When you "fit" the description

[SMOKE 1,426]

and i thought we had something special.

we do. my is yours.

[Karee 4,191]

I would say that there is indeed racism, but where there isn't there is an expectation of it because that's what people have come to expect. What I mean by that is that it isn't difficult to understand why many black Americans resent the government - after all, it's the same institutions of government that kept them as second class citizens in their own country.

Again it's worth pointing out that slavery formally ended about seven generations ago. Black social mobility only began around 1965 - that is still in living memory. When people have been kept from resources and the pursuit of happiness for about 200 years, the idea that they are going to magically overcome it in 50 years is fanciful to say the least.

The problem with me (or anyone) making this point is that you get called an apologist for violent black offenders - that because I think there is a connection between the past and the present that this somehow means i think that if a black guys murders someone I think he should somehow be excused for committing the crime. The Term 'White Guilt' was created for just this purpose - it isn't about trying to understand the issues, it's about further politicising them because the people doing it have an agenda, and that agenda is about pushing the narrative that black people are lazy and incompetent and can't run a piss-up in a brewery.

Whatever you feel about this issue, it is fundamentally wrong to attempt to deny black Americans their own history and the legacy arising from it. It might be inconvenient to have to deal with those issues when you hear about rioting in a poor black urban community, but there's a difference between understanding why it happens and making excuses for it.

So what's the solution to the racism problem? I don't have an answer. I do know what is NOT the solution. Programs like affirmative action and bussing. On the flip side, automatically assuming that because a black guy was shot by a white cop, that he was executed simply because he was black doesn't help either.

Government can't force people to change their attitudes. It will only create more racism and resentment rather than bringing folks together. That's just a proven fact.

It's odd that the south gets such a bad rap for being racist. People up north were supposed to be "racially enlightened" until the black folks started moving in to their neighborhoods. See South Boston, Queens, Detroit, Chicago etc. Funny how that works. All these uppity Libs doing their part to help out black folks, yet when they move in to their neighborhoods, they're the first ones to split. "I'm all for black folks getting ahead, as long as they don't live on my block or in my neighborhood" seems to be how it works.

As I've said before based on my own personal experience, Dallas is about 10,000 times more racially tolerant/diverse than Detroit.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

So what's the solution to the racism problem? I don't have an answer. I do know what is NOT the solution. Programs like affirmative action and bussing. On the flip side, automatically assuming that because a black guy was shot by a white cop, that he was executed simply because he was black doesn't help either.

Government can't force people to change their attitudes. It will only create more racism and resentment rather than bringing folks together. That's just a proven fact.

It's odd that the south gets such a bad rap for being racist. People up north were supposed to be "racially enlightened" until the black folks started moving in to their neighborhoods. See South Boston, Queens, Detroit, Chicago etc. Funny how that works. All these uppity Libs doing their part to help out black folks, yet when they move in to their neighborhoods, they're the first ones to split. "I'm all for black folks getting ahead, as long as they don't live on my block or in my neighborhood" seems to be how it works.

As I've said before based on my own personal experience, Dallas is about 10,000 times more racially tolerant/diverse than Detroit.

That's because in the South it was less hidden. I've been to Mississippi and Alabama when I was little. You knew when you didn't belong somewhere. The good ole boy reputation was in full swing.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So what's the solution to the racism problem? I don't have an answer. I do know what is NOT the solution. Programs like affirmative action and bussing. On the flip side, automatically assuming that because a black guy was shot by a white cop, that he was executed simply because he was black doesn't help either.

Government can't force people to change their attitudes. It will only create more racism and resentment rather than bringing folks together. That's just a proven fact.

It's odd that the south gets such a bad rap for being racist. People up north were supposed to be "racially enlightened" until the black folks started moving in to their neighborhoods. See South Boston, Queens, Detroit, Chicago etc. Funny how that works. All these uppity Libs doing their part to help out black folks, yet when they move in to their neighborhoods, they're the first ones to split. "I'm all for black folks getting ahead, as long as they don't live on my block or in my neighborhood" seems to be how it works.

As I've said before based on my own personal experience, Dallas is about 10,000 times more racially tolerant/diverse than Detroit.

How about taking responsibility for your own views and not allowing yourself to turn to bigotry?

Edited August 27, 2014 by Hail Ming!

[Teddy B 17,252]

I'm trying to get tight with val like NB and Smoke (or was it Spooky?).

Actually it's how folks talk here in southern AL. Everyone is sweetie, honey, darling, sugar, etc.

Please don't be jealous, hon.

If you really want to get on Val's good side, call her "Little Woman" and tell her to make you a sammich.

[Karee 4,191]

How about taking responsibility for your own views and not allowing yourself to turn to bigotry?

You saying my views are bigoted?

[decocker 7,198]

If you really want to get on Val's good side, call her "Little Woman" and tell her to make you a sammich.

and be specific about how you'd like yer sammich pls, sirs.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You saying my views are bigoted?

*Sigh*

No. It was a general you, not 'you'.

[decocker 7,198]

On the flip side, automatically assuming that because a black guy was shot by a white cop, that he was executed simply because he was black doesn't help either.

you keep saying this. who thinks this?

[Karee 4,191]

*Sigh*

No. It was a general you, not 'you'.

No need to *Sigh*. Was just asking for clarification. You responded directly to my post with "You" so I was simply asking if you were referring to me.

you keep saying this. who thinks this?

All those folks on TV stealing and burning stuff in MO. Same with the deal in Sanford. I can dig up some clips if you like. Probably easier to look at some of NBs posts. I think he's posted a few.

[Teddy B 17,252]

and be specific about how you'd like yer sammich pls, sirs.

A BLT with extra mayo for me little woman and a cold beer too.

[decocker 7,198]

All those folks on TV stealing and burning stuff in MO. Same with the deal in Sanford. I can dig up some clips if you like. Probably easier to look at some of NBs posts. I think he's posted a few.

watch the video in the link if you have time. i don't think the folks doing the looting and burning really care about what happened to michael brown or the state of race relations in the us. i think they were just out for self, and to have fun tearing stuff up.

Conversations with employees at some of those stores were revealing. Nobody condoned the looting. They said it didn't make any sense. But many also suggested they understood why people were so angry about the way they had been treated by police in the past.

Advance Auto Parts, which is technically located in Dellwood but sits along West Florissant Ave. -- where most of the protests have taken place -- was looted soon after Michael Brown's Aug. 9 death. The Huffington Post spoke with its workers on the morning of Aug. 13. They said they didn't understand why people had decided to take advantage of the situation and steal from a neighborhood store. Yet they also had their own stories about being profiled or mistreated by police officers in the Saint Louis County area.

"They see dreads, and they, you know, I'm young, I'm black, that's an automatic flag depending on the cop you dealing with," said Josh Young, 24, who has lived in the area his whole life. "I've gotten harassed, pulled over for no reason. They want to search my car, didn't find anything, got mad, you know, still want to write me petty tickets. I've been dealing with it before. Now, do I go out of my way to try to antagonize police? No, not at all."

Quincy Qualls, an employee who recently bought a house in nearby Jennings, said that there was "a lot of craziness going on" in the neighborhood after the shooting and that he didn't see why people were taking it out on businesses where others from the community worked. But he knew the issues that people have had with police.

"Everybody had a bad experience," said Qualls. "It's kinda one of those things, you know. I guess if you don't look like you're from the area, they wanna find out who you are. Sometimes they do go a little too far with some issues that you feel like it's unnecessary. But, you know, I guess it's part of their job, and they gotta do what they gotta do, and if you cooperate, make the process a whole lot faster."

"Cooperate, the process will go 10 times faster," Qualls said. He added that many Ferguson cops come into the store to buy things for their cars and "they seem all right."

Young said he was at a candlelight vigil for Brown and participated in protests on the first day.

"Other than that, I've been here, helping them clean this up and trying to get my job in order. As long as the process stays peaceful, I don't have a problem with it, but ruining the neighborhood, I don't like that at all," Young said. "People who live up here got to see this every day. The people who messing up the neighborhood don't even stay over here."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/26/ferguson-cop-stories_n_5719207.html

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

watch the video in the link if you have time. i don't think the folks doing the looting and burning really care about what happened to michael brown or the state of race relations in the us. i think they were just out for self, and to have fun tearing stuff up.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/26/ferguson-cop-stories_n_5719207.html

That's what I would have expected too. Pretty much exactly what happened during the London riots - some people like an excuse to kick off.

[decocker 7,198]

A BLT with extra mayo for me little woman and a cold beer too.

not enough instruction, do you take your salt on the tomato and pepper on the mayo?

wonder bread? potato bread? you're american right? you want the bread deep fried first?

is extra mayo, like, both pieces of bread mayo'd or one piece of bread completely slathered?

do you need your crust trimmed off? ice berg or romain?

and i can bring you the sammich but after all this short order cook shite i'm gonna slam that beer.

[Teddy B 17,252]

not enough instruction, do you take your salt on the tomato and pepper on the mayo?

wonder bread? potato bread? you're american right? you want the bread deep fried first?

is extra mayo, like, both pieces of bread mayo'd or one piece of bread completely slathered?

do you need your crust trimmed off? ice berg or romain?

and i can bring you the sammich but after all this short order cook shite i'm gonna slam that beer.

Nice!!