http://youtu.be/UO1PcovTk90

Smart lady. I feel a little bit bad that I missed small bits of what she was saying because she's so pretty. Had to go back and re-watch, when I felt my brain slipping away. I have a similar problem with JacklynGlenn. Heh.

(September 16, 2015 at 11:39 pm)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: Smart lady. I feel a little bit bad that I missed small bits of what she was saying because she's so pretty. Had to go back and re-watch, when I felt my brain slipping away. I have a similar problem with JacklynGlenn. Heh.

Silly human!

(September 16, 2015 at 9:08 pm)Dystopia Wrote: I think is enhanced by confirmation bias and the tendency to prefer those who look like us. Most marriages are between people of the same race and social/economic class - Meaning that if you're white and middle class, you're more likely to marry a white middle class person - Particularly because most people we grow up with are also part of the same social class and share the same culture, therefore we feel compelled and attracted by them. I think race certainly doesn't exist scientifically, but neither do countries but it's still a useful concept in our everyday lives. What separates races the most is culture and culture is probably the strongest cause of racism - I.E. The reason why whites thought blacks were inferior wasn't just beacuse they were darker, but because of how they organized and acted/behaved. It's curious to see how racial dynamics may vary - My girlfriend is part gypsy and she fucking hates gypsies because she despises the culture.

If we are going to use race as a useful social construct to discuss power dynamics, sovereignty of territories, etc, we might as well admit that white people are a race as well, just like black people, and we are divided into sub-groups as well (i.e. Spanish and Italians are darker than Brits and Germans, but it also depends on the person).

It cannot be said that Africans had an inferior culture. Doubtless, they had inferior weapons. Africa is a rich continent and unfortunately, we live on a planet where if you can't protect it, you can't keep it.

(September 17, 2015 at 8:33 am)Rhondazvous Wrote: It cannot be said that Africans had an inferior culture. Doubtless, they had inferior weapons. Africa is a rich continent and unfortunately, we live on a planet where if you can't protect it, you can't keep it.

Rhonda - Have you read any of Jared Diamond's books? He won the Pulitzer for Guns, Germs, and Steel, essentially about the subject of how we imagine inferior culture because of inferior weaponry. He's a fascinating author, and everyone should at least read the one above.

(September 17, 2015 at 9:25 am)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote:

(September 17, 2015 at 8:33 am)Rhondazvous Wrote: It cannot be said that Africans had an inferior culture. Doubtless, they had inferior weapons. Africa is a rich continent and unfortunately, we live on a planet where if you can't protect it, you can't keep it.

Rhonda - Have you read any of Jared Diamond's books? He won the Pulitzer for Guns, Germs, and Steel, essentially about the subject of how we imagine inferior culture because of inferior weaponry. He's a fascinating author, and everyone should at least read the one above.

At your suggestion, I just downloaded audio versions of Guns, Gems and Steel, along with Collapse and The World Until Yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RovF1zsDoeM

(September 16, 2015 at 9:20 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote: I'm still wondering why no one is touching the ties between race and economic status. That is where "privilege" -- i.e., endemic racism -- is sourced.

Poverty means unequal access to the legal system. Minorities are more prone to poverty in part because poor neighborhoods have less property tax to fund the schools in the area, and in part because they earn less for the same job done.

Unequal access to the legal system means that a higher proportion of minorities are incarcerated, usually for longer terms, and that too feeds back into the economics of racism in America.

You are right. Poverty touches on so many areas.
1. The legal system: the Constitution tells us we have equal protection under the law, but as an aside they tell us possession is nine tenths of the law. So if you don’t own anything you’re out of luck. Whites will say many of them don’t own anything either, but if they go in a bank to get a loan and a Minority person goes in with the same credentials. The loan officer will find every reason to say yes to the White man and every reason to say no to the Minority man.
2. Law enforcement. On the side of a police vehicle is the slogan “Serve and Protect.” But they don’t say who they serve or what they protect. If possession is nine tenths of the law and they are there to enforce the law, then they are not in Minority neighborhoods to serve Minorities, who for the most part don’t own anything. They are there to protect the property owners from the Minority people. When the cops start out with an attitude toward Minorities that they/we are potential suspects, then of course there will be police brutality and the cops will think they are just doing their job. It scares me when they say that because that’s the same thing the Nazis said. Just doing their job.
3. Public education. For some reason the real estate industry has a standing policy of lowering property values automatically when a Minority person or family moves into a neighborhood. This means schools that serve even one Minority child will automatically be underfunded.
4. Prison Industrial Complex. When Minorities are taken out of their neighborhoods and put in prisons in White neighborhoods, the Minority neighborhood is not allowed to count the incarcerated individual in the census as a resident, but the White neighborhood is. This means the White neighborhood gets to use the body of this politically dead person for congressional representation and government funding.
There are more, but I did not intend to write a dissertation here. But this is enough to show that institutional racism is still a part of the American system.

(September 16, 2015 at 10:41 pm)BrokenQuill92 Wrote: Um yeah duh

Is that your idea of intelligent discussion?

*plonk*

(September 17, 2015 at 1:10 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote:

(September 16, 2015 at 10:41 pm)BrokenQuill92 Wrote: Um yeah duh

Is that your idea of intelligent discussion?

*plonk*

You're derailing a conversation on a serious issue to critique my typing skills? Unless you have something relevant to add don't talk me. I'm truthfully not in the mood for snarky bullshit.