just read thru this and i can say so far so good...but someones gonna come in phuck it up...im outta this one

~ I believe that we are all created equal, only through are own inferiority's and society's ways of "manipulation" do we strike out at one another...to "blame another race, ethnic origin for the downfall of the system. There is cruelty in many people and it scares me.

uhhhh...honey, everyone is cruel in one way or another.

Your pup looks petrified in his/her noose....(Just playing witcha dear)

I'm white, clearly. I will not be involved with a black man. That's MY CHOICE. Yes, it goes to my upbringing. AS a "Whitie", I DO NOT APPRECIATE HAVING TO HIDE. I am sick and tired of the poltical correctness. I, as a white person, must swallow all kind's of crap from other race's, because I'm white! They, you, can say whatever you want to me it seem's but, heaven forbid I open my mouth to stand up for myself. I am fed up with having all of this sh!t shoved down my throat.

Preach on Monkey!

I am a bit of the opposite end of the spectrum...I think I have dated pretty much everything except Samoan (I used to be a ho)

But, that was my choice. Just like yours. None of us should have to defend ourselves for what we accept and what we do not. If people want to be shallow....or deep...GOOD for them. Our diferences is what makes it all interesting.

Thank God, not everyone sees things my way....our world would crumble to ruins from everyone frantically getting laid instead of doing thier social duties.

Im still waiting for an answer on this one. The OP is probably offline, so if there is anyone else who can give a reply, please do.

That's what I do too, Dan. And I raise my child not to be racist.

Ive seen predjudice not just against whites and blacks but all minorities really. I have friends of all colours.....and Ive also seen people who will stick to their own kind!!! Its sad really!!!

Blacks have been predjudiced against whites as well as whites against blacks. Ive seen it and found it odd in america....Im from such a multicultural society here that it doesnt really matter what colour you are as long as your good people!

Still trying to figure out why the country of the OP would make a difference.........if so, are the Samoans more racist than Eskimos? Do the Swedish think that the Irish are too white? Do Nigerians thing that Kenyans are too black? Do the Saudi's think that the Egyptians are too tan?

I think I lost IQ points just thinking about this one............

Well i guess i could have a child and do the same! lol!

There has gotta be something else though? I really cant think of a single thing more i can do, apart from be an activist! Maybe i am just dumb.

i grew up around black ppl and 99% of them are my bestfriends and the moral of this is that this subject should never come up EVER!!!!!!!

I disagree with this completely. The only way that discrimination is part of a survival instinct is if the person is "taught" there is danger. Teaching of this "fear" for survival can be taught by suggestion, actions from those considered teachers in the child's life, friends and associations, etc...

Discrimination and prejudice are taught to us. It can be unlearned but only if the person wants to see the other sides position and life.

Oh GAWD,
It's only an issue if you want it to be an issue!
This summer, I welcomed people from Bangladesh, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Africa and other areas...just to name a few. I did not have a problem welcoming people from these countries. I had the time of my life meeting and greeting people from the different countries....why do people have to make this such an issue?
Enough already! Just welcome your neighbor with open arms and move on!

One of my best friends, who i also live with, is a muslim girl(well, woman!). She believes that she has personally NEVER experienced any kind of racism towards her, and that people bring racism onto themselves. I cant completely agree with her, but she does makes a very good point.

I grew up in a racist family. I didn't see it until I got older. I was also raised in a majority black neighborhood. When I was younger, there was a difference in skin color and that was all. As I got older, I noticed that there was a difference in cultures. Not a huge difference, but one big enough to start to separate my friends and I. Fast forward a few more years and it's the late 80's and start of a appreciation of the black culture..didn't mind it. The thing I minded was being told that I (being white) owe the black culture for things done 400 years ago. At 14 I thought that I didn't really have anything to pay with, but again didn't see how I owed anyone. Fast forward a few more years...college years. I have always had friends that were not white and white friends as well. I'm at a larger college, but with a lot of small town kids. I hung out with a lot of the runners on the track team and most of them were not white. I was ostracized by the majority of the throwers on the team (I was a thrower) for hanging with people outside of my race. I've experienced racism on both levels...it is still alive, but the key is to teach the next generations to remove it from their thinking. That way it can cease to exist.

white men cant hump!!! Its all true!!! I seen it on Oprah!!!

Because of your approach and several of your generalizations I have a difficult time wanting to address you a seriously wanting to discuss and important issue fairly. It would seem you have a very limited view of the issue in as much as you for one example make it only a black vs. white issue. It is not.

First off I think referring to someone who has an opinion on this subject as the horses mouth is rude, condesending, and baiting. As someone who uses these "folksy" terms on occassion I hope I am aware that in delicate discussions it is sometimes the smallest references that imly the deepest insults.

Point by point.

My opinion on Race.
I don't particularly like this word in general.

You lable jars not people.

People are unique combinations and just because some of us tend to fall into a zone of genetic markers if some people want to put a lable on it I guess they can but it doesn't make it terribly accurate. With thousands of years of world traveling and interracial cross breeding and birth anomolies there are few true anything even with in groups. If you look at the family tree of most people somewhere there are distinctly different markers with one branch lighter or darker skin, fat or thin lips, curly or straight hair, hair color, eye color, facial features, even certain health issues among some of the markers used to "define" race. I am always amused that when we get right down to it we are all shades of brown. I am sorry I have never seen a truely white person or a truely black person. Even among my rather large immediate family there are ranges of tones. None in my view are better or worse. I am sure there are disadvantages to each but they all react the same to environment. I don't care what color you are if you are subjected to the elements your skin ages, breaks down, and takes on a darkening affect. I would like to know what part of the body defines race? Because if you look at my carcass I guarantee you will see a variety of tones and as I age they definitely are changeing. What always slays me are the people who want to assign a race to me totally excludeing one half because the genetic markers are so similiar. Are my wide hips, high cheekbones, or skin tones one side of my family or another. Does my "race" assignment change because I was raised outside of my culture and taken on certain speech or gestures and habits? I guarantee you if I need a kidney transplant the race on my birth certificate isn't going to be much help. But I move through society most of the time being accepted or discriminated against as one or the other pretty much by who is making the definition. As a child I was a person of color now that I am an adult I am not. That is particularly strange since I perceive myself as and individual and a person and not either. Which is exactly how I have defined the multitude of genetic markers reflected in my grandchildren that would cover about every race on the form. As I watch other groups I find discrimination to be true to form there also. If a person is from one range of tones of one range of hair or nose shape well then they are rated and assigned a pecking order in the social row even if they are very similiar. I am not sure where lighter or darker came into play but it seems to have a huge impact all though I can be hanged if I know why. It seems to have no effect on who is smarter, or kinder, or more generous. or stronger. I have a particular interest in twins and I can tell you that even in twins there are subtle differences. What knocks me out is even when people are very close in appearance there will be a few that seem to adopt a superior or inferior attitude. While economics and intelligence seem to often have a role it is more often personality and parenting (or lack there of) that determins a person's survival and success or failure in society. I think it has a lot to do with the bonding between mother and child. If a child has a pleaseing appearance to the mother, regardless of how they look the child does well. If however the child looks like a hated spouse or sibling or parent the kid doesn't do very well.

Do racist exist? Of course. I think when ever you see groups of people compete there will be winners and loosers in the social selection process. Since it is easier to immediately see skin color it is and obvious marker to group people by. Since you are not going to eleminate competion you are never going to end racism.

Is racism justified? I personally can't see a reason for it. In and intelligent society where we can so easily find other ways to group people I don't see it as necessary.

Perhaps if a person's life experiences are so limited and specific that their only view of a particular group is to be in a negative interchange with them then I think it is natural to have a preference for not wanting to repeat that experience. If I go into a group where I have been previously rejected if I see similiarities in another situation I would be foolish not to take at least part of my experience with me.

Do groups tend to make excuses for their behavior where they can? Sure, I think it is human nature to get away with whatever we can. That is NOT unique to any one race. To even repeat such nonsense that one group is apathetic or lazy is racist wheater directed at your own race or another. It is truely sad indeed when a leader in a group starts defining problems and assigning blame on the basis of race. If the only reason you can justify pulling your act together is your race and not making your race look bad then you are a poor motivator and base your infliction of guilt on the wrong reasons. Good character and self esteem should be based on something a person has control over not an assignment of birth. It is truely sad that in the presence of other great leadership that the clowns that spew this baloney even get air time but they seem to. That a few have learned how to play the race card to get attention in the media doesn't surprize me because it is human nature to notice what is out of the ordinary.

Do I think whites hide in suburbia? I think whites, like anyone else, live where they can afford to live, where there are jobs, and where they percieve there is less crime. I can pretty much guarantee you that if you put a pool of jobs in a swamp people will live in a swamp to have work. Houseing is another big draw. Now that houseing in suburbia is priceing itself out of the market people are moving back into inner city areas and it has very little to do with the color of the neighbors. It has everything to do with privacy and freedom from oppressive houseing codes and skyrocketing transportaion costs and amenities. People moved to suburbia initially for space and the reward of being in "younger" neighborhoods with newer schools and to escape crime of neighborhoods that were dominated by renters and shopping amenities that were crowed out by horrendous retail rents. Retail rents that initially climbed because governments put in services that would pay basiclly whatever was charged as political payolla.
Do whites percieve certain races as more criminal than themselves? Sure; that is what media tells them and everyone else tends to believe it because no one has challenged the statistics. That up until the last 50 years the record keepers in power have been predominintly white probably has something to do with that. What I have seen when any service is offered from Welfare to selling mansions it has a great deal to do with the color of the people administrateing as to who gets what. In the case of welfare I think giving people welfare instead of work is a direct effort to make them helpless and keep them helpless.

Does one group refuse to admidt that racism exists? Of course. If you do not live something day to day are you going to understand it's impact and want it changed? Probably not. You want to fix the problems you deal with day to day. What I have seen is most younger whites have in fact experienced segregation in their school settings where forced integration has been and abismal failure. Go into any so callled integrated high school in the USA and you will see a decidly segregated dining hall, sports, other activities, and cliques. Teachers and administrators openly discriminate which students they tract for the military and certain colleges. It is definitely discriminatory how scholarships are assigned and that creates lasting racism. As does racism in the military.

To suggest that everyone who lives in suburbia is a racist or every other person they are related to is a racist is ludacrist. I have lived in suburbia and inner city neighborhoods and I can tell you the racism I expereinced is no greater in suburbia than it is anywhere else. What I have seen is in ethniclly segregated neighnorhoods in the city there is more internal exileing than in suburbia. In surburbia kids will mix in open play but interor spaces such as daycare, beauty shops, churches, resturants, and entertainment venues in cities still blatently discriminate and it is not only directed at one race but often excludes any race but the race of ownership. So people tend to segregate more and more.

To suggest that racism only exists because of the absence or reason and logic is to ignore the larger economic reasons and the life experiences of many many people. If you are hassled every time you have and exchange with a certain group you are going to get where you dread being around them, avoid them, even become defensive about them. If you are constantly met with the cold shoulder, accused of discrimination when in reality you are just trying to do your business then it creates bitterness and the very behavior that might never have originally existed. Unfortuneately when groups of people live together or feel safe in small groupes to hassle the majority it causes hard feelings that last a very long time. If your child, spouse, parents, friends are constantly in fear of their safety, their equal education, equal employment, houseing, or fair trade there will be racism. It is eleitest to say that because of your experience you could reason away something that it is not a legitmate problem.

I do not believe that you came to this topic bias free. Your questions alone have a decided slant that you believe that one race has extream predjudice that over rides another when if fact that race is equal or declining in numbers to "people of color" collectively and in some areas is in fact the minority.

As someone who has lived all over the USA I can tell you I have experienced more racism in age groupes than in locations. What is surpriseing to me the locations most highly touted for diversity and acceptance and or supposed support of minorities have demonstrated the most racism.