The Deception Of Racism

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   soldout1posted 14 years ago

   Recently I summit-ed a topic on the political site called (The Hypocrisy Of America). And I used the race card as the stirring stick, and boy was I surprise at the response. Over 200 hits. The real truth is that color or race has always been used to bring a wedge of deceit between cultures. This deception was established for the sake of one culture ruling over the other. Who is deemed more Superior so to speak. In every country throughout the world there has been a degradation of one culture to uphold the greatness of another culture. Superior and Inferior perception is always acheived through degradation. America has come a long way. And as far as the newer generation is concern, most of us are one in the same. Depending on ones upbringing of course. The real truth lies within our ability to stand as One Human Race or Nation in-spite of our politics. I love people, this is the real truth. Humanity has no culture in my eyes. Our struggles are not prejudice, what affects one affects all. Just on different levels of life. We are a mixing pot of one whole people. What great flavor we share. We once stood as a nation that fought for common decency within society. Racism was a plot for greed and dominance in the pass. Now we have all become enslaved to a system of greed and dominance. But as One we will overcome what lies ahead. Its a good thing to find out just how far we've come or grown as a people. How much we have healed from the errows of past leadership. This will happen again and again in spite of our political dilemma or disagreements.  Wrong has no defense, just as truth need no defense. It is very easy to judge another in our society. As if we have personally aquired enough rightousness to judge one another. We live in a very arrogant society.  Remember, the race card was only a stirring stick. America has always triumphed. I really believe that the heart of America is good. Even beyond her greed, because of many good Americans that reside at her core. Getting back to the foundation comes with a great cutting away. Its Pruning time. This can be quite painful.

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      Don Wposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I would say in spite of our nature, not our politics. Race is simply another way of defining an individual or group as "other". Race can be replaced with religion, sexual orientation, nationality, anything that distinguishes the group we are part of ("us") from a different group ("them"). Our tendency to do this stems from the increased chances of survival that results from forming cooperative groups that can complete with other groups. It's therefore a biological imperative to do so.
      
      What's happened is that the extra layers of complexity we have developed as a side-effect of becoming self-aware - things like society, tradition, culture, morals, religion, politics etc - obfuscates this biological imperative and adds a layer of rationalisation. So these things end up becoming justifications for what is in effect simple animalistic behaviour.
      
      The future for human beings will be determined by our ability to overcome that animalistic behaviour. Remove the need for groups to compete, through the availability of unlimited resources for example, and it's possible that this tendency to form groups and compete (for anything other than fun) will be diminished. However it's not clear whether the very nature we are trying to overcome will prevent us from developing the material means to overcome it. It's possible that we may never develop those means, or that we destroy ourselves before we do.
      
      p.s. that's all of course IMHO

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         soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Don W, that is POWERFUL.  I am afraid that the reduction of the human soul to its lower nature has become common ground for humanity. We have gone far and beyond segregation by culture or by groups of classes. We now live in a society that perpetuates hate and division, greed being the primary goal. The segregation of the soul from its true and original origin is obvious. Your statement is very deep and I’m sure not understood by many outside your circle. The position of the soul must be redirected away from its lower nature. And this can only be accomplished through self denial.  Living without your true origin, creates all kinds of fonies and chaotic behaviour. When human beings reach the origin of their true being , the need to fit in  will diminish. Externally  speaking there is no longer a need to be affirmed, when you know who you are. Great Response,love it.

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   Cagsilposted 14 years ago

   Hey Soldout,
   
   You posting large posts again.
   
   I think I've covered it in my hub. However, I think it should be an expansion of the mind, with regards to the topic.
   
   Racism? http://hubpages.com/hub/Continuing-Issu … of-America
   
   Just a thought.

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      soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I thought the expansion was great.  Cagsil

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         Cagsilposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         When people face the fact that racism is not just one-sided, then and only then can it be addressed. However, it takes a lot to make other people understand.
         
         Racism really is just pure ego. That's all it really boils down to. Someone thinks themselves better than someone else. When in fact, truth be told- they are no different except for a couple aspects.
         
         Everyone dies. Everyone has a conscience. Everyone has a consciousness. Everyone bleeds when stabbed. Every bleeds the same color. Everyone is born in the world. Everyone has to make their own way. Everyone has to do what is in their best interest to survive.
         
         So, I don't see much of difference myself. But, some do.

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            soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I truely believe that  those that think themselves to be better then others are suffering from  a lack of self Identity. Inwardly there is no color. It doesn't matter if it is race, gender or even our financial or educational status.We may be in a more established place according to other areas in our life.  This doesn't  make us better. Rotton people come in  all colors and ,genders. Some of the worse people are the wealthiest.  Cagsil  I checked out your page and I thought it was very informative. You definitely did your home work.  It actually makes me angry  when people have a need to look down on another race or ethnic group.  These people are not healthy. I truly believe that each person that  has been born into this life  are  brought into this world to add something each of us lacked within ourselves.

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               ilmdamailyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Exactly.
               
               It makes as much sense to me as nationalism.
               
               Nobody "chooses" to be born "black", "white", "hispanic" or whatever. Similarly, nobody choses to be born Brazilian, Angolan or British. We are what we are.
               
               Taking pride in something determined purely by luck (fate, destiny, chance - whatever) makes no sense at all.
               
               Kind of like a guy that wins the lottery, and then runs around boasting how skilled and talented he is because of his luck.
               
               He'd be off everyone's Xmas card list.

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                  soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  ilmdamaily ,your statement is so true. I've learned in my past experiences on my journey throughout life,  many times we receive the reflections of our own mindset.  And as we focus on a much greater element call substance,the superficiality of external turmoils will cease to exist. Again your statement was clear cut. Thank you for your response.

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   evvy_09posted 14 years ago

   I'm not sure if people in general can ever get over the race thing.  Racism does go both ways.  I worked at a restaurant that had mostly black employees.  One day after being at work for awhile one of the employees pointed out to me that I was the only white person there.  I hadn't noticed until then and looked around before asking them "what's your point?"  I then heard several jokes about picking cotton.  Strangely some of the same people who gave me crap about me  being white or black power (this was after I had got promoted and the first time I wrote somebody up) are now family friends and are at my house eating dinner with us.  One by one we can stop racism but still generally people are still very racist.

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      soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I agree whole hardly evv_09.  I had an incident on my job some years back as well. I am a Residential Property Manager. On this particular day I was evicting a white young lady from my Apartments.  She was truly a rotton resident and at this time I didn't see her color. Bad residents come in all shades. All I wanted was my unit. lol   Many of  the clerks and  court officers knew  me, on this particular day we had a substitute Judge. When me and this young lady approached the bench the Judge who was an old white man. Proceeded to say to this young lady  I am assuming you are the Property Manager? Okay ,my responded to this judge  was no she is not. Why did you assume this? In front of the whole courtroom. The court room went silent..  He made me wait until he had called every other case before he recalled my case again.Yes he made us sit back down. It was crazy and yes I kept my Professional appearance as he questioned my credentials, but I was livid. I wrote a grievance on this Judge and I never saw him again.  It was the white clerk and black and white officers that stood on my behalf. One of  the white officer's  was my friend  and he told me this guy was a good ole boy. I had never heard this before. My Boss like the courtroom was in shock. Your story is a great one, and I agree one by one we can stop it. Thanks for stopping by.

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   Beth100posted 14 years ago

   Racism is the product of uneducated minds and minds that have not seen past the ends of their own noses. 
   
   Education and real experiences are the only ways to prevent and change the paths of racism and stereotyping.

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      soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Sometimes this is true Beth100, but with some people. No amount of education will change their hearts. This Judge who was apparently from the old school could not see a black woman putting a white girl out in the streets. It didn't matter that this womans didn't keep the covenant of her lease agreement. Or that she caused other residents to complain. She was just a bad tenant , it really didn't matter about her color.  I was only there to do my job, it wasn't that personal. She was white an unfortunately that was all he saw. As educated as he was. I got my Unit  back yell,even though he tried to humiliate me in the process. It was all good.

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   mikelongposted 14 years ago

   In the South following the Civil War, European-descended, Chinese and Mexican imported workers, and freed African slaves suffered under sharecropping.....and they would work together to try to form unions following the passage of the National Labor Relations Act....
   
   "Race" would be utilized by those profiting from those sharecroppers....the landlords, who would utilize "race" in order to divide society...
   
   If "whites" or "blacks" tried to protest, Mexicans and Chinese would be brought in to replace them... It was this type of behavior on the behalf of corporations that created generational suspicion and resentment between these and other groups....there were other stimuli as well, but the competition in the workplace and social spheres created and exacerbated by persons pursuing primarily profits played a major role....  In the Los Angeles of the early-mid 20th century...even on into today, many "whites" would/will willingly pay a higher property price and tax rate to live away from those they deem "undesireable".... 
   
   Thank you Huntington family, Mellon's, Stanfords, and others for the great job you all did inculcating the delusion of "racial divide" so that you could build empires, and ensure that your future generations would dominate our nation.... Who funds the Heritage Foundation? Or the Social Contract Press?
   
   If we go back to the colonial laws of the U.S., I believe it was in Virginia that the first "race" laws, at least in this nation, were constructed.  The colonial population was a mix of European, African, and Native....but there were a small population of estate owners and other elites, and a huge proportion of indentured or freed workers who were subject to high and fluctuating rents and taxes. Though diverse, from what I have read, there was interrelations between the varied population of working class... The disparity of the few wealthy to the multitude of laborers caused anxiety amongst the echelon of the elite, and new strategies for social division were devised..
   
   Though I don't have Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" or "Voices of a People's History of the United States" in front of me, both these, and other, sources discuss and give examples of the laws that were passed by insecure elites that made it a crinimal offense for "blacks" and "whites" to fraternize together in off hours... The passage from being a free-man to slave began with such laws...that would give a white person caught of fraternizing with a "black" extra years of indentured servitude or some other punishment, whereas the "black" person would be sold into slavery...  There were many "blacks" in the English colonies prior to the institution of slavery....
   
   It is economic/social class that are the real issues...
   
   It is the creation and safeguarding of wealth, prestige, and power that drives the division...  American soldiers may call Somali's "skinnies" or Iraqis "Hajjis", but to men like Dick Cheney and corporations like Halliburton they are a means to higher profits through conflict of interest driven transfers of national wealth into private bank accounts.....Neither Dick nor the corporation he empowered through his political offices and CEO term have any qualms about doing business with Iran (including selling centrifuge technology for nuclear reactors)...even if it means breaking American anti-terrorism related trade laws or putting the security of the U.S. (arguably the entire world) at risk...
   
   "Race" is the ongoing distraction....  It has not always been so, however...at least not across the board.. The only "race" that is relevant is the "race to the bottom" that corporate strategists continue to globally devise... Their bottom line, and the bottom falling out of the American middle class......

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      soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Hey mikelong this is a Hub. lol   You are dead on it !  Your response was so intense. Virginia is the beginning, yes you are correct. The first slave was sold out of Virginia, in 1654. John Casor, an African, became the first legally recognized slave in the present United States. He was sold in a court in Northampton County.  Virginia is also my home.  I must be honest,I  only moved to Ca. 3 years ago.  And  believe it or not Ca. is very segregated; the racism is not even addressed here. Whites here act privileged I’ve never seen anything like it.  You may not believe it (mikelong) but I was shocked too. What you speak of in your article is still here in Ca.   As an upper management employee, and working in the Apartment Business. I've notice in this particular area most of the blacks I've worked with were maintenance men. I 'm always the only black in the office. I haven’t even work with a black leasing agent since I've been here. The whites speak to the blacks as if they lack comprehension. This was one the things that stood out when I came here.  My response was Okaaaaaaaay. What’s that? And get this, they weren’t all that smart.  Many of the white co-workers I have spoken with on this topic. Told me in certain areas they have Black Property Managers.  Areas such as Oakland, Richmond, San Francisco, even Sacramento. My first interview I received was in an area surprisingly to me I didn’t see any blacks.  While talking to the guy over the phone, he heard that I was black I guess.  Get this; he gave me directions coming from Oakland. I then said okay I’m not coming from Oakland. There was silence, Crazy.  Here in Antioch at the Antioch Police Station there is not one black employee.  I have never seen this before in my life time.  Yes I am from VA.  I’ve stated to my white peers as well as my black peers we were not segregated back home or raised like this. Whites and Blacks are just about the same back home. We were raise together and this was the purpose of de-segregatation, To Unit. Some of my closest friends are white.   And honestly back home we never use the term black and white. It never mattered until I moved to Ca, Crazy huh? I had always heard that Ca. was the liberal state.  Then I did my history and found out quite differently.  The weirdest thing of all is that the blacks act as if the whites are better.  Many when entering my office were shocked to see me sitting at the front desk handling the office alone. What the heck is that?  Someone said to me it’s your skin color.  Please, I was raised to believe that no one was better than I was.  And I just happen to believe it. My philosophy was this, if I did my work with excellence, operating without me would be missed. The key is that I act normal. Which is what they do where I came from?  Racism was pushed pretty far back into the boonies in VA.  Many of the whites do not tolerate it. Here in the Bay Area it is normal to see another group of people as less than. I haven’t really suffered racial behavior personally so far, but I’ve watched others go through it and yes I intervene. I can’t help it. No matter what race they come from.  It’s abnormal not to see every color and the only thing that makes me different from the next person is suit wear. Great Insight my friend, you’re right. The rich are profiting daily off of the ignorance and deception of separation.

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   Ralph Deedsposted 14 years ago

   Lenord Pitts's column today "A New Face of Hatred" is worth reading.
   
   http://www.freep.com/article/20101102/O … -of-hatred

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      JOE BARNETTposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      RALPH- new pic?? ah ha nuts!

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         Ralph Deedsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         My Halloween pic.

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      soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Deleted
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         evvy_09posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         You have some really long posts.  Seems like you should have more than 4 hubs and save time instead.
         

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            soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Girl you are right.  I just start writing on the Hub Page again . lol.

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      soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Ralph I went to your page and the story about the children taking their own lives was heartbreaking.  I mean really sad.  My take on the circumstances that govern your article was outrage. No, I do not believe in same gender relationships. Yet, I have family members that are Homosexuals and I love them very much.  I believe as the Wikipedia dictionary states. That Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.   Blacks were fighting to become a part of a system that they were initially locked out of politically.  See, when slavery was abolished the blacks were freed, yet locked out of the system by law.  And when the Klan we’re backed into the woods by a more accepting society.  They took off their sheets and put on positions such as Lawyers, Politicians and Law makers.  Now on the other hand same sex relations, this is different. What rights are the homosexual denied other then obtaining a Marriage Covenant ? In many states this is now possible. For the past 20 years they've been somewhat liberal.  No law can make another human being except someone else’s gender preference.   The laws you are addressing go far and beyond the court of law. This topic is heavy and more directed at the laws of nature.  Before the Homosexuals begin to fight for their rights, we all knew they were Homosexuals.  Many of them were already accepted. But honestly, how can someone else make me except who they want to sleep with or married.  This is a bedroom issue.  You are trying to change what I sincerely believe for another person’s self comfort. This is my structure. Aren’t they infringing upon my rights?  Yet I would never destroy the identity of a misguide child or anyone else for that matter to prove my point. They are innocent victims, what that gentlemen did  my friend was evil.  Blacks on the other hand just wanted to become a part of a Country that enslaved them for 300 years.  Years after slavery they had no right, as you are well aware of.  Really Ralph, how can laws be made solely on a person’s sexual preference?   The sexual orientation Laws was put in place to allowed white women the right to vote. Woman suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually. In 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, this provided: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States; or by any state on account of sex." That  article you recommended was so sad.  Thank You For stopping by.

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   mikelongposted 14 years ago

   Sold Out, I agree with you completely, and I am not at all surprised...
   
   While portrayed in the media as a "liberal" state, we have more white supremacist, neo-nazi, and klan groups organized than anywhere else in the nation...with Texas trailing at a distant second....
   
   The San Fernando Valley, where I reside, was built for "white" Protestant families....the older homes still have deeds carrying the unconstitutional clauses stating that the homes could not be resold to non-whites, Catholics, Jews, and others...
   
   It is remembering that the G.I. Bill money that put families in those homes...(the socialism that has enabled the descendents of these families to believe themselves to be "independent" from government....)....the Federal "thank you" to war vets went to whites only.....
   
   Mexican, Japanese, African.....these Americans didn't get the just reward for their service to this nation....
   
   And the Mexican citizens that the United States contracted...the over 6 million Mexican men that were brought north (not "illegal entered"...but were government drawn for private industry use...)...to work in American factories making weapons of war....laboring in the fields putting food on American (not Mexican) tables at home and in the bellies of troops overseas.....Mexican men brought here to work through the Bracero Program...to be pushed back across the border...without pay...
   
   This is the legacy of the United States...not some other nation... It is the face we must look in the mirror, whether we like to or not... It is this legacy that we have to change...
   
   And putting the GOP or other "conservatives" in political office(they want to go back to those days I've been mentioning) will only make things worse...
   
   It is remembering the meaning of the word "conservative".....and that is being resistant to change...
   
   Being conservative prior to the Civil War meant supporting the institution of slavery against "federal regulation"....
   
   "Conservatives" stood agsinst Civil Rights legislation on all fronts....from the desegregation of schools...and neighborhoods like those in the San Fernando Valley....to the bussing of students from inner-city ghettos to schools in more affluent, white, neighborhoods....(including George Bush Sr....who was in the Congress at the time and voted against the original Civil Rights Act)....
   
   This "conservative" identity is cloaked in "responsibility" and "liberty"...of "holiness/righteousness"........but it has only meant freedon and success for the cronies running and funding their shows....regardless of their Democratic or Republican clothes...
   
   While I am still a registered Republican....my views are so far from that party's platform and ideological base that they hardly ever garner my vote or support....
   
   As for Democrats, while they are an alternative...the title "Democrat" does not, and has never been wholly synony mous with "liberal" or "progressive"... This is why ridiculous men like Glenn Beck can point to a Democratic 60 seat count in the Senate, but why progressive legislation faced so much opposition....
   
   It is time for a change.....but a new philosophical approach to the "American perspective" needs to be created...and a new national narrative needs to be written...

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      soldout1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      mikelong ; all I could say after reading your response was WOW.
      
      (Being a conservative prior to the Civil War meant supporting the institution of slavery against "federal regulation)
      
      This statement is mind blowing along with all the other revelatory history you have exposed.  You continue to expose events that carry on into this present day. No one back home believed me when I told them about the racism in Ca. On the East Coast we've always thought that Ca. was where people went to become famous.  There‘s a movie I watched when I was younger called (Remember The Titans), it’s one of my favorite movies. In this movie I can recall there was a guy that was in the Arm Forces that brought his kid to play with the Titans because he was against segregation. He was from Ca.  Now this movie was based on a true story. Yes Ca. was a shocker for me. 
      The Mexicans were driven out of their land.  The cession of this territory from Mexico was a major goal of the war. California and New Mexico were captured soon after the start of the war and the last resistance there was subdued in January 1847, but Mexico would not accept the loss of their territory. Today we are all being included in a greater loss as country.  We’ve been losing for quite some time now. And it’s a whole lot more then territory that is at stake. Who can we really deem worthy to begin a new philosophical approach on behalf of America?  The vision of the American is so segregated right now; and has been for a long time. Everyone has become so self serving. And their own individual view point only includes their four and no more. This is just a saying. Your insights are to be pondered upon.  It’s just so true. Thanks again,

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