Race Relations
A constant problem in the developed world has been the relation of races with each other. People are destined to judge each other for one reason or another, and the laziest/easiest way to do so has always been to judge based on how others look. Judging based on color allows for prejudices that are often unfounded and unintelligent, and which just perpetuate a cycle of ignorance and regression. Prejudice is not a quality that is a positive in any human being, much less when it does not allow for common sense or relevance.
America is a country that was founded with race relations on the back burners, and is a country which had much to overcome in that department. Many claim that America still has many strides to make to conquer the problem, but not all citizens of a country can be forced to think a certain way. The greatest thing about our country is that individuals are allowed to think whatever they want. This being the greatest thing, it has also been one of the most divisive. No issue has ever sparked as much debate, hatred and suffering as race. Were it not for race differences between slaves and masters, the states rights issues of the South would not have been as heated as they were, and certainly would not have sparked a national war. This is not to say that the South would not have had a complaint for states rights, it is to say that it would not have come about the same way as it did.
Many a problem has plagued the USA since the time of the Civil War, and many obstacles have been overcome in pursuit of a better country. When our founding fathers created the perfect country, they gave us the foundation for a great country, and I will vote that we have created that great country where people can be themselves. A problem that consistently arises in my own mind continues to be race relations. The races were supposedly integrated in the middle 20th Century, yet I can not find that to be true. There is a presidential candidate running for the Democrat Party is not a phrase I have heard very much this past year. Barack Obama is not a presidential candidate running for office with the ideas he has to make out country better. Obama is the first black candidate. Barack Obama is a black man, and all that seems to matter to many is that fact. African American. Native American. Irish American. Indian American. None of these should be an identification with which we use to distinguish ourselves from our neighbors.
When our country was founded it was compared to a melting pot, in which individual ingredients only give a hint of their real flavor. Allowing people to be separated based on their differences allows for the very segregation that we have fought to abolish. We are Americans, and that is all that should matter. If some of these Americans have personality aspects that they wish to acknowledge, that is a great thing, but these should not be what we use to define ourselves. If Americans are allowed to be classified into thousands of categories, they cease to be Americans, but instead continue to take the minority status that creates problems and belies the melting pot of all humans in our country.. Separating by race, creed, religion, sex, etc. is something that has gotten some countries in the greatest of trouble and is a crux that we have fought since the founding of our very country.
Race Relations
By duffmann808 - Posted on August 10th, 2008
Tagged: Race Relations
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This is a problem. It is a problem because
a) There are a lot of immigrants in America. That being said, they're not going to drop their old nationality for the sake of this new one they adopted purely for money/goal sake.
b) Even if a black or asian person is now really America, ie, they've been born and conceived and raised in America, they still feel a connection to where their family came from.
Its really hard to just stop all this and say "We're American" when all of our cultures so deeply indicate we are different. Its not just our skin colour. Physical appearance is just a quick and lazy way to remember our deep rooted differences.
Im not asking them to not identify with their race, I am asking them to not use that as their identity. They use it as a reason and a way to set themselves above and apart from the rest of society. We are all immigrants, but ultimately we are all Americans.
First, a minute point:
"Barack Obama is not a presidential candidate running for office with the ideas he has to make out country better."
Au contraire... I have heard many times that he is the 'candidate of change.' I have also heard many times that he is the first black candidate... but whenever I have heard it, it has been in a positive way. (Many being hopeful of a black president, or just breaking down racial barriers.) Which leads me into my second, less-minute point...
"None of these should be an identification with which we use to distinguish ourselves from our neighbors."
I entirely disagree with you here. The problem is not identifying ourselves as 'white' or 'black,' but as Americans. We are all, no matter what our skin color or original nationality, first and foremost are AMERICANS. A lot of people, specifically (but not limited to) illegal immigrants, define themselves firstly as Italian or Japanese or Mexican or Chinese or German or whatever country they came from.
Many positives can be derived of racial differences being accepted and appreciated. We can learn from other cultures. Culture is a source of pride and can be a source of humor. Culture makes someone infinitely more interesting. Race is apart of culture, but does not define it, which is where many people make their mistake in judgement. Points of view do not come from race, they come from culture.
Lol, I have more to say but as I've made my point, I'll end it here.
Responding to your first "minute point", Barry keeps claiming that he is the candidate of change and that he such great ideas, but all I see from him is thinly veiled socialism. I can go blue in the face from saying all day that we are going to make everyone happy and give everyone money and destroy all of the evils of the world, but in all reality that is not how, why or in any way associated with the way our government was set up to run. He has no original ideas, and from an economists point of view, it is quite frightening to look at his economic plan.
Secondly, if we originally identify ourselves as "Americans", then why do we need to preface it with African, Asian, Korean, Irish, etc.? If we are Americans, we are Americans. Americans stand united and are all working for the same goals, but we can not do that if we continue to push the agenda of separating ourselves by culture. Cultures have their place within the home and within the community, but not whatsoever within government policy, insofar as none are being relegated to second billing.
I completely agree with most of everything I think.
I was just wondering if you knew how to use the 'reply' so that the conversation thread can flow and us innocent bystanders do not get lost or confused? It is at the bottom of the comment you are refering too, I think its the second link.
~T
A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins. ~Benjamin Franklin
Sorry, every blog and forum site I reply on has it phased in differently, I will try to fix my mild retardation.
We have a couple of members on the site who actually have some mild developmental/cognitive disabilities, so please be a little less glib when calling anyone, yourself included, "retarded." Thanks.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Maybe I didn't make myself completely clear. On your reply to my first point, I agree with you, I was just pointing out that the media is emphasizing that he is the first black candidate but they were more emphasizing that he was the 'candidate of change.' I don't agree with some of his policies but I don't think that the media only sees him as the first black candidate.
Your second point: I thought that's what I was saying in my post but perhaps you understood it differently than I did. But basically what you said, I was trying to say.