You gotta remember also that most people live in the proverbial "Equality for all, and no Racism anymore" ideology of life when discussing these issues. The only problem with that is, that is not reality, nor will it ever be. There is always going to be racism, and prejudice, and hatred. It's what we as humans do to each other... Man's nature is not good at its core like vast numbers would inherently like to believe, man's nature is one of conquest, glory, and power. Just look throughout all of history and you can easily see what makes man tick. I played in Vidor on 4 different occasions during my high school football career, and it always made me laugh to see the sign that was posted out front. A good idea to explore is: Is forced integration a good thing?
Like you, I don't believe racism will ever completely die away. But I can tell you it's a helluva lot more marginalized than it once was.
Pardon the ignorant comment, but I heard Bill Maher the other night say that "not all Republicans are racists, but all racists are Republicans." Thoughts? It might not be true, but I have yet to meet/hear about a racist Democrat.
Well this country did institute forced integration for a while and I think it actually worked pretty well. Schools were forcibly integrated with new zones and busing patterns. In Austin, that went on till very recently and you can see the impact it has had. Austin is pretty divided in terms of race and income between the east and west and very good high schools in the east side have become substantially worse since they ended school desegregation programs a few years ago. AISD really hurt itself by ending the desegregation programs because schools simply resegregated themselves within a few years.
I definitely agree, i just don't understand the typical "OMG, this still happens?" remarks... Very much has it been marginalized, and not mention almost comical in sense that it has become almost a "norm" of sorts.
Indeed, which seemed to be the early on outlook, but as time has worn on, it seems that a second wave of, oh i wanna say: kind of a disdain for it, has surfaced over that past say 10 years or so? Like maybe people at this point what the freedom to choose more closely, than to be forced anymore?
No. Some are Libertarians. Seriously though, racism is not confined to a party. Many Dems are racists, though most would probably be shocked to consider that fact. I've seen very liberal folks, people who pay homage to MLK and think Brown v. Board was the best SC decision ever, unconsciously talk down to Blacks or offer different expectations of Blacks. They don't recognize they're doing it and would be horrified if it was pointed out, but they do. Realistically, I probably do it at times as well. (Hard to beat that deep East Texas upbringing.) But I know my daughters do it much less and I am certain that their kids will do it less still. The problem with Repubs these days is much of their electoral strategy is based on racist appeals that are just this side of overt. Listening to Pat Buchanan talk about how Repubs should engender resentment among whites towards Sotomayor is the visible distillation of their basic, but couched, vote-getting strategy. If this offends Repubs, then go to work and fix your party so you don't have to make those kind of appeals to win.
This has been discussed endlessly in D&D. See my previous post... the Repubs use Byrd as a shield to protect themselves from looking at the cold reality of their racist base.
I did hear about that. Curiously, the progeny of those folks converted to the Republican Party in response to the Civil Rights movement and run the Republican Party today.
To end racism and all other prejudices, we must start educating the next generations to stop the hatred, and must treat other races as our equals. It may be true that racism will never truly disappear, but if we don't set positive examples for the kids and younger generation, then racism will stay on forever. So yes, we should desegregate the schools and official school functions such as proms, to start setting examples.
I was just giving an example and maybe it was a bad one. I apologize. I pretty much agree with what you said in post 28, that racism is not confined to one party and that people have some sort of blind racism that they may not see but others do.
Ok, the ideas are good and solid, but here in the US, we base our lifestyle and foundations on "freedom" of choice... Even in your views(or mine) relate to equality, is it fair to push it others? We are basically stepping into morality at this point, and there is no finite line for such. Personally, i look at it the same way i do at abortion, while i might believe in pro life as my personal morality, i vote pro choice, because it isn't right nor fair to subject another persons freedoms based on my morality or virtues.
This was back in the 80's, there was a sign posted at the enterance to the city, that stated that any (pardon my language) ******, spic, jew, or wetback found in the city after dark would be hung on sight. I don't know if you remember but the whole issue made it on to the Phil Donahue show and CNN
No it failed because the Supreme Court dismantled its own mandates on desegregation and decided that the very communities that condoned segregation should be the ones to decide if they want to pursue integration programs. Needless to say, school systems resegregated in a matter of months in much of the South. Besides there's no choice right now as is. You are stuck in a specific school zone right now, all those programs did was realign said zones to promote racial equity in schools. The Supreme Court wasted a monumental opportunity to pursue integration programs that worked in many parts of the country and tore it apart overnight. I personally can say I saw multiple schools fall apart over the span of a few years once desegregation ended here.
Good post... But the underlying issue still remains, anything that is forced sooner or later will backfire. People, especially in the US don't deal well with being force fed issues(see the gay movement, abortion, health care.) When there is a finite choice to be had, people tend overall(not 100% mind you, but the vast majority)accept it. It is when one side has their respective way that the issues tend to get heated and become an issue. Anyone here know exactly where our school model originated from? Quite the shocker...
inbreeding still exist in Mississippi??? Know wonder they look like something out of a George Romero zombie movie...
