I will sum up the first part of the story here: Several weeks ago, a black man was detained in my town (Jonesboro, AR) as he was walking down the street because he apparently fit the description of a robber in the area. Another man accused the police department of racism and now the city has been basically divided by color barriers. I won't lie, I don't know much about what happened so I won't say whether or not the police did the right thing because maybe the man actually did fit the description or maybe they just saw a black man and said he fits the description, I do not know. I have had my own experiences with the police department (bad) but I also realize that some cops are decent and some are not and I am sure it is like that on every police force and I know it is no different within the police department where I live. My issue comes with this: Many people have come forward via the local newspaper's "Letter to the Editor" section to voice their opinions and I have kept up with them for a few weeks now. I read today's online and could not believe what I read. Here is the letter and who it is from: How ignorant is this? I mean am I missing something, is this an attempt to be sarcastic? I just do not know but this specific letter has made me very angry and I will be responding to it. What do you people think? By the way, if you want to read some of the letters daily you can at this website: Letters to the Editior (The Jonesboro Sun) and if you see a letter you would like to respond to they have a form at the bottom of the page where you can fill in your information and response. Let me know your opinions. Thank you.
What specific parts of his letter do you take issue with? He included quite a range of topics/information in it.
There is some validity to the claim that some African-Americans pull the 'race card' even when it's not applicable, just to try and get their way. However, to claim that racism somehow disappeared or still isn't institutionalized is ignorant and simply not dealing with facts; we're still a very race-conscious society, and while it's true that you won't often experience overt racism, there are still a lot of 'closet' racists running around, but generally speaking, today's form of racism is much more covert, it's the 'beneath the surface' type that often masquerades as something else.
...and that makes it worse because you can't fight against this form of racism. If you try, people easily make you look like a paranoid idiot so you just have to take it. Sucks. It just takes one look at the Katrina disaster to see that raced based issues are still very much alive. Any way you slice Katrina, one could easily argue that race still plays a significant role. Hard to argue with the results.
I agree it's worse, because it would be much easier to deal with it if it was out in the open for everyone to see. That's why it's rather important to have some supporting evidence if one is to claim racism or sexism or anything of the such. The definitely exist, but they're harder to prove given the nature of racism today.
Instead of writing a letter to the editor, you should pay a visit to Mr. Harold McMullen. Take action! You are an American.
I'm a neutral third party in this dispute, and really the only thing objectionable in the letter is his use of the phrase "every chance the African American gets..." Had he modified that to say, "in many instances, the African American...", then I think the letter is perfectly fine. Like it or not, a substantial percentage of whites feel this way. It's a huge silent majority that rarely speaks out.
It's a minority that speaks out way too often if you ask me. As a member of a racial minotiry in America, that, based on looks alone, could pass as "white" based on looks alone...I hear all sorts of misconceptions all the time. People thing minorities have a free pass and get all sorts of special treatment when it comes to things like college loans, scholarships, etc... It isn't nearly as widespread as many people make it out to be. When people find out that i am a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe (yeah, i literally have a race card), I can't tell you how many times people automatically assume I get to go to college for free and get tons of money just because i'm an American Indian. It's ridiculous, and ignorant. I'm not saying that minorities don't get certain advantages, but it's not as big of a deal as the guy in this letter would like to make it seem. He basically asserts that minorities can go to college for free, which isn't true...I know a lot of minorities that have to work their ass off to pay for. From my perspective, that misguided (and totally unrelated to the incident that people were upset about) comment undermines his credibility.
"And don't be so quick to sue people. Just work and obey the law." This is assuming that African Americans are quick to sue people. It also assumes that it is not their natural inclination to work and obey the law.
I agree with you that many whites feel this way. I appreciate your honesty. So T_J, for the sake of argument, lets ASSUME that blacks do in fact sue people a lot. What would you say is the root cause for why African Americans "sue people?" Do you think blacks are genetically predisposed to suing people?
I disagree, I didn't interpret it that way. In my opinion, it does not assume that African Americans are quick to sue or don't work or obey the law. Of course, even if it did say that, one could objectively analyze the statement with statistics. I would think that this would be detrimental to the argument put forth by Nolen and krosfyah, given crime rates and unemployment rates by race. Does anyone have statistics on these topics?
You are right, statistics are irrelevant here. The underlying problem won't be resolved with statistics. We've had a similar thread about this topic before and both sides put forth stats and both sides rejected the other's stats. Typical, right? But you said you didn't interpret it to mean blacks sue people a lot or don't obey the law? Please let us know the alternative interpretation. I'm curious.
I love it when white people complain about how it sucks to be white. I have heard people seriously say that it is hardest to be a white man. Similar to the whole "racism wouldn't exist if black people stopped pointing it out" argument. TJ is right to a degree in that many whites do feel this way...however I generally find that it is (as usual) the less educated ones who believe such things. And most will also be in the South. I bet Mr. McMullen had to try really hard to write "African-American" so he would sound better. Has anyone seen the ads for a reality show that is about to start on cable (forget the channel)? They take two families - one white, one black - and use makeup/wigs, etc to reverse their race and then have them go out and experience the other side. No clue whether it will be a good show but experiments such as this have happened before and can be interesting.
I hate to say it there is only one class of citizen in the US and even the world that is being discrimiated against and treated as a second class citizen... Cigarette Smokers!
