Seriously.
I scan the threads in this forum and I realize that many of them are in regards to race.
“Is interracial dating good or bad”
“Black not my type=prejudice?!?”
The list goes on. I’m not trying to blame anybody or raise any hell about it— if I did this thread would be in the Pit— I am just honestly curious.
Why —when humanity is well into the new millenium, the media and everything else is so politically correct, we have gyms solely for women and universities solely for blacks— why is even an issure anymore?
I think it casts a sad reflection on the world today when one of the most controversial topics on the Internet is race and ethnicity. I’m not blaming anyone. I just think it’s sad.
For starters, IThinkNot, ya gotta get yer facts straight. There aren’t any “universities solely for blacks” in the US. All the historically black colleges have white and other non-black students, as well as white and other non-black professors. Howard University, Tuskegee University, Morehouse and Spelman College, Hampton University, etc. all have white students, Latino students, Asian students, not to mention faculty. In some programs and departments, black students aren’t even in the majority.
Since so much of history is a record of conflict between different groups of human beings, it’s not surprising that group differences and group commonalities are topics of endless fascination. What constitutes a group, what terminology do we use to talk about groups and their differences, what do we think we know about different groups versus what we really do know (see your OP). These questions will continue to vex us, especially now that the world is growing smaller.
My own take is that race is still an issue because of a couple of things:
(1) An ongoing crisis in America about supporting affirmative action vs. not doing so. This is an issue that speaks directly to one’s take on race.
(2) Racists trying to find new ways to justify or explain away racism–like, “Oh, I’m not a racist or anything, I’m just an astute businessman, which is why I throw out résumés with weird black names.”
(3) Racists failing to cover up their racism, e.g. Trent Lott, from one point of view.
(4) Statements perceived to be racists, e.g. Trent Lott, from another. My own inclination is towards #3, though.
(5) Racists not bothering to try to cover it up, e.g. David Ahenakew up North.
(6) The ongoing Israeli/Palestine conflict and 9-11. These have combined to spur truly egregious statements againt Jews and Arabs alike.
But this is just me.
-Ulterior
>>Why —when humanity is well into the new millenium, the media and everything else is so politically correct, we have gyms solely for women and universities solely for blacks— why is even an issure anymore?<<
Why would anyone think “the new millenium” would make any difference?
It took over 350 years for slavery to run its course in America; there’s no reason to think the eradication of racism will take less time. Things don’t usually change quickly with humans.
It seems to me that the younger the generation, the less racism seems to exist. Sometimes the difference is hardly noticable, but most of the time it seems the newer generations have a better outlook on the world in regards to cultural differences.
Perhaps it is just me, but I think that each generation gets us a bit closer to tolerance of other cultures, skin tones, and religions. Perhaps I am just being too idealistic and seeing what I want to see… Who knows.
Good points, all.
Belowjob: While I do accept my fault about the university thing—shows you what I know!— I think it’s still a perfectly valid question, and one inconsistency doesn’t exactly warrant blowing a subjective opinion out of the water. I’m not saying that’s what you did, but I’m just saying…
Racism seems to me a very current issue, still, for many reasons. I agree that it’s sad, but only in the sense that racism exists in the first place. I don’t really ever expect it to “go away,” much as I might wish it, though I suspect that Epimetheus is right that at least overt expressions of racism are on the decline.
In addition to the difficult topics that Ulterior mentioned (all valid), I think that the issue of what does and does not constitute racism hasn’t yet been determined to everyone’s satisfaction. The Black not my type=prejudice?!? topic goes directly to this issue, as somebody made an accusation of racism that seemed to the OP (and to me) to be unjustified. One man’s racism is another man’s choices. Who’s to say who is right, and under what circumstances? The issue of just what the limits of racism are have yet to be decided, and are still very debatable.
I think “race” is one of those things that, especially in America (and increasingly in some other countries in Europe, or Australia) is used to define what people are…so it is taken so personally. Maybe someday, our skin color will be of the same importance as having straight hair instead of curly hair, or being tall as opposed to short; but today so much of our identity gets wrapped up in “race” that it becomes a personal issue.
At times there are also massive numbers of threads on gender/sexuality (especially Gay/Lesbian issues) - as well as religion. Race is up there with those things as one of the great determiners of how we are set to live our lives in this society.