Spndoctr

Man, It's been a while since we last chatted. And I know that there have been many many issues involving race that could have been posted here, but I guess no one saw fit to post.
I came across this story during my tornado cleanup. It’s a little interesting and I wanted some feedback from the resident Uncle Tom’s and house Negroes. Please accommodate me.

here is my blog post: Curious Obama

fxashun

Already covered.
http://www.defendingthetruth.com/ele...tml#post171850 (Curious George = Obama in 08?)

But here's another story that I find kinda embarrassing.
White valedictorian: A first for historically black Morehouse - CNN.com
You can blog about that.

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Spndoctr

What's to be embarrassed about? He was admitted, did his work and won the award/acknowledgement rightfully...or did he? Can you say token?

fxashun

I don't know what's to be embarrassed about. Morehouse, part of the AU center. A mecca of African American education. And a white guy graduates at the top of the class after attending for the full 4 years. IMHO, if you are gonna get all worked up over some bullshit T-shirt, a White guy graduating at the top of one the jewels of African-American education should bring pause. Token, quarter, or medallion, he's the bettered all of this years African-American graduates.

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nuttyjoe

Are we trying to say that the White graduate should not have been there in the first place? If so, then there is your racism. If not, then the young man has two things he and his parents should feel very proud of: 1) Being chosen as the valedictorian. Morehouse or otherwise, this is a huge accomplishment in and of itself. 2) This young man, by choosing to attend Morehouse, has shown that America is trying to mend the "racial divide". There are still many places that need attention; but this is just one area. I'm proud that this young man took such a step.
I guess you could compare this young man with Tiger Woods. A young Black stepped into what was considered an all- White "institution" (the sport of golf) and showed that he was just as good as everyone else is- and even better.
I think we need to take another look at the thread topic. The last part is particularly definitive: or just too sensitive?
I do not deny that racism still exists. I have just seen way too many examples of people looking for racism in every little aspect of life. While this acknowledges racism; it also perpetuates it.
This past Tuesday, during the Kentucky primaries, CNN interviewed some citizens from Clay County in Kentucky. When asked what advice he could offer to Obama to better his poll numbers with White working-class voters; one man answered "Stop being so Black".
Now that was racism in it's worst (and most obvious) form. I'm surprised that CNN actually showed this little clip. But, then again, I shouldn't be. CNN has lately coined the new phrase "Appalachian Whites" to describe people that were derisively known as "poor White trash" in that area.

fxashun

Got no problem with him being there. In fact, if you read the many of the stories about this, he was pretty much born to be there. He's spent a lot of his life living with a Black family. I just think it's kinda funny that a White guy would graduate a valedictorian with a pre-arranged job on Wall Street. I wonder how many of his classmates are so lucky?

Racism isn't going anywhere. Racism and classism are a part of us. But making people feel guilty for it just drives it underground. If you are a racist asshole, be a proud racist asshole. That's why I find Stormfront enlightening, because you get to hear a point of view that has been silenced in the mainstream. Everybody has prejudices, but pretending that racism is rare, in all of the senses of the word, is just delusional.

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waitingtables

A great deal of racism comes from our lower brain that deals with the us vs. them survival instincts of the tribe or clan. Unfortunately, that brain area has still got some work to do to catch up to our modern conditions.

fxashun

The rich vs. poor. Republican vs. Democrats. Religious vs. Athiests
etc vs. etc shows we are a LONG way from getting over that mentality. Racism is just an easy one in THIS country. But even intra-racial racism exists. Japanese and Korea for example.
BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Japan racism 'deep and profound'

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nuttyjoe

Personally, I prefer to quote my parents approach to teaching myself and my siblings about racism. First, racism is just one (of many) forms of predjudice- something we all have.
Also, we must understand that predjudice comes from ignorance (whether voluntary or involuntary); and ignorance can easily be defined as a lack of understanding.
We all have ignorance on some topic or another. That will never change as a whole; but we can change individually by making the effort to better inform ourselves on things we don't understand. We really need (as a nation) to stop allowing ourselves to hate what we do not fully understand.
That's why I prefer to use the word "dislike". By accepting hate, we tell ourselves that we won't even make the effort to understand what we previously did not. Admitting that we dislike something or even someone leaves us our humanity and allows for that change that signals progress.

waitingtables

It is definitely conditioning from the environment and ignorance. And people will always fear what they see as "other", you are right about informing our kids about how it is okay to be different and that no one person is better than any other because of their skin color or culture. I wish we could all do that now.