Liberals&Progressives Listen up... now y'all will get a HUGE wakeup call about racism in Murka.

I'm laughin cuz I've noticed some crazy shit said when threads are posted African American issues on DU. Often I've seen posts on how y'all think we're too sensitive about race. I've seen posts about how y'all hate the race card. Well WELCOME TO MY WORLD PEOPLE.

Now that a lot of you are Obama supporters you'll get a tiny taste of what African Americans hear and deal with on a daily basis. You'll notice that race is a factor in just about everything. You'll notice when they mention a white criminal they just say male, 35, with jeans and a t-shirt...but when they are talking about a black criminal they say...BLACK male, 35, with jeans and a t-shirt.

You'll notice that there are way less black missing persons news compared to white missing person news. ( god do I remember the lambasting I get when I bring that up)

You'll be posting things about all the shit you hear about Obama's race. I hope you remember all the things you've seen posted or posted in the past on DU about how race doesn't matter.

I can't wait to see how the white Obama supporters become very sensitive about race...and I hope you all take a step back and think about the times you felt African Americans were to sensitive about race and how things have gotten better. You'll now see that race is the first thing people see about a person when they aren't white. I think you'll all wonder how in the hell do African Americans deal with that shit on a daily basis.

Race in murka...pull up a chair and grab some popcorn and a drink. You're in for the show of your life.

...we don't already know a lot of this?

about how they feel blacks are too sensitive and that we play the race card too much in these 'better times'.

Those are the ones who will get the wake up. Those are the one's who need to sit up front and center for the show.

If you know. I ain't talkin to you.

...that Obama won in IOWA! :)

It does say something positive about America.

disappointed.

to you, because it will be going against a candidate you care about. It's one thing to experience something intellectually. It'a quite another to experience it at the gut level. A White in this society will never experience the kind of racism Blacks have to deal with, but when Whites invest their hearts and souls into someone who is going to be treated in a racist manner, it can change their perspective.

I thought I was the most slick and cool white chick ever until I expressed my support for Obama. What an eye-opener! :wow:

I still don't have the least semblence of an idea of what a black person in this country goes through because I'm still white and still privileged, but I got an inkling of it when I was canvassing in NV. However, I do have to say that I was encouraged by the people I met in the suburbs of Las Vegas who are absolutely going to canvass for Barack come hell or high water. Most of the voters who said they were for someone else had no plans to canvass. I think he's going to win NV too.

Seeing someone you care for be treated unfairly solely because he/she is a different can really unleash a wave of emotions people may not be prepared for.

Kudos to Xultar and to you too!

.."Race Card" is going to be played if Obama is the candidate.

as a black American...but when I post about it...that issue doesn't rank with Iraq.

But GUESS WHAT...

NOW IT WILL. Because RACE is impacting the 2k8 campaign. Black issues and race will be important to you because our top contender now...is a BLACK MAN.

instead of just intellectual. It will be interesting to see what happens when white voters who identify with Obama and his message are suddenly treated to the kinds of comments that Barak (and every other African American) has to live with on a daily basis. It will hurt, and personally. That alone could move race relations along much further than intellectual arguments.

to all grow and feel racism and talk about it. I welcome the opportunity.

Now we have Deval Patrick!

I am not an Obama supporter. But I think it is way past time that we see other races and genders in the Presidency. If Obama gets the nod I will work for him as I would any candidate. He just doesn't inspire me ...yet.

don't really know it already. In my experience, you have to see it up close and first-hand to really believe it. Kudos to Xultar for making an excellent post.

finally get it.

...but it had to happen eventually.

Maybe a good education is in store.

:9 :9

I live in a world where a cab won't stop for me and my boyfriend in NY City.

I live in a world where people follow me around a store for fear I will steal.

I live like that. Race is an issue for me. People won't get to live that but they will hear what they say about Obama. That will educate. That is one thing I'm thrilled about right now.

in the hearts and minds of a lot of good people. At very least, his supporters will watch the press coverage with different eyes and begin to see just how these things play out. I would also say the same for Hillary Clinton, except it's hard to tell how much is her gender and how much is the baggage of Bill's presidency. There are still a lot of people male and female, black and white and other, who don't want to listen to a woman or follow orders from her.

This election is a big one, especially if one or both of these barriers (race and gender) is overcome. Can you imagine Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama ? Tweety will be out of his f--ing mind and Rush Limbaugh will have to jump into the Florida Keys and drown himself. :)

I'm sure Rush could get himself into a huge amount of trouble. It could be the beginning of the end for his lumpy ass.

I'd buy tickets. :)

:rofl:

You live in a world where a cab won't stop for you and your boyfriend in NYC. I live in a world where I drive a cab in Oakland CA, and every driver in town has a reason to think twice before picking up black people. That includes the African drivers.
I do stop to pick up black people, usually. And I'm a white boy driving a cab (hard as it may be to believe). Well, sort of white. Half-breed Iranian punk rocker.
And guess what, de facto white folk who do the punk rock, or any other alternative scene, thing... we get watched in the stores too. And if we go to the suburbs we get people fearing we'll steal their purses and whatnot (all us punks are junkies, after all...).

So... I hate to break the news to you, but it's not just a black thing.
On the other hand... I know exactly what you're talking about.
Unfortunately, speaking as a cabbie again, cab drivers get burned/robbed by black folk running out on the fares and or pulling guns and robbing us more often than by any other easily stereotyped group. Especially those of us crazy enough to work the ghetto neighborhoods. Some drivers are able to develop the eye to pick out the traits of those who will fuck up our days... others are just lazy and go ahead and just boycott picking up black folk. I know there are plenty of good black folk (by which I mean black folk who will actually pay me for the work I've done... whether they be single moms trying to get by, or drug dealers who're willing to acknowledge and pay for the work I'm doing for them). Unfortunately... the black community as a whole, especially in the ghettoes of cities like Oakland, they're just high in density of folks who want to get over on anyone they can.

Race is an issue, sure enough, but it cuts both ways. In a black city like Oakland, which isn't nearly as black as the MSM might like to make it out to be... but is still black enough that a white-looking boy driving around the ghettoes in a cab excites interest... well, sometimes if that cabbie isn't hard enough, or at least hard enough seeming... well he's gonna be ripped apart.
And, it occurs to me that the reverse may be a little bit true. Yes, I know what it's like to be watched the moment you walk into a store... for me it's because of my purple dreadlocks... for others... well, whatever. But the fact is, you gotta be a little bit hardened to the fact.
And... the fact that a candidate like Obama can win in friggin' Iowa means that things are moving right along. It means that, while you black folk, and we punk rock fuck ups, gotta be a little extra polite when we first walk into a store or whatever, it also means that, more than likely, if we make that effort, then our odds of being treated ok after the fact is much better than it would've been... before... whenever that was.
I know that a black man, or woman, who gets into my taxi and speaks to me with a little bit of respect, and especially with a little bit of authenticity, he or she will get nothing but respect in turn. On the other hand, if I get a tone that suggests a "game" in the offing... then that fool had better have money up front... or he/she might as well pull a gun from the outset... cause otherwise he/she isn't going anywhere with me.

Now you can judge my rant to show me to be part of the problem. You can pc-judge me to be prejudiced. But the fact is, that you get as you give. I hate to say it, but if the black folks of the country want to be judged not at all by their skin, they're gonna have to do something about their communities that do as much to re-inforce stereotypes as, regrettably, the Asian drivers in china town do to re-inforce the Asian driver stereotypes. I know it sounds awful, but a certain statistical analysis of experience is inevitable with any human in this day and age.
I will certainly agree that there are a lot of people who will jump to the conclusions before even gathering the experiences to make the analysis... an awful lot of people even who will grab the analysis of people like me and twist it to suggest they don't even need the experiences to make the analysis... but the fact remains that, the analysis is valid once you've had the experiences.

And I will also admit, speaking fluent Spanish probably helps me with my experiences with the Latino population, and minimizes my bad experiences there.

What I really wonder... and I don't know if you hang out in enough ghetto circles to know the answer... is what you think the disconnect is between the black folk who're offended by the way black folk are treated overall... and the black folk who seem to use that as a justification for their (occasional, when they bother with such) rationalization for the behavior that continues the stereotypes?

Ohh yeah, and Barack Obama will be getting my vote. The man is articulate and energizing when he speaks, and he doesn't seem to have pandered himself out to the corporations like Hillary who's always seemed even more right of moderate than her husband, who was always a little too moderate to conservative for my tastes.

So sign me up for the racism pains. Hell, I'm used to that sort of thing. I once had a black woman I dropped off in a ghetto yell at me "Go back to your own country!!", because I wouldn't make an illegal U-turn to save her a quarter on her fare. I still laugh about that...

At least in my area of the world, when they describe a suspect, if that suspect is white, they add "caucasion" to the description. I'm sure in other areas of the country, that's not the case, but at least here, it is.

Otherwise, pretty much spot on.

CNN is reporting that a blonde, white woman is missing, and I shall not tear away my attention until she is found.

;)

Let there be a revealing, and then, a healing of difference!

She's very mixed up and on the skids at the moment. Instead of looking for something else to report on like--uh, maybe Iraq?--the press can't move its gaze away from her. They are fixated on this car accident on the side of the road, doing a national rubbernecking with film at 11.

had a story about the police being at Brittany's (with film) because of a custody dispute before they put on anything about Iowa! :wtf: I was totally disgusted and shut them off immediately! :mad:

At the start of the three days I was in Los Angeles, I was surprised about how obsessed the local media was with the entertainment business until I focused on that second word: business.

The entertainment business must bring BILLIONS of dollars into the Los Angeles area each and every year. An entertainer is to Los Angeles what a honcho on Wall Street is to New York.

Now, anywhere else that WOULD be a stupid f'ing priority. And I can assure you that here in Chicago, Iowa not Brittany was the lead story.

Even though the media sensationalize everything, even blond, white women are important. On some level. Don't you think? :sarcasm:

I love all the posts about racism, and how we all aren't enlightened enough, etc, etc. Enuff already.

To borrow a Harlan Ellison-ism.

No offense meant.

I'm being a bit cynical so please don't take any offense by what I'm saying. :)

If this what Obama's candidacy is about, I don't think he'll make it.

That is not the change and hope people want.

who will now experience, through him, what it is like to be constantly in the racial hotseat.

right? There couldn't have been a MORE divisive President than George Bush.

this is going to be a real watcher. My best friend is black and I could never pretend to understand the hell she went through at times. My school was integrated when I started the 7th grade and my parents didn't teach the hate that was prevalent but it was all around me. It wasn't until years later that I could grasp what shit really went on--and still does.

unfortunately, those who suffer from it do not have the luxury of "not posting" who they are in order to avoid suffering from its effects. Your response to his post is yet another demonstration of a desire to sweep an uncomfortable topic under the rug. Obama's candidacy has nothing to do with this post. However, as an Edwards supporter, I welcome the topic.

Sorry if you're actually a sincere progressive or something similar, but your observation is such a repub talking point, it's stinking up the place. One of us speaks the truth about a situation and rather than hear the truth, it gets labeled "divisive and negative", as if that were a worse thing than facing the facts.

:popcorn:

I am so sick of the latent racism - let's hope that people start to realize how pervasive it is in our society.

No doubt. But I think it will be worth it.

Republicans...not so much.

Repubs will learn how to shut up. :)

Hard, maybe painful but still, something we need to do.

(Except, of course, when you're disagreeing with me...:-))

it is kind of funny actually. I knew what to expect, and wasn't shocked... but some other folks who'd never seen racism or any other ism... it was funny to see them

Wasn't there a post recently about a hispanic family who had Obama signs in their yard....and had racist slurs referring to him painted on their house?

Link?

tomorrow. I'm sleepy and hittin the sack.

That's probably why I missed it.

:hi:

people who wouldn't ordinarily put up yard signs to put them up just to fuck with racist assholes.

I think a lot of us white guys leaned Edwards because subconsciously we thought Obama couldn't win the general election as a black man. Thank you Iowa for waking our subconscious.

But I say we keep sending blacks, women, GLBT, jews, asians, muslims, disabled, latino, american indian, indian...everyone until we get a diverse president.

I hope america proves me wrong. I hope a black man can win. WE are overdue.

..."too sensitive" is a red flag meaning "I'm blaming YOU for my shit because I'm not going to take responsibility for it and YOU are a second-class human by virtue of your sex/race/sexual orientation so I'm gonna dump the blame for it on YOU! How convenient for me to be able to use YOU as my personal trashcan!"

"too sensitive" is a meme of abusers - sexists/racists/homophobes

Yep. I know how that feels.

The people spouting the "too sensitive" line typically haven't a CLUE what it's like to live as an African American or a woman or a gay person in the US of Arse. It's easy to sit there and self-righteously say "well, you're just too sensitive!" - when the person saying it hasn't a CLUE and has lived exactly ZERO days/seconds/minutes as an African American - or a female - or a gay person.

They just want to refuse any responsibility for the issue so what to the do? BLAME someone else. Specifically, the victims of racism, sexism, and homophobia. It's easier and much more convenient to use other people as their personal trashcan to dump all their shit into.

And that's the name of the "too sensitive" tune. It's not that you're too sensitive. The problem is, the person saying this is the one who needs to DEVELOP some sensitivity, or at LEAST some empathy.

Don't hold your breath waiting for that...

So I know what you're talking about. Interstingly, I've also received it from women and blacks. I guess sensitivity isn't required for us.

It's a peculiar phenomenon in people that only *their* issues matter. Discrimination and bigotry don't matter when it happens to someone else; only to *them*, kind of like when Reggie White said that he was offended that gays compared their civil rights struggles to that of blacks.

I actually had a black woman tell me that racism only happens to black people -- by definition. According to her, it's not racism if it happens to anybody else.

So yeah, plenty of cognitive dissonance to go around.

Glad to see that fire in your belly hasn't gone out. It should be interesting to see some eyes open, but of course, there will still be those who are oblivious to racism, short of it being overt.

BTW...Voodoo says "hi!"

I've had TONS of foster Chihuahua's go through my home since we've talked last. I gotta fill you in. I hope 2008 brings you, your parner, pup, family, and friends all the health, happiness, peace and prosperity you can stand.

LOVE YA! MISS YA!

Still that fact that Obama won in a lily white state speaks volumes

being a white female who supported Mayor Tom Bradley for Governor of CA. :-(

supporting a diverse candidate the more empathy and understading of race issues will take hold. It can only be a good thing.

When those who sincerely believe in the principles upon which America was founded (who may have a lack of exposure or a few blind spots) start EXPERIENCING racism (having invested their faith, trust and belief in Obama's goodness) the curtain of denial will be ripped down and the brick wall behind it revealed.

Say it ain't so.

my local news denotes "white" male when identifying criminal suspects as well as "black" and "hispanic".

It's never gone away.

acceptable on the right. Someone in the country will always be racist. We must still keep it unacceptable socially if we are to keep alive the promise of those that fought the past struggles when it was socially and legally acceptable (I still remember the way it was when it was overt).

And I think a lot of people of color are, unfortunately, going to get a serious wake-up call about how their white friends REALLY feel.

...and I applaud you for making it. If Obama gets the nomination (and hell, maybe even if he doesn't) it's gonna be a huge wake-up call for a lot of people. Racism is healthy and alive in America, even amongst progressives. As was stated upthread, I think a lot of white people are gonna have their eyes opened. There's still a hell of a lot of racism in America - a lot of it latent, a lot of it sort of below-the-radar, and people (if they are Obama supporters) will respond to it if they see it first hand because they have an emotional attachment to the candidate.

Good post. It took guts to point this out, but it's the truth. K&R.

Chuck Todd MSNBC

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2599539

It's already ugly. Even just here. It's gonna get downright FUGLY!

:hi:

You've raised some excellent points. I hope folks eventually get it...

I think the fact that he won first place with incredible Dem voter turnout in a red state like Iowa speaks for itself. Also, his support had a youthful bias, which means "the times, they are a'changin."

:kick: