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What are your Thoughts ?

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we have an abysmal record on racial relations in this country. that being said, we aren't alone in that. take a look at the tribal violence in africa. take a look at the attacks on immigrants in european countries. and we all really need to be better than we have been, both black and white. we need to be able to get past skin color and religion to see the other person for who he or she is. and that means we get to see the good and the bad without the predisposition of prejudice. some people are good...some people aren't...and most of us are someplace in between on the spectrum regardless of the color or what faith they follow or don't follow. the question tho is "is the divide between the races growing or shrinking? are we moving forward to a better understanding of each other as humans or are we creating a gulf?" we can't ignore race...it is part of the package. we need to be able to have a person's race be just a part of their description like the shoes they have on rather than a complete package of what the person is perceived to be 

I agree, ProblemAgain.  Our record is abysmal (and not just with African Americans; also consider our history with Native Americans) and the consequences of that are deep and long-lasting.  You're right, we all need to get past skin color as an indication of anything but color difference.  Not sure how to go about that; currently there seems to be a renewed surge of bad feelings against those perceived (by some, mainly on the right wing) as "other".  It is so hard to get past that predisposition of prejudice; I've seen interviews recently where experts have explained that many people who do not consciously think they are prejudiced still test as having racial bias on a subconscious level.  Heavy stuff; how to fix that?

the best place i've been for racial relations is hawaii...there people have intermarried and intermarried over generations. go to a big family gathering and it is f****** wonderful. it looks like a united nations. are there racial differences/ sure...but less animosity than anyplace else i've been...and everyone likes some of this or that about someone else's culture...

  you still have differences....but 'what a dumbass portagee' is said with a smile rather than hatred... but it is hard to not like people who are kind and considerate of others whether they are haole, popolo, japanese, filipino, portugese, etc etc...people start seeing the person for who they really are rather than what they might be according to the wrapper..kind of hard to dislike someone for their race or culture when they are part of your family

i have a sense of pride in having been a guest at the wedding of a friend who married his high school crush 20 years later in the tradition of his and her culture...full japanese wedding and i was the only haole there...that's nice.....

Very nice; how special for you!  And how great it would be if we could follow Hawaii's lead!  You're right; once you get to know someone of another race/culture as family and/or friend, it makes acceptance of others so much easier.  I feel fortunate to have been raised by parents who taught us that skin color is meaningless but it's very hard for me to see the difficulties my African American family members have with bigotry.

part of the trouble we have is a cultural divide. when you look at another person what do you see? for many white people these days, the style of the young people for better or worse conjures the image of a thug...the kids emulate the streetbulls*** of the rap artists who may never have been closer to the projects than seeing them off the side of the highway but rest assured they want to show their macho toughness and, when that is combined with a different race, the onlooker feels threatened. so how do we get past that? we have always had issues societally with the youth culture (when are you going to cut that hair? you look like a girl!) i wish there was an easy answer but it does come down to talking normally to other people even when they seem different...funny how that works....

Yes, it does.  If only more people would do that!

Just one example - recent magazine photos show Justin Bieber with his pants down below his butt but no one referred to him as a "gangsta" or a "thug"; black boys dressed that way are referred to as such all the time.

bieber is more a momma's boy thugette....f****** up and getting by cause he has money til he finally really f**** up and gets to go to jail and get a boyfriend

Bieber is a thug and not a good influence on kids today and time ...

i was raised in an area where the affluent movers and shakers had little use for anyone not in their social set. the sheriffs department and local police were somewhat like security guards for the wealthy. if you were a nonmember of their set, it was a common occurrence to be pulled over and have your car searched and be grilled (who are you, where are you going, let's see some id). it had some parallels to being black....sort of....

and in texas...i was riding with a black acquaintance one day when a trooper pulled him over. it pissed me off to hear a young sprout of a trooper refer to a 60 year old man as 'boy'

'where you headed, boy?" wtf? reconstruction still?

Yes, it's awful.  And it still goes on in a lot of places.  A lot of people don't want to believe that but it's true.  Jim Crow is still alive and well, although sometimes in different and more subtle forms.

and it is NOT just an american problem....

Italy politician under fire for racist slur

ROME (AP) — Calls mounted Monday for the Senate vice president to resign after he compared Italy's first black Cabinet minister to an orangutan, with the Italian premier lamenting that the country had been "shamed" by such insults and demanding they stop immediately.

Roberto Calderoli, a leader of the anti -immigrant Northern League, has insisted he was only joking when he made the "aesthetic" comment about Cecile Kyenge at a League rally last weekend. He told the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Monday that he compares all his colleagues to animals and that what he says at a political rally shouldn't have any bearing on his work as the Senate No. 2.

Kyenge, a Congolese-born eye doctor, has been insulted with racist slurs from the Northern League ever since she was named integration minister in April. One Northern League politician has called her a Congolese "monkey," while another has said she deserved to be raped.

Kyenge responded to Calderoli's latest insult by saying it's not for her to demand his resignation but for Italians to reflect on the merits of public office-holders.

"We have to use messages that don't instigate violence," the ANSA news agency quoted Kyenge as telling a rally in Pescara. "Surely it's not my job to respond to violence with violence."

Well i was born in 1950 . I have lived around blacks most of my early years . I never saw bad things about blacks . Now as i have grown up problems with blacks killing blacks is rampant every where . Don't thing it is a southern thing . Why do they not carry id's of whom they are ...Hiding something ? I would say the same apply's to whites . Has Morality left us , them . Seem many do not value life as it once was .. Maybe I'm wrong ?

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