What do you consider the greatest problem in race relations in America?

[SoonerBorn]

The crux of what racism is is based on the belief that one race is genetically inferior to another, pure and simple. These small trite examples of prejudice and bigotry labeled as racism completely misrepresent and underwhelm what it really is and means. By no means am I trying to trivialize people's life experiences, I'm simply trying to put them into proper context. Like I've said before, it is so very important to have it defined from the get go in a conversation about it so nothing is misrepresented as actual racism. It is the main reason it is so overly used today and has lost its bite on the ears. Hope that helps.

Racism: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

 

[Seedy]

Which one is closer to my home?

Let's say they are both willing to meet you at the same place and time.

 

[Seedy]

The crux of what racism is is based on the belief that one race is genetically inferior to another, pure and simple. These small trite examples of prejudice and bigotry labeled as racism completely misrepresent and underwhelm what it really is and means.

So... You are saying that Racism>Bigotry and Prejudice? You seem to see these three things as seperate. What you fail to see is that when bigotry and prejudice are based on race they ARE racism, or at least the physical manifestestion of racist attitudes. If racism is the disease than what you call "small trite examples" are the symptoms of the disease.

By no means am I trying to trivialize people's life experiences,

. Yes, you are. See bold underlined and italicized above.

 

[SoonerBorn]

So... You are saying that Racism>Bigotry and Prejudice? You seem to see these three things as seperate. What you fail to see is that when bigotry and prejudice are based on race they ARE racism, or at least the physical manifestestion of racist attitudes. If racism is the disease than what you call "small trite examples" are the symptoms of the disease.

. Yes, you are. See bold underlined and italicized above.

You couldn't be more wrong.

 

[RickN]

Let's say they are both willing to meet you at the same place and time.

Then it would not matter at all, but then again I have worked with black people on and off my whole life and found that color does not matter, the person wearing the skin does.

On a side note, I have seen black shop owners follow young black males around their store and I have seen rednecks stop and change a tire for a car full of older black ladies. I have seen an older mix raced couple run a successful business in a small Oklahoma town and never saw anyone give them trouble, but I have seen a white couple try to start a cafe in a black neighborhood up north and get run out.

 

[AKguy1985]

The problem that I see is that most "races" blame the white guy for all their problems. I did not, nor did my family own slaves. I did not nor did my family persecute indians. Yet I am treated by many of those races that I did those things and for some reason I owe them something.

I have never been able to spell and my sentence structure sucks. My folks did try.

Keelty, your comments echo my thought as well. I didnt know how to word it without fear of being banned. Some other races act like we owe them something.

 

[sklfco]

Money and power. As long as a few individuals are able to profit from this by manipulating the masses it will never pass into the history books.

 

[cjjtulsa]

Yes, but how much have you benefited from "white privilege" without even being aware of it?

"White privilge" is another buzzword coined by the Cultural Marxists to help whites shame themselves. It's the opposite of their "under-represented" and other similar terms.

I'm sure I'm about to get flamed by the "white guys are the new minority" crowd, but unfortunately racism is alive and well in Oklahoma USA. The fact of the matter is that it IS still harder to be a black person than a white person in Oklahoma. Don't believe me? Look at the prison population statistics.

Still don't believe me? OK, then let me ask the white males who want to whine about "reverse discrimination" to HONESTLY tell me what they would do in the following situation:

You post a "want to buy" ad for handgun. You receive two offers to sell you the exact handgun you are looking for. Both sellers are asking the same price. Seller number one is named Jameel Williams and wants to meet in a historically "Black" part of town. Seller number two is named Mark Johnson and wants to meet in a historically "White" part of town. Who do you buy the gun from? Why? I dare any of the "its hard to be a white male" crowd to honestly answer that question.

Your two examples are interesting, as one supports the other. FBI statistics show that blacks nationwide commit a disproportionate amount of violent crime in relation to their percentage of population; asking a white man if he would rather buy a firearm from a black person in a historically black part of town vs. buying from a white person in a historically white part of town is trying to shame him into admitting that he's paying attention to his natural, God-given self-preservation instincts. This is the same mindset that permeates what I often refer to as "Cultural Marxism": shaming people into doing other than what comes naturally to coerce them into falling in line with a certain ideology.
The correct answer is you buy the one that looks to be in the best condition, and have either Mr. Williams or Mr. Johnson meet you in a neutral location that you're both comfortable with.

As for perceptions: my wife is a school teacher, and last year had a mixed race child in her class, whos mother was very involved in helping out at the school. Her husband (black) is very saavy at finances, etc. She admitted to my wife that whenever they go to buy a house, her husband studies the demographics, and if that neighborhood is over a certain percent black, he won't consider living there, as he looks at everything as an investment, and says the property values won't be sustainable, etc. She said "he doesn't like to live around his own kind". Is he a racist?

 

[Profreedomokie]

Our government promotes racism. If you're from a certain tribe ,you get oil rights. If your a Native American you get free medical,food,and cheap car tags. If you're white you get to pay for everybody elses free stuff.

 

[nofearfactor]

I know a little about racism from inside of a race.

My mother is one half Osage-Kaw indian (I prefer indian or sometimes American indian to native American, others may or may not, that is their prerogative) from her full blood indian fathers side, and her other half was French/caucasion on her mothers side. My father his maternal grandfather came from Ireland and his paternal side came from Scotland, so I guess that is my pure white half.

Being 1/4 indian I have always considered myself a mixed race person, not white. On forms I have always checked caucasion AND native American, indian, or whatever. I was raised part of the time as a kid in and around the reservation near where my mother lives and was born so I was able to embrace my indian culture and to learn the history of my indian ancestors. The only problem I had was I look white with blondish brown hair and blue eyes- in the summer I get tan but my hair gets lighter from the sun. And I have blue eyes. When I would go to school 'on the rez' I would always catch alot of flack for being mixed, and weirdly it came almost exclusively from the other indian kids, many of whom were my own relatives, all just because I 'didnt look indian enough'. I was always 'blue eyes'. My younger brother is from the same mother and father but he has dark brown skin and brown eyes and looks indian, he never experienced what I did. My grandfathers experience as a youngster and young man though was the opposite of mine so whatever I had to endure was nothing compared to what he went thru.

My grandfather was full blood indian born to a full blood Osage indian father and a full blood Kaw indian mother. He went to school at the Chilocco indian school then went on to Haskell indian college. My mother said when she was little she had heard stories from her indian relatives about what the racism was like that the full bloods went thru but she never experienced any problems as a 'half blood' growing up in the 40s and 50s and she also said she never heard my grandfather ever say one bad word about white people, although he did not like it very much when he had to give my Scottish-Irish father permission to marry his half blood indian princess daughter and take her off to California where he had just joined the Marines.

Myself, it really never bothered me that much always being the 'the white kid'. I was used to it. I was a pretty tough kid who grew up the other part of my time in southern California while my dad was in the Marines where I was mixed in with other whites, blacks, Asians, and Mexican kids, etc- the one thing we all had in common there was that we were all mid to low class kids, no matter our race. I ate Sunday dinners at my black girlfriends houses, played street basketball with the black kids and soccer with the Mexican kids who lived next door, etc. I learned early there in that big city melting pot that kids are just rough on other kids no matter the color of your skin, plus I was just taught by my Marine father to not take any stuff from anybody, to fight thru it, and go on. Getting us into boxing and wrestling in elementary school helped alot. So when I would be in Oklahoma living with my mom 'on the rez' I just took whatever they gave out and gave it back and went on. I see those same people today and it is all forgotten.

I have health insurance and dont use indian health services, but I have in Oklahoma and California, and I have taken advantage of a few of the other programs offered by my tribe as an adult such as my college/post highschool grants and funds. A huge chunk of my income also comes via my tribe, but it is not income from the casinos as our tribe does not pay its people a per capita payment like other tribes do on the tribes gambling income, all of that goes to tribal programs within our tribe. Our money comes 100% from the sale of the mineral rights on our lands, as it has for the last 107 years, and it will not end until all of the oil is recovered and sold. Myself I have been drawing money since I was born every quarter of every year of my life, as has my mother, and before her my grandfather.

My grandfather, the youngest of ten kids, was a young boy when in lieu of each tribal member owning shares of land each member was given a full share of the mineral rights on the land, land that our tribe bought from the Cherokees with our own money, money that came from being force relocated to Oklahoma from Missouri first then lastly from Kansas. The Cherokee deal was done in a sale brokered by the US Govt in the 1800s. It wasnt until 1906 though until all agreements were finally signed between our tribe and the Federal government. Alot of tribal members died during some harsh winters while living on the reservation without being able to survive as they were used to by hunting the buffalo, they were now subsisting only on small commodity rations from the US Government. The agreements meant the tribe was to let white settlers come in and settle on the land (they had actually almost held up the initial Oklahoma land runs until they signed the first agreements), and in turn each tribal member would become a shareholder in a collective that would own 100% of the substrate in all of Osage county, the largest county in Oklahoma, which includes the sale of oil, gas, coal, rock, sand, water, etc- while the land owner only gets to own the top of the ground.

No other tribe then or now has made this same agreement with the US government. The Cherokees were farmers, they didnt want this land, it was no good to them because they had no use for it, it was too rocky to farm. The bluestem grass though turned out to be a great draw for white settlers looking for land to raise fat cattle on. The miles of wide open land also was ripe for the many wildcatters who were coming around wanting to drill for this stuff they were calling 'oil' on this land. The Phillips brothers were just the most famous of the many oilmen who made themselves as well as the 2229 original Osage tribe members mega rich. The big cattle barons and the oil tycoons worked side by side making each other very rich as well as the indians.

Today with so many indian casinos out there once someone finds out youre a card carrying indian it is assumed that you get your money from the casinos, government, whatever. I personally do not have anything to do with the proceeds from the indian casinos, smoke shops, etc, so I dont have an opinion about it. I also could buy my tags from my tribe and save a shite ton of money but I dont I can afford it so I buy them from the State of Oklahoma and pay my taxes like every one else.

My grandfather, one of the original Osage allottees, passed away in the 60s and left his full share and some of his share of his families shares down to me, my mother, and my younger brother. To me I have my own businesses and my wife has a good career and I could live just fine without the indian oil money. But its not just about the money, its a source of pride in that it is something solid that no one on earth can take away from me that was passed down to me from my grandfather, whose ancestors endured hardships for me to have this money in the first place. Something that I can leave to my kids who will in turn pass it on to their kids and so on and on. I am passing down my indian blood and what I know of our culture and history also, not just the money. My daughters have danced under the arbor and one was a princess once. They are learning our language and other cultural activities. I am proud to be indian and I want my kids to be also, but I am just as proud to be French, Irish, and Scottish as I have that blood flowing thru my veins as well. St Patricks Day I will be one of those with some bonafide Irish blood in me havin a pint and bein Irish for a day. In June after the dances I will party with my indian cousins.