Until you have heard a white person confide his racism to you its hard to understand what black folk have to put up with. I grew up in backwater Georgia and I've had things told to me "in confidence" that I really didn't need to hear. Things that were pretty shocking in terms of what they revealed is really going on out there.

What I'm hearing a lot of in this thread is many people who do not harbor racists viewpoints attempting to advance the argument that racism really isn't that prevalent anymore. An easy trap to fall into - I don't see it so it must be paranoia on the victim's part.

Its not the obvious James Byrd stuff. Its much more subtle and much more insidious than that. Sometimes I wonder if all Dr. King did was push racism underground. Again, until you have enountered a true racist you are not seeing the whole picture.

As Chris Rock said while onstage to a mostly white audience, "I'm black and I'm rich and not one of you mother-fuckers would even think of trading places with me." He got a big laugh but he also got a lot of people thinking.

The problem that victims of racism need to try their best to avoid is using it as an excuse. To do so is to be nailed twice - the first by chance and the second by choice.

Blacks aren't the only victims of racism.

No one's saying that.

Applause. Very well said.

Work needs to be done on both sides of the fence.

Don't condone racism (or be a racist)
Don't fall into the trap of labeling yourself as a perpetual "victim".

(I've actually seen both sides of the race issue. Most people can't tell what my background is.)

- Pie

Well, I guess that answers your own question about where my claim that you said you could only understand racism if you're black comes along.

For the record, I'm not black and I've never been called a nigger. I have been called a number of other things, including "dago" and "wetback". I didn't know what those were; I was pretty amused when I found out the idiot calling those that had used the _wrong_ racial slurs. How many points towards college admission is that worth?

The question is not "does racism exist?" We know it still does.

The question is not "is racism bad?" We all agree that it is.

The question at hand is "do people of a particular color/origin/faith deserve special privileges because some people of their color/origin/faith have been subject to racism?"

People of my color have been put down, therefore society / school / government owes me a greater chance at school awards, scholarships, government contracts etc. as compensation for being the target of racism.

a better chance than your predecessors had, or a better chance than people of other colors?

A better chance than anyone not of my color/faith/origin.

That is, does the government etc. owe me an advantage over other applicants.

no.

It's not easy being green.

Dang, Bruce. I was gonna say that.

You can say it too.:)

What she said.

I don't think we're at the point where Affirmative Action should be dropped. I think the whole concept sucks ass, and I hope I'll see the end of it in my lifetime. And I'm glad to see that society has become more tolerant and understanding of minorities (of all types) in my lifetime, but I think we still have a long way to go.

It's a small price to pay for a mammoth fuck up.