i really have to disagree with your saying America's not racist. As a Black man I still fight this stuff every day, whether it's inferiour white guys on my job giving me grief, the white cop or security guard who follows m ein the store, or the more generic white attitude that has whites speaking what they think is black slang to me, or making assumptions about my values and interests. I worked in HR for a while, and i can tell you that black people get discriminated against in hiring all the time, even now in 2008.
And to say that black people don't want to end our problems? I'm surprised at that. I know a lot of blacks, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, who might blame some of their problems on racism, but they don't *embrace* that as an excuse. But they do see a system that still redlines black neighborhoods, that has businesses skittish to build in black neighborhoods, real estate agents leery of showing homes to blacks in a majority white neighborhood, and companies where white people support other whites at our expense. It's changed, it's gotten better, but it's not at all some fantasy we cook up to blame others for our problems. I'm fairly well educated (BS in Electrical Engineering, several hundred hours in Microsoft NT/Windows 2000 etc. training) speak "good" English, etc., and I still encounter racism and prejudice. i don't go looking for it, but i acknowledge it. And even if Obama's elected that doesn't mean racism will end in America. A president can attain the White House with basically half the vote, meaning half th electorate can still be just as backwards and unenlightened as they want. Finally, i have to comment on the thing about black man having all the advantages. I agree with Tracey's statement: while black men may apparently have an "in" in a male dominated corporate structure, the truth is that many whites only have room for one or the other, black men or black women. And the truth is that often white men see competent black men as threats. I have been in many a situation where white guys view me with veiled hostility even though i've done nothing to them, yet will joke and kid around with black women. some of that, frankly, is a sexist attitude: they see the women as less of a threat and someone they can joke and kid and flirt with. My wife has commented to me more than once on how white guys in corporate America are getting bolder than ever in flirting with black women. They're *women*, and that makes the guys feel good. but as a black man, what can I do for a straight white guy in that area? He can't flirt with me, can't feel somehow more physically powe rful over me the way he might with a woman. he might assume that i'm in incoming Alpha male who might mess with his little fiefdom. So out goes the threat (me) in favor of a black lady that threatens the guys less. I feel that you're kind of putting a divide here, drawing a line between Brothers and Sisters and lumping us with white men. as if you're saying black men take advantage of Sisters too and use the system against them. That's not true of all of us by any means. My wife is my partner, and i'm just as angry--angrier--at the combination sexist/racist treatment she takes as the racist treatment i get. i see a victory for her and all Sisters as a victory for us as a people and would never subscribe to the philosophy that i'm in the old boys club like the white guys. -------------- Original message -------------- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 1/4/2008 1:12:44 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Most biracial people with African blood are seen as Black - particularly those who look Black, say they are Black and are Considered prominent members of the Black community. Obama and his family are seen as Black. Tracy Poll after poll; discussion after discussion sees Obama as a biracial man. Halle may be the first "black " actress but she is also seen as biracial. Tiger woods may be seen blacks by some people but he is still seen as multiethnic also. Conservatives like him because of his biracial background. Not his black background. Black men get paid less than White men. a Black man with a traditional name is less likely to even get a job interview than a white female Obama did not start from humble beginnings either. He is not the "my father was a sharecropper" black as many blacks who have achieved many things like to suggest. When people actually start asking what does Obama stand for. they cannot answer. I don't know who I will vote for, but I do not that this "woe is the black man" stuff will have to end with the election of a black man. That why I don't understand why people still think that America is still a racist society. I don't think that black america can really stomach and end to their problems. I am sure that white America cannot wait for the end of the Jena 6 soul patrol. Black men are still men. They are still part of the network. **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
