Again, very good post, deeann.

When it comes to discrimination, I have been very lucky and unlucky. Most likely, every person has.

I was fortunate to have the first black persons and Jewish persons in my life wonderful people!

The first truly evil person was a very white school teacher who tormented one or two people in every one of her classes while she treated the other students royally. She made life hell, and sent me on an emotional tail spin.

When we moved from the city to a small town, the 'wonderful' country people treated us as outcasts. Again, very white, very bigotted.

I believe in Martin Luther King's idea that we should treat people according to the content of their character. Some people don't have any.

Our entire business network only works because people are easily deceived. Government works on that principle also. Sometimes 'friendships' do too.

Sad, but true.

Again, sadly, a complete lack of common sense is normal too. As the saying goes, 'common sense is not common'.

Do you have people driving Hummers in your area? They are here, and they are proud! And they have George Bush bumper stickers and yellow ribbons and sometimes actual flags flying from their vehicles. And don't have them come up behind you when you are driving the speed limit--they have the power and they want you to recognize that! They also park in the handicapped area of parking lots--and I guess they are right. Unfortunately, they are admitting they are handicapped--just not a handicap you can see. Park in the handicapped section and jump out with a satchel on their shoulder to go into their exercise studio.

Wonderful people, and oh, so young and white.

What I keep hearing is about the selfish poor people. Okay, poor people are selfish, they want to eat. Why do people constantly berate the 'selfish' poor people yet give a total pass to the selfish rich? If 'selfish' is a human trait, why is it exploited in putting down the poor? Don't they have enough problems already?

There are many terrific blacks just as there are many terrific _________ (fill in any race, denomination, or any other specific you wish), and there are many poor examples of all of the above. Can't we treat people as individuals, not as stereotypes?



I would love to see this happen. First we have to have their parents understand these principles. That seems to be the missing link in the chain...

Dori:
That is one the most biased and ignorant posts I have ever read. You end your post by asking why, "Can't we treat people as individuals, not as stereotypes?" but that's exactly what you did your ENTIRE post. Stereo-type after stereo-type...generalization after generalization....so much resentment towards one race!!!

I was mugged by two when I was 13; me and a buddy were jumped by 5 when I was 21; and I had $1500 (almost) stolen from my hotel room 2 months ago...caught her. No resentment...pity.

Wow that site is down already. I got this note on it- Things happen quick. There was one site I listed that was from the NY. Times which was a chart to calculate where you fit in the class structure. Gone. We were the last to see it.

What I find evil is the welfare setup the rich have so they can get richer while we as the lower classes have to fight and scrape to get any savings. And the poor- we begrudge giving them anything.

Upside down world? The way the Pyramid scheme is set up the Pyramid is upside down and everything pours to the peak. The worst is that the poor turn against each other to try to fall down into profit too! The descent to evil. Then there's the cost of our military which spends more than all other militaries in the world. What could that wasted money do for the problems in America? As it is they steal our security and pretend to be protecting us from the enemy. Unfortunately the enemy is within the walls of privilege already, and if we're too distracted to notice, this is what they want- to turn us against each other. That way they can prey on all of us and profit from human misery and death. This is the definition of pure evil.

Don't be fooled by the rich mans game and turn against each other. We have a common enemy and it is our terrorist mafia leaders.

The truth hurts, doesn't it? What's the matter? Is it a surprise to you that rednecks can be very hostile to strangers for no apparent reason, and that hummer driving white people with Bush stickers and yellow ribbons aren't exactly beneficial to our society? Well, open your eyes sucker. Many of us have known that for a long time.



You were mugged by two what?

You and your buddy were jumped by 5 what?

There are two types of every color. There are the whites who are not racist and accept everyone. There are the whites who think they are better than everyone else and with these people racism is alive and well.

There are African-Americans who are not racist and accept everyone. There are African-Americans who believe the whites owe them something just because they have ancestors who were slaves and the whites owned them.

I know I live in a world where I take my whiteness for granted. There are things that go on that I am blind to just because I am white and have never had certain experiences. I took a African-American friend to a country bar (stupid me) for a party and country line dancing. He is a huge former football player (and now a coach) and he was scared to death. I kept laughing at him and asking what was wrong. He kept saying I lived in a white world and I had never experienced prejudice. He was afraid a bunch of rednecks would start a fight with him and he would get kicked out and he didn't want to embarrass me. Like that would embarrass me if someone else made an ass of themselves!

They didn't start a fight but they were not going to let him in. This was in Cincinnati in 1999. They said he had sweats on and they were not acceptable. I asked for the manager. The hair in the back of my neck was standing straight up. The manager came out and I asked it that "coach’s outfit" looked like sweats to him? He said no and allowed us to enter. This was a place I frequented for dancing and exercise. The friend ended up having a good time and they even offered him a job as a bouncer. Still, had I not been along, they would have not let him in and he would not have made a scene, he would have just left.

I have never been a racist nor have I ever used the N word. I have really been put to the test this year. I have a African-American principal who is teaching our children to use their color to get away with certain things. Because they are African-Americans, the rest of us have to accept it as their culture. Like stealing, for example. We are to accept the fact that African-American kids steal because they are poor and it is in their culture to do this so they should go unpunished. I don't buy that. Yes, many of them are poor, but stealing from someone else IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!

We are having problems this year like we stepped back in time. I kept saying I was having a very bad year and this is why. If this principal had been the first African-American person I had ever met - I would be a racist. If I question any thing she does, she says I only question her because she is a black woman. Not true. I question when she does not do her job. Thank goodness I have African-American friends who I can go to for advice. They don't get along with her either and they even question the way she does things.

We have no control in the classroom because she refuses to use punishment. She hugs them and gives them a candy bar and sends them back to class. The students laugh in our faces, especially the African-American kids. It is so sad because we are setting them up to fail in society. When the cops pull them over for speeding, the law isn’t going to care about their culture or if they are poor or anything else. When they call the cop a racist (like they do the teachers) they are going to get handcuffed and taken to jail.

This woman has single-handedly started something that is going to blow up. We are not allowed to give homework because some kids don’t have help at home. We are not allowed to give detention because the kids don’t have a way home. The list just goes on and on.

That's exactly right sadie, it starts small and gets bigger. Imagine the nerve of that person- acting just like a white person! The nerve!

That is how it starts- at home or something someone hears- a little clue that something is different about this person. They're a yappy dreaded joe,---They're black/jewish/spanish/catholic/ etc. When colour isn't enough its their religion or their teeth or they're fat or something that allows us to judge them to our standards. In a country like America demanding equality guaranteed by the constitution will be the norm, but ass kissing will be expected. Programs to help them will become the norm I'm afraid, as people demand equality and expect to get there any way they can.

Perhaps we should offer them free university education or something to help them get out of their poverty. Equal the field by helping them think their way out of their dilemma. But then, they may become the Massa's.

Beware when the oppressed become the oppressors. In the concentration camps there were just such people. They were called capo's- fellow citizens who were natural bullies or dregs who had no power, who the Germans gave the right to inflict punishment on their fellow prisoners, whose brutality even stunnned the Germans who oversaw their work- When the war was over these people were charged or killed or ostracized from their own villages by the survivors and the courts.

That this kind of arrogance you speak of is happening is a direct blowback to hundreds of years of oppression. It's called resistance. It's what killed the Indians and still affects them today. It is what blacks resigned to in the past to stay alive and are resisting today, now that they have owned their pasts. They feel the arrogance of power imbalance swinging their way, much like the plantation owners of old. They are in a legal position to do this and so why not. If it takes this kind of thing to awaken the dreamsleep white people seem to be in, then bully for them. Someone has to shake up the foundations of white supremacy in America, and if it's the Blacks and Hispanics then so be it. Perhaps the constitution can be found for it's flaws and its attempts at correcting them as a starting place too, for real solutions to this major problem in a country born from a slave based document.

What we really should learn from this Imus thing is that there may be a bigger price to pay for our actions in the past that have angered a vast majority of people in the world. Continuing to give preference to people of a certain colour while pushing down others may be our fate some day as we are outnumbered roughly 5-1. So maybe it's time we woke up and accepted that maybe a heartfelt apology might be in order. We might think it's a harmless little thing to say or do, but it hurts others and there may be repercussions like Imus found out, from one little mistake. Be careful what you say or do now as there may be serious repercussions as well. I bet Imus's mild inocuous statement is heard for years to come among the white racist sychophants, niggards that they are!( if you don't know what niggard means look it up- it ain't a racist slur!)

Remember "Sticks and stones can break my bones"? We always heard "but names will never hurt me". In reality, names WILL hurt--- very much. From a white perspective it's true- if some one of colour called me a white asshole I'd laugh at him, but if I called him or her a N--- or a Nap-- h--ded hoe, don't you think that would be different? It all depends on where you put your stance that decides your opinion.

A history of a marriage-----It starts with a bouquet of roses and kind words and then the verbal abuse starts then there's the threat of violence then the swat to end an argument then the beatings then the separation then the harrassment then the threats then the restraining orders then the shooting of the wife kids and subsequent arrest and life in prison. A case history of a marriage. Started with all that love and and a few words and ended in violence and death. Works in the home, works in the world too. We allow violence and bigotry to exist, we run the risk of it being used as a solution to our problems. Hopefully we'll never use it as a final solution- again. Linking the personal with the political helps to put violence, racism and bigotry in it's proper perspective.

People don't inherit racism or violence- they are taught it. It's a choice, like smoking or drinking to deal with their problems in life- fear and loneliness. Don't worry, you're not alone- everyone feels it- some at the bottom a lot more than others- but it cripples us all. The psyche demands its respect and so it exacts a payment from us for all our thoughts and actions- for every action an equal opposite reaction. They owe us a lot of hurt if we go by that equation!!

People don't forget like we do about what our ancestors did in the past!! Maybe we do, but THEY don't.

We better make it a good apology with lots of money and offered help.

Anything for higher ratings and distraction.

Black kids, 17-19yo, as two others had lookout

Black guys who were part of larger group that eventually got caught after their 4th assault.

Interesting how your words apply to my experiences
"The truth hurts, doesn't it? What's the matter? Is it a surprise to you that..." black boys will steal from anyone at anytime? And the older they get the more dangerous they become. Driving their pimped out cars with tinted windows, smokin pot, carrying concealed weapons. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and it was a bad scene. That was YEARS ago....wonder how many of those guys are in jail, in rehab, or dead?

Either way I became 'sucker-free' at the age of 13. My eyes have been open for most of my life...I stay away from certain bars, restaruants, take the long way home if needed, and as a result all has been smooth...

Be careful, its a jungle out there and you know what you find in the jungle.

Trees? Vines ? Animals? Bugs? Snakes? Water?
What? What ?















I'd say you deserved to be mugged personally.

Exactly DO.g. I would say the principal I am having problems with had a very bad experience with white people, therefore she does what she does from her bad experience. Not all blacks are like her so she won't turn me into a racist overnight. I am having my bad experience, but I am intelligent enough to know that is just what it is....an isolated experience.

I think Imus should have been punished for what he said. If my daughter played BB for a college and they were to refered to as a bunch of sluts, whores, or any other bad name, I would have personally gone after his job.

It really isn't a black/white issue, it is called common sense. Something many people don't seem to have anymore.

I see. You are saying that you have been an overt racist since you were 13 years old.

Actually, Kluless, I was being factitious....blatantly factitious. However, you're too focused on throwing jabs and insults at me to notice your own hypocrisy. I even quoted you. In fact, maybe you should ask the same question of Dori.

Shoeless writes:

Bwarebiass writes:

Dori writes:
Shoeless's Question:

Dori, how old were you when you decided that white people were evil?

BB-
If the remarks were so factitious, why all the energy spent in their defense? You are so blinded by your bigotry that the nuances of the English language escape your grasp. Of course, I err by calling them nuances, for it only minimizes the true depth of your ignorance. Dori stated that her first evil person was white, not that she was evil because she was white.
Your defense of the indefensible only further reveals you as the racist bigot you are.

That wasn't a question.

Where does dori state that white people, as a group, are evil?