly believe in supremecy for one race over another will fade away in time.

Did you realize that the male caucasian is the real minority. Add the number of African-Americans + Asians + American Indians + Hispanics and the causasian females into one group and the male caucasian is the minority.

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WildIrish,

I forgot where I heard or read the advice, but it was to the effect that if you are going to have a fight with your spouse, do it in the nude. The idea being, I believe, that it is difficult to remain angry when the two of you have no clothes on.

Worked well for us too! Every time I took my clothes off to argue a point with her, she started giggling.

Ever try to argue a point with a giggling woman?

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Eudaimonia

I too have seen this email several times, but unlike most of the people here, I agree with all the statements made in it. And just for the record I'm not a racest. Over 20 years in the military made me color blind. I personally believe that every individual should be considered on their own merits.
It always amazes me when I hear people complain about comments, such as those in the email. But they are usually very quick to contradict their statements when one of those situations effect them directly.
Wait until one of their children isn't accepted to college specifically because of a quota. Let their business go bankrupt because they can't compete with a competitor because that competitor is receiving govt subsidies because of their race. Let them explain to their children why a neighbor can afford to get their kid a new bike, and you can't simply because that next door neighbor is receiving "refugee disbursements of $2080.00 a month from the Govt." When you work at the same place for the same money as their father. As happens to Cubans, and many other immigrants in America. Or try being a police officer responding to an emergency in a neighborhood where many of the residents can't speak english. Or being a civil servant in LA and told that you can't have a cost of living raise again this year because all the state documents had to be printed in 8 different languages, and 34 new bilingual employees had to be hired at the drivers lisc offices to handle giving driving tests in foreign languages. I've seen these over and over... And it just irritates me.

While I don't agree with the principle of affirmative action, let's not be myopic about it. Affluent caucasians practise and benefit from it too, with nepotism and status as a member of a "good family" rife in admissions to prep. schools and colleges, followed by similar assistance up corporate ladders. I'm surprised that there seems to be little protest by less affluent caucasians regarding this.

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I want to know everything
I want to be everywhere
I want to fuck everyone in the world
I want to do something that matters

Belial,

Here in the States, affirmative action uniformly (although not exclusively) means investing resources to hire, enroll or contract non-caucasians. It is a set of public policies and initiatives designed to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Much of the opposition to affirmative action is framed on the grounds of so-called "reverse discrimination and unwarranted preferences”.

What gripes many is the illogic of attempting to reverse racial discrimination by employing tools which discriminate by race. It is argued that this represents institutionalized, federally mandated racism. And indeed, over the last 10 years, the federal courts have pruned the more outré implementations of these policies. Currently, less than 10 percent of the 91,000 employment discrimination cases pending before the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission are reverse discrimination cases.

http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/enforcement.html

The legacy of slavery here in the States is sad, ugly, and messy.

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Eudaimonia

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This is true... and when I see this I'm no happier about it, but the truth is that this type of "favor" happens despite government regulations not because of them. There is no government mandate for nepitism.

having_fun,

Your comment about the armed forces rings true. My brother, who just made Full Bird in the Marines, says the same thing. He claims that in the Corps nothing stands in the way of “Unit Effectiveness”.

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Eudaimonia

AMEN!

quote:
I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens. Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.


Well blathe.........since you asked..........

Whoever authored the statement (above your quote) and passed it off as the words of famous commentators and journalists, so as to disguise their own racist feelings, failed to note that the organizations listed above were started in the first place to protest segregation and discrimination! The aforementioned organizations were founded on the basis that already intact organizations were discriminating against American minorities on the basis of their skin color. These particular organizations were started by blacks, for blacks.....but other ethnic groups hold their own claim to personal organizations too!

1890 - National Afro-American League was founded to protest segregation

1905 - Niagra Movement was founded to enforce the protest of segregation

1909 - N.A.A.C.P was founded as an even bigger enforcement of the protest of segregation

1910 - National Urban League was founded to help blacks make the transition to urban, industrial life

1944 - United Negro College Fund was founded to give monetarily disadvantaged blacks the advantage of higher education only afforded to middle and upper class Americans

1968 - Miss Black America was founded because the only blacks that ever appeared in Miss America contests were in a chorus line and portrayed as slaves

1979 - Black Entertainment Television aired for two hours on late night TV on Friday and Saturday nights only...to give black Americans some shows to relate to. Blacks, up to this point, had been portrayed only as maids, butlers, robbers, villains etc... It has since become a billion dollar enterprise

Some organizations have been around since the beginning of the civil rights movement. Other organizations were formed well before and after the movement began. Some say the movement has ended...some say it never will. Necessity IS indeed the mother of invention......and it was deemed necessary to start these organizations BECAUSE of segregation.......NOT in order to segregate.....which was/is inferred in the statement by this unknown author and by all the people I know who have stated it in some context or another.

That is the reason I said.......

"Every racist I know (and, unfortunately, I know a lot) has used that statement in some context or another (maybe to a lesser degree because they were too ignorant to think it through, as this author did, and come up with names for their fictitious "superior" white groups)......to justify why they feel they aren't "the ones" who are racist"

......because if those racists I know would take the time to research (and not remain ignorant) the reasons for why something is the way it is.....there may be an interesting story which doesn't necessarily match the [seemingly] face value of something being one thing and actually being another!

In other words..........if it weren't for segregation in the first place, it might not have been necessary for certain groups to feel a need to enhance only their own ethnicity, when all other ways of trying to share in the American dream were thwarted by the racists of this union we call The United States of America!!!!!

To read all about it....click on...


Civil Rights Movement

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Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.

~Thomas Dewar~

Oh I don't disagree with you on the reasons those groups were founded. I do disagree with their operation in todays society though. They have gone from their roots of fighting racism to promoting it (whether they are realize it or not, and whether they are willing to admit it or not if they do realize it).

Further, I don't think the person passed it off as somebody elses words to disguise racist feelings (though the person may or may not be a racist) I would say he did it to try to make people listen more... since if some Joe Schmoe says something nobody cares but if somebody famous says the same thing it makes the news.

Of course groups like the NAACP, United Negro College Fund, etc all had good intentions and were formed to try to compensate for inequities in our society. I just feel they have become something else over the years and their presence is now a source of racism rather than a defender against it.

I feel the need to present my $0.02 in this matter. Not with regard to the initial post, I have my own opinions on that, but on a later post. Someone, I don't remember who at this point, made the comment that they have become "color blind." Combating racism cannot be done by becoming color blind. Combating racism is done through realizing who a person truly is. A person's identity includes the color of their skin/racial background that they belong to. We need to see that yes, a person is more than the color of their skin, but that their color is a part of their person. Racism comes from using colors to separate us. We should use differences to bind us. It amuses me - again, not picking on any one person - how many people start their personal defense by saying "oh, I have a friend that's [such and such a different race]". Yes, I think that we all do. So congratulations. You saw past the skin for that one person. Now I think what we need to do is think about how that person became our friend. Why were they different? And apply that to everyone.

*gets off soapbox*

Amanda

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I see your fantasy... you want to make it a reality

Are you in the mood to be subdued

You see these shackles
Baby I’m your slave
I’ll let you whip me if I misbehave

Tie me to the bedpost

I like it rough
cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

Couldn't agree with you more
Racism comes from looking at our diffences and seeing them as a negative thing... and so some people try to fight that by not seeing the differences. But in truth , we should not be ignoring the differences but rather not only acknowledging them but celebrating them and using them to make us complete.

Nice post.

I'm not arguing with anyone naked! She'd be quick to take advantage of my grammatical errors. Especially the dangling participles!

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Though I am different from you,
We were born involved in one another.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Complete surrender should not just come at moments in which one faces overwhelming odds, but in the calm when it seems one is personally in complete control of one's life.