Uncomfortable topics: Let's talk about race

[Freeky]

It's funny, because that kind of racist reaction even applies if you're black. I have it, other black people have it. It's weird as fuck.

I had a (Black) teacher explain it as ingrained racism. People of color are not immune, he said, to absorbing the subtle racism that exists in a society that likes to sometimes think of itself as being colorblind.

This scenario reminds me of the advert for this new show that will be airing soon on Comedy Central, which goes

Black dude standing on corner, waiting for the WALK signal, and talking on the phone with someone
Another black dude, talking on the phone to someone else in ebonics (???) about a party or meeting them at some future time to have fun.
WALK signal happens, and the first black dude walks into the crosswalk.  When he is just out of earshot of the second guy, he says in a slightly effeminate and very white enunciation, "Oh my god, Christian, I was almost mugged just now!"

I do find it funny, and that probably makes me a bad person.

[Suu]

I have a weird question, and I may be overthinking this because I'm just extremely exhausted right now, but it's about stereotypes.

I grew up in an area where blacks lived on the Southside because that was the segregated area, that's where all the violence was, that's where people get shot/stabbed/raped all the time, and it's a place where white cops basically would go to die. End of story. It's still like that, if not worse, today.

This is how the area really is, 90% black, poor and violent. Now, whites can easily be poor and violent (and live on the Southside for that matter) but it does always seem like the criminals in questions are black. This seems to fit a certain, very, what's the word, typical? Traditional? Old School? View of blacks in the South. (In this respect, Florida is the South, in that it was a slaveholding Confederate state.)

Now, do we only see this/report this BECAUSE of the perceived stereotypes (let's face it, we all know that whites can be poor, violent rapists too)? Or do people feel they need to act the stereotype of their race?

Obviously, because of these perceived stereotype that was ingrained in my head for so many years (blacks that dress like this, live here, act this way...etc.), I had a little panic attack on a bus from Boston one night when I nice young black fellow sat next to me, and then tapped me on my shoulder to ask if it was okay if he could eat next to me. That sort of behavior would be INSANE to comprehend in St. Petersburg.

Does that make any sense? Or am I talking out of my ass because I'm tired?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I have a weird question, and I may be overthinking this because I'm just extremely exhausted right now, but it's about stereotypes.

I grew up in an area where blacks lived on the Southside because that was the segregated area, that's where all the violence was, that's where people get shot/stabbed/raped all the time, and it's a place where white cops basically would go to die. End of story. It's still like that, if not worse, today.

This is how the area really is, 90% black, poor and violent. Now, whites can easily be poor and violent (and live on the Southside for that matter) but it does always seem like the criminals in questions are black. This seems to fit a certain, very, what's the word, typical? Traditional? Old School? View of blacks in the South. (In this respect, Florida is the South, in that it was a slaveholding Confederate state.)

Now, do we only see this/report this BECAUSE of the perceived stereotypes (let's face it, we all know that whites can be poor, violent rapists too)? Or do people feel they need to act the stereotype of their race?

Obviously, because of these perceived stereotype that was ingrained in my head for so many years (blacks that dress like this, live here, act this way...etc.), I had a little panic attack on a bus from Boston one night when I nice young black fellow sat next to me, and then tapped me on my shoulder to ask if it was okay if he could eat next to me. That sort of behavior would be INSANE to comprehend in St. Petersburg.

Does that make any sense? Or am I talking out of my ass because I'm tired?

Blacks are a very visible minority, and are disproportionally poor...Almost equal doesn't mean equal, in any sense, including societal, and they are less likely to have a few things you and I enjoy.

A) Generations of an accumulated standard of living.

B) The same educational chances.  Let's not fool ourselves, here.  Anyone who's seen a school in Maywood, IL and one in Naperville, IL can tell you that.

C)  The same policing and community services.

Add to that the fact that poverty tends to be a self-sustaining condition, and you have the situation you describe.  The same situation, incidentally, that can be seen in South Tucson among Hispanics and among Whites in the Appalachias.

Lastly, the media loves to reinforce stereotypes and over/under report.  Remember during Hurricane Katrina, when CNN and ABC had two separate pictures of looters?  One was a White guy, and it was labelled "man finding food during the aftermath", and the other guy was a Black guy doing EXACTLY the same thing ON THE SAME DAY, and the caption was "looter outside of local grocery market."

[Roly Poly Oly-Garch]

I like this post, Nigel. I'm mixed. My kids are white. Granted, we're all white, but my children haven't been exposed to our Latino roots in the same way I was. I don't know that I've ever seen my kids even mention race unless I bring it up.

For me, amongst "white" people, outside of friends who knew my family or knew very much about me it was never brought up. At church, in the "old neighborhood", etc, it was very definitely a thing. In fact, like the 2 or 3 black kids I'd ever had at any school or in any social scene still today, me and the other "chiconkeys" kind of cliqued together pretty tight.

Something interesting that I've noticed is that I don't have an accent (I've got a non-regional dialect, specifically), none of my cousins have accents, my grandma didn't even really have an accent. My half-brothers and sisters, no Latino blood whatsoever, all have accents. They grew up one city over and most people from their area all have a vaguely latino accent. Many people that I've met in Denver have a very similar accent. Even without mixing the blood, the cultural aspects of race are becoming very intermingled.

[Don Coyote]

I love it when Nigel brings up race issues. It gives me more things to help kick my hindbrain in the ass.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

I like how this thread makes me think about stuff I either never thought to, or didn't want to.
I'm seeing things in different perspectives.

I like that.


Good topic Nigel

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

And then I just saw this--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylPUzxpIBe0&feature=share

"Shit white girls say, to black girls"

[The Good Reverend Roger]

And then I just saw this--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylPUzxpIBe0&feature=share

"Shit white girls say, to black girls"

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Race was one of those things I didn't really think about until my dad slapped the shit out of me for saying he looked like Mr. T. At the time, they had similar facial hair and forehead furrows.

And then one of my cousins had a half-black baby and was effectively thrown out of the family (after they beat the shit out of her). While the blond-haired, blue-eyed girl my brown-haired and brown-eyed aunt and uncle adopted was made the family favorite/pet.

People are fucked up.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I strongly suspect that I cannot read or think about this thread until tomorrow.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

(Because I have had some wine)

[Juana]

You had me worried there, for a minute.

[Telarus]

It's funny, because that kind of racist reaction even applies if you're black. I have it, other black people have it. It's weird as fuck.

Seeing this reaction to "the Other (defined as non-white mainstream)", even in the minority populations in multi-cultural Hawaii is what clued me into the fact that these reactions had been manipulated into my head, and I needed to manipulate them out. Dok Howl's game-shop experience is right on the money.

[Cain]

White male privilege is awesome.  It means when other white male people do stupid shit, I don't have to go on a protest to denounce them.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

GOt some catching up to do here. Will get back to this.