Quote:
Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule
i qualified my earlier remarks, I know many older Americans still have the racism background in their lives. If you want personal stories... My 2 best friends in Jr/Sr High, 1 black and one a Jew. My dad wouldn't let my black friend come to my house, and had a conniption when I brought my jewish friend(even he wasn't practicing - found out a lot later he was gay  glad my dad didn't know that part) with the family on a trip to Colorado. He has mellowed alot with age, but you know it's still there. But I'm not. None of my siblings are in any way that I could ever tell, and my kids wouldn't even consider it, as i said. Far more often, in my opinion, racism is claimed when arguments are actually political based or as an excuse for an action which otherwise would be untenable.
As long as a disagreement or poor behavior can be claimed as rascism, rather than just declaring it civiil or uncivil, legal or illegal, both sides prolong the racial undercurrent that should die an ignominious death.
more of my 2cents |
Just to be clear, I didn't tell that story because I thought it applied to you. It was simply a response to the, "hey stop playing the race card," comment. Your post was good -- judge a man based on his character, not his race.
You're right, it's frustrating when people can't disagree without being called racist. However, we all know that disagreement alone is not racist if the reasons are valid and not racial.
By the same token, people should not be criticized when they, "play the race card." Sometimes they're right, and sometimes they're wrong. Either way, it does us more good to bring these issues to the forefront, rather than brush them aside. I'm not saying you're advocating that -- just trying to clarify.
As long as we ignore race, the people with hidden racism remain ignored. Someday, when racism is truly abolished, then we can ignore race. As it is now, most people think racism is already abolished -- with the exception of a few extremists. This is not the case. Most racists do not even know they are racist -- like my dad. Of course, there are degrees of racism. On one hand, there's the guy who tells racist jokes, and on the other there's the skinhead.
Now, I don't want to bash my dad. I love him very much, and like I said earlier he's a reasonable and intelligent guy for the most part. I hope that I got through to him on some level, and he's now seen the error of his ways.