Hey! I’m working this side of the street!
So, Rand, if I say that blacks are, on average, less intelligent than white and therefore it’s good public policy to direct all state colleges to only admit non-black applicants, I’m not a racist?
Enough with this “moral” inferiority nonsense. This roughly translates “It’s not racist to believe some races aren’t as good as others, as long as you treat them nicely.” It’s okay that white people are smarter and better looking than everyone else; that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t value the less intelligent and otherwise inferior dark people just the same. Other races are different, and and many ways worse, than white people but they are no less moral or valuable.
Okay then! And you think the SDMB douches have a bizarre definition of racism.
Rand Rover is a raging douche. The end.
And morally inferior, but it has nothing to do with his race.
Yuppie offended over pointless bullshit: news at 11.
Even sven, did you point out to the woman that it was probably not a good idea for her to bring her baby along when doing her neighborhood watch rounds?
Though, honestly, she was probably just concerned about you protecting your own kid that late at night rather than playing on your iPhone.
I’m disappointed in you, even sven. This was the moment all your Peace Corps experience was meant for! You needed to give her a lecture about how they live in systematic poverty there.
Oh, there’s certainly a two-way street here. I think the people in this thread crying racism don’t quite grasp what the demographics of DC are like. As someone once said to me, “This city makes you racist.”
What you have to understand is that white people move to the area to take well-paying government jobs. Black people are born here into crushing poverty. A major cause of the poverty is the fact that all the white people push the cost of living so high. That’s why even sven mentions not wanting to pay $1,000 for a closet. She’s not exaggerating.
This has caused a lot of resentment against white people in DC, especially the east side, where I think sven lives, and even moreso in Anacostia and the surrounding wards.
So yes, white people are at a disadvantage, crime-wise, in these neighborhoods. The criminals there can and do target white people. They see a black person with an iPhone and think “They might be as rough as I am.” They see a white person with an iPhone and they say “They’re just passing through.” I’ve seen it. I’ve heard it. I’ve personally been verbally abused by the residents of these districts, which basically centered around how I don’t belong there and I should be scared to be there.
If you took a vote tomorrow on a referendum to force all the white people out of DC by the end of the year, I bet the black residents would vote 4-1 in favor. I don’t think you should be taking the racial dynamics of your hometown and applying it to this city. It doesn’t line up.
I certainly give the benefit of the doubt to the OP when she says that this woman’s comment seemed inappropriate in tone or inference.
What I can’t get over is the implication that absent the woman’s comment, that DC is some kind of color-blind, equal opportunity, everyone is just as vulnerable on the streets type of society. Having been in DC for the better part of a decade and a half, race is present in every. single. thing. that goes on in this city. And that is just a terrible thing, but it seems to be a fact.
Unfortunately, when I say that race plays into every issue here in DC, I mean it. Race matters here in issues as obvious as neighborhood development, and as silly as who gets mowing contracts. It was a huge issue in the last mayoral election, in which the incumbent was seen as being too estranged from the African-American community. It matters in schools, politics, business, and pretty much everything else I can think of. It deeply shocks and offends me how serious the racial problems are in this city.
The idea that street crime is largely immune from discrimination (i.e., that Caucasians, Latinos and African-Americans are all just as likely targets for muggings) just doesn’t ring true for me, when literally every other issue in this city is tinged with racial sensitivities.
Another resident of DC and I have to agree that race does play a factor in every aspect of life in DC, often in ways that aren’t 100% predictable or clear at first. It is an issue that thoughtful DC residents of all backgrounds go to great lengths to work around and navigate and that less thoughtful residents of all backgrounds use as an easy excuse for writing off or taking advantage of someone.
ETA: and this issue as become trickier as the District diversifies and new residents seek out a place in the existing power structures of the city.
Well, according to this thread, there’s a city above the Mason-Dixon that’s more racist than Shitcago. Very good, Shitcago! You’re not the worst city in America, after all.
I think the disconnect here is that Ýou cannot read the race/IQ studies without imparting a value judgment. So, when you see someone saying that blacks are less intelligent on average than whites are on average, you read that as that person saying blacks aren’t as good as whites. But they are not doing that–they are simply discussing a factual issue about a measurement, and discussing that doesn’t mean they think blacks are worse than whites.
Is it clear now?
DC is below the Mason-Dixon line. Try Boston.
On preview - I see you didn’t know where the Mason-Dixon line was because of your lower IQ.
It was always clear. It’s just stupid.
Edit: @bup - Damn it! Well adjust that to non-Southern city then, but two points for jab at Boston!
DC isn’t above the mason-dixon. We don’t want that shit up here. 
Other than that, I’d give the OP the benefit of a doubt, if it weren’t someone who clearly has an agenda when it comes to race-anything. The woman was trying to give her a warning, and if Sven didn’t have the balls to call her on her racism then, with her wealth of superior education regarding race relations, I don’t know how she can pretend to be one iota better.
/edit: DAMMIT, I type slowly!
It’s not the not wanting to hear racism part that makes you a self-righteous liberal, it’s getting on the Internet and furiously waving your banner of sanctimonious tolerance that does.
In my personal experience, whenever someone begins a sentence with, “I’m not a racist, but…”, the next words out of his or her mouth are very likely to be racist.
Jus’ sayin. YMMV, and all that.
That is all.
Glad I’ve established my liberal creds as not being a huge racist, though. I was afraid some of you guys might have forgotten that I don’t hate black people.
I don’t really care if she is the most racist jerkface in the world. If she entertains herself by being a huge racist in a black neighborhood, I guess you have to get your jollies somehow.
What offends me is that she felt comfortable sharing that with me. Fuck you, lady, we share nothing. We are not allies. We are not sisters in low-grade hatred. My white skin does not make me share your racist views. We aren’t together in this.
That’s correct. It means that blacks aren’t as good as whites at being smart.