# Despite horrible treatment, why don't African-Americans hate white people? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2015, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753 "2015-02-27T07:55:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/41 "2015-02-28T01:33:43Z")
I would just like to insert something positive into this discussion. There’s much wrong with race relations in America, but if you live long enough you can see that the changes have come. For example, when I was a girl, 11-12 on Sunday was the most segregated hour of the week. I never saw a black member of a white Protestant church. Now, even in fundamentalist churches in the South, I’ve been to what were once all-white churches, that now have many black members. I realize this example does not make up for the many indignities and cruelties heaped on black Americans, but you look for other changes, it is a better world than 50 years ago. The good fight against racism has many legal and policy battles to be fought, but the ones fought since the 60s have had an effect. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/42 "2015-02-28T01:53:10Z")
Perhaps the average black person in the USA is smart enough to know that (a) blacks are better off in this country than almost any other (b) a violent uprising would accomplish nothing for anyone and © nothing done today can reduce the pain suffered by people decades or centuries ago. The fact that most blacks in the USA are Christian while most of everyone in the Middle East is Muslim also helps explain why there aren’t so many beheadings and suicide bombings here. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/43 "2015-02-28T03:47:45Z")
Monstro has given you all the answer! Read her post #6 and do a tiny bit of interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/44 "2015-02-28T05:15:33Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > It’s not you. \*Please \*say it’s me? Please oh please oh please. ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/45 "2015-02-28T07:45:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > As a result, I think institutional racism has been widely eliminated. It’s very hard to point at any policy that’s being carried out by any organization that’s racist as drafted. Just read the link. Here it is again: > **[Institutional racism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism#United_States)** > > Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, healthcare, education and political representation. > The term institutional rac... ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/46 "2015-02-28T07:47:11Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Perhaps the average black person in the USA is smart enough to know that (a) blacks are better off in this country than almost any other This is an utterly ignorant statement. Surely anyone with an ounce of sense would know that? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/47 "2015-02-28T07:52:24Z")
> [@BOOM](#): > > This is an utterly ignorant statement. Surely anyone with an ounce of sense would know that? It’s quite close to the truth, though, all rhetoric aside. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/48 "2015-02-28T10:28:25Z")
> [@BOOM](#): > > This is an utterly ignorant statement. Surely anyone with an ounce of sense would know that? If you say that statement is ignorant, perhaps you’d care to provide a cite to prove it? ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/49 "2015-02-28T11:29:06Z")
Oh sod off with your cites (a) it’s IMHO (b) look at the prison data, by numbers and ethnicity. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/50 "2015-02-28T13:26:04Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > \*Please \*say it’s me? Please oh please oh please. Wow. WHAT are you chasing? WHAT do you want out of this? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/51 "2015-02-28T14:58:15Z")
> [@BOOM](#): > > Just read the link. Here it is again: > > [Institutional racism - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism#United_States) Can you point to an current example of racism being an organizational policy? Something where some organization is telling its members to treat black people differently than it treats other people? [Something](http://www.printmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/7d4ca7fbk-americana1.jpg) [like](http://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/timeline/images/jimcrowbackground.jpg) [this](http://centennial.journalism.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/50GS-11.1.jpg). Racism certainly still exists but it’s become more subtle. Black people won’t get hired for a job but there won’t be a sign out front telling them that. Racism has gone from being an official policy to being an unofficial practice. ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/52 "2015-02-28T15:52:45Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Can you point to an current example of racism being an organizational policy? Something where some organization is telling its members to treat black people differently than it treats other people? It’s illegal, isn’t it - so no, I can’t. That isn’t the point. In institutional racism the _application of policy_ is either implicitly or (less likely) explicitly racist. Meaning the consequence of a policy application. In this way the defence is ‘oh gee, we had no idea that would happen’. I’m sure you’d be aware of examples in the US more than I would - how about the stricter requirements of voter registration, or (various) aspects of the war on drugs (what kind of colour are the people waiting for a public defender?). Here’s another one: > [@](#): > > The US Bureau of Justice Statistics concludes that the chance of a black male born in 2001 of going to jail is 32% or 1 in three. Latino males have a 17% chance and white males have a 6% chance A 33% chance of going to prison by virtue of your skin colour - in a modern democractic society? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/53 "2015-02-28T16:40:12Z")
> [@BOOM](#): > > A 33% chance of going to prison by virtue of your skin colour - in a modern democractic society? Can you give me examples of people who are in prison “by virtue of skin color” - not for any crime they committed? ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/54 "2015-02-28T16:44:00Z")
Hang on, I’ll just hop a plane. Won’t be a sec. In the mean time, can you give me examples of intellectual engagement with the issue - not dumbassed questions? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/55 "2015-02-28T16:45:55Z")
> [@BOOM](#): > > Hang on, I’ll just hop a plane. Won’t be a sec. > > In the mean time, can you give me examples of intellectual engagement with the issue - not dumbassed questions? You claimed that blacks are “going to prison by virtue of [their] skin colour”. Didn’t you? In UK prison population, blacks constitute 11%. In general population in UK, blacks are 2.8%. According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, there is now [greater disproportionality](http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/projectsresearch/race) in the number of black people in prisons in the UK than in the United States. Does that mean that those black in UK are in prison “by virtue of their skin color”? Is UK a “democratic society”? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/56 "2015-02-28T16:52:02Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > You claimed that blacks are “going to prison by virtue of [their] skin colour”. Didn’t you? > > In UK prison population, blacks constitute 11%. In general population in UK, blacks are 2.8%. According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, there is now [greater disproportionality](http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/projectsresearch/race) in the number of black people in prisons in the UK than in the United States. Does that mean that those black in UK are in prison “by virtue of their skin color”? Is UK a “democratic society”? To follow up. [60 to 70 percent of all inmates in France are Muslim, according to Muslim leaders, sociologists and researchers, though Muslims make up only about 12 percent of the country’s population.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/28/AR2008042802560.html) Are they all in prison by virtue of their religion? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/57 "2015-02-28T17:14:34Z")
This reminds me of a martin luther king jr quote about communism, and he was talking about how considering blacks are treated here, it is a miracle that blacks aren’t more communist. Also another powerful quote I recall reading was from a soldier who fought in a war (probably WW2) about how after getting back from the war he was treated worse than the people he fought against. A german or italian who fought for the enemy got treated better than a black soldier fighting for the US. But anyway, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/58 "2015-02-28T17:54:32Z")
Communism never got the traction among American Blacks it had hoped for. Among the Old Left, they managed to get a few to join; most prominently Richard Wright. But they followed a Stalinist line that brooked no deviation, which soured Wright as being just more white people telling Black people what to do. It was a bit more complex during the New Left. Black Communists like Angela Davis needed white [del]Communists[/del] radical Leftsts, and they needed her. But Black Power had broken with the Civil Rights movement under the principle that “if we are to do this, we must do it ourselves.” The radical left wing of the movement could not escape this political dynamic. Plus, among Black people at large, not just the politicized ones, (no offense **monstro** ) they _like_ going to church (and as a bored Ducky Boy Irish Catholic I sure envied them that), and they _want_ to go into stores full of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/59 "2015-02-28T18:32:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Can you point to an current example of racism being an organizational policy? Something where some organization is telling its members to treat black people differently than it treats other people? Affirmative action? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753/60 "2015-02-28T19:18:34Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Affirmative action? Or, say, colleges with both legacy admissions criteria and a history of racial segregation. Or states with both local funding of schools and a history of housing discrimination. In both circumstances, you don’t have explicit racial bias, but you do have two different policies that together lead to racial bias. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/despite-horrible-treatment-why-dont-african-americans-hate-white-people/713753.md?page=4)