I wouldn't dream of fighting racism with racism. AA isn't perfect, but until people have equality from start to finish in this country it is necessary.

You put up a good argument right there, which is respectable, but allow me to rebut--

I agree that AA isn't the best way to go about bringing equality, but when you look at the country with your good eye--that is, the eye that sees past corporate news, the papers, magazines, entertainment, all the crap that adds up to America's uninformed and rather apathetic populace--you'll see how unjustly colored people are treated in this great country.

There's no doubt that peoples' focus is being redirected on petty things like witty weather forcasters and this weeks lottery numbers. So, really there's no surprise that the vast majority of Americans aren't cognizant of how full of racism this country is; on an individual basis, and on an institutional basis. I'm not fighting in favor of AA here, so don't get worked up about that statement.

The point I'm trying to make is that the little harm that AA does to the racial situation of this country is far less than the harm that some other, more socially accepted factors do. This begs the question, "is whitey really keeping the black man down?"

Well the black man isn't keeping whitey down, and that's for sure. But that isn't necessarily my answer. You're right about one thing though, what happened nearly 200 years ago is barely relevant to today's situation. But you're forgetting that black persecution has been widely accepted in the United States up until the 1960's when LBJ decided that it had gone too far. I appreciate Johnson's effort to put a halt to racism, but simply getting rid of Jim Crow laws doesn't get rid of the Jim Crow mentality quite as easily. Unfortunately, this is still the United States; white majority with obvious traces of colonial thinking--adding no shame to the idea that God is a white man by the white man's standards, and whatever is accepted by the vast majority of white men is accepted by God.

Therefor: there's no shame in excluding 250,000 black votes from the count in 2000's election. There's no shame in misrepresenting black people on popular television, in the papers, and etc. There's no shame in belittling or even ignoring their achievements as an oppressed people by turning a blind eye to incidents such as Selma Alabama, 1964 or the numerous other cases of police brutality towards any or all colored people living in the United States.

If you want to think there's equality in this country you go ahead and do just that, but there are plenty of examples that demostrate how corrupt this country's economic polices are, how critically flawed the justice system is, and how sheer human greed makes it all possible.

You do make a great point.

That was actually the first time I have ever heard of Jim Crow, I took about a half an hour reading all the Jim Crow laws. I can see that some of that Jim Crow mentallity is still around today but it is not even close to the way things used to be. I doubt that any of the racist now that was alive then would have ever believed that they would be sharing a bathroom with a black man.

There is always going to be racist, no matter where you go. That to me doesn't dictate that blacks are being disciminated against in this country. In this era blacks are widely accepted, there will always be those exceptions but we have come along way since the 1960's.

There are ways to get around discrimination but telling blacks that they are inferior to a white male is not the way to go about it. There should be no laws dictated by the color of someones skin, even if it does have good intentions.

I'm sorry, I just see the world in a different perspective. I think that any race has the same chance to make something of themselves if they work at it. I just don't think you are born in to failure, that is my two cents.

I believe the same, but another problem with this country is that--when you look into it--it still doesn't hold colored people in very high regards. Many people simply don't have much respect for cultural diversity.

I think the colored communities in America don't have much self-esteem; they look upon on the high-and-mighty white people, who've maintained a holier-than-thou mentality throughout the ages, and many colored people actually believe that there's something wrong with them--it's called internalized racism, and it exists in America on a mass scale.

I think any 'race' has the chance to make something of themselves if the white majority lets them. Can they pull themselves out of poverty and out of the slums and attain the respect they deserve from white America? They most definately can, but America hasn't shown any interest--and has rather shown distaste--in their uprising, which I think is a key factor. Too many of them have gotten comfortable with the way of life that colored people are often shunned for; a life of crime and under-the-table cash through drug trafficking, drug dealing, prostitution, thievery, and other such illegal activities that colored communities have grown accustomed to in the years that the color of their skin determined whether or not they could get a good enough job so they may eke by in life.

When you take all that into consideration, you see just how serious the problem of racism has been and has become since the Europeans settled this land. Think of it as a block of steel that is set over a flame (the flame represents racism and the steel block represents the effects of racism on the colored community: when the flame dies, the block of steel won't cool instantaneously, it takes a while to cool back down to room temperature.

I agree with what you said 100%.

I just think we need another way to help settle discrimination other than AA.

Equality in education does not exsist in America. And I agree with you, it is the root of the problem. There are many other factors which onlyoneplanet and hev have highlighted brilliantly but I would say at the end of the day education is the biggest thing and as I said before, I don't think that equality from start to finish does not exist. And just for the record Nebraskaboy, I do not agree with AA. I believe it is an unfairly discriminatory practice. However, at this point I regrettingly support it because true equality does not exist. I have to say that you definitely argued very well and I agree with you on more points than you might have otherwise thought.

well spankyou very much.