A Georgia networking event wants to help white people 'Come Meet a Black Person'

Lutherf said:

And now we’re on to Trump and his supporters. It was bound that get here eventually because, apparently, everything can mes back to Trump at some point.

SMH

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Well, yeah, sort of. I think in this last election, many of us were absolutely flabbergasted at the amount of stereotyping, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, etc... that were expressed, both overtly and indirectly with all sorts of dog whistles, and how that was not just met with shock and disgust, but openly and proudly cheered. You could almost feel the feeling of relief, as if people were feeling that someone was finally free of all the oppressive liberal cultural silencing of such views as socially inappropriate and unacceptable. "Finally! Someone who is not afraid to stand up to these liberals and say what has been on our minds all along!", they seemed to be saying.

So yeah, I don't think you would be seeing an event like this if it wasn't for the recent Trump phenomenon. It has truly shocked and surprised many that these kinds of views still have a place here in the 21st century. Well, they sure showed us liberals and put us in our place. We got schooled. Not only does it have a place, it can win you presidential elections, apparently. This is just someone's way of trying to do something about it. You may not agree that it works, or is necessary, or that it will be effective. But they are trying to do something. If you asked, I am pretty confident sure they will tell you it does have a lot to do with Trump and his supporters.

Lutherf said:

Um, if you read what I replied to you'd understand why I mentioned churches.With regard to the rest of your post, I'll keep saying it, if you seek to expand your social circle merely because you don't have the "proper" proportion of people of color around you, you just might be a racist.

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If we appealed to majority ethno/racial group members who intentionally find and ridicule efforts at racial unity, to try and understand what "being a racist" meant, that would be absurd.

If you continue to ridicule all efforts at racial unity, and continue to claim "you don't see race/color", you're absolutely a racist to many who look at this from a societal level, no "might be" about it. Intentionally seeking to hide, minimize, or deny, or worse, further the majority/minority oppression based largely on race/color in the U.S., that's a large part of what racism is all about. Most whites in the U.S. are likely complicit, you're in good company, it's not a slur it's just an observation.

You can look at yourself here:

At an individual level, people with "color blind prejudice" reject racist ideology, but also reject systemic policies intended to fix institutional racism.[49]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism

Racism as in bullying people based on race, feeling superior, etc., this is just a part of societal oppression. It doesn't encompass how its used in sociology or by various minority groups.

Which came first, insults/slurs or the institutional oppression? I think it's all related to the instinct to quell differences in community. Everything else, institutional racism, racial slurs, etc., are all just derivatives of that.

The proposed networking is intended to do two things, accept differences in community, and perhaps blend differences in a community. Hard to argue with their motives, if you're not a racist. Of course, a lot of people oppose diversity too, although with stormfront down I'm not sure where those types get their feed.

jimbo said:

Exposure is one thing. A contrived "Come meet a black person" is another. I'm exposed to other races every day. Mostly I don't even think about it.
Come meet a black person sounds to me more like a petting zoo than something that will further race relations.

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Meet a policeman from your community...contrived petting zoo?
Meet your neighbor day where you throw a block party with neighbors, contrived petting zoo?

What a dim assessment.

celticwar17 said:

I am pretty sure that's true actually... We may call them Hispanic.... but they are really white-hispanic. Sure, a good number of them probably have some native blood in them... but most have majority Spaniard ancestry.

I looked it up for you. In all of Latin America it's 36.1% white, 23.6% black, 30.3% Mestizo(mix-white), 9.2% Amerindian

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36.1% white... so most hispanics aren't white. Which was the comment I was doubting.

Mach said:

Meet a policeman from your community...contrived petting zoo?
Meet your neighbor day where you throw a block party with neighbors, contrived petting zoo?

What a dim assessment.

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I meet policeman from my community.
I meet my neighbors when I throw or attend a block party. Notice the missing word?

I'd never throw a meet your black neighbor block party.

Mach said:

If we appealed to majority ethno/racial group members who intentionally find and ridicule efforts at racial unity, to try and understand what "being a racist" meant, that would be absurd.

If you continue to ridicule all efforts at racial unity, and continue to claim "you don't see race/color", you're absolutely a racist to many who look at this from a societal level, no "might be" about it. Intentionally seeking to hide, minimize, or deny, or worse, further the majority/minority oppression based largely on race/color in the U.S., that's a large part of what racism is all about. Most whites in the U.S. are likely complicit, you're in good company, it's not a slur it's just an observation.

You can look at yourself here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism

Racism as in bullying people based on race, feeling superior, etc., this is just a part of societal oppression. It doesn't encompass how its used in sociology or by various minority groups.

Which came first, insults/slurs or the institutional oppression? I think it's all related to the instinct to quell differences in community. Everything else, institutional racism, racial slurs, etc., are all just derivatives of that.

The proposed networking is intended to do two things, accept differences in community, and perhaps blend differences in a community. Hard to argue with their motives, if you're not a racist. Of course, a lot of people oppose diversity too, although with stormfront down I'm not sure where those types get their feed.

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Why is this so hard for you to understand. Just because your social circle includes blacks (or Asians or Hispanics or whatever) does not mean that you're not racist. If you have people of color in your social circle merely because it's politically correct to do so then you ARE a racist. It's called "Tokenism" and it's a form of pandering.

poweRob said:

36.1% white... so most hispanics aren't white. Which was the comment I was doubting.

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I guess you can debate that Mestizo is white... they are more white than anything else...

celticwar17 said:

I guess you can debate that Mestizo is white... they are more white than anything else...

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My wife is latina and her grandparents had to go to Kansas for work back in the FDR public works era for work and they kept getting asked... "What are you?" And they aren't dark skinned but clearly aren't anglo white.

poweRob said:

My wife is latina and her grandparents had to go to Kansas for work back in the FDR public works era for work and they kept getting asked... "What are you?" And they aren't dark skinned but clearly aren't anglo white.

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People from the Mediterranean are often not anglo white

poweRob said:

Just like you chose superman as an avatar.

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Except I'm not claiming to be Superman.

But this is 2017 so if I did decide to self-identify as a Kryptonian you have respect that. :mrgreen:

Crovax said:

Except I'm not claiming to be Superman.

But this is 2017 so if I did decide to self-identify as a Kryptonian you have respect that. :mrgreen:

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Interesting read...


Latino's are a race in flux. Identifying them as a race seems impossible. And we seem to be trying to cram them into an either/or white/black culture then throwing "Hispanic" out there as a catch all for the rest which isn't working. Because carribean latinos don't identify and chilean latinos and none of them want to be realted to Mexican latinos for some reason aside from actual Mexicans.

celticwar17 said:

People from the Mediterranean are often not anglo white

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Indeed. And Italians often get pissed if you identify them as white.

Here's a book I'd like to peruse...

jimbo said:

I meet policeman from my community.
I meet my neighbors when I throw or attend a block party. Notice the missing word?
I'd never throw a meet your black neighbor block party.

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Therefore?

Lutherf said:

Why is this so hard for you to understand. Just because your social circle includes blacks (or Asians or Hispanics or whatever) does not mean that you're not racist.

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Who claimed it did or didn't? No one. So why did you type it?

This is to have people meet/network. It has nothing to do with turning people into racists or not, why would you suggest such an absurd thing?

If you have people of color in your social circle merely because it's politically correct to do so then you ARE a racist. It's called "Tokenism" and it's a form of pandering.

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It has nothing to do with being PC or not PC, it has to do with breaking down norms between real people, via real relationships. Stop making up stuff.

TheGoverness said:

Yeah, but what about the Eskimos? Why aren't they represented? Argh!

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And Mexicans are white - what an absurd claim. May as well treat all people like they're white, and then where will we be?

Mach said:

Therefore?

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Therefore nothing. Like the post to which I responded.

I wouldn't bother with a meet your black cop party.
I wouldn't bother with a meet your black neighbor party.

I just don't think in those terms.

Lutherf said:

So "Come Meet a Black Person" is about something other than race? It sure as hell sounds like a call to associate for no other reason than race.

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No, that (i.e. meeting and interacting with people of other races) is EXACTLY what it's about. Not sure why that is so hard for you to grasp.

Where you went off the rails was in suggesting that the intent was to choose friends based upon race, which was just a red herring argument.

Lutherf said:

As I've said time and again, if you're picking the people you associate with because of their race, and that includes trying to expand your social circle because you don't have enough black friends, you just might be a racist.

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And as I said previously, this is a stupid, dishonest, FAKE rebuttal. No one (other than YOU) has even remotely suggested picking friends and associates according to race.

The fact that you persist with this obvious canard simply indicates that you other motivations and "issues" are behind your personal perspective, Lutherf.

ultmd said:

And as I said previously, this is a stupid, dishonest, FAKE rebuttal. No one (other than YOU) has even remotely suggested picking friends and associates according to race.

The fact that you persist with this obvious canard simply indicates that you other motivations and "issues" are behind your personal perspective, Lutherf.

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Look, here's the stated intent by the person initiating the event -

It's the brainchild of Cheryle Moses, the founder of Urban MediaMakers, a group of independent black filmmakers and content creators. Moses dreamed up the networking event as a response of sorts to a 2013 study from the Public Religion Research Institute that showed about 75% of white people in America don't have any nonwhite friends. The study also found that for most whites, their circle of friends is about 91% white.

Likewise, about 65% of black people don't have any white friends, and the average social circle for a black American is about 83% black.
"In the black community we know of white people who don't have a lot of black friends," Moses told CNN. "But still, seeing a statistic about it just opened our eyes."
The event specially asks that white people who don't have any nonwhite friends to attend.
What Moses and Urban MediaMakers hope to accomplish is more than have the cliched "conversation on race," which everyone talks about having, but rarely have. She wants people to connect on a more personal level.

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I'm not the one who came up with the idea that this kind of event is to foment more personal (friend) relationships based on race. The person who created this thing is the one who did that. My interpretation isn't "fake" and it isn't "dishonest". Whether you think it's "stupid" or not is up to you as I couldn't care less.

TheGoverness said:

....What the hell?

Take a chill pill, dude. I was joking around.

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You were being facetious and mocking the correction.

LOL, man you are just full of opinions about groups and cultures you don't understand, aren't you?

Lutherf said:

However, "black" isn't one of those things we need to understand.

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.....:lamo.....says practically every privileged middle-aged conservative white guy. You clearly need to "understand 'black'" more than most. "Understanding Black" as you put it, is about understanding culture, history and lived/learned experiences; because those are the variables that account for the honest and different perspectives that black and white Americans hold toward many societal issues. And clearly, you have much to learn.

Skin color is not determinative of ones intellect, one's beliefs, one's cultural background, one's life experience, one's values or one's potential.

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Skin color doesn't determine intellect or values, very true. Skin color does, however, impact one's culture and lived, learned experiences. As Americans, we all share an American culture. But within that American culture, we all have our own group cultures (i.e. racial, religious, linguistic, etc.). The social fabric of America is not a "melting pot"; it's a mosaic.

If I am to meet you merely because you are black then what do I learn? Great, your skin is darker than mine and your hair is more curly. I'm done with my learning.

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And if that's all that you focus on during that meeting, then shame on you. And I would feel sorry for the person who wasted their time meeting you in that situation. You know, for someone who claims to not be hung up on race, that sure does sound like someone who is a bit hung up on race. The more you post in this thread, the more you reveal.

If we want to get to know each other the focus shouldn't be on race. It should be on who we are as people.

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LOL, so meeting a black person at a gathering specifically designed to put black and white people together in the same room..........would render you so intellectually crippled that you would not be able to engage in a polite discussion with the people across from you? How is that any different than just randomly meeting a black person anywhere else? How do you know you wouldn't meet some like-minded people and even make a few friends in the process? The point would not be HOW YOU MET the people, Luther. The point would be HOW YOU ENGAGED with the people you met. I think you are letting your personal issues blind you.

ultmd said:

LOL, man you are just full of opinions about groups and cultures you don't understand, aren't you?



.....:lamo.....says practically every privileged middle-aged conservative white guy. You clearly need to "understand 'black'" more than most. "Understanding Black" as you put it, is about understanding culture, history and lived/learned experiences; because those are the variables that account for the honest and different perspectives that black and white Americans hold toward many societal issues. And clearly, you have much to learn.




Skin color doesn't determine intellect or values, very true. Skin color does, however, impact one's culture and lived, learned experiences. As Americans, we all share an American culture. But within that American culture, we all have our own group cultures (i.e. racial, religious, linguistic, etc.). The social fabric of America is not a "melting pot"; it's a mosaic.


And if that's all that you focus on during that meeting, then shame on you. And I would feel sorry for the person who wasted their time meeting you in that situation. You know, for someone who claims to not be hung up on race, that sure does sound like someone who is a bit hung up on race. The more you post in this thread, the more you reveal.


LOL, so meeting a black person at a gathering specifically designed to put black and white people together in the same room..........would render you so intellectually crippled that you would not be able to engage in a polite discussion with the people across from you? How is that any different than just randomly meeting a black person anywhere else? How do you know you wouldn't meet some like-minded people and even make a few friends in the process? The point would not be HOW YOU MET the people, Luther. The point would be HOW YOU ENGAGED with the people you met. I think you are letting your personal issues blind you.

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Look, merely being black doesn't place someone in a particular culture. Neither does being white. Our culture is a result of the people, ideas and values which surround us. Sure there is a "ghetto black" and a "trailer trash white" culture in some places but to equate any of that with an overall determinative culture of a total race is, by definition, racist.

Lutherf said:

I'm not the one who came up with the idea that this kind of event is to foment more personal (friend) relationships based on race. The person who created this thing is the one who did that. My interpretation isn't "fake" and it isn't "dishonest". Whether you think it's "stupid" or not is up to you as I couldn't care less.

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It's like you and I are reading two different things. What I read is that the event specifically targets "white people who don't have any nonwhite friends", with the goal of fostering relationships that will help breakdown some of the barriers (like racial/cultural mythology and ignorance) that are (as all studies show) most prevalent among white (and black) people who have no friends of the other race.

At no point is it stated, or even suggested, that anyone should "pick friends based on race". It's saying "meet people" and hopefully you'll make some friends. It is CLEARLY being promoted as an avenue to MEET people of a different race in a non-threatening environment with the HOPE of fomenting some personal relationships. All of this "pick your friends by race" stuff is coming from you, Luther.

Lutherf said:

A Georgia networking event wants to help white people 'Come Meet a Black Person' - CNN

https://www.facebook.com/events/166061020654788/?active_tab=about



Alright.

I'm not going to dispute the statistics. Based on my experience they're probably accurate. I also figure that the organizer's goal is to encourage interaction. That's fine.

However

Why do this as a "Meet a Black person" event? Why make it all about race? Can't you do the same thing with a "Help clean up the park" event? What the hell am I supposed to do at an event like this? Do I pay my $15 and get to ask the black person if he or she really likes fried chicken and basketball? If I cough up another $5 can I touch their hair? What the hell is the point of this!!??

Seriously, if you want people to get together and talk about stuff that matters then build your event around something that matters. This is......I really don't know what it is.

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Yes and why do they need to do this if diversity is so great.
If diversity is so obviously a great thing ? then why do they need to do something like this i wonder.

Lutherf said:

A Georgia networking event wants to help white people 'Come Meet a Black Person' - CNN

https://www.facebook.com/events/166061020654788/?active_tab=about



Alright.

I'm not going to dispute the statistics. Based on my experience they're probably accurate. I also figure that the organizer's goal is to encourage interaction. That's fine.

However

Why do this as a "Meet a Black person" event? Why make it all about race? Can't you do the same thing with a "Help clean up the park" event? What the hell am I supposed to do at an event like this? Do I pay my $15 and get to ask the black person if he or she really likes fried chicken and basketball? If I cough up another $5 can I touch their hair? What the hell is the point of this!!??

Seriously, if you want people to get together and talk about stuff that matters then build your event around something that matters. This is......I really don't know what it is.

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I don't see a problem with the event, though it's kinda couched in a hamfisted manner. Most racism is prejudice is based off of a lack of exposure so this could help it and maybe it can be the seed to a program that is constructed a little better, after they figure out what works and what doesn't from this event.