American Racism

I’m only half AA and it wasn’t until I spent time in my mother’s homeland in the Caribbean that I understood the weight black people carry in this country. When I was back home I was just another man. Not a black man, not a threat, not a mascot, just a man. It was liberating. I imagine that’s how white Americans feel all the time. I suggest you go and experience it for yourself.

 

CF can’t solve racism , only Dave chappelle can . Or maybe Ja rule

 

I know... my point is that I am fairly certain very few would want to be treated the way blacks and Hispanics are on a daily basis in the USA.

 

I would like to visit an African nation but I don't get why you would think I need that.

I don't claim there is no racism. I do believe it's not as detrimental as we think. Black people focus on the negative. Some idiot racist is motgonna take away my happiness or my appreciation for what this country offers me.

I do understand why poor blacks feel they can't get ahead. A lot has to do with this country's materialism which can make poor people feel worthless

Misery is our politics

 

I think all African Americans should spend time in predominantly black countries so that they can see how it feels to not be seen as inherently “less than” because of their skin color. We all should be able to experience how our lives are supposed to be.

 

...back when I was in the Army, I spent over a year stationed in South Korea.

...that was the first time I'd spent an extended period of time outside the United States, with the exception of a 3 month exercise in Germany about a year or so earlier.

I realized, almost immediately, the difference in treatment of me there. I was, at every turn, an American before and after I was anything else.

For a poor kind from an inner city ghetto, it was a revelation I'll never forget.

I had to go away to another country to be seen as an American.

...although...

...I don't think you've lived if you haven't been called a n!gger in Korean...it's almost better than sex...!

 

I’m heading to Germany in a few months. Never been to Europe so it should be interesting.

 

...you ought to love it. Not for nothing that more than a few military Negroes stayed in Europe rather than come back to the states.

...had a couple of FUNNY things happen to me on that 3-month exercise...it was called Reforger...kind of a reminder of the joint efforts of both England and the United States in World War 2...but like most infantry things, it was a glorified camping trip for most of us...

...excepting the cold. I hate the cold. I hate the cold in November, too.

...one of the small towns our maneuvers took us through had a little bar in it (where I grew up, we'd call the place a hole-in-the-wall...and that actually was giving the place a compliment)...

...a (Negro) sergeant who was a lifer and was familiar with the place, suggested some of us newbies like me join him for a drink. And because I was a practicing drunk looking to improve his skills, I was one of the first ones who said yes.

First time I had German beer. Served it to us in what looked like those old C-ration tin cans. You could see all the nuts and roots at the bottom of the can. Sergeant bet me and somebody else we couldn't drink more than two of those things in one sitting. Proud of losing that bet, myself, because I gave it my best effort.

Sometime, a dog walks into the place. BIG dog. I think it was a great dane, but I wasn't a dog guy. The thing was almost six feet tall at its shoulder.

Nobody gives the dog a second look. It walks in like it owns the place, and for all I knew it did.

It makes a beeline for the bar, and the lady barkeep laughs (I don't take my eyes off the dog for one second. I'm getting out of there if it has a temper). The dog jumps onto one of the two or three open stools at the far end of the bar, raps a paw on the bartop and barks once...and the barlady shoots the dog a PITCHER of beer down the bar.

Just slides the dog a beer. And the dog stops it with its other paw. DRINKS the ENTIRE pitcher of beer. Dog raps his paw on the bar again (I guess in approval)...gets a cheer from the crowd in the place, and then strolls out like it was an everyday thing. And it probably was, for all I knew.

That was almost enough right there for me to swear off drinking. ALMOST.

Towards the end of the trip, we're somewhere outside Stuttgard, I believe. Another little town. Cobblestone streets and all. We don't stop here, but we do kind of hang out for a few minutes. Can't remember why.

One of the locals comes over to me and some other guys. Chubby little woman, but friendly enough, smiling from ear to ear. First thing she does is walk up to me, still smiling, and touch my face on the cheek. Actually more like rub my face. Not hard, but noticably. I give her a strange look because I don't feel threatened or insulted, but because she was looking at her palm...like she'd discovered a long-lost truth or something...

Our drinking buddy sergeant sees this and calls me over to him, and yells at me for letting the woman disrespect me like that. I think I said something about her being some country German white woman who had never seen a black man before (why would she rub my face like she did if she had?) and not to worry about it...and he says she's probably seen plenty of black people hundreds of times...she's just playing games or whatever...

...again...I was a black kid from a ghetto in an American city...I had to go somewhere else to be reminded how little that meant...

 

When I say materialism is a problem, Hollywood and commercials constantly bombard us with products and people who have nice ****. A lot of poor black kids have no idea what a decent paying job is. They think people are rich or poor and successful black people play sports or rap

I worked out of this labor hall and at a job one day these young black guys are talking about starting their own clothing lines

 

i am fairly certain
you are right

99

 

Yeah, we’ll just have to disagree there

 

Korea was great...spent two tours there, both voluntarily. Knew a lot of non-whites that would volunteer to go anywhere outside of the US. Knew one Sergeant who I worked with early on that had a system...he'd volunteer to go to Korea first, then go to Aviano Italy for 3 years. USAF would send him back to the states and as soon as he could, he'd go back to Korea and then on to Aviano. Last i heard, he was on his 3rd go around. Reason he told me, he hated it in the States because people saw the color of his skin first instead of who he was.

Hard to argue with him when our office up in Omaha was embroiled with a racism controversy (we had 3 shifts...all the non-white males were placed on Swings and Mids and given no training...when I arrived, I was sent to "spy" on them. I said **** that and worked on training them and building them up. After a couple of months when I didn't dig up any "dirt," they sent another guy to spy on me along with them before pulling me back after a couple of weeks.

Later on, one girl volunteered to get out, another got pregnant to get out, another dude got busted out, the Sergeant almost got busted out, but I stuck up for him when we got a new Superintendent...he ended up going back to Korea a little after that...and another dude finally got moved to days where I tried to take him under my wing. Kid had been in over a year and didn't know anything about the military, but had been punished over and over. I started building him up, but it was all for waste when he came in late one day and the NCOIC went around the Superintendent and snitched on him to the Chief. Chief had a raging boner to get the kid out of the service so he used this as an excuse. Kid came to me, I wrote a 5 page paper about everything that was going on in the office...didn't matter, kid got drummed out and I got a bad rep. Ended up getting put on 7 straight deployment cycles (not supposed to be on more than one)...they were finally going to send me to Italy for one (yeah), but the Chief personally pulled it back. Ended up in Qatar the next cycle and put back in for Korea to get away from that situation.

I wasn't a country-boy or anything, grew up in Houston and saw all kinds of racism growing up so it wasn't my first go-around. Guess I got lucky because my parents were about as anti-racist as they could be and made sure to teach me early on to treat everyone equally.

But, yeah, Korea, loved that place. The great thing was that there was no "white" bars or "black" bars....everywhere I went was basically the same as any other bar. Bar crawls were the best because I got to see just about every type of bar/club you could see and saw a lot of things I never thought I'd ever see...At the end of the night, most everyone was hanging out drunk and shooting the ****...didn't really matter what your skin color was, we were almost all friends.

And I can attest to being seen as an "American" first. I'm 6'5" and rode the trains around Seoul. I remember a couple of pre-teens/teens getting on and calling me "Shaq" because of my height...In America, it would have been the name of some white dude, but over there, they just saw me as an American. I remember coming back to the States, getting stationed at Panama City, FL, and there just being this completely different vibe to everything...made me miss Korea that much more.

 

I guess living in the DC metro area that scenario is more common.... I love the Rockets and Houston when I visited but I call DC, MD, VA area home.

 

My post referred to a time 50+ years ago.

 

There is worldwide racism against dark skinned people. Even a multicultural hotspot like Brazil with their supermodel mix babies have a class system based on how dark you are. Indian parents have a thing with skin lighteners

Racism is human behavior likely tied to our drive for Prestige. One could make an argument for "survival of the tribe", but we're more predisposed to social bonds than than being warlike. That's why we ****ed neanderthals or other species and had babies together. It's also why isolation in prison is sometimes worse than actual torture.

Neuroscientists think prestige is our main motivator for the things we do, so that competitive nature takes a nasty simplistic flavor of grouping people by their appearance, chosen or involuntarily given.

If you have little to nothing, but drew a winning number in society's genetic lottery, you might want to keep the system even if you're one of the prime beneficiaries for changing it.

I'm not sure how to address and rectify a thing like that. It seems to be a cultural issue punctuated by pendulum swings.

As we advance more as a society with accumulated and available information, assumptions or ideals about "progressing" into enlightenment like utopian science fictions become more and more remote. Maybe we need to get past the hubris that we're somehow more superior than the Greeks or Romans of antiquity and collectively deal with our true natures. Only then that we take the baby steps needed to solve a whopper like racism accumulated over thousands of years.

Then maybe million year old tribalism.

 

Ah, so another person who doesn't believe in causality.

Is this a new trend like believing the earth is flat?

 

I spent a few months off and on working in Seoul. Loved it. My wife joined a couple of times and explored on her own. She had no qualms about being there as she felt the Korean people would jump right in to help if she needed it.

 

true, but I’m enjoying the dialogue in this thread

some people need to understand just how exhausting it can be to be constantly looked down upon and hated because of your skin color

luckily I have a great family and have been able to surround myself with great people, but many don’t have that luxury

about a year ago, I pull up to a gas station, and right as I’m about to pump gas, I see the words “fck n***ers” written in big letters on a little sign next to the pump...all I could do was sigh and go inform the owner

always gotta be reminded that you’re still a black person in America

u can be successful, graduate from a top college, etc, and still have people looking down on u because you’re a different skin tone...1 of my friends is an excellent doctor, and he’s had patients call him the n word or say that they refuse to be seen by somebody black...it’s so ridiculous

 

Ad hominem attacks aren’t going to get you anywhere.
Has nothing to do with causality and we can discuss the chicken vs egg aspect all you want. You have your opinion and I have mine. Simple as that

 

Well I do apologise as I read that last phrase "it was like that back then and it's like that now".