Re: The country I was raised in
- From: "Eliyahu" <lrooff@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 13 Dec 2005 16:16:31 -0800
JCav wrote:
> Eliyahu Wrote:
> > Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to send wrote:
> > > RaeMorrill wrote:
> > > > Well, how do parents have any control of who sits where on a bus.
> > First
> > > > of all, I imagine mostly this was public transportation as at some
> > > > points the issue on school bus was moot - the blacks were not in
> > same
> > >
> > > In the Deep South a lot of the Christian school movement started not
> > > because parents wanted to get their children away from influences
> > that
> > > could cause them conflicts with their Christian beliefs but because
> > the
> > > Christian schools were not required to desegregate.
> >
> > Do you mean to say that it wasn't just coincidence that almost all of
> > the "Christian Academies" were founded within a few weeks of court
> > orders desegregating schools in the particular communities, counties
> > and states where they are located? I'm shocked! <sarcasm off>
> >
> > Seriously, part of the reason for the schools was that their own
> > interpretation of their "Christian Beliefs" was that God favored
> > segregation and that it was supported by the bible, using the same
> > "proof texts" that had been used for centuries by slave owners to
> > justify their own situation. It's amazing how many of them had a sudden
> > revelation that God had changed his mind when they discovered that
> > Federal dollars were available to schools that didn't discriminate...
> >
> > The biggest issue I've seen in this thread stems from the fact that a
> > few posters had the apparent good fortune to grow up in a place where
> > they weren't exposed to racism, de facto segregation or other forms of
> > blatent bigotry, and they're having a difficult time accepting that
> > this wasn't the norm for the rest of the country or for the other folks
> > who post here. I was fortunate to have grown up in a Navy family,
> > stationed in places where there wasn't as much racism as there was
> > elsewhere. I also had parents who wouldn't tolerate it for a minute,
> > including a father who never hesitated to speak up when he didn't
> > approve of something after having grown up in the old Hell's Kitchen
> > section of NYC. Nevertheless, I've also lived in places where it was
> > endemic and where people didn't even try to hide their racism. Even
> > had a landlord in Tennessee try to use me as a "token minority" so as
> > to avoid integrating his mobile home park, so the Army wouldn't place
> > him off limits.
> >
> > Eliyahu
> What seems to be missing here is that discrimination comes in all
> shapes and sizes and there seems to be a lot of assumption that
> discrimination comes from Anglo-Saxon Chrisitian white people and this
> simply is not the case. Just stating that is a prejudice. When I was
> in high school there was a private high school that I wanted to go to
> because they had a college prepatory course that I was interested in.
> This school's ratio was about 80% black students to the other 20% of
> mixed races. I was discriminated against and held back in sports,
> academic groups, etc. and I am sure that the ones who were responsible
> felt that I had it coming to me because I am white. Where I live now,
> white's are also a minority with Hispanics making up the bulk of the
> population and I have been discriminated against in jobs where only
> Hispanics seem to be given the promotions. All races, religions, and
> both genders are capable of discrimination and somehow thinking they
> are superior or are entitled to slight another based on something
> immeasurable like the color of their skin or the God they worship or
> even what is between their legs. And I will not even stoop to being so
> PC as to call any of these forms reverese discrimination because in the
> end it is all discrimination.
>
Racism is a universal problem, no doubt. The difference, for the most
part in the US, is that whites haven't usually been on the receiving
end of it, at least not as far as anything with real consequences. No
one can deny that it exists in all cultures, though. I learned that
while working with a friend who is Amerasian. If she were living in her
native Korea instead of having been adopted as an infant, she wouldn't
have been allowed to go to school, to associate with "pure" Korean
children or to have a job other than as a prostitute, and she would
have been treated like trash. (It has changed a lot since then -- this
would have been in the 50s and 60s when she was growing up.)
In terms of job discrimination, I've experienced it, too. Some years
ago when I was out of work, I applied at the local cannery just to have
some income and was told that they wouldn't hire me because I did not
speak Spanish. It wasn't a bilingual issue -- no one cared if I could
speak English or not. They just wanted Hispanic workers. Shortly after
that, I got a job doing maintenance for the condos at the local country
club. The interview went well -- I had showed up dressed for the job
in work clothes and a baseball cap. For the first week, things were
great, and the committee rep couldn't say enough good things about me.
The next week, I left my baseball cap at home and just wore my
yarmulke. That afternoon, I was informed that the committee wasn't
satisfied with my work and I was being let go. Coincidence? I think
not...
Eliyahu
.
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