What is it with all of this "Ethnicity/ background" woojamaflip they need when filling out forms,etc,etc..............Why should it be an issue ( especially when applying for a job?) what business is it for anyone to ask for your sexual orientation,colour or creed as long as the person applying has the right qualifications for the job?

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!

Of course racism is alive and well. It'll take many more generations of different races living together before they actually get it into their thick skulls that we are all human and equals.

And for the record, I am not not racist, I loath everyone regardless of age, race or sex!

Dan-can i just jump in? try to explain things here...it is really truely difficult to understand what you can do unless you see it for your self.

i grew up in the mid-west illinois small town 7500 people. there were 2 black students in my high school. the rest were entirely white. i never met anyone or new anyone from another ethnicity until i moved to NYC 20yrs ago.i just recently came back to illinois near small town.

i am just shocked at the racicsm still here today.
i don't think there is necessarily a specific act that you must do. i understand wanting clarification on that issue. the thing is, in NYC the racism was more under the table....nobody would dare speak out against the strong high number of minorities from around the globe even among co-workers or casual friends. the racism wasn't as blatantly obvious as it is here in illinois. in "sophisticated" multi cultural urban areas...the racism is not clearly seen. But trust me it is still there....i know London is very different and much more open minded than the most populated cities in the us. i think this is because of my wonderful American history, slavery, no equal rights, keep the black man down attitude and it is and was very much a reality. e

London does not have this history, it was not an issue in london and it is completely understandable that you would obviouly not know what to do to prevent. it is just not like that in england. racism is rapant here in the us. furthermore, i think it is great to have an outside perspective from another country. This just reminds dumb*** backwords Americans how stupid we really are.

sorry so long

Sorry about the title - just wanted to grab your attention.

I just wanted to open up this dialogue because I like to get my information from the 'horse's mouth' so to speak.

I just want you guys to give any opinion you want on race and racism. Does it exist? Does it no longer exist? Was it ever or is it still justified?

Do you believe that Blacks makes a bunch of excuses to draw attention away from their own apathy and laziness?

Do you believe that Whites hide in suburbia and refuse to admit that racism exists today, even though every other person they know or are related to is racist?

I am just throwing topics out there to stimulate your mind.....these are very relevant issues to thousands of people in America to this very day.

I encourage all to express their opinion. It doesn't matter in this forum if you are racist, bigoted, Black, White, Male, Female, whatever...ALL can speak without recrimination from myself at least.

I do want to ask that you follow my ONLY rule: Please be respectful. If someone says something you don't like....do not get personal, or nasty... or get in your feelings. It is my belief that the only reason racism exists is because we let personal feelings get in the way of objective reasoning and logic.

With that.....let's chat!

Racism is rampant here in England as well, although i do agree that it is different, and less severe. Different races arent so segregated and we dont really have ghettos, although some areas are more popular for certain cultures and whites can be a minority in them. We just dont have enough space for that segregation to occur here, it forces us to live together.

For HUNDREDS of years London especially has had migrants from all over the world coming, going and settling. Please believe me that we have a very long and in depth history on this subject.

Outside of london, especially in certain area up North, it would take a pretty brave ethnic person to try to move to. They are by no means going to be welcomed with open arms.

I still want the OP to respond to my question, what else can i do apart from not be racist? I know you have said there is no specific act i can do, and that confirms what i was thinking. But the OP said i was hiding and that without us ALL facing the problem together, the racism will keep on rolling, rolling, rolling..

The OP is a black man, and i want to know what he thinks i can do more. Because its obvious he thinks that people like me are to blame for the continued racism in society. Or if he would like to address the same question in respect of what a white american should specifically do, then id be happy with that. But if he cant offer me anything, and if nobody else can, then it will be quite clear to be that the problem lies more within HIM than myself, and others like me.

I really dont mind what he says against white racist people, but to say that white non racist people are part of the problem, sounds pretty racist to me in itself. It is like saying all white people are to blame...

For HUNDREDS of years London especially has had migrants from all over the world coming, going and settling. Please believe me that we have a very long and in depth history on this subject.

Oldham, Blackburn, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bedford, Oxford, Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering,Rushden,Old, Milton Keynes,Leicester.................To name a few, these are all places ( city,towns and villages) with a very large contingent of minority races.

I agree, just look at how they treated (and still treat) the Irish.

I stand corrected. *I would be a total groupie for Justin Timberlake*

Sorry about the title - just wanted to grab your attention.

I just wanted to open up this dialogue because I like to get my information from the 'horse's mouth' so to speak.

I just want you guys to give any opinion you want on race and racism. Does it exist? Does it no longer exist? Was it ever or is it still justified?

Do you believe that Blacks makes a bunch of excuses to draw attention away from their own apathy and laziness?

Do you believe that Whites hide in suburbia and refuse to admit that racism exists today, even though every other person they know or are related to is racist?

I am just throwing topics out there to stimulate your mind.....these are very relevant issues to thousands of people in America to this very day.

I encourage all to express their opinion. It doesn't matter in this forum if you are racist, bigoted, Black, White, Male, Female, whatever...ALL can speak without recrimination from myself at least.

I do want to ask that you follow my ONLY rule: Please be respectful. If someone says something you don't like....do not get personal, or nasty... or get in your feelings. It is my belief that the only reason racism exists is because we let personal feelings get in the way of objective reasoning and logic.

With that.....let's chat!

I have raised my 2 kids to not be racist or any other kind of prejudiced. My son's room mate at college is a black guy from Nigeria. My daughter is still in HS and has black friends.

BUT

For reasons I won't go into, we ended up living in a housing project that was 90% black. We were the ones that racism was perpetrated on. My daughter was actually assaulted on the bus she takes to school. Not by all the kids (they were all black except her), but by most. The black driver totally ignored it. I have been called a whit B**ch too many times to count. I pulled up to my apt one evening and some rap song was playing "I want some of what you got b**ch". ANYONE who called me that would get slapped upside the head. I was never even tempted in my whole life to use the "N" word until I lived there. I think it's a cultural problem more than a color problem. The people raised in this "ghetto" culture just acted totally insane. I have moved now and things are gratefully, for the most part back to normal. I know there is plenty of white trash out there too. I think that racism comes from people who have very low esteem and feel like they have to put anyone different down. I actually feel sorry for them.

I hope that sometime in the near future the playing field will more level and all this racism from all ethnic groups will end. That includes the extremist who would like to wipe the US off of the face of the earth.

Even on this site, they ask about race. I think there is just one race the human race. I LOOK white but my gene pool is so diverse that just about anyone could find a problem with my background. Ignorant people are everywhere.

Peace to all

Racism is rampant here in England as well, although i do agree that it is different, and less severe. Different races arent so segregated and we dont really have ghettos, although some areas are more popular for certain cultures and whites can be a minority in them. We just dont have enough space for that segregation to occur here, it forces us to live together.

For HUNDREDS of years London especially has had migrants from all over the world coming, going and settling. Please believe me that we have a very long and in depth history on this subject.

Outside of london, especially in certain area up North, it would take a pretty brave ethnic person to try to move to. They are by no means going to be welcomed with open arms.

I still want the OP to respond to my question, what else can i do apart from not be racist? I know you have said there is no specific act i can do, and that confirms what i was thinking. But the OP said i was hiding and that without us ALL facing the problem together, the racism will keep on rolling, rolling, rolling..

The OP is a black man, and i want to know what he thinks i can do more. Because its obvious he thinks that people like me are to blame for the continued racism in society. Or if he would like to address the same question in respect of what a white american should specifically do, then id be happy with that. But if he cant offer me anything, and if nobody else can, then it will be quite clear to be that the problem lies more within HIM than myself, and others like me.

I really dont mind what he says against white racist people, but to say that white non racist people are part of the problem, sounds pretty racist to me in itself. It is like saying all white people are to blame...

What non racist white folks can do is call it when it is done around them. Don't allow ethnic jokes around you. Don't allow racist remarks without telling the person that wasn't cool at all. You would be surprised how much of a difference one person can make.

I have been in situations when I was the only white person in a group and the police will ID all the other people and leave me alone, that is wrong. I have been in situations to see the brutality of police against blacks. I know it still exists and it will take everyone to stop it when they see it or hear it and eventually the racists will realize noone is cooperating with them.

Right now we have the undercover racists like Bush, he has made a whole country prejudice against muslims. Undercurrents of prejudice can be very dangerous and people need to watch for these.

Racist political stances are also dangerous. Political stances on not helping the poor are usually racially motivated. Political stances on harder criminal charges are sometimes racially motivated. Political stances on less government can be racially motivated, the south has hated the federal government for it's interference when they were treating blacks badly down there. There are more but you have to always watch for the possibility of racism.

This country was began by racists. So we still have work to do to undo the base of racism that exist from then.