racism specifically against black people.

Trust me, those that don't want to see the truth, won't.

Racism exists. Period. It has never gone away. And it not only directed toward black people but all peoples of color. This is why it is important to enlist as many people of all races into the fight against it. Right now big money has found that it is beneficial to them to allow it to bubble to the surface and to countenance its expression in our public institutions. This is what all of us need to be fighting, regardless of our race or gender. When one of us falls, we all are in danger of falling. The most basic right we have is to exist regardless of the color of our skin. I am. You are. We are. As long as we all stand for ourselves and for each other, the nation and the world stand a chance.

1) more than a handful here are arguing that there wasn't racism against Trayvon Martin because Zimmerman has mixed ancestry and/or is Hispanic. i disagree that this precludes racism, so i wanted to confront the issue of whether black people are victims of racism still, period. can someone agree or not agree with that simple fact? we'll see.

2) some of the more odious posters are arguing or think that racism exists, that racism's effects on white people are just as bad as they are for people of color. yes, on DU.

I could go on and on...

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5401a1.htm
http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/27/news/economy/wealth-whites-blacks/index.html
http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet
http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/a-definitive-guide-to-white-privilege/
http://grist.org/cities/climate-change-is-making-private-heat-islands-for-people-of-color/


a real problem...

Also, I voted in the poll myself to show that there is nothing tricky about it.

sorry... I guess it is naive to think that everyone on DU is enlightened, or even somewhat aware... though... Wow... I can't even imagine how anyone could even think racism is a non-issue

...should answer the question for you.

But no, they're not racist. They're just asking a question.

did you notice the poster named after the gun told me that he was more liberal than me?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1172&pid=128515

I'm however heartened this was hidden 6-0: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1172&pid=127580

then there's this, from your thread, from another poster:

and getting quite arrogant when asked for proof of such a bold and inflammatory assertion:

managed to disrupt all the "Occupy" kum-bay-yah demos? From what I saw of those guys, they looked pretty white to me. They did have black hoodies, though! No guns!

And there WAS a reported theft of a few bicycles from Walmart....perhaps it's time to send in the militia????

Anyone who tries telling me racism is dead will be (metaphorically) backhanded.

I'm not pointing fingers at anyone here. I just think its funny when people of privilege say that everything is equal.

Then they tell us to 'move on', get over it, and they had a black or Thai or Brazilian friend - once.

Both of those statements mean the speaker is about to spew some racist shit.

If you refer to your friend as your black friend, guess what you're racist.

What sort of black person wants to hang out with bigots? When these folks claim "I have a black friend...", I fantasize that it's the same Black Guy. They hire him for show at parties.

or a kid who sat next to them in middle school a hundred years ago. It's probably not an actual friend that they hang out with or speak to.

still very real.

I think he/she already did.

And he's looking for the girl next door.

We DO learn something new every day

She was juror B37.

Or something.

should tell anyone that this is a deeply racist society. http://www.nwlc.org/resource/fair-pay-women-requires-increasing-minimum-wage-and-tipped-minimum-wage

"Women of color are disproportionately represented among female minimum wage workers. Black women were just under 13 percent and Hispanic women were just under 14 percent of all employed women in 2012,[3] but more than 15 percent of women who made minimum wage were black and more than 18 percent were Hispanic.[4]"

http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/

"The poverty rate for all persons masks considerable variation between racial/ethnic subgroups. Poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics greatly exceed the national average. In 2010, 27.4 percent of blacks and 26.6 percent of Hispanics were poor, compared to 9.9 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 12.1 percent of Asians.

Poverty rates are highest for families headed by single women, particularly if they are black or Hispanic. In 2010, 31.6 percent of households headed by single women were poor, while 15.8 percent of households headed by single men and 6.2 percent of married-couple households lived in poverty."

That's why calling race and gender issues mere "wedge" issues gets on my nerve.

they removed it.

but i'm sure they voted in the best interests of the DU community.

Mirt can't do anything until he/she posts something.

for daring to comment on racism.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1172&pid=128580

Where I grew up, I don't think it was an issue, at least not in my perception at the time. It's entirely possible that's just a case of, I never held a racist attitude, but I was naive enough to not notice it in others. It's entirely possible that it was never actually a real issue where I grew up, at least not at the time I grew up there. I'm uncertain about that now.

I now live somewhere else, and one of the guys I know locally has been stopped and had his car searched because the cop "smelled marijuana". He doesn't smoke marijuana, but he is black.

Another black guy I know told me that he gets stopped constantly - he's always asked what he's doing around there ... and he lives in that neighborhood.

*Nobody* should have to deal with crap like that, and I think that some specific locales are better than others as far as how much of an issue racism is.

It shouldn't be an issue anywhere, but that's not reality.

Anyone paying attention knows that blacks are not treated or viewed as equals in this country.

no matter how hard they try.

and for that matter, almost none of them have voted in the poll even though it is a very simple thing to agree with.

one who voted "no". Profile, fwiw. Interesting, eh?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=302330

see:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=302330

Transparency wins the day.

H. Crowell has 13 posts in 6 years here.

cgrrguyto has 5 posts in 8 years here.

and its fucking high time that this shit stop. The color of ones skin has nothing to do with the kind of person that person is. Oh yeah, sure, by being treated like shit does have an effect on some and that is the cause, not who they are. I'd be one bad ass mo'fo' if I was on the blacks side of the fence. You can bet on that. I dont hold anything a black person might do against them because of the racism they experience day in and day out. For way too fucking long now. Its time we whites get over ourselves and quit being dicks. IMHO

and that's in larger urban metro areas, otherwise they live culturally apart..

There is racism on both sides, but racism on black far outweighs anything else..

The question seems like a "no...duh" to me and I feel pretty strongly that economic disenfranchisement and poverty are the greater issue.

This is a country with Jim Crow in easy living memory, millions of black folks in prison, and more poverty than you can shake a stick at.

though there is a contingent of trolls that don't think so, and even a contingent of regular members (small thankfully) who think that "reverse racism" is the bigger problem.

to them, a poll like this is a way for this community to tell them that we recognize racism as a significant problem and none of their efforts to the contrary are making any difference.

Everyone is voting for the same option.

Seems sort of fruitless.

especially when we are being trolled hard by a handful who say it isn't?

I think it is clear from the vast majority of posts about the verdict where the vast majority of DUers stand.

I just thought it was weird to do a survey that isn't really a survey. I think of surveys more as having multiple options with various people voting for each of the choices.

But that is just my opinion - I was just wondering.

African Americans don't enjoy a presumption of innocence in the judicial system. Apparently observing and commenting on racism is unfair to white people.

or the banned "excop" troll?

probably the list to choose from in that group is too large, but

One peek in the window of the Oval Office should make that clear.