Is racism "dead" (in America)?

No, racism not dead and never will be. The Civil Rights Movement made Whites and Blacks equal in the eyes of the law, but not in the eyes of each other.

Sadly no.

We as a country are making progress but it is far from dead

I answered a question just a few days ago that had a theme similar to this. You are always going to have groups of people or individuals who will always be racist, hateful, prejudiced, and intolerant of other races and ethnic groups. Think: Aryan Brotherhood, Skinheads, KKK, and others like this.

No matter what you tell these people or show them, they are so blinded by their beliefs and convictions that nothing you can do will ever change their minds. It’s very sad and unfortunate, in my opinion. I think racism is totally despicable and I wish we could eradicate it forever.

No, listen to white kids in american high schools and you realize that it’s alive and well.

racism is dying. a black president does say that america has certainly moved on, so the annual recognition in february of african-americans is like a side-bar today. it was probably put in place decades ago to say “hey, we make a difference if you really think about it.”

now since the difference is made, it says america can just be one america and well, we knew it all along, black or white.

Evidently Attorney General Held made a sppech about racism today. I just caught the end of it but he quoted as saying that racism is evident in the fact we don’t have social integration. I would agree with that but also would like to say that racism goes every which way not only in white attitudes toward people of color. And often it is not just subtle social segregation. Overt racism still raises it’s nasty little pinhead on a regular basis. To wit: The silly old woman speaking to McCain about not voting for the terrorist/Muslim Barack Obama, the T-shirts on display during the campaign with a cartoon monkey and banana and the word Obama and the chimp;stimilus cartoon in the post. For thoe of you who claim not to see overt racisn, if you didn’t see that you must be going around with your eyes closed.

But there is also the subtle racism that we teach our children when we have no social relationships with people of different ethnicities. Do you work within a diverse group but play in a monochromatic world?

In the question “I cannot say that I have ever witnessed an act of racism, though I know that they exist.” is a differing perspective that I’ve talked to my friends about. Some refer to racism as explicitly discriminatory acts (i.e. hurling racial slurs). I think of racism as the greater systemic problem in society that results in visible minorities at a socioeconomic disadvantage, whether it’s intentional or not.

In that context, I think racism is still very rampant – take a look at this HuffPo article. I’d tend to believe (hope!) that there’s no active discrimination going on but in practice the black people of the firm aren’t getting the same roles and opportunities.

One difficulty of talking about racism in the newly ‘politically-correct’ millenium is that some see a reduction in explicitly racist behaviour that leads to complacency when in practice the same racist practices persist.

I have seen a full array of racist acts, some subtle, some overt. Many were committed by white people, but I have seen such acts committed by blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans, as well as folks from different economic levels, different educational levels and different religions.

My daughter looks white so she has witnessed the more subtle forms of racism, such as where one little girl at school said to my daughter that she wasn’t going to invite a third girl to her birthday because she was black (her father was indeed black, her mother white). My daughter’s response was to make friends with the “uninvited” child.

My son looks black (and is a boy) so he has experienced the more overt acts such as name-calling. He also has been left out of various play groups (by the “witch” across the street in particular) and overnight activities (my ex-SIL refuses to let him spend the night at her house, so I won’t let my daughter spend the night there either).

I have listened to my Japanese/Korean/Hawiian nephews talk about white people in a denigrating fashion, and some of their relatives talking about “gaijin” and then quickly going quiet when they realize I am in the room. And on, and on, and on.

People are smart enough to attempt to overcome their innate need to divide the fellow members of their species into us versus them, but it will take a lot of work. That drive evolved over many, many generations as a way to protect your own kin from outsiders so we are very skilled at recognizing differences and classifying those with those differences as being “them” or “those people.”

We have overcome some prejudices in the past – for example in much of America it is no longer a huge demerit to be Irish, where once it was a major flaw in an individual. We have made strides by enacting and to some degree enforcing legislation that makes it illegal to prevent others from prospering simply because they are different.

We can only hope that we will continue to shed these categorization tendencies as we see that they really don’t help our society as a whole.

If we all looked alike, we would find OTHER reasons to hate each other….human nature is a bitch.

I personally think that racism is not, and will never be, dead. People will always prefer to be around that which they are familiar with; people of the same race generally feel more comfortably together.

We should just move on though and stop making race such a huge issue in every possible circumstance. It exists but does it have to make front page news every day? I would argue that racism is often used as an excuse and a way to over-simplify things/circumstances in our society.

@Magnus hahaha, white high school students are keeping racism alive? Oh dear!

@Johnny_Rambo Ugh, I really don’t want everyone to look like me.

@elchoopanebre I’d have to disagree with you on several points. Yes, racism will never be dead but as a society we can continue to evolve in equalising the opportunities available to visible minorities. Take women or gay rights movements – while those problems haven’t been ‘solved’ they are much closer to enjoying the same rights that the ‘dominant’ classes of society do.

People will always prefer to be around that which they are familiar with; people of the same race generally feel more comfortably together.

That’s a pretty big generalisation, one that I don’t believe is true. What we feel comfortable around is taught to us, part of our growing up and the attitudes of those around us. To say that people of different skin colours prefer to be amongst themselves is not true.

It’s important to continue to discuss these issues because they lead to new ways of approaching the issue and letting people know that there is a problem, and that we can be improving the situation.

Until there ceases to be a difference between races, there will always be racism. By difference I do not, of course, mean innate differences, but rather differences in economic standing, geographical distribution, even culture. Classes of people will always find reason to look down on other groups, to lift themselves up by putting others down. The rich can look at the poor and feel good about themselves, and the poor can look at the rich and feel righteous anger. Whenever there is a conflict with another part of the world, immigrants from that area will most likely face difficulties at home. And cultural subtleties are so deeply ingrained in each of us that it is easy, for no reason at all, to think worse of someone else for going against them, unless part of your culture inures you against that sentiment. If race continues to be tied to these points of contention, racism will remain alive and well. And as these differences are not going anywhere fast, I imagine the same can be said for racism.

As for the idea of a culture that forbids racism; such a culture does exist among some more liberal groups, and is often so extreme that it forbids any recognition of racial difference at all. But this nation is so divided against itself that the more deeply one culture forbids racism, the more tenaciously the other will hold onto it, a deadlock that can only work itself out through time.

No, it is alive and well, even though we’ve come a long way since Martin Luther King made his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. I think the Attorney General’s speech was absolutely correct. Many of us don’t want to discuss the issue of race. We feel increasingly comfortable having people of different races as co-workers, or friends on some levels. But most of us live in neighborhoods that aren’t that ethnically diverse. They used to call that ‘de facto’ segregation.

That being said, I do think racism will gradually become less of an issue.

Wouldn’t that be nice! (sigh!)

I thing that rasism does not existe.Witch could be the best.It seem to me.Yust about.

There will always be racism, because human beings are flawed. Racism exists in all races and there’s a bit in us all.

Things like this never “die”, though they do eventually die out. Racism is obviously diminishing as years go by, and it is not as bad as it was 10 or 100 years ago. But I don’t think Obama had anything to do with it (if anything, he’s the result of a more open-minded society rather than its cause).

The only real factor I can put my finger on is education. As generations change, with younger people being brought up with different ideas, things such as racism tend to simply wither.

@pathfinder wha, what?

I don’t think racism is completely dead. Think about in your neighborhood. What is the ratio whites to black?

@toomuchcoffee911
Is that how you measure racism? Pretty odd.

@toomuchcoffee911 – Our neighborhood is about 1/2 Hispanic, 1/4 black, 1/4 caucasian. Since the majority in our town is Hispanic it is to be expected that it be about half or so of that group, but our town is only 10% black, so what does that say?

I didn’t count our family because we are a black-Hispanic-white-Asian mix.

@rawpixels please don’t call my measurement meathods odd.

@toomuchcoffee911
I believe I did already :)

Here’s a little story for you. I was applying for a job through an agency a while back. The recruiter I spoke with over the phone was telling me about a position I might be interested in. We had not met in person yet, only over the phone. When we were talking she was telling me that based on my qualifacations I would be an excellent candidate for the position. Plus, and i quote, “they are looking for someone who is white”. I said, “Honey, I’m not white”. The poor woman didn’t know what to say. I just told her I would keep looking, I really was not interested in working in a place like that.

I just could not believe that even now, there are places that will judge you based on your ethnicity. It’s disgusting, it really is.

@kheredia – Sigh Maybe someday…

@kheredia That’s pretty horrific and cause for a lawsuit. Whereabouts was this company??

It was through a job agency in Irvine CA a few years back. Not sure what they’re up to now a days or if they’re even in business anymore.

no, ‘black’ people keep trudging it up again and again

@BBQsomeCows – So how many black guys have tied white men to their pick up trucks and dragged them through town?.

As long as there are races there will be racism. BUT, it is quickly dying in America, Racism (between blacks and whites at least) is breathing its last breath.

For creditability purposes; I am a white college student a creditable University. This school has a large mix of races. I can honestly say that 98% of the students here consider every individual, no matter the race, a valuable member of our American society. I know what you’re thinking, and no, this isn’t a special sanctuary. I’m a typical college student, which means I’ve visited many other Universities. And guess what, at most colleges there is no racism! Ok I’m going to make a wild guess here and say that almost everyone responding to this post is at least over age 30. Do you know why? because i know my generation DOESN’T CARE whether a person’s skin is brown, white, red or yellow (So they wouldn’t bother commenting on this out of date post to begin with). We didn’t grow up with racist ideals like many Americans did (this is a good thing…) From now on, every generation is going to care less and less about skin color, and eventually (hopefully) the color of your skin will make no difference in our society.

It’s alive and everywhere! I have to deal with it. I know im only Russian, but i useto get beat up for being Russian everyday after school… Still get crap from people.. I call that racism. I don’t know what people may think about that. But it hurts, really does. Now i got to deal that with my son. He’s tiny, what do i say.. it will hurt me so see my son cry..

@driley1 Your generation cares plenty about skin colour. They are just better at hiding it.

Racism in America isn’t dead. It just got better at being less obvious.

For some people. My own theory is that by trying to force the gap closed, we’re keeping it from healing properly.