How racist is America?

[Skyrad 0]

With Barak Obama running for POTUS it seems that so much has been made of his colour. After the hurricane Katrina it seems that the blacks were left to fend for themselves. So often I see on American films and media race being brought up and it appears from the outside looking in (and from the inside looking and listening) that America is quite a racist place. When I say this I'm not just talking about white on black but black against white, mexican against white and so on. Is it really that overt? How racist is America now in 2008? I'm not saying that we don't have issues with racism in the UK, but it seems to be that in the US its far more overt and to some degree more acceptable. Am I wrong? What is it like in the US today when it comes to racism and why does it appear to be such an issue?

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[beowulf 1]

Not near as rascist as many other countries.

[rehmwa 2]

Hypersensitivity to anything aggravates the issue. So we see it terribly bad, especially in congested population areas.

AND - it's so easy to use to make political and personal gain, that there's value in keeping it alive.

so the 2nd and the 1st add up to make it even worse, even if it's a bit insincere.

So yeah, very overt, and very ("acceptable" is a bad word for what you are observing) expected/assumed/indoctrinated/,....??? in all areas.

But we can hope people grow out of it.

But I think the smaller countries are a lot worse, but just don't acknowledge it because it's less of an issue with the less diverse populations. Get them out of the country and the things they say and do are pretty harsh and they don't even know it.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[DSE 5]

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When I say this I'm not just talking about white on black but black against white, mexican against white and so on.

The US is very racially divided from my view. Although some may have their heads stuck in the sand and deny it, it's a very racist country. Socio-economic chasms are wide, and only getting wider in some instances. Obama's popularity might help in the grand scheme but I see it as creating more divide in some regions, and less in others.
Is America less racially divided than it once was? Absolutely. 30 years ago, the concept of a black man running for president would have been considered an abomination. We've made strides, as a society, but the divides are still there. Witness the immigration issues (not that I am in favor of wholesale immigration, it's the language used in the immigration arguments).
Discrimination in lending institutions, schools, social groups, employment opportunities are all very real.
As they are in other parts of the world, IMO.

[SpeedRacer 1]

I've lived in America all my life and I don't know how to answer that question.

I have only very rarely encountered overt racists.

On the whole, I don't think about race too much. I'm always puzzled when the media makes a big noise about race/racism. Maybe it's where I live, but I just don't see race as being such a big issue, but I agree that the media sure does seem to make a big noise about it a lot.

Speed Racer
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[thirdworld19 0]

America is nothing compared to some other countries.

In Egypt, it is typical to pay people based on their race - and that is a well-known and published fact. For instance, if your housekeeper is Egyptian, you pay her next to nothing, but you also expect less work and a fair amount of stealing. An Ethiopian is paid a bit more, but works a bit harder and doesn't steal as much. If you really want a good housekeeper, hire a Pilipino. You'll have to pay more, but you also get a clean house and no stealing.
Racism is very much out in the open in many other countries. Some media publications (again, in Egypt) state that their target audience is the "A" class Egyptians (not those from Upper Egypt - with darker skin).
And many Egyptians don't treat other races well at all. The Sudanese refugees here suffer horribly, but for many, it's better than being killed in your home country.
Once you travel or live outside the West, you realize how good you actually have it.

[SpeedRacer 1]

It's funny when you consider: Back when people were more racist and sexist, there was very little attention paid to it by the media.

It's almost an inverse relationship.

Speed Racer
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[rushmc 23]

The country is less racists than Obama is.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[piper17 1]

As a "typical white person" (according to Obama), I would have to agree with rushmc!

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[vortexring 0]

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America is nothing compared to some other countries.

In Egypt, it is typical to pay people based on their race - and that is a well-known and published fact. For instance, if your housekeeper is Egyptian, you pay her next to nothing, but you also expect less work and a fair amount of stealing. An Ethiopian is paid a bit more, but works a bit harder and doesn't steal as much. If you really want a good housekeeper, hire a Pilipino. You'll have to pay more, but you also get a clean house and no stealing.
Racism is very much out in the open in many other countries. Some media publications (again, in Egypt) state that their target audience is the "A" class Egyptians (not those from Upper Egypt - with darker skin).
And many Egyptians don't treat other races well at all. The Sudanese refugees here suffer horribly, but for many, it's better than being killed in your home country.
Once you travel or live outside the West, you realize how good you actually have it.

You're very right - so many aspects of our life are far better. But I've also found once non-Western people have lived in the West for a while, it isn't quite as good as they expected it to be. Generally it'll still be a better option than going back to where their from, and face starvation, persecution and what have you.

So whilst I do recognise your earlier points from the other post by looking at it from this perspective; the downward spiral of my society still remains an issue for me.

edit: Concerning racism; it generally stems from ignorance.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[Skyrad 0]

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Not near as rascist as many other countries.

This isn't a knock america thread, I'm genuinly interested in what its like and why that is. Also this isn't a thread about which Presidential candidate is best its a thread that is just about the question in the title.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[Skyrad 0]

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Socio-economic chasms are wide, and only getting wider in some instances.

Are the socio-economic gulfs divided alone racial lines though? Is there a glass ceiling that black and ethnic minorities hit?

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[Skyrad 0]

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America is nothing compared to some other countries.

In Egypt, it is typical to pay people based on their race - and that is a well-known and published fact. For instance, if your housekeeper is Egyptian, you pay her next to nothing, but you also expect less work and a fair amount of stealing. An Ethiopian is paid a bit more, but works a bit harder and doesn't steal as much. If you really want a good housekeeper, hire a Pilipino. You'll have to pay more, but you also get a clean house and no stealing.
Racism is very much out in the open in many other countries. Some media publications (again, in Egypt) state that their target audience is the "A" class Egyptians (not those from Upper Egypt - with darker skin).
And many Egyptians don't treat other races well at all. The Sudanese refugees here suffer horribly, but for many, it's better than being killed in your home country.
Once you travel or live outside the West, you realize how good you actually have it.

I have and do travel outside the west on a very regular basis and know exactly what is what. However, I'm not making comparisons with other countries as I don't want to get into a 'my countries better than yours' pissing match. I'm just interested in what its like in the states compared to the media portral and what I see on the news and documentaries.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[kallend 2,226]

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Not near as rascist as many other countries.

Moral relativism strikes again.

The answer to the question is:

VERY,

but it's getting better. Within my memory I saw (on TV) a state governor declaring "segregation forever". Now it's more covert (driving while black is still an offense in Chicago, for example)

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[DSE 5]

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edit: Concerning racism; it generally stems from ignorance.

I disagree. It generally stems from "you're different than I am, culturally I don't like what/who you are, even if I do have an understanding of the periphery of your culture, and because you've been a 'lesser culture' for the past 1000 years, you're still a lesser culture in my eyes."
If the collective believes in XYZ and the minority does not, the minority is automatically a "them" while everyone else is an "us."

[vortexring 0]

But what you said arguably stems from the state or fact of being ignorant; lacking in knowledge, learning, information, etc.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[DSE 5]

Again, I disagree. I have a perfect understanding of a particular religous group, too. And refuse to accept the culture or the concept. And discriminate (on a personal level) against that religious group. Just as they in turn, discriminate against others as well.

I don't care if you have a fundamental understanding of the ghetto, barrio, or other class lifestyle; it doesn't mean you are accepting or are willing/able to accept a certain class, race, religion. There are *many* people of color that discriminate against their own culture. It's exceptionally common.
Racism does have an ignorance component; I don't accept that it's a primary component ergo, racism being borne out of ignorance.

[Royd 0]

I was in Sam's Club, a wholesale warehouse, in Jacksonville, Fl., the other day.
As I sat and ate a piece of pizza, I watched and listened to people who passed me.

I would say that no more than 1/3 of the people could be labelled as 'white american.' I probably heard a minimum of 4 languages in a 30 min. time span.
My thoughts were along the line of, "Hmmm. Very interesting."
I also saw a lot of dark skinned women with American men.

[vortexring 0]

Sure, that's fair enough, although I've generally found racism generally stems from ignorance.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[Royd 0]

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but it's getting better. Within my memory I saw (on TV) a state governor declaring "segregation forever". Now it's more covert (driving while black is still an offense in Chicago, for example)

I thought you open minded, Blue Staters were so above all of that.

[kallend 2,226]

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but it's getting better. Within my memory I saw (on TV) a state governor declaring "segregation forever". Now it's more covert (driving while black is still an offense in Chicago, for example)

I thought you open minded, Blue Staters were so above all of that.

I have news for you: Chicago isn't a state.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Amazon 7]

I think I saw more outright overt racism in the two nortern cities of Milwaukee and Chicago than I ever saw in the south when I was growing up in the 1950's and 1960's. I remember vividly the riots that occured after MLK was shot.

The neighborhoods were segragated based on race and ethnicity....with many border areas between the races becoming less of a mixing pot as white flight to the suburbs occured. Usually the old neighborhoods would fall into disrepair as the homes went from being ownre occupied to renters who would not take care of the property and slum lord owners who wanted the rent but would do nothing to fix or maintain the properties.

Today I can look on the Google Maps photos of the north side of Milwakee that I lived in once upon a time and there are now quite a few vacant lots with no houses on the property. Most of those houses had been two story duplexes where the owner lived in one unit and rented the other unit to a family. It got to be a tougher and tougher neighboodhood till finally my mother moved us to the suburbs.


On the flip side.. I think the south had a different form of racism. People of different races pretty much knew their places in society and did not socialize or did not challenge the status quo like that which was occuring in the north.

[beowulf 1]

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Not near as rascist as many other countries.

Moral relativism strikes again.

The answer to the question is:

VERY,

but it's getting better. Within my memory I saw (on TV) a state governor declaring "segregation forever". Now it's more covert (driving while black is still an offense in Chicago, for example)

Well the question was "How racist is America?" which can only be answered by comparing America to other countries. In this case it is about moral relativism.

[thirdworld19 0]

I would be curious, of those that believe that racism is prevalent in the American society, what specific acts they see that they consider to be racist. I don't mean those things that they saw on the news or heard from a friend of a friend.

[lawrocket 3]

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Socio-economic chasms are wide, and only getting wider in some instances.

Are the socio-economic gulfs divided alone racial lines though? Is there a glass ceiling that black and ethnic minorities hit?

No. There is not. And that is apparently the big problem.

Many would like the world to believe that they cannot get ahead. The poverty pimps seek to ensure that people believe that, as blacks, they cannot get ahead due to racism.

But then Clarence Thomas and Colin Powell and Condi Rice are mentioned. They did it. They somehow rose. How did they do it?

It is then explained that they did it because they "sold out." They are sell-outs, oreos, Uncle Toms, etc. They don't "act black" or "think black."

Thus, racism is alive and well. Sadly. There are forces and powers that be that cannot let it die. They must keep it in order to maintain their power.

There is also racism by white crackers, latinos, etc.

But racism in America? Compared to any place I have seen, it does not seem as prevalent. England's got the Pakis that they don't seem to like. Europe has its own white racist groups.

My wife is hotter than your wife.