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Racism doesn't exist anymore?

Max

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I've added this topic as part of U.S. Black History Month, and the concern I have that more and more seem to believe that things are so much better. Are they? I'd like to start by sharing my own experience.

Racism: If They Won't Change, Change Your Mind
Sapience Magazine
February 2006

Nig***rs are made.

Several months ago, I went to see a friend’s play. I arrived at the off-Broadway theater a half hour early because I hadn’t yet reserved a ticket. When I got there, two men, both white, stood together going over some papers behind a small makeshift desk. Neither acknowledged my presence. I waited patiently for a minute and a half as they continued to converse. Since I was the only one waiting in line, I finally spoke.

I said, “Good evening. I’m here to see the play. This is where I buy a ticket, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” one of the men replied. “You’re in the right place. We’re just finishing up some paperwork.”

I adjusted my bag, nodded and waited. The men finished their conversation several minutes later, exchanging an elaborate goodbye as they gathered their papers and separated. The man who hadn’t spoken to me lowered himself into a chair behind the desk. I pulled out my wallet, expectantly. He pulled out a cell phone. I watched in disbelief as he held the phone to his ear, listened for another few minutes, and then concentrated on the tiny screen while typing in a text message.

Time stops for me in moments like these. I am having one of my “this-can’t-be-happening-yes-it’s-really-happening” moments. What I need is a committee, a hotline I can call, someone I trust to tell me whether I am experiencing racism in this moment or not. It definitely feels like racism: he is white, I am black, he’s the ticket seller, I still don’t have a ticket in my hand. It would be insane to wish for the days of the Jim Crow South, but it must have been easier then to recognize racial hatred when it occurred. If the response to “I’d like a ticket please, Sir,” were a growling, white Mississippi face, purple-red and barking in mine, “We’re gonna sell you a ticket when we’re damn good and ready to, boy!” it would at least have ended any speculation on my part about what was happening to me.

http://www.changeatsapience.blogspot.com
 
Max said:
I've added this topic as part of U.S. Black History Month, and the concern I have that more and more seem to believe that things are so much better. Are they? I'd like to start by sharing my own experience.

Racism: If They Won't Change, Change Your Mind
Sapience Magazine
February 2006

Nig***rs are made.

Several months ago, I went to see a friend’s play. I arrived at the off-Broadway theater a half hour early because I hadn’t yet reserved a ticket. When I got there, two men, both white, stood together going over some papers behind a small makeshift desk. Neither acknowledged my presence. I waited patiently for a minute and a half as they continued to converse. Since I was the only one waiting in line, I finally spoke.

I said, “Good evening. I’m here to see the play. This is where I buy a ticket, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” one of the men replied. “You’re in the right place. We’re just finishing up some paperwork.”

I adjusted my bag, nodded and waited. The men finished their conversation several minutes later, exchanging an elaborate goodbye as they gathered their papers and separated. The man who hadn’t spoken to me lowered himself into a chair behind the desk. I pulled out my wallet, expectantly. He pulled out a cell phone. I watched in disbelief as he held the phone to his ear, listened for another few minutes, and then concentrated on the tiny screen while typing in a text message.

Time stops for me in moments like these. I am having one of my “this-can’t-be-happening-yes-it’s-really-happening” moments. What I need is a committee, a hotline I can call, someone I trust to tell me whether I am experiencing racism in this moment or not. It definitely feels like racism: he is white, I am black, he’s the ticket seller, I still don’t have a ticket in my hand. It would be insane to wish for the days of the Jim Crow South, but it must have been easier then to recognize racial hatred when it occurred. If the response to “I’d like a ticket please, Sir,” were a growling, white Mississippi face, purple-red and barking in mine, “We’re gonna sell you a ticket when we’re damn good and ready to, boy!” it would at least have ended any speculation on my part about what was happening to me.

http://www.changeatsapience.blogspot.com






Dear Max, ...I who am "white" have also experienced rudeness, & arrogance from people whom are white.

Assuming you are a victim of racism might be jumping the gun a bit. I believe there are many inconsiderate people who just love to make others wait on them as sometimes it give people a feeling of superiority over others that has nothing to do with race, ..as it just makes some clowns feel good about themselves.

Granted it was ignorant behavior on THEIR part, ..but "racist"?? That might be reaching a bit over the top.

Its just like 2-people engaged in a fight of sorts. Just because 1-might be black, & the other might be white...it should NOT always be assumed it is because of their race, or that automatically it is considered the equivalent of a hate crime taking place.

Race is over-focused, & it is my personal opinion that "that" in itself is causing far more problems that need to be.

Inconsiderate, rude...& ignorant people come in all colors, shapes, sizes & races.

I'am sorry that you had to experience it firsthand from some ignorant garbage hole that is of my particular race. Hopefully, he wasn't of my particular "ethnicity"!
 
I would say it is quite possible the reaction you received was racially motivated. We are still a racist society. Heck, the whole world is racist.

As far as I'm concerned, racism is something of a natural outgrowth of the way we perceive ourselves as part of a group. Now, race is just one of those groups, but as soon as we view the world in terms of "us" and "them", our need to defend the "us" goes into the effect and along with that comes the need to diminish the "them". It could be race, could be religion, could be membership in a club, could be a political party or political ideology, but as soon as we draw that line, our ego takes over creating this chaeuvenism, and the more important these distinctions to any particular individual, the more the chaeuvenism is expressed. IMO, the lower a person's self-esteem the more they need to diminish others to feel good about themselves, and the higher the self-esteem, the less the need.

In terms of racism in regards to black/white relations is concerned, you bet -- there is still tons. I don't view the racism as just being a one way street, though, since it exists in both directions. I lived in a community where I was in the minority (once summer hits, my skin is roughly the color of a roasted shrimp), and I have experienced very similar reactions in reverse -- the rudeness and lack of willingness to even deal with me.

I don't know if there is a real answer in any of this other than to say people should at least try to take each other one at a time, and should look inward as well as outward by an honest assessment of their own degree of racism instead of just worrying about others. Among whites in this country you can find anything from the avowed white supremecists to the more subtle forms of racism you encounter to those who have taken a more honest look inside and are coming to grips with their own racism. Same with black people in that you run the gamut in terms of the degree to which the racism is expressed. I don't necessarily judge any individual based upon the racist rhetorec of the Nation of Islam, for instance, and as long as a person can say "yes, this affects "us" as well as "you", then I think this provides a very good basis for communication.
 
Racism does still exist and is practiced by whites on blacks and vice versa......Things have improved a lot over the last 40 years though........
 
Racism does still exist. But I am seeing the pendulum swing from the times of slavery to what we are headed for, where being white will be a bad thing. It is my feverant hope that the pendulum will settle somewhere in the middle soon and we can all so as MLK said and judge people by the content of thier charactor.
 
There are A$$holes in every color.....why forcus on the skin when its the mind that makes the moron.
 
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