General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It is going to be a FUCKING REVOLUTION! [View all]logosoco
(3,208 posts)Have always loved that song, sorry to see it is still relevant. But, here we are.
I am going to add my $.02. All perspectives help.
I think right now we are at a critical point where we can get racist people and policies to change by educating the racists that it is not skin color that makes a difference. They need to know that if they don't stand up in this fight NOW, they will be next.
I have seen small but positive changes in my community (large area, smallish population). Over the past decade or so, black people and Mexican immigrants have moved into the area. It seems to be going well, because the white people here are seeing them as hard working people, just like themselves, and the old thoughts of "but they are different" are going away. We aren't where we need to be, but it's a start in the right direction. Like Chris Rock said, it's the white people who need to make progress.
To me, that is what it takes to rid the country of racism. I am seeing some black people who have made it big (Ben Carson, Charles Barkley to name two in the news this week) who are, well, it seems to me, being very racist. This leads me to believe that it is money and power that is the main problem.
We need to teach and show people this. I know several people who are still on the bandwagon of "oh, the black people live on welfare I pay with my taxes". They don't understand that nobody can live off of welfare. They weren't paying attention when welfare reform happened. And for reasons I can't understand, they still keep saying black people aren't working, even when they go out in the world and see that they are working just the same as they are. Nobody is doing well economically, except for a tiny part of the population. And those are the ones who are, essentially, making the laws and creating the wars that the lower classes are dying in. Seems like we didn't learn that in the 60s as well as we should have.
Education is the key to ending racism. Hopefully enough people are paying attention to the folks in the streets and surely they will see that they will be next if this fight ends.
My son is teaching with the Peace Corps in Tanzania. One thing he is having to teach them (beside math and science!) is that not everyone in America is rich. To the people in Africa, they saw the picture of our brick ranch house and my sons 2001 car and they thought that was fancy! Here, we haven't even made middle class, it's always just a step away, but it is lost very easily. I don't think he will be able to adequately show them that there are a lot of people here, who, while they do have better living conditions than Africa, they don't have much power with making the laws fair and equal, without a fight. (But that's okay, he's supposed to be teaching math and science, fields that are almost naturally equal!).
Maybe I am just looking at the world too simply, but to me, the best way to end racism is to get everyone to see that we are all connected, we are all made of the same thing (this is true for both people who believe in evolution and the Bible). The more we can get poor white people to see this, and to see that they need to be in the street right now with the protesters, then MAYBE we can get this country to a place where equality for all is not a joke.
One world. One love. Not one percent.