# Black/White Race Wars **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062 "2012-07-22T19:03:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![clythgoec](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@clythgoec](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clythgoec)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/1 "2012-07-22T19:03:37Z")
I like to think optimistically when it comes to race–you know, that eventually we will all get along as one culture. The more I study the history of race as a black and white issue throughout the world, however, the less certain I become. Can anyone address if, when, and how racial issues wil dissolve in the U.S. and throughout the rest of the world? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/2 "2012-07-22T20:04:09Z")
Well, let me just fire up the ol’ time machine… I’ll get right back to you three days ago. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/3 "2012-07-22T20:13:34Z")
> [@clythgoec](#): > > I like to think optimistically when it comes to race–you know, that eventually we will all get along as one culture. The more I study the history of race as a black and white issue throughout the world, however, the less certain I become. Can anyone address if, when, and how racial issues wil dissolve in the U.S. and throughout the rest of the world? Sex. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/4 "2012-07-22T20:47:25Z")
Since this involves speculation, let’s move it over to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/5 "2012-07-22T20:49:12Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Sex. This. The US is an outlier because we invented a rigid color line in order to prevent indentured servant rebellions and maintain the economic and political stability in the Mid Atlantic colonies. [http://essays.backintyme.com/item/12](http://essays.backintyme.com/item/12) [http://essays.backintyme.com/item/43](http://essays.backintyme.com/item/43) Everywhere else in the New World, countries with an African descended minority saw that minority disappear through intermarriage. This is what happened in Mexico and Argentina. In countries where nearly half the population was of majority African descent, the mixing process produced a white minority, a black minority, and a brown/beige majority. Brazil, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba. In Europe, what are now Spain, Portugal, southern Italy, Sicily, and Greece also had minority populations of sub Saharan African ancestry. We know this based on DNA analysis. The influx of SSA DNA may date back to the Roman Empire, or it may be the result of African slaves imported into Europe during the colonial era, or both. All of these minority populations have long since disappeared through intermarriage. [http://essays.backintyme.com/item/578](http://essays.backintyme.com/item/578) ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/6 "2012-07-22T20:50:26Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Sex. Yep. As a long dead sage had once said[ > [@](#): > > I ain’t a killer, but don’t push me; > revenge is like the sweetest joy, next to getting pussy. ]([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgjA5NLFjKM&t=0m03s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgjA5NLFjKM&t=0m03s))There you go. Sex is better then revenge, even. You know, it’s shocking on how many of the world’s problems could be solved with a good long round of hot, sweaty, sticky, sex…or maybe that’s just my solution to everything? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/7 "2012-07-22T21:06:51Z")
Wars are going to be waged over water or oil or maybe religion. Race? Way down on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/8 "2012-07-22T22:54:14Z")
Interbreeding as mentioned. Also; prejudices come, prejudices go. The prejudice against left handers lasted millennia, it’s even in our language (sinister = left); and in a few decades in this country it pretty much vanished. You aren’t going to eliminate the human tendency to be prejudiced against _somebody_ barring genetic engineering, but it’s entirely possible that the specific prejudice of racism will simply fall out of fashion in this country. To be replaced by something else no doubt, but there’s no telling what; maybe by then the fashion will be to hate cyborgs or something. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/9 "2012-07-23T00:25:40Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > \; maybe by then the fashion will be to hate cyborgs or something. Well, they _DO_ go around assimilating/upgrading anything with a pulse, after all No, resistance is NOT futile! ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/10 "2012-07-23T01:49:46Z")
In a few years, people are going to be all “White and black? That’s so 20th century!” Hispanics and Asian folk are making the old dichotomy obsolete, in addition to all those Mariah Carey-Derek Jeeter-Tiger Woods folks. As far as “wars” go, I think history will show that there will be less racial strife in the 21sth century than ever before. But expect to find the religions continuing to duke it out. Race will be caught in the cross hairs, but it won’t be the central issue wadding up the collective panty. ---
**Author:** ![highrollinwooded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/71c47a/32.png) [@highrollinwooded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/highrollinwooded)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/11 "2012-07-23T02:12:42Z")
Born in Detroit…Highland Park actually…my Dad inforned me tonite that a month after the Detroit riots, he was scared to death to pick me up from the hospital in Highland Park, Mi…interesting information… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/12 "2012-07-23T02:25:27Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Wars are going to be waged over water or oil or maybe religion. Race? Way down on the list. ^This. The people who are agitated by their racism nowadays are mostly old and going to die out soon enough. Youth of today been growing up in a very different environment, racially, and I can’t see them growing up on the same racism as in the old generations. Pretty much the same story with homophobia, in the USA anyway. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/13 "2012-07-23T03:10:56Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > Everywhere else in the New World, countries with an African descended minority saw that minority disappear through intermarriage. This is what happened in Mexico and Argentina. Canada still has African-descended minorities. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/14 "2012-07-23T03:24:20Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > Canada still has African-descended minorities. Almost entirely recent immigrants and their descendants. You’ll be hard pressed to find Canadians of visible African descent whose ancestry in Canada goes back a hundred years. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/15 "2012-07-23T03:29:08Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > In a few years, people are going to be all “White and black? That’s so 20th century!” Hispanics and Asian folk are making the old dichotomy obsolete, in addition to all those Mariah Carey-Derek Jeeter-Tiger Woods folks. > > As far as “wars” go, I think history will show that there will be less racial strife in the 21sth century than ever before. But expect to find the religions continuing to duke it out. Race will be caught in the cross hairs, but it won’t be the central issue wadding up the collective panty. That’s how I feel too. I’m sure there will still be small pockets of racial tension for many years, but I do feel that culture has changed a lot and most young people don’t think of black vs. white as being the huge deal that older people do. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/16 "2012-07-23T06:24:58Z")
Yeah, a lot of old racists are dropping dead, that’s good for society. If this keeps up, in a couple of generations, meeting a racists will seem quaint, like going to Lancaster to watch the Amish make quilts; we’ll go to the pockets of racism left and watch them scream things at their TVs. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/17 "2012-07-23T17:11:43Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > This. > > The US is an outlier because we invented a rigid color line in order to prevent indentured servant rebellions and maintain the economic and political stability in the Mid Atlantic colonies. > > [http://essays.backintyme.com/item/12](http://essays.backintyme.com/item/12) > > [http://essays.backintyme.com/item/43](http://essays.backintyme.com/item/43) > > Everywhere else in the New World, countries with an African descended minority saw that minority disappear through intermarriage. This is what happened in Mexico and Argentina. > > In countries where nearly half the population was of majority African descent, the mixing process produced a white minority, a black minority, and a brown/beige majority. Brazil, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba. > > In Europe, what are now Spain, Portugal, southern Italy, Sicily, and Greece also had minority populations of sub Saharan African ancestry. We know this based on DNA analysis. The influx of SSA DNA may date back to the Roman Empire, or it may be the result of African slaves imported into Europe during the colonial era, or both. All of these minority populations have long since disappeared through intermarriage. > > [http://essays.backintyme.com/item/578](http://essays.backintyme.com/item/578) For Brazil this is not true, 54% of Brazilians are white, 6% black and 39% mixed race. According to this [poorly written article](http://articles.cnn.com/2010-07-21/world/brazil.racism_1_brazilians-racial-hatred-president-luiz-inacio-lula?_s=PM:WORLD) black Brazilians make 58% of what white Brazilians make which is approximately the same as the USA difference in household earninings between races. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/18 "2012-07-23T18:28:32Z")
I think any race war would be so mucked up with sex and the great taboo, class, that those waging it would not really know what they wanted. It would either become indiscriminate slaughter or peter out. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/19 "2012-07-23T19:00:57Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > For Brazil this is not true, 54% of Brazilians are white, 6% black and 39% mixed race. According to this [poorly written article](http://articles.cnn.com/2010-07-21/world/brazil.racism_1_brazilians-racial-hatred-president-luiz-inacio-lula?_s=PM:WORLD) black Brazilians make 58% of what white Brazilians make which is approximately the same as the USA difference in household earninings between races. Most Brazilians are mixed race based on DNA analysis. What they label themselves is another matter entirely. Very few people in Brazil are willing to call themselves black, and money whitens. There is way more African ancestry in Brazil than 6%. Also, in Brazil, phenotype has decoupled from genotype, so a person can look “black” and still have majority European ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062/20 "2012-07-23T20:10:59Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > For Brazil this is not true, 54% of Brazilians are white, 6% black and 39% mixed race. According to this [poorly written article](http://articles.cnn.com/2010-07-21/world/brazil.racism_1_brazilians-racial-hatred-president-luiz-inacio-lula?_s=PM:WORLD) black Brazilians make 58% of what white Brazilians make which is approximately the same as the USA difference in household earninings between races. You’re not completely off base here. I checked some of the more recent studies, and found that the degree of African ancestry varies widely by region. Regions that were heavily involved in the slave trade and plantation agriculture do have African ancestry over 40%, but the southern regions have much lower percentages. Nowhere is the percentage as low as 6%, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-white-race-wars/629062.md?page=2)