Lets see if I can do this without getting booted off the island.

In reply to SVreX:

I've been told so many times that what you describe just can't happen. Yet I've seen it as well. It's a bit frustrating dealing with the massive amounts of hypocrisy regarding this topic.

Here's my take-away: If you want to shout the "equal rights" part and make it mean something, then you got to take the bad that comes with it. So when you're being a racist d-bag, you get called on it. I don't care what tint your skin happens to be, if you're a racist d-bag, you're a racist d-bag.

In reply to Bobzilla:

Who is asking you to apologize for slavery?

On the other hand, I do know that blacks were legally oppressed here in Michigan up to the '60s. One of which- they were not allowed to own homes.

You may have fought for the "good side" but I bet your family was part of a system that still oppressed minorities.

That needs to still be fixed, as the long term impact of that is the property tax based education system, where minorities have either no or poor property value places they STILL live in.

Minorities constantly face MUCH higher hurdles, have much higher jobless rates, have much lower income and wealth compared to you. They are put in jail at a much higher rate.... I can go on.

If you think it's only about slavery, you are missing the boat.

There were riots in Detroit in 1943 and 1967 for reasons other than slavery.

Hopefully this won't turn into a "reverse racism" BS thread.

While there is a degree of racism that comes the other way, the gross majority still goes the other way.

Yes, my poor assed rural farmers oppressed minorities. Please... tell me more about my history. Apparently, like every other group, you know more about me and my family history than I do. Please... go on.

You want to talk about income rates, education and poor, lets have a look at West Virginia. Wait... those aren't minorities at all.

I'm sorry, but if you're poor and blaming others for holding you back, I have no sympathy for you. I've been E36 M3 on so many times over the years and gotten right back up and fought just as hard all over again. This country doesn't promise the right of happiness. It promises the right to the pursuit of happiness. Nothing is guaranteed other than death and taxes. What you do between is all on you. You choose to blame others for you not getting what you want? Sorry I got no sympathy.

alfadriver wrote: Hopefully this won't turn into a "reverse racism" BS thread.

Well, there in lies the problem. When you believe that only one side can be racist... that's the problem. That inability to even be allowed to discuss the topic has caused problems of it's own.

I can tell you that when I went to college there were no special scholarships available to me because I was ginger. The fact that there are scholarships for people based on skin color IS racist in it's very being. It's the very definition of racism.

alfadriver wrote: Who is asking you to apologize for slavery?

Umm, I was asked that regularly. I grew up in a minority neighborhood, and that is exactly the reasoning behind the beatings I regularly took (I was small- easy target).

A lot of what you say is correct, but there is another side.

My family was mixed race Civil Rights Workers. We got E36 M3 from everyone.

Another thing I find odd is now it seems cool to segregate again in colleges. I thought we were suppose to progress? Isn't this regressing? I thought we weren't suppose to see people in color. This is happening by the people who are suppose to be fighting racism. I must be missing something Here is just one of many articles:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/us/black-commencement-harvard.html

And so it ends...IB4TL

In reply to NEALSMO:

It only ends when people stop listening to others ideas and thoughts. When people become too offended to acknowledge that certain topics can even exist. IT goes both ways and involves lots of grey, colors and wierd tones of tan not just black or white.

Honestly, there's likely no 'good' answer that is going to make everybody happy- and I highly doubt there ever will be until either humanity evolves past this pervasive tribalism or we wipe ourselves out of existence.

I've experience and witnessed racism going both ways, mostly in a hellish year (in my eyes) where my family moved to Durham, NC for my dad to finish is Master's at Duke. Moving from a quiet mid-West college town where what bigotry/racism there was rarely was visible (in large part because there were so few minorities) to a large Southern city with a LOT of racial tension was a massive culture shock for a nerdy middle-school kid. I had very, very few friends at school for the simple reason that 99% of the kids hated me- the black kids because I was white and the white kids because I didn't automatically hate the black kids just for being black. It was an experience I would never wish on anyone, but it did make me very thankful for the upbringing my parents had provided where I had been taught to try and love and understand everyone instead of being taught to hate.

I think the ultimately all any of us can do is try to do what we think is the right and good thing to do and to have empathy for those whose experiences are and have been different than ours. Whoever we are or wherever we come from, if we stop trying to understand others who aren't just like us, we're never going to all get along.

In reply to Ashyukun:

A "good" answer is not possible when there are so many closed minds on both sides of the issue.

Ashyukun wrote: but it did make me very thankful for the upbringing my parents had provided where I had been taught to try and love and understand everyone instead of being taught to hate.

I am thankful as well. When I experienced my first Klan member (remember, rural america) when I was a youngster. My father told me something along the lines of "He's an ignorant dumbass." and that "until you can prove to me without a doubt that you could choose what color your skin was going to be and who you would become before you were born, hating someone for being born a certain color is idiotic". I know had I had the option I would hve been richer, better looking and maybe a little .... well, this is still a family site.

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to Ashyukun: A "good" answer is not possible when there are so many closed minds on both sides of the issue.

Amen.

hey, until 2004 I was not legally allowed into Boston unescorted by two Musketeers. It only took 330 years for that law to get rescinded

Bobzilla wrote:

alfadriver wrote: Hopefully this won't turn into a "reverse racism" BS thread.

Well, there in lies the problem. When you believe that only one side can be racist... that's the problem. That inability to even be allowed to discuss the topic has caused problems of it's own. I can tell you that when I went to college there were no special scholarships available to me because I was ginger. The fact that there are scholarships for people based on skin color IS racist in it's very being. It's the very definition of racism.

No, I'm not. I'm pointing out that the racism YOU see is a LOT less than what minorities have.

You were never denied, legally, to get a home because of who you are. You were never declined a job because who you are.

the ONLY thing that apparently has happened to you is guilt. Cry me a river.

Paul was beat up, which is horrible. He wasn't shot and killed like the 9 in a church. He was turned away from a funeral, but he wasn't, legally, told that he could not attend.

Yes, there is reverse racism. But it's a small fraction of what goes the other way. If you don't want to empathize with that, I'm not sure what to say.

Bobzilla wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to Ashyukun: A "good" answer is not possible when there are so many closed minds on both sides of the issue.

Amen.

Pot, meet kettle. You already know each other from past lives.