Well I hope you won't block me for posting this, but I'm going to assume that there's a difference between leaving a race comment on a race discussion thread and leaving one on a story thread, but feel free to delete.
I live in Chicago, and I've lived both in mostly-white suburbs, and black neighborhoods where I was literally the only white person within 3 blocks who wasn't there to buy drugs. It's my personal opinion that (at least in this city, I can't speak about the rest of the US) so-called "race problems" are really a matter of class and culture.
I think that there are few middle class white people who would mind living down the block from a middle class black or hispanic family (class) who went to Ravinia, had their kids on a preschool waiting list, had tea or afternoon cocktails with the neighbors, and more or less acted like typical yuppies (culture). In other words, I think few people in the Chicago suburbs would mind living next-door to the Obamas.
Someone who has embraced middle class white culture (yes there is white culture, and by middle class I mean real middle class, not working class) not associating with anyone who embraces urban working class black culture really a racist? Or is it cultural superiority, the same way the exact same person would likely look down on anyone who embraced "redneck" culture and watched Nascar and Blue Collar Comedy?
From my experience, middle class white people don't mind minorities so long as they're middle class and "act white." Working class white people tend to be split - half of them are either more racist, because they see blacks as competition for their jobs, and the other half embrace black urban culture and adopt the dress, music, and speech inflections.
And I don't see that as racism. I see it as classism and ethnocentricism. And I hate to say it but classism and ethnocentricism have always, and most likely will always, be around. Every culture throughout history has had its upper classes and lower classes and the two don't generally mix - they have little common ground to discuss. And ethnocentricism, until recently, was just a US problem. If you moved to France, you acted French. If you moved to Japan, you acted Japanese. When in Rome, as they say.
But the US was always a "melting pot" of different races, and with them came different cultures. And most people tend to socialize with other people who have the same cultural values. It's not racist, and it's certainly not only racist when white people do it.
Obviously there's always going to be a small group of racists (neo nazis, kkk) just like there's always going to be a small group of sexists, a small group of religious fundamentalists (why are the Amish never called fundamentalists anyway? Right, tangent.), a small group of people who want to ban gay marriage...that will NEVER go away. Google "church of rael" and you'll see what I mean - there's always going to be a group of kooks who think what they think and that's it. They'll make headlines every so often to sell news but they're not indicative of a wider problem.
As for that news article, IF the only reason the children were kicked out was their skin tone then yes I agree that's racist. I also think that a private club should be able to have whoever it wants as a member based on whatever criteria it chooses.
no subject
I live in Chicago, and I've lived both in mostly-white suburbs, and black neighborhoods where I was literally the only white person within 3 blocks who wasn't there to buy drugs. It's my personal opinion that (at least in this city, I can't speak about the rest of the US) so-called "race problems" are really a matter of class and culture.
I think that there are few middle class white people who would mind living down the block from a middle class black or hispanic family (class) who went to Ravinia, had their kids on a preschool waiting list, had tea or afternoon cocktails with the neighbors, and more or less acted like typical yuppies (culture). In other words, I think few people in the Chicago suburbs would mind living next-door to the Obamas.
Someone who has embraced middle class white culture (yes there is white culture, and by middle class I mean real middle class, not working class) not associating with anyone who embraces urban working class black culture really a racist? Or is it cultural superiority, the same way the exact same person would likely look down on anyone who embraced "redneck" culture and watched Nascar and Blue Collar Comedy?
From my experience, middle class white people don't mind minorities so long as they're middle class and "act white." Working class white people tend to be split - half of them are either more racist, because they see blacks as competition for their jobs, and the other half embrace black urban culture and adopt the dress, music, and speech inflections.
And I don't see that as racism. I see it as classism and ethnocentricism. And I hate to say it but classism and ethnocentricism have always, and most likely will always, be around. Every culture throughout history has had its upper classes and lower classes and the two don't generally mix - they have little common ground to discuss. And ethnocentricism, until recently, was just a US problem. If you moved to France, you acted French. If you moved to Japan, you acted Japanese. When in Rome, as they say.
But the US was always a "melting pot" of different races, and with them came different cultures. And most people tend to socialize with other people who have the same cultural values. It's not racist, and it's certainly not only racist when white people do it.
Obviously there's always going to be a small group of racists (neo nazis, kkk) just like there's always going to be a small group of sexists, a small group of religious fundamentalists (why are the Amish never called fundamentalists anyway? Right, tangent.), a small group of people who want to ban gay marriage...that will NEVER go away. Google "church of rael" and you'll see what I mean - there's always going to be a group of kooks who think what they think and that's it. They'll make headlines every so often to sell news but they're not indicative of a wider problem.
As for that news article, IF the only reason the children were kicked out was their skin tone then yes I agree that's racist. I also think that a private club should be able to have whoever it wants as a member based on whatever criteria it chooses.