Are blacks in America victims of discrimination?

Bodhisattva said:

Only a person that has never really watched the news on Fox would think that it is all like Hannity...

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I watched it all the time till last election, you know, the election Romney won, or at least was winning till I fell asleep. I just couldnt force myself to watch it much after that. But you are right, Hannity isnt the worst. And i do miss Megan Kelly.

Unfortunately there will always be racial discrimination. I had a very good black friend some years back who worked for a major airline in Texas. We spent a lot of time together over the years and many times the discrimination was blatant. I remember one time he wanted to buy a new stereo system. He came from work in his coat and tie and picked me up. We went to a very popular major electronics store. I had been working in my yard and had on jeans and a pullover. We walked into the store and I was tagging behind. My friend walked past the sales clerk who ignored him and asked me what could he help me with today. As I pointed to my friend I told the salesman "he is the man with the money." I will never forget that incident as it hurt me deeply. My friend never flinched and when I asked later he said he was used to it, having experienced it all his life. He died suddenly a couple years later while at his desk at work. I'm sure stress played a role.

I don't have the answers but I know the attitudes so prevalent today are just making things worse for many black folks.

Bodhisattva said:

Of course there is racism. Of course blacks fall victim to it more than whites. It is not institutionalized nor is it an epidemic though...

People say that we shouldn't judge all Muslims by the terrorists... well, all of white America should not be judged by the racists.

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And all black people shouldn't be judged by the idiots either. I regularly have to correct some of my white friends who see pants hanging off people's butts, refusal to speak in proper English, single mothers exploiting the welfare state as their idea of the American dream, fathers abandoning their own kids, rap music that disrespects women and a litany of societal ills who actually call all of that "black culture." That's got to be one of the most insulting things I've ever heard and its happened multiple times. No mention of Jazz or Gospel music, The Blues, other artistic expressions, creative hair stylings, colorful fashion or soul food. That's like calling burning crosses on people lawns, lynchings and showing up at movie theaters and elementary schools and shooting every first grader in sight dead "white culture." No, its nut jobs who happen to be white.

Smeagol said:

And all black people shouldn't be judged by the idiots either. I regularly have to correct some of my white friends who see pants hanging off people's butts, refusal to speak in proper English, single mothers exploiting the welfare state as their idea of the American dream, fathers abandoning their own kids, rap music that disrespects women and a litany of societal ills who actually call all of that "black culture." That's got to be one of the most insulting things I've ever heard and its happened multiple times. No mention of Jazz or Gospel music, The Blues, other artistic expressions, creative hair stylings, colorful fashion or soul food. That's like calling burning crosses on people lawns, lynchings and showing up at movie theaters and elementary schools and shooting every first grader in sight dead "white culture." No, its nut jobs who happen to be white.

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I never suscribed to the "Black Culture" thing... there are subcultures for every race and many of those, if not most, overlap.

The only thing I notice is that one can put any number or prefixes in front of Shawn for a name... De, Le, Key, Mar, Re, Te and probably a couple I am forgetting.

Bodhisattva said:

I never suscribed to the "Black Culture" thing... there are subcultures for every race and many of those, if not most, overlap.

The only thing I notice is that one can put any number or prefixes in front of Shawn for a name... De, Le, Key, Mar, Re, Te and probably a couple I am forgetting.

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The whole idea of a black culture is absolutely idiotic. Anyone who thinks that Obama shares the same culture as, say, some drug addicted gang banger from Compton, just because they happen to share the same skin color is a complete moron.

Cephus said:

The whole idea of a black culture is absolutely idiotic. Anyone who thinks that Obama shares the same culture as, say, some drug addicted gang banger from Compton, just because they happen to share the same skin color is a complete moron.

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100% agree... the Cosby's are nothing like NWA.

Looks like we have at least 6 racists here.

TheDemSocialist said:

Looks like we have at least 6 racists here.

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who?

.

Bodhisattva said:

I never suscribed to the "Black Culture" thing... there are subcultures for every race and many of those, if not most, overlap.

The only thing I notice is that one can put any number or prefixes in front of Shawn for a name... De, Le, Key, Mar, Re, Te and probably a couple I am forgetting.

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LOL. So true. At least that's not defining an entire ethnic group with the worst that can be seen. By the way, nobody in my family has a name that starts with Le, De, Te, Key or Mar. I do however have an in-law who son's nickname is Boo and I think there's might be a Pookey kid somewhere through marriage. RAFLMAO!!!

Cephus said:

The whole idea of a black culture is absolutely idiotic. Anyone who thinks that Obama shares the same culture as, say, some drug addicted gang banger from Compton, just because they happen to share the same skin color is a complete moron.

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I do think there is a black culture but its shared with all Americans of any race. Its characterized by music; especially soulful ballads, Gospel, Jazz, and rap; a unique cuisine influenced by and/or that has influenced southern cuisine; an entire industry dedicated to hair stylings; and an honoring or black American heritage. There also tends to be a monolithic approach to politics, I personally think due to a perception that its necessary in a climate where there is an unspoken undercurrent of animosity toward blacks and where unity for group protection trumps individual policy preferences.

Smeagol said:

I do think there is a black culture but its shared with all Americans of any race. Its characterized by music; especially soulful ballads, Gospel, Jazz, and rap; a unique cuisine influenced by and/or that has influenced southern cuisine; an entire industry dedicated to hair stylings; and an honoring or black American heritage. There also tends to be a monolithic approach to politics, I personally think due to a perception that its necessary in a climate where there is an unspoken undercurrent of animosity toward blacks and where unity for group protection trumps individual policy preferences.

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Then it's not black culture! You can say there's a ghetto culture shared by poor people. You can say there's an American culture. But black culture that all black people have because they're black? That's laughably ridiculous. Not all black people like Gospel, Jazz or rap. Not all black people are out there eating southern cuisine, any more than they're all eating watermelon. Not all black people have any of the characteristics that you mention. Therefore, there is no black culture.

Smeagol said:

LOL. So true. At least that's not defining an entire ethnic group with the worst that can be seen. By the way, nobody in my family has a name that starts with Le, De, Te, Key or Mar. I do however have an in-law who son's nickname is Boo and I think there's might be a Pookey kid somewhere through marriage. RAFLMAO!!!

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AS silly as I find the Shawn thing there is nothing wrong with that and what I find even more silly is when white people (for the most part) name their kid Phillip Phillips or Donald MacDonald... WTF?

Smeagol said:

I do think there is a black culture but its shared with all Americans of any race. Its characterized by music; especially soulful ballads, Gospel, Jazz, and rap; a unique cuisine influenced by and/or that has influenced southern cuisine; an entire industry dedicated to hair stylings; and an honoring or black American heritage. There also tends to be a monolithic approach to politics, I personally think due to a perception that its necessary in a climate where there is an unspoken undercurrent of animosity toward blacks and where unity for group protection trumps individual policy preferences.

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I assume that you mean, "black American culture"? Because blacks in Brazil or Africa have very different cultures...

Smeagol said:

This includes but is not necessarily limited to:

• Employment opportunities; hiring, severity of disciplinary actions taken by employers toward their black employees, compensation, promotions.
• Social acceptance; welcomed into friendships, family's acceptance of interracial romantic relationships with blacks vs. orientals for example.
• Willingness to use black owned professional services; doctor, lawyer, real estate agent, accountant, etc.
• Greater likelihood of being treated abusively by law enforcement.
• Greater likelihood of being denied equal justice by the judicial system.
• Unequal treatment in customer service situations if black ethnicity is known.

I'm in the unique position of being black while most of my friends happen to not only be white but also conservatives. In talking with my white friends, the general perspective they tend to have is racism toward blacks was once a very serious problem in America but it no longer exists except in the imaginations of some blacks as well as being aggressively practiced by black advocacy leaders like Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson and their all time favorite, Al Sharpton.

With the revelation of a police officer's pistol's ammunition emptied into the body of a teenager lying in a Chicago street along with other alleged incidents of unfair treatment of blacks, I thought I'd ask. Do you think blacks in America victims of discrimination?

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People are discriminated against. No doubt about that. Sometimes race is a factor, but in today's America people see green more than black or brown or white. Money matters far more than race. Poor white people get treated like **** just like poor black people, or poor brown people.

Kreton said:

People are discriminated against. No doubt about that. Sometimes race is a factor, but in today's America people see green more than black or brown or white. Money matters far more than race. Poor white people get treated like **** just like poor black people, or poor brown people.

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To an extent but in my observation I've seen people advance due to things having nothing to do with money. Being related by blood, being long-time friends, likability, being a kiss-up, attire, attractiveness, sleeping with the boss and even the boss thinking he has more than a snowball's chance in hell he might be able to sleep with hypothetical employee one day maybe. None of these contributes to the bottom line but are unfair advantages that along with race are common factors that can affect how successful one can be professionally.

If you think about it, racial discrimination is an extended form of nepotism where all white people, as an example, are closer ancestrally than a black person. That's great, unless in some cases you're black where you're relying totally merit competing in the economy with people who have an inside advantage. Even then, merit might not be enough as often human resource decisions are made by people who are so far removed from day to day operations that all they do is assume the black guy is lazy because after all he is black (not actually lazy but that's the thinking) and possibly influenced by lower level management who have discovered in order to maximize their career potential, its best to be agreeable despite the facts.

Bodhisattva said:

I assume that you mean, "black American culture"? Because blacks in Brazil or Africa have very different cultures...

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Yes, I thought it was safe to omit direct references to other blacks due to the context of the thread. My apologies.

Cephus said:

Then it's not black culture! You can say there's a ghetto culture shared by poor people. You can say there's an American culture. But black culture that all black people have because they're black? That's laughably ridiculous. Not all black people like Gospel, Jazz or rap. Not all black people are out there eating southern cuisine, any more than they're all eating watermelon. Not all black people have any of the characteristics that you mention. Therefore, there is no black culture.

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Interesting. I have to disagree. That's like saying there's no such thing as Chinese food based on similar arguments.

Smeagol said:

Interesting. I have to disagree. That's like saying there's no such thing as Chinese food based on similar arguments.

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No, Chinese food originated in China, at least if you're actually talking about such. Nobody is claiming that all Chinese people make Chinese food or eat Chinese food. But lots of people are claiming that all black people, by definition, practice black culture, simply because they are black and that's demonstrably not true. So in the absence of such a thing, black culture doesn't exist in any demonstrable way, shape or form. There is no black culture, no black music, no black literature, except insofar as some literature is written by black people but not all black people read black literature, etc.

Cephus said:

No, Chinese food originated in China, at least if you're actually talking about such. Nobody is claiming that all Chinese people make Chinese food or eat Chinese food. But lots of people are claiming that all black people, by definition, practice black culture, simply because they are black and that's demonstrably not true. So in the absence of such a thing, black culture doesn't exist in any demonstrable way, shape or form. There is no black culture, no black music, no black literature, except insofar as some literature is written by black people but not all black people read black literature, etc.

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I agree with part of what you say, that not all black people live their lives as "culturally black." However, to say there is no black American culture is in my opinion uninformed or possibly driven by some sort of agenda. I don't see how geography or origin validates anything but if it matters, the black American culture originated in America in communities that were segregated from the greater population by force of law. As ironic as it is, I have often considered there would be no black America culture had there never been a black American community and that community was in essence created by white people who refused to accept blacks into the greater society. Out of that community unique cultural expressions and traditions were birthed that continue to this day. Traditions and cultural expressions don't just go away once forced isolation has ended. What we can do however, is make these traditions and cultural expressions as racially inclusive as possible. I think its great when white stents choose to enroll in historically black colleges and universities, sing R&B music, become members of historically black churches and celebrate Black History Month. But agian, none of it would ever ever existed if not for forced racial segregation.

Do I think blacks in America victims of discrimination? Anybody here ever heard of deliberate discrimination against WHITE people, called "Affirmative Action"?! So where is the balancing effect of any kind of reverse discrimination that legally gives unfair advantages to White people?! This is so totally unfair, and yet hyperliberal Leftists can't see it, and won't see it. And if you take the time and make the effort to rub their stupid, oblivious noses in it, they just blithely ignore it anyway!

No doubt about it... 35 years of the liberal-initiated dumbing-down of the population of the United States has definitely taken effect. Hint: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has already been in effect in this country for MORE THAN FIVE DECADES!