Condoleeza Rice says "black Americans loved this country even when this country didn't love them"

[Heracles 417]

I certainly agree with you here. Unfortunately its seems that there are some within our society with lowered expectations who don't believe the African American experience can be anything more than it currently is - and indeed that it is less diverse than it is.

Beautiful #6. You actually started forming an opinion mate. Started being the key word..

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I certainly agree with you here. Unfortunately its seems that there are some within our society with lowered expectations who don't believe the African American experience can be anything more than it currently is - and indeed that it is less diverse than it is.

Beautiful #6. You actually started forming an opinion mate. Started being the key word..

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Some more context - for anyone who's interested.

#6 can you ever stay on topic. As usual you have nothing to say apart from BS..

Hmmm...ok. If by giving an explanation are you simultaneously excusing their behavior?

Well they were enslaved for over 400 year so maybe that explains it.

Can you answer my question - it's really not complicated. Does explaining their (Greek Americans) behavior mean that you are also giving them an excuse? Just a simple yes or no.

[Heracles 417]

Can you answer my question - it's really not complicated. Does explaining their (Greek Americans) behavior mean that you are also giving them an excuse? Just a simple yes or no.

Stupid posts will now receive the following responses

Edited March 29, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Can you answer my question - it's really not complicated. Does explaining their (Greek Americans) behavior mean that you are also giving them an excuse? Just a simple yes or no.

Stupid posts will now receive the following responses

Fear of self incrimination is the real reason why you won't answer that question.

[Don_Joy's Prince 0]

I am most surprised that the current administration permitted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the levity to discuss such a divisive topic and to label it as our great nation's "birth defect" is a very strong (but true) statement. No wonder so many American's see a psychiatrist. I believe the term is “Bilateralracialitisâ€. Okay! I made that up! However, America is still obviously suffering from the polarization of race that is evident when discussions amongst folks of the same and different ethnicities arise. As I have mentioned before, African-Americans are now living in the first post oppression, post slavery, post segregation, and post everything that held them back era. There are a lot basic family, social, and economic elements that African-Americans have to iron out for themselves. Just think about it! After natural disasters, the earth does not automatically flourish as if nothing ever happened. There is a period of adapting, re-growth, and development that must take place and the same holds true for the African-American communities. People tend to look at the present day opportunities allotted to African-Americans (as if the past discretions of this great nation never existed) and judge them based on that seemingly overlooking the devastation and that forged the foundation of African-Americans experience, which leads me back to the basic family, social, and economic changes that African-Americans must acknowledge, adjust, and correct for themselves in order to bring about the change that many Americans actually wish for in the African American communities. This current generation may not have caused or took part in the racial disasters of our great nation, but it will be this generation moving forward that has to work within the pain and challenges caused by those same racial disasters. I still have hope in the future generations to come.

I certainly agree with you here. Unfortunately its seems that there are some within our society with lowered expectations who don't believe the African American experience (or indeed the African experience) can be anything more than it currently is.

Those people, as much as anyone are holding us back from an open, honest dialog.

I know the black experience can be as great as everyone else's. We are America! We are the land of Opportunity! I agree that they got a bad start, but that does not mean it is always going to be that way.

The policies of the left have destroyed the black family by taking the fathers away with the welfare state, by telling them that they are not as good as the rest of us, so we are going lower the bar with affirmative action. By telling them that they are owed something from everyone else. This only has crippled them. This is the wreckage of good intentions of socialist policies.

I agree that their ancestors were wronged by slavery. But the current generation is wronged by the government that told them that they didn't have to try anymore, we will do it all for you. Now these same policies that destroyed the American black family and culture are being promoted for all of us by the Democrat party. Why? So we all will be equal in our misery.

I know that any human being that wants to succeed in America can do so, black or otherwise. People only hold themselves back. Out of a sense of entitlement. Maybe their pastor told them that.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Can we "move on" simply by pretending that the past doesn't exist or that racism is purely a psychological affair?

In a word. No.

[Heracles 417]

Can we "move on" simply by pretending that the past doesn't exist or that racism is purely a psychological affair?

In a word. No.

No one is asking anyone to pretend the past did not exist knob head.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I am most surprised that the current administration permitted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the levity to discuss such a divisive topic and to label it as our great nation's "birth defect" is a very strong (but true) statement. No wonder so many American's see a psychiatrist. I believe the term is “Bilateralracialitisâ€. Okay! I made that up! However, America is still obviously suffering from the polarization of race that is evident when discussions amongst folks of the same and different ethnicities arise. As I have mentioned before, African-Americans are now living in the first post oppression, post slavery, post segregation, and post everything that held them back era. There are a lot basic family, social, and economic elements that African-Americans have to iron out for themselves. Just think about it! After natural disasters, the earth does not automatically flourish as if nothing ever happened. There is a period of adapting, re-growth, and development that must take place and the same holds true for the African-American communities. People tend to look at the present day opportunities allotted to African-Americans (as if the past discretions of this great nation never existed) and judge them based on that seemingly overlooking the devastation and that forged the foundation of African-Americans experience, which leads me back to the basic family, social, and economic changes that African-Americans must acknowledge, adjust, and correct for themselves in order to bring about the change that many Americans actually wish for in the African American communities. This current generation may not have caused or took part in the racial disasters of our great nation, but it will be this generation moving forward that has to work within the pain and challenges caused by those same racial disasters. I still have hope in the future generations to come.

I certainly agree with you here. Unfortunately its seems that there are some within our society with lowered expectations who don't believe the African American experience (or indeed the African experience) can be anything more than it currently is.

Those people, as much as anyone are holding us back from an open, honest dialog.

I know the black experience can be as great as everyone else's. We are America! We are the land of Opportunity! I agree that they got a bad start, but that does not mean it is always going to be that way.

The policies of the left have destroyed the black family by taking the fathers away with the welfare state, by telling them that they are not as good as the rest of us, so we are going lower the bar with affirmative action. By telling them that they are owed something from everyone else. This only has crippled them. This is the wreckage of good intentions of socialist policies.

I agree that their ancestors were wronged by slavery. But the current generation is wronged by the government that told them that they didn't have to try anymore, we will do it all for you. Now these same policies that destroyed the American black family and culture are being promoted for all of us by the Democrat party. Why? So we all will be equal in our misery.

I know that any human being that wants to succeed in America can do so, black or otherwise. People only hold themselves back. Out of a sense of entitlement. Maybe their pastor told them that.

The policies of the right were what caused the problem in the first place - establishing the idea that one human being is biologically superior to another. How could anyone begin to clean up that mess - well many people are trying both within the black community and from outside.

The fantasy is that anyone one person or group is to blame for our society being the way it is - convenient it is to have a straw man to pin it on.

[Heracles 417]

The policies of the right were what caused the problem in the first place - establishing the idea that one human being is biologically superior to another. How could anyone begin to clean up that mess - well many people are trying both within the black community and from outside.

The fantasy is that anyone one person or group is to blame for our society being the way it is - convenient it is to have a straw man to pin it on.

Good work #6. You finally get the picture of a forum..

PS Abraham Lincoln was republican.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Can we "move on" simply by pretending that the past doesn't exist or that racism is purely a psychological affair?

In a word. No.

No one is asking anyone to pretend the past did not exist knob head.

Are you sure about that? Wouldn't a discussion of social disparities necessitate an exploration of what those issues are, rather than the idea that it will all go away if people didn't complain about it?

Oh and BTW

The policies of the right were what caused the problem in the first place - establishing the idea that one human being is biologically superior to another. How could anyone begin to clean up that mess - well many people are trying both within the black community and from outside.

The fantasy is that anyone one person or group is to blame for our society being the way it is - convenient it is to have a straw man to pin it on.

Good work #6. You finally get the picture of a forum..

PS Abraham Lincoln was republican.

Indeed which is why blaming it on one party or other is merely ideological self-confirmation.

[Heracles 417]

Are you sure about that? Wouldn't a discussion of social disparities necessitate an exploration of what those issues are, rather than the idea that it will all go away if people didn't complain about it?

Okay lets discuss 'current' social disparities since you bring it up over and over again. Can you please name a few off the top of your head?

Affirmative action maybe?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Are you sure about that? Wouldn't a discussion of social disparities necessitate an exploration of what those issues are, rather than the idea that it will all go away if people didn't complain about it?

Okay lets discuss 'current' social disparities since you bring it up over and over again. Can you please name a few off the top of your head?

Affirmative action maybe?

That's one of them. This will do for a start.

Contemporary issues

Black-White segregation is declining fairly consistently for most metropolitan areas and cities. Despite these pervasive patterns, many changes for individual areas are small.[125] Thirty years after the civil rights era, the United States remains a residentially segregated society in which Blacks and Whites inhabit different neighborhoods of vastly different quality.[126][127]

Some researchers suggest that racial segregation may lead to disparities in health and mortality. Thomas LaVeis (1989; 1993) tested the hypothesis that segregation would aid in explaining race differences in infant mortality rates across cities. Analyzing 176 large and midsized cities, LaVeist found support for the hypothesis. Since LaVeist's studies, segregation has received increased attention as a determinant of race disparities in mortality.[128] Studies have shown that mortality rates for male and female African Americans are lower in areas with lower levels of residential segregation. Mortality for male and female Whites was not associated in either direction with residential segregation.[129]

Researchers Sharon A. Jackson, Roger T. Anderson, Norman J. Johnson and Paul D. Sorlie found that, after adjustment for family income, mortality risk increased with increasing minority residential segregation among Blacks aged 25 to 44 years and non-Blacks aged 45 to 64 years. In most age/race/gender groups, the highest and lowest mortality risks occurred in the highest and lowest categories of residential segregation, respectively. These results suggest that minority residential segregation may influence mortality risk and underscore the traditional emphasis on the social underpinnings of disease and death.[130] Rates of heart disease among African Americans are associated with the segregation patterns in the neighborhoods where they live (Fang et al. 1998). Stephanie A. Bond Huie writes that neighborhoods affect health and mortality outcomes primarily in an indirect fashion through environmental factors such as smoking, diet, exercise, stress, and access to health insurance and medical providers.[131] Moreover, segregation strongly influences premature mortality in the US.[132]

Institutional racism

Institutional racism is the theory that aspects of the structure, pervasive attitudes, and established institutions of society disadvantage some racial groups, although not by an overtly discriminatory mechanism.[133] There are several factors that play into institutional racism, including but not limited to: accumulated wealth/benefits from racial groups that have benefited from past discrimination, educational and occupational disadvantages faced by non-native English speakers in the United States, ingrained stereotypical images that still remain in the society (e.g. black men are likely to be criminals).[134]

Some established societal institutions are taking steps to combat the alleged structural disadvantages in modern American society, particularly in the case of non-native English speakers or those raised in homes that spoke broken or pidgin English.[original research?] Several states are attempting to reduce these educational disadvantages by developing a more multiculturally-aware curriculum. For example, the 2005 California 6th grade statewide examination contained the question Patio comes from the Spanish word meaning what?. Including questions such as these provide opportunities for non-native speakers of English to have greater educational access.[original research?]

Immigration

Access to United States citizenship was restricted by race, beginning with the Naturalization Act of 1790 which refused naturalization to "non-whites." Many in the modern United States forget the institutionalized prejudice against white followers of Roman Catholicism who immigrated from Ireland, Germany, Italy and France.[135] Other efforts include the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and the 1924 National Origins Act.[136][137] The Immigration Act of 1924 was aimed at further restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s. While officially prohibited, U.S. officials continue to differentially apply laws on illegal immigration depending on national origin (essentially declining to enforce immigration laws against citizens of rich countries who overstay their visas) and personal economy (differentially awarding visas to foreign nationals based on bank accounts, properties and so on).

Wealth creation

Massive racial differentials in account of wealth remain in the United States: betweens whites and African Americans, the gap is a factor of ten.[138] An analyst of the phenomenon, Thomas Shapiro, professor of law and social policy at Brandeis University argues, “The wealth gap is not just a story of merit and achievement, it’s also a story of the historical legacy of race in the United Sates.”[139] Some of the institutions of wealth creation amongst American citizens were open exclusively to whites, notably land distributed under the Homestead Act and other settlement efforts in the West. Similar differentials applied to the Social Security Act (which excluded agricultural workers, a sector that then included most black workers), rewards to military officers, and the educational benefits offered returning soldiers after World War II. Pre-existing disparities in wealth are exacerbated by tax policies that reward investment over waged income, subsidize mortgages, and subsidize private sector developers.[140]

Impact on health

In the US racial differences in health and quality of life often persist even at equivalent socioeconomics levels. Individual and institutional discrimination, along with the stigma of inferiority, can adversely affect health. Residence in poor neighborhoods, racial bias in medical care, the stress of experiences of discrimination and the acceptance of the societal stigma of inferiority can have deleterious consequences for health.[141] Using The Schedule of Racist Events (SRE), an 18-item self-report inventory that assesses the frequency of racist discrimination. Hope Landrine and Elizabeth A. Klonoff found that racist discrimination is rampant in the lives of African Americans and is strongly related to psychiatric symptoms.[142] A study on racist events in the lives of African American women found that lifetime experiences of racism were positively related to lifetime history of both physical disease and frequency of recent common colds. These relationships were largely unaccounted for by other variables. Demographic variables such as income and education were not related to experiences of racism. The results suggest that racism can be detrimental to African American's well being.[143] The physiological stress caused by racism has been documented in studies by Claude Steele, Joshua Aronson, and Steven Spencer on what they term "stereotype threat."[144] Kennedy et al found that both measures of collective disrespect were strongly correlated with black mortality (r = 0.53 to 0.56), as well as with white mortality (r = 0.48 to 0.54). These data suggest that racism, measured as an ecologic characteristic, is associated with higher mortality in both blacks and whites.[145]

Health care inequality

See also: Race and health

They are major racial differences in access to health care and in the quality of health care provided. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that: "over 886,000 deaths could have been prevented from 1991 to 2000 if African Americans had received the same care as whites." The key differences they cited were lack of insurance, inadequate insurance, poor service, and reluctance to seek care.[146] A history of government-sponsored experimentation, such as the notorious Tuskegee Syphilis Study has left of legacy of African American distrust of the medical system.[147]

Inequalities in health care may also reflect a systemic bias in the way medical procedures and treatments are prescribed for different ethnic groups. Raj Bhopal writes that the history of racism in science and medicine shows that people and institutions behave according to the ethos of their times and warns of dangers to avoid in the future.[148] Nancy Krieger contended that much modern research supported the assumptions needed to justify racism. Racism she writes underlies unexplained inequities in health care, including treatment for heart disease,[149] renal failure,[150] bladder cancer,[151] and pneumonia.[152] Raj Bhopal writes that these inequalities have been documented in numerous studies. The consistent and repeated findings that black Americans receive less health care than white Americans—particularly where this involves expensive new technology.[153]

Affirmative action

Affirmative action is a policy or program intended to promote access to education or employment for minority groups and women. Motivation for affirmative action policies is to redress the effects of past discrimination and to encourage public institutions such as universities, hospitals, and police forces to be more representative of the population.

Affirmative action programs may include targeted recruitment efforts, preferential treatment given to applicants from historically disadvantaged groups, and in some cases the use of quotas. Most American universities and some employers practice affirmative action.[citation needed]

Some opponents of affirmative action view the greater access by women and minority groups to be at the expense of groups considered dominant (typically white men). In their view, these policies demonstrate an overt preference for applicants from particular backgrounds over equally-qualified (or better-qualified) candidates from other backgrounds. Some opponents of affirmative action believe the only consideration in choosing between applicants should be merit. Some also criticize affirmative action because they believe it perpetuates racial division instead of minimizing the importance of race in American society.[154]

Supporters of affirmative action believe that the perceived injustice to the dominant group is not supported by facts. They point to statistics that suggest that affirmative action has not resulted in fewer opportunities for white people. For example, white enrollment in universities has increased along with minority enrollment. In 1973, 30% of white high school graduates attended universities; in 1993, after wide-spread implementation of affirmative action policies, that number had risen to 42%.[155] Some supporters of affirmative action point out that, even in the absence of affirmative action, college admissions rarely are purely merit-based: athletes, musicians, and legacy students (children of alumni) have always been given preferential treatment. For example, Harvard University admits 35-40% of legacy applicants,[155] and a rejected white applicant is more likely to have been displaced by a legacy student than by one who benefited from affirmative action.[citation needed]

Current hate groups

Supremacist, separatist, racist, and hate groups still operate in the United States. The Ku Klux Klan, the National Alliance, National Socialist Movement (United States), Aryan Nations, Westboro Baptist Church, Nation of Islam, Nation of Aztlán, Nation of Yahweh, Jewish Task Force, and the White Order of Thule are among the institutions most commonly identified in this way. The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project counted 844 active hate groups in the United States in 2006.[156]

[Heracles 417]

That's one of them. This will do for a start.

You have pulled a Steven here. I asked what would you believe are the disparities.

This is a forum. Not a google search competition.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

That's one of them. This will do for a start.

You have pulled a Steven here. I asked what would you believe are the disparities.

This is a forum. Not a google search competition.

Its late. Take it or leave it.

Oh and