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I am in no way a racist but… are blacks abusing the fact that they were enslaved over 100 yrs ago? They have affirmative action, BET, Ebony magizine, among other things. If whites were to do this, acusations of racism and images of the KKK/ Nazis would flood the media… If (and most likely, when) Obama gets elected President, do you think anything would change?
Slavery happened longer than 100 years… 400+, and it happened in more places than just North America. And yes, it was a devastating thing. There was more to it than people being made to work for free. The slaves were taken from their land, stripped of their culture, language, and every other thing humans have a right to, and take for granted. Families were split up, people were killed, lynched, (over little petty sh!t) just so the people around them would “know their place”.
The slaves were made to feel that “white is right”, and that mentality still exists. That’s why a lot of Black people, especially women, look down on nappy hair (which is how Black hair naturally is) - getting perms and dyes to look other than themselves. That’s why people whose hair straightens easily are said to have “good hair”. These are all parts of black inferiority complexes - passed down from generation to generation.
And don’t look at the Civil Rights (60’s) and Black Power (70’s) movements as the answer to all of our problems. Yes they helped, but were not the “end-all” of racism, bigotry, sexism, etc. in America. The leaders of these movements were systematically killed (look up Fred Hampton, and John Africa), locked up (look up Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Huey P. Newton), and the list goes on. J. Edgar Hoover (director of the CIA during the 60’s and 70’s) even went as far as to have millions of dollars of heroin and other drugs sent to major cities, targeting neighborhoods where black organizations were influential. And if you take into account that this was a time when a lot of soldiers were coming back from Vietnam, with disabilities, PTS, etc. its easy to see how drugs were able to have a devastating affect on the community. (This is important because drugs have always been present in the black community, but they had never had the effects that we see today, to this degree - especially since Ronald Ragaen and the Iran-Contra Affair.)
And even though they were wrong to a degree - the Jena 6 case, as well as what happened (and what’s happening) in NO are clear examples, with a modern context.
BET is in no way anywhere near a positive thing. All it does is help to spread stereotypes, and self-hatred. Affirmative Action is in no way a end-all solution either.
I could go on and on, I can’t even cover everything without almost witting a book. But the main thing is that they were broken down mentally, for generations. No we’re not physically in chains anymore, but the mental affects of 400+ years of that bullshit still exists, and yes, it does still have an affect. That’s just like if you abuse a child, or if someone goes through a traumatic experience, that child/person will still be affected mentally by those events well after they have been removed from the situation. And yes, there are a lot of black people who play the race card, and have no idea what they’re talking about.
No the “race card” does not apply to every situation, and no black people are not totally innocent (as we see today).
It may not look like it from your point of view, but there is way more going on than what it appears. Just because people aren’t calling us “ni99er” to our faces, or killing us out in the open (outside of police officers) anymore doesn’t mean that racism doesn’t exist. And no, racism is not THE problem, but it is A problem. The main problem is classism - sexism, ageism, racism, etc. are all related to, and a result of, classism.
Self-Hate - Black Doll/White Doll experiment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWEXJ-Qd1…
1) I’m Black.
2) I know when and when not to play “the race card”
3) Don’t accept anything at face value
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I think it’s important to remember that no individual or group of people can speak for their race. Not all Black people want or ask for race-based programs, and not all of them feel like they benefit from them either. Furthermore, the people who do believe in those programs and special interest things are addressing the legacy of slavery, not just the historic institution. Things didn’t become magically equal after the freedom of the slaves or desegregation (which was not as long ago as we like to believe), and there are still many instances of subtle prejudice and discrimination. We can’t help but internalize this culture’s racial hierarchy, even if we don’t personally believe it to be valid.
I think it’s great that Obama is trying to talk to the Americans as intelligent, equality-minded people, because the only way that real equality will happen is by the joint efforts of people of all races. But even in the most perfect society, there will always be people (of all races) believing that they are not treated fairly and demanding more.