How much do you view through the prism of race

[Burgold]

I realize all of us judge most things through the lens of our experiences. Which lens impacts your visions the most? Is it race? Science? Religion? Redskins? Being an American?

In this thread, I want to put out the assumption that none of us are neutral and all have experiential biases. It's very interesting to me (on both sides) how all these recent "race" threads play out and I just wonder... is it the mechanics of THAT conversation, is it a necessary survival skill, or is it just a reality that makes you view the world in the manner you do and express it in the way that you have esp. over the last week and a half.



I believe myself to be reasonably fair. Race is not the first thing or the second thing I think about... even on social issues. Now, I will admit that there are situations where race pops into my head and even occassionally fears that I later dislike myself for (Like when it's 2 in the morning and I'm in the subway or on a back street). I can also admit that there are topics that ping my radar and set me on auto suspiscion/defense mode... like if someone mentions Hitler, the Nazis, genocide, and probably even Israel. I do try not to let my biases infect unrelated aspects of my life and conversation, but bias like radiation can occasionally leak out.

So, my hands are not clean. I have been guilty of accusatory thoughts and fearful biases, but I believe that they don't rule, control, or color my life 95% of the time.

How much do you view the world through the prism of race?

[LaxBuddy21]

I dont think race causes much of an impact on my life. There are situations where I prejudge (for example late at night on the subway) but I dont think its as much race as it is overall outward appearance. If I see someone in thugged out street clothes be they white black or other, Im going to be a little worried. In your rougher neighborhoods, those people tend to be black. But if I see a nice well dressed black man late at night, I wouldnt think twice about it. The only thing that race does is cause me to generalize some. I have a problem with hip hop culture. I think its ignorant. It breeds an ignorant following and promotes ignorance in general. I dont like when people have their clothes falling off of them or gold and silver grills or flat brimmed hats with stickers on them. I dislike blacks and whites that dress and act like this just the same but it happens to be a majority black thing. I despise the inner city for this very reason. So I guess in some sense, race plays a role in all of our lives and impacts our prejudices and decision in some way or another.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I think everything in America - history, politics, sports, law, crime and punishment, war, peace, literature, education, taxes - has to be viewed through a racial prism.

To deny that there is a racial component to everything we did, do, and will have done as a nation is to ignore everything that makes the US the US. Race is right there in our constitution with the 3/5 a person clause.

It's caused wars and riots.

It's been the issue in political campaigns.

It's determined the location of freeways and interstates. (Read biographies of Richard Daley and Robert Moses to determine what I am talking about).

It's the reason that our political parties are set up the way they are set up today.

It's probably the reason that you live where you live. Not consciously, but it's there.

[desioreo87]

I believe i am not racist. However in some situations i get nervous cause Im kinda of a small dude. Like if I'm in downtown DC somewhere, anywhere, and I see a black dude with cornrows and a big puffy jacket or whatever i get a little bit scared. Ridiculous I know, but TV has raised me to hold these sorts of mental constructs of gangsters or whatever. Basically the same thing for hispanics. I remember in my high school that there were quite a few involved in gangs and they didn't really talk with other people so I always stayed away from them, like I do now.

I only hold these hang-ups until I can talk to them. If I am able to talk to them then everything previous is thrown out the window. But i still get very ashamed for being scared of these people just by the sight of them.

Religion doesn't affect my decision at all. The only real principle of my religion that i follow is Karma. I am a HUGE believer in Karma. I also lean toward believing in reincarnation because I cannot imagine not existing after I die.

Another thing that impacts my perspective is me being multicultural. I am half indian/half kiwi. I have cousins all over so I have been able to travel the world and see alot of things. Therefore, my views on America are very different. To me, America, isn't all that great. It has a lot of growing to do. Also I hate the arrogance of America and American people. It is something I have never experienced in Europe. Also America is way too conservative. America has a lot to learn.

And white people, BEAT YOUR KIDS!!! so many brats out there.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Ask yourself these questions.

1. If Donovan McNabb was involved in a civil suit where the assault desribed is essentially rape, would ESPN have buried and ignored the story?

2. Would a white Harvard Professor have been arrested if he had locked himself out of his house?


There is a racial aspect to every news story, every sports story, every book, and every movie. Hell, it's every business story.

Who got blamed for the housing bubble? Poor black people.

Who got blamed for Prop 8 in California? Black voters.

This is just stuff in the last 8 months.

But we are supposed to be post-racial.

[HOF44]

And white people, BEAT YOUR KIDS!!! so many brats out there.

Sig worthy quote!!

[willmb5]

I think people often dig too deep and make something out of nothing when it comes to race, but maybe that's just me. Everyone needs to just take a chill pill sometimes, enjoy their life, and be thankful that things are much better now than 40 years ago and always getting better. That's not to say these things shouldn't be discussed in order to encourage progress, but a lot of people take things way too far and just set us back even more (Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc).

That said, of course we view things through race. We're humans. We often identify best with people like ourselves. A white 20 year old male who grew up in the northeast is going to identify much better with another white 20 year old male that grew up in the northeast than with a 40 year old Korean woman whose family immigrated to the U.S. when she was 12. We're human, and we see things in color/race because that's the most obvious thing to see, and races often (not always) have much different cultures/backgrounds.

[deejaydana]

Everyone views life through the prism of race. It's a primordial trait we carry from way back and it's tied to self preservation (on its most basic level). We are somewhat obsessed w/race issues in this country and given our history as a country this really isn't surprising (and it's certainly not a bad thing as it makes us ever vigilant). Any person that thinks we have it bad here I invite to live overseas. Racism is incredibly unfair and prevalent in other nations in comparison to what we've got here. We're still the standard bearer for progressive and fair race relations. Some times we do take it too far. There are certain people who play the race card to no end, that college professor may well be one of them (we probably won't know either way).

[Stugein]

To make judgments about someone based solely on race is most certainly wrong, but I believe that fear of reprisal has made people afraid to even acknowledge our differences, which is a little bit saddening to me. We all have rich heritages, backgrounds and ancestries. We all have both physical and cultural differences that make us all unique and beautiful as a people. Yet we ignore them or are afraid to speak of or acknowledge them because we are so deeply frightened of offending someone or being labeled a racist. It's a shame, to be quite honest.

Me personally, I try to embrace our differences. I try to see the best in all cultures. Maybe it's naive, but I think that only by acknowledging and celebrating our differences can we learn from one another and move forward as a whole society. Sure, to make final judgments about people solely based on their race is wrong. It's abhorrent to me that someone would treat another human being as a lesser person just because of their skin or their background. But people also need to get thicker skins (pun not intended ). We shouldn't riot every time someone makes a joke about some racial stereotype, or makes an off-handed insensitive comment without malicious intent. Not every unfortunate incident between members of different races should automatically viewed as an issue of hatred or intolerance. People need to stop tilting at racist windmills.

[Ax]

Ask yourself these questions.

1. If Donovan McNabb was involved in a civil suit where the assault desribed is essentially rape, would ESPN have buried and ignored the story?

2. Would a white Harvard Professor have been arrested if he had locked himself out of his house?


There is a racial aspect to every news story, every sports story, every book, and every movie. Hell, it's every business story.

Who got blamed for the housing bubble? Poor black people.

Who got blamed for Prop 8 in California? Black voters.

This is just stuff in the last 8 months.

But we are supposed to be post-racial.

It's this kind of thinking, and it's polar opposite, that make the end of racism impossible.

[WhoRUSupposed2Be]

I think everything in America - history, politics, sports, law, crime and punishment, war, peace, literature, education, taxes - has to be viewed through a racial prism.

To deny that there is a racial component to everything we did, do, and will have done as a nation is to ignore everything that makes the US the US. Race is right there in our constitution with the 3/5 a person clause.

It's caused wars and riots.

It's been the issue in political campaigns.

It's determined the location of freeways and interstates. (Read biographies of Richard Daley and Robert Moses to determine what I am talking about).

It's the reason that our political parties are set up the way they are set up today.

It's probably the reason that you live where you live. Not consciously, but it's there.

I could not agree with you more on this.

Race is what shaped America as it is today.

[WhoRUSupposed2Be]

Ask yourself these questions.

1. If Donovan McNabb was involved in a civil suit where the assault desribed is essentially rape, would ESPN have buried and ignored the story?

2. Would a white Harvard Professor have been arrested if he had locked himself out of his house?


There is a racial aspect to every news story, every sports story, every book, and every movie. Hell, it's every business story.

Who got blamed for the housing bubble? Poor black people.

Who got blamed for Prop 8 in California? Black voters.

This is just stuff in the last 8 months.

But we are supposed to be post-racial.

What do you mean by this Lombardi? The Housing bubble being caused by poor black people?!

[Forehead]

I wish I could say I didn't. I was lucky enough to be raised in a multiethnic area. Certainly, most people wouldn't immediately think of McLean as such, but there are a number of diplomats and other representatives from foreign countries that live there, and I was able to count many of their kids among my friends. For that, I'm grateful, I was raised thinking skin color was no big deal.

Despite that advantage, I still occasionally allow race to color my viewpoints. As someone else mentioned, I'm positive T.V. has something to do with it, seeing media portrayals of "thugs" and "gangsters" etc. and then seeing people on the street trying to mimic them. And let's be honest, as informative as a program like the evening news is, there are rarely positive messages to be taken from it.

I'm willing to admit I could use a little work in that regard, not jumping to conclusions about people based on sight. And as I said in one of the other threads, I have a tendency to side with the police if there is no other evidence, partially because I have respect for the job they do, and probably because I've never been in trouble with them, have never been framed by them, and have never been given a reason not to trust them. If this makes me look "pro white and anti-minority" as someone so brilliantly put it, then so be it, I can't argue with anyone who has that kind of hard-line attitude.

[Burgold]

I remember once being accused of racism. It really floored me. Actually, the person who accused me didn't actually accuse me, but went to my superior and did so. I was a volunteer at a fundraiser and this person came in and started taking over and making all the other volunteers sit down and rearranging all the displays. I remember her just dumping these teddy bears on the table until it looked like a trough at Toys R US. You couldn't see hardly any of the materials talking about the work we did or that we were even a non profit. The end result was that in the three hours before she came we raised a little over 500 bucks. After she inserted herself, we raised 20 bucks during the next two hours. No one wanted to buy a 25 dollar teddy without understanding or being sold on the cause. Anyway, she was entirely miffed that I dared to criticize her. I told her that we needed to go back to pitching the organization and starting putting things back as they were. She left in a huff. After she left, we made another 250 bucks.

Still, it was shocking and really hurtful to be called a racist, especially when all I was trying to do was help people and all I got for the event was the inability to talk for a week because I was hawking so hard.

[deejaydana]

You know when we will have arrived at a better place regards race in this country? when the media reports crimes as "two men robbed a store" vs. "two black/white/hispanic/etc robbed a store" (not that I think the will change their tack on this kind of reportage)

The media sometimes just fans the flames and introduces race into a given story when they know it will increase viewership.