Touchy subjuct, but i want to know... NO Harsh or mean expressions, please....

Hello, as you all know, there have been alot of issues about race and the campaign in the news lately...Personally, I want a candidate who is compassionate about doing what's right and fair for all people..Though I don't agree with everything that is being said or put in the news, I do think that there are still race issues in society..not only race issues, but class issues also(rich,middle class, poor), gender issues as well.. What is your opinion and how do we solve the many problems we as a society still face.. please, feel free to comment about your opinions and resolutions..No harsh, hateful,or mean comments please.. I posted this for Adult, mature discussion...

What does this have to do with this website?  This seems more appropriate for a different type of forum.

This is the lounge - a place to discuss whatever - including non-diet, non-weight related topics.

This is a good topic and I hope people will respond thoughtfully and with as much maturity and wisdom as can be mustered.

:)

nomo - volunteer mod

Thank you so much for clarifying.  I notice you didn't respond to her, however.  How nice of you to encourage people to respond even though you didn't yourself.

 

 

mommashay, i think the first step in addressing these inequities is to do exactly what you're doing: name them.  pretending that they don't exist is the same as pretending that heritage (race), gender, poverty, and wealth don't exist.  a lot of people seem to be highly invested in the myth of the level playing field, but that just supports the haves at the expense of the have-nots.

thanks for posting!

khyden,

I'm so flattered that you are that interested in my views on race, class and gender issues.  Thanks! 

It's a big topic so I wanted to think about my response - rather than just blurting something out.  So when I know how I want to respond, I will.  So check back later, ok?  :)

It's been my experience that the race/gender/class issues are still very much around. Not as much in my generation as in my parents generation, but still around. 

However, with that said it was MUCH different in my parents/granparents time than now, so there is no doubt that we are moving in the right direction, but we still have a while to go :)

As far as how it needs to be addressed, I think the answer to this is education. IMO...it's ignorance that breeds predjuce.  But other than that it's time, and people changing their opinions and working to change the culture.  My friends and I are much, much more open minded about these issues (such as interracial relationships and politics) than others in my family. My hope is that the next generation will be even more so.

kyden, i posted on This website because it say the Lounge is a place where you can discuss anything or whatever you want and that is exactly what I did.. I also mentioned that I didn't want any mean or harsh comments..I simply wanted adult opinions about anything wrong in our society..And when I say our society, I mean black, white, yellow, purple or blue... We are all God's children, and when we are blessed or lucky enough to make it too eternity, there will not be separations of colors, gender, or class.Now excuse me, for sounding harsh, but I took your comments to be kind of rude. Now I apologize if thats not the way you meant it. but where you trying to be funny or rude? because the only way we can fix what's wrong with our society is by coming together on one common ground..God bless.

I think it's a wonderful topic, it certainly is a part of all of our lives that is too rarely examined.

I believe our race/class/gender issues are very complicated and the best we can hope for is to slowly acknowledge them, address them and hopefully as a nation and a society, grow out of them.  There are inherent problems with any society as diverse and vast as the United States.  There will alway be a group that has more power than another.  I'm not saying this is a good thing by any means, but I'm also not such as idealist to believe that true equality could ever exist.  I believe the hardest but most urgent issue is that of race. 

It comes not only from our slave culture roots but also our migrant status as a country.  Unless you are full blood Native American which is extremely rare, you were in some what an immigrant to this country some time in your ancestors past.  We have always had power struggles among race whether institutional or inherited.  I believe that affirmative action was a good idea that hasn't evolved with our system and needs to be re-examined to determine if it still fulfills the role we created it for.  I believe that people are taught to be prejudice and to discriminate and knowing the difference between the two is very important.  I believe your racial identity is also learned through interaction both positive and negative.  If you're interested in the issue of race identity in our country I would highly recommend the book 'Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?' by Beverly Daniel Tatum

 

Arg, I have so much more I want to say, the sociology major rears it's ugly head.  But I also don't want to get fired for not getting my project in on time.  I hope this gets the conversation started, I'd love to hear more from you all.

More later hopefully.

Very simplistically, there needs to be equal rights for all. I know this isn't something you mentioned but there should be equal rights for the LGBT community as well. As someone else said, things aren't as they were back in the 40s or 50s or whatever, but I can't say it's really that much better. While there isn't so much outright racism (burning crosses, banning people from restaurants, etc) there is a lot of job discrimination and general prejudice that goes on. Making a bad stereotype about a race is prejudiced... and it happens a lot.
Education is the best way, I guess, to fix this problem. However, I think exposure helps, too. I went to a school in a district that was the most diverse in my state. That, on top of my upbringing, has allowed me to be accepting of ALL people (though close-minded, ignorant people tend to bother me)... race, religion, sexuality, gender is never an issue for me.
I think a lot is in how you are raised. If your parents are close-minded, racist biggots, then chances are (without some huge intervention) you will be too.

It's a hard thing to change. But at least small steps are something. I agree we need a leader who is the embodiment of this open-minded, equality-for-all ideal. It will set a good example for kids now. I like that Obama is half-African, etc. He has ties to Africa (which I hope will help draw some US focus there into improving things)... I'll stop here. I could continue but I'm losing coherence because my mind is all over the place.

i think we (as world citizens) are headed for big trouble right now.  historically, economic down turns are associated with increases in prejudice, discrimination, and violence.  shortages in resources virtually always lead to othering.  these are dangerous times, folks - and these are exactly the conversations we need to be having.

I agree. I try having this conversation with friends and one actually told me to shut up. I contained my urge to smack her and told her she should me concerned over where things are headed since she probably has a long time left to live....

Turning a blind eye fixes nothing. And the world is quickly spiraling into a firey pit of ****.

Mommashay -  I realize this is "The Lounge", but it is still on the calorie counter website.  So it is just weird to me to discuss stuff like this here.  I didn't say anything mean or harsh about your topic itself.  I think it is important, too.  I don't think I was being rude or funny in my comment to you.  Just confused about why it was on a  calorie counting website. Obviously people are doing it though, so i just won't visit the Lounge anymore. 

khyden- The Lounge is full of random things. If you don't like, stick to the dieting parts of the site. 

Original Post by pgeorgian:

i think we (as world citizens) are headed for big trouble right now. historically, economic down turns are associated with increases in prejudice, discrimination, and violence. shortages in resources virtually always lead to othering. these are dangerous times, folks - and these are exactly the conversations we need to be having.

This is so true, and so depressing.  Whenever hard times hit people look for a scape-goat.  It's how the majority of our racist laws were passed back in the day and it's how Hitler got a large following, the Germans were in really bad times after WWI, and he told them it was all someone else's fault.  Thank you for bringing this up pgeorgian

And this is how George Bush is rallying everyone against Muslims...

We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
We shall overcome because Carlyle is right "No lie can live forever."
We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right "Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again."

-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I do think that racially, things have improved in this country over the past 50 years.  You see more interracial couples and more multi-racial people, which is an indication of more cohesiveness and less division between races.  That's not to say that we don't have a long road ahead of us - we probably do.

With respect to gender, I don't know. I think there has been some progress there too.  There are more women in college than men now.  Women make up almost 50% of law school and medical school students.  In terms of achievement, I feel satisfied with the rate of progress.  The fact that women interrupt their careers to have children complicates the measurement of progress, because obviously we put mainly lip service toward the value of motherhood and mostly don't back up our words with action (like having better maternity leave or more access to quality, affordable daycare).  I think that feminist mothers have produced children more attuned to equitable treatment of both genders (even when those children reject the label of feminism).  The areas that haven't changed much, like violence against women, I think that we women need to take more responsibility for making ourselves safe and for making wise choices. If we were doing that more, then it would be easier to figure out what to do about the remaining problem.

I really think that poverty and wealth concentration are the biggest problem of these three and that if poverty were addressed effectively, it would largely solve the problem of racism.  I mean, most racism is just about fear.  Fear that "others" are going to get what is rightfully yours, or somehow diminish you or yours.   But if there really were an equality of opportunity, then there would be no reason to resent anyone for what they have achieved through their own talent and hard work. 

In my grandparents' generation, I think that overt racism was the norm.  They didn't worry about what others would think if they used the 'n' word.  It was normal to use that word (southeastern U.S.).  Today, while there is some debate about whether it's appropriate for a person of color to use that word, there is mostly widespread agreement that it is not a word to be used in polite society. Whites who use it allign themselves with hatred and bigotry and the vast majority of whites want no part of that.

What do we do?

As individuals, I think the best thing we can do is be open to talk about these things, be open to friendships with people who might not be exactly 'like us' and do our best to keep the forest in mind when we're working on the trees.

kyden, as I said before.. I was under the impression that the lounge is the only part on the calorie count were you can discuss anything and everything.. you know if you think about it, subjects and stressful things like this can harm your health because people tend to eat when stressed.And discrimination is a stressful subject.I personally don't think you should turn away from the lounge because subjects like these need to be talked about..Remember, that gender is a big topic of discrimination also..

Personally, I think we deal with the issues by starting to model the behaviors we would like to say. Racism and Class Issues may ALWAYS be there, but I think the answer is to put our best foot forward to each other and say, basically "Hi, How you doing? Let's work together on these issues, shall we?"

out of curiosity, how many people watched Obama's speech on race in America last week?

I work in a very diverse elementary school. My own children were lucky enough to attend and they all had friends of different races and cultures. They stayed at our house, and my boys stayed at theirs. They, as kids, had the unique opportunity to experience the way the other kids' famlies worked, the food they ate..etc. Hopefully they learned that differences are what the world is about..and to respect them.

I find that the children in our school are pretty used to the multi-cultural mix that we have. It's sometimes the parents who have the problem. For instance, two third grade boys of two different races got into a fight at recess (unrelated to anything but  that they were third grade boys, and it just came to blows) After they were hauled into the office and their parents were called, the father of one of them complained that the school was FULL of "those people" and claimed his son was always being picked on by "those kids" and then proceeded to say that "Those people are a very Violent people"...I suppose in his mind, his son was faultless because he was provoked by that "other" race.

 And I am pretty sure that even though this time the fight was between two 9 year old classmates (who were, by the way, joking around with each other in my office after the fight) next time that same boy might feel his dad would back him if he did decide to kick someone's butt simply because they were of a different race...it's sad. It's being taught at home. People learn from their parents. 

We ARE all different...that to me is good and interesting and makes the world a richer place to live.  I wish people would just respect each other.  But I don't think realistically it's going to go away. Remember the Holocaust ? I hope everyone does. That is the extreme example of what can happen with prejudice and racism.