JACK ARMY, scanning my sector!
Comments like yours are exactly why they need a class on race relations. PBS has a great site to help. http://www.pbs.org/race/000_Gene...000_00-
Home.htm Read all the background readings. There is no excuse for your ignorance. Take personal responsibility for ending it.
"Comments like yours are exactly why they need a class on race relations."
How so? I tried (maybe not adequately) to illustrate how, without the "benefit" of a race relations class taught in a public high school, I grew up without racism. Once I learned about racism and how horrible it was/can be, I was glad that I didn't have to struggle with unlearning racial prejudice.
"There is no excuse for your ignorance. Take personal responsibility for ending it."
Uh, again, what am I ignorant about in this situation? That racism exists? That is is bad? That people of all races can live in harmony if we put aside the differences in the way our bodies look? If you presume that I'm ignorant of those things, you presume too much. If it is something else, then I need it pointed out because my ignorance is blinding me. The PBS Link didn't show me anything that I didn't already know, and learned without the benefit of a special high school class.
Finally, I understand what racism is. I grew up moving around and have lived in very diverse communities (the military kinda does that to ya). I have also worked in what I consider to be a pretty diverse organization: the US Army. I don't see white, black, red, brown or yellow Soldiers. I see Soldiers. I live with them, I work with them, and I'm willing to die with them, just as they are. So, your vague statements that my comments explain why race relations classes are necessary and how I'm ignorant seem to be more inflammatory than helpful. Don't assume that someone that does not find value in other's ideas of racial equality is ignorant of racism.
Also, something that I didn't say in my post or in my previous comments:
Racial relations is a class that should be taught by parents. Mine did. That's what parents do - they teach social values. School teach how to read, write and use math. They need to concentrate on those skills and stop socially-promoting kids and giving them diplomas they didn't earn, regardless of race.
That, in my opinion, is a big part of what is wrong with public schools anyway. Nobody can teach my children my values better than I can. But "we" have let our schools become proxy parents instead of taking responsiblity for training our children values and social morays, we expect teachers to do it. What makes them better at it than me? Nothing! So they need to stop... more to the point, parents need to stop them. How? Free and fair elections. We got 'em, but we haven't been using them to ensure our schools are run be people that want to teach basic subjects and leave socialization to parents.
Of course, parents, you have to step up to the plate and actually parent. Don't get pissed off when your kid gets sent home because he or she painted his or her hair green and is a distraction. Deal with it! Stop that anti-social behavior and teach your children when it is OK to express themselves and when it is not.
[panting...] OK, I'm off the soapbox... for now.
Save yourself some aggravation, Jack. A quick look at Shannon's blog reveals that the kids has serious racial issues. You're talking to a brick wall.
A few quotes from her blog:
"So I really can't stand how nothing is ever a white person's fault or responsibility."
"It's just like dude, you ain't better than anyone else, so shut the fuck up. Sucking white dick ain't going to do nothing for you in the long run. And that's all self hate is- sucking white dick."
I can't even figure out what she's saying here:
"Especially if they are doing stuff like killing our weeds or whatever southern lawns or whatever does."
For mild amusement, check her links list. Some pretty weird stuff there.
And you're 100% correct that values should be taught at home and not in school. In the final analysis values are taught at home, anyway. If your parents are boneheads they can teach you all the race relations classes in the world and you're still going to assimilate your parents' values anyway.
Ok, I'm off to find someone to repress.
Thanks, Snake. I did check out her blog and noticed the disjointed writing and confusing blathering...
I got a bit fired up and it got out before I could stop it... anyway, it's all good!
I'm off to kill some southern grass... I mean mow the lawn!
You reminded me: "Notice the oppression inherent in the system!"
Maybe the "soft spoken carpenter" needs a nail in his ass. I really like when the state spends my tax money on a bunch of selfish, uninformed, want, need and completely spoiled school children. It is a shame when school systems such as these totally disrespect the sacrifices of our men and women for their lifestyles and their freedoms. It is pathetic, and I would not want this country to be controlled in the future by these indignant children. Wow, makes you want to slap the parents 
It sounds like they want a draft. Be careful what you wish for because if you go too far "protecting" your children from the evil military, you might just shove them into our arms instead...
"I think a big reason for that is because I didn't have anyone ramming "race relations" down my throat."
I remember when my kids first realized that they were supposed to notice people's color... they were watching an educational show on PBS. It confused them for a moment because it had never occured to them before that the little black boy at church was actually different than they were. Everyone's hair and skin is different, after all.
Gotta love PBS.
What would we do without them?
I had the same upbringing, maybe it's unique to the SW USA =) Race was not an issue; I lived in what would be politically called an ethnically diverse neighborhood.
People were judged on their merits, behaviors and actions, not on race or religious preference.
I really did not realize how unique my upbringing was, until I moved to SC 6 years ago and **WOW** talk about culture shock!!!
In TN, the upbringing in the home is basically, that whites are oppressed by blacks trying to have human dignity. It also doesn't have any restriction on slandering someone's race right in front of them.
I think so called colorblindness is racist because it puts how whites feel at the center of discussion rather than the material conditions of people of color. I see a lot of patting one's self on the back over how you don't see color.
That's not solving the health disparities that KILL black people. That's not cleaning up the poison in their neighborhoods. That's not stopping our incarcaration rates or sprawl caused by white flight. I really don't care if you feel good about yourself or whether you think my writing is good.
I do care about whether you learn what racism is.
http://www.blackliving.com/forum....php?
t3913.html
Thanks for the link brother, I've received some quality comments, and quite a bit of amusement from the lively "commentary" you have been picking up over here.
I do care about whether you learn what racism is too. I'm sure I could drive up to Garfield High and try to pick up the old curriculum. Just let me know.
Don't need the link, Shannon. You've already shown us racism.
If I am so racist, why am I the one who would care if 80,000 whites died while you couldn't give a shit about blacks? It's not just saying the right pretty things, or feeling good about yourself. It's about respect for others' existence. If you can't get past a bruised ego to care about people of different skin colors, then what exactly is wrong with you?
I know I'm not racist, but know I know that I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about, Shannon.
Uh, I think that you are assuming that I wouldn't/don't care if blacks die? Is that what you are trying to say? If so, wrong assumption. I am concerned when any American dies.
I think that is the difference here: to me people are defined by their profession, nationality, merits, that sort of thing. It seems (I'm assuming here) that to you there are white-Americans, black-Americans, etc. I don't see that. I see Americans. Mostly good ones, too, regardless of their background.
Shannon, I feel a hug coming on!
I think a lot of what's holding some minority groups down is self-pity and a victim mentality. And no, I'm not white...
It's a victim mentality that, by definition, sees non-whites as incapable and needing to be cared for. Who's going to care for them? Whites of course. And my fingers feel dirty just typing that.
Refusing to buy into this isn't racism, it's philosophical differences about what it means to be human and have human dignity. Some people really believe that being taken care of isn't insulting and demeaning. Or else that some groups really don't have the capability, even in the absence of racist opposition, that a level playing field and color blindness can't work because people *aren't* inherently equal.
And yes... that is racist.
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