posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
08.26.08 (9:46 pm)
Reply to: kurtmaddox
Don't you notice a nod-and-a-wink attitude toward the matter of racism in much of white society today? Even those of us who know better and say the right things still support and find comfort in lives that are largely racially exclusive. My church has some blacks, but not enough to really upset the power structure. Same with my Denomination. Heck, same with my neighborhood.
posted by:
LadyG (
reply)
post date:
08.26.08 (11:43 pm)
Great post PD, you truly have a Christian heart filled with Love.
posted by:
fractalmom (
reply)
post date:
08.27.08 (4:45 am)
yet, north of the Mason Dixon Line...(one of my kids lives right on it LOL)...it is not uncommon for a white person to work in a black owned business.
I think racism is still present, as you say, in a non verbal manner.
And, it bothers me greatly as well. We still have racism up here, however, it is more directed at the differences between those people of color who more fit in with the typical american dream of home ownership, scholarships, college, business, professional blacks, and those who live in abject poverty and in the projects and are on welfare. We tend to call the white people trash as well who do that.
Over all, any black person up here who works, owns a house and goes to church, pays taxes, etc is just simply accepted as a person, whilst those on welfare or in the projects are ridiculed and looked down upon.
Does that mean we have advanced? Now, instead of disliking someone because of their color, we dislike them because of their abilities or social station.
I am not sure PD.
posted by:
emerging (
reply)
post date:
08.27.08 (5:22 am)
Reply to: fractalmom
I think it's probably human nature to focus on the differences in people rather than the similarities, no matter what those differences are. Several of my classmates who are from the Chicago area commented on how much different the dialect is in our region. If they talk the way they're accustomed, they feel stupid because no one here talks that way. They assume it's because we're better educated when, in reality, it's just a difference in what we grew up hearing. The sad part is that some people here assume the same thing about their intelligence because of how they speak.
posted by:
surrogate (
reply)
post date:
08.27.08 (6:17 am)
In Des Moines at one of the places I work when I'm there looks to me to have fifty or sixty employees. Two, (that I've seen, anyway) are black. Their job? -Washing cars. Same here in Grand Rapids at at least three of the places I work. Systemic? You bet. Yet, affirmative action is a horrible thing, some say? Show me someone who takes the view that racism has gone the way of the dodo here in the U.S. and I'll show you someone with their head in the sand.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
08.27.08 (10:11 am)
Reply to: LadyG
Well, that's my goal. Gotta a long way to go!
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
08.27.08 (10:18 am)
Reply to: fractalmom
Perhaps what you describe is prejudice, but not racial. Social/class prejudice. I think separating into groups with which we are most comfortable is mostly natural. We tend to gravitate toward those like ourselves. Even the ones who study and comment and preach about prejudice do this. As long as we leave the door open, and truly feel that those who choose to hang out with a different group are no less than ourselves, then I guess it is not really wrong. Just not ideal.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
08.27.08 (10:22 am)
Reply to: emerging
How quick we are to judge a person by how he speaks. Actually, you guys from Iowa do speak a bit strangely. Some silly people even mistake it for Southern. I know better.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
08.27.08 (10:42 am)
Reply to: surrogate
Is there a large minority population in Iowa?
At age 22 I took a break before heading off to Seminary, and lived a year in Birmingham. A friend made arrangements for me to interview for a job. I was instructed to walk past the "official" employment office, and to see Herb in a corner room. Sure enough, Herb interviewed me and later offered me the job. What was happening was an "end around" official guidelines for workplace hiring. I never took the job, not for noble reasons, but because a better and less demanding job became available.
So much in society and culture makes things difficult for minorities. Prejudice is a big part of the problem. We need a holistic approach toward a solution, and I do think sometimes the political parties make the problems worse, not better.
posted by:
bawdy (
reply)
post date:
08.27.08 (11:50 am)
Those are poignant questions you raise. Disturbing in this day and age when we can't see beyond the colour of a person's skin.
posted by:
auntconi (
reply)
post date:
08.27.08 (2:56 pm)
Umm ~ I agree with bawdy's comment, completely!
posted by:
barnabus1 (
reply)
post date:
08.28.08 (2:49 pm)
I had a Preacher Friend who grew up in the south, and said that the whites would eat first, then the blacks could eat after them...he grew up with it that way, and at the time he saw nothing wrong with it, because that's the way it was...only later could he see the total wrongness of their actions!! Maybe the Lord got to him!!!
