That statement is an oxymoron.

How so? OK, I will follow your rules of discussion:

You are dumb(>>>>>>).

Their parents are of the same race.

OK, in my mind you are digging yourself an even larger hole. We are all from the same parent, but each "race" that we refer to has evolved in it's environment. I am, in fact, your very distantly related cousin or something. The French especially pride themselves for their "race". As I have once heard, "The French are a proud and curious people, looking at the rest of the world in pity for one simple reason: they are not French." If you ask a Northern Italian if he is of the same heritage as a Southern Italian, and he might respond ( I am not sure if there is the same divisions now than there used to be) "I am no brother to a Black Italian."

Once again, we cannot take a sample from a place outside the US to use as evidence, since the US is a very unique place, a melting pot of races. Therefore, I guess I was WRONG in the sense that we are all of the same race, because we do have have the same first parents.

Tell me if I have diverged from my previous thoughts.

TAR

French especially pride themselves for their "race". As I have once heard,

Uh, since I am french, I can refute this first hand.  No WE dont.  But I am not digging any hole.  I am stating my opinion.  And it is based upon observation and known relevant data.  I could consider myself a distinct race and declare prejudice.  That does not make it so.

You can declare anything you want, but again it does not make it so.  Sorry, I have to disagre with you.

The term African-American, or "anything"-American for that matter has alway anoyed me. My feeling is that if you were not born there (or never even visited the place) consider yourself an American, or better yet a North American. I understand our neigbors to the south resent us using the term "Americans" exclusively to mean people of the USA. From what I see on the Discovery Channel all humans came from Africa, so we can all claim that title if we are up for a lable.

I agree, but you should also add Race, Creed, Sexual Orientation, ethnic background....all of the above

I thought Morgan Freeman had an opinion about racing...guess he's not a NASCAR fan

How so? OK, I will follow your rules of discussion: You are dumb(>>>>>>).

I don't get it. How is that my rules of discussion???

How so? OK, I will follow your rules of discussion: You are dumb(>>>>>>). I don't get it. How is that my rules of discussion???

Whoops, sorry, it was supposed to read something like this:
(Note the lack of any support for saying its an oxymoron, or any evidence, or really, any word to justify why it is an oxymoron, for the insertion of the word PURPLE would have at least given the oxymoron statement some backbone).

For the purpose of rational discussion of the human race, one must explore various pigments of the species.

For the purpose of rational discussion of the human race, one must explore various pigments of the species.

I'll Have to put that in the Google Translator to figure out what it means!

It could mean the history of art, you know. Or simply that the Homo sapien has great diversity because of various pigments that do effect differences.

Note the lack of any support for saying its an oxymoron, or any evidence, or really, any word to justify why it is an oxymoron, for the insertion of the word PURPLE would have at least given the oxymoron statement some backbone

If you are so keen on evidence, why didn't you back up your claim first?

But anyway, if race is a function of culture or vice versa, we would see a relation, wouldn't we?

For example a black American would be more similar, culturally, to a black in sub-Saharan Africa than to a white American.

Similarly a white American would be more similar to a white in the Maghreb (Arab countries north of the Sahara) than to a black American.

There certainly is a white culture in north Africa and a black culture in sub-Saharan Africa). If your claim were true, we would see a similar divide anywhere else where both races exist. And we would see similarities of culture depending on a common race.

But we don't. Hence culture and race are inhenrently and completely separate, including and ESPECIALLY for the purpose of this discussion, which is ABOUT that very difference.

Hence your statement was an oxymoron, because race and culture are describing different phenomena and are thus by definition separate.

My girlfriend is from Africa. She is not an African-American, but an African. This is a simple situation that proves race and culture are not entertwined but separate. She does not identify more with the blacks of this country than she does with the whites, except in those cases which are specific to the race - e.g., hair care.

What's interesting is that my sister (as Anglo as you can find) married an African-American, had three kids, and now cries, "racism" at every turn. She loses her job? Racism. She gets evicted? Racism. Amazing, considering she's a member of the majority population and she is not living in areas of rampant racism (Southern California, not Southern Alabama). My lovely girlfriend, on the other hand, is dark as coal and does not make any great noise about racism being directed toward her, even here in rural Texas.

This actually makes me happy. The country has progressed so much in the past 40 years that racism is nearly invisible to someone who isn't seeking to be insulted. The ranks of people in this country who are professionaly offended grow every day, it seems.

#37 by AndySocial Saturday, January 14, 2006

A fascinating post and one I can really identidy with. But that is a few words. Perhaps an article by you would be very helpful.

I look forward to more, with no names, just experiences. Please post more.

an excellent and powerful book offering a serious treatment of US racism/ethnocentrism using 4 disciplines: 3rd ed. of: Race and the Rise of the Republican Party, 1848-1865. Using US History/Political Science/Psychology/Sociology the author presents a factual history of racism as it developed in mid-19th century US and is carried over to this day. Jim

Identity politics leads to ghettoisation of minorities, and I quite agree with you. I would even add that this kind of patronising regonition of African-American Literature as being apart from the mainstream, is itself a benign form of racism.

I believe that someone should not approach another race and have freedom of speech and say " the white boy" that " white cracker" and that same race can turn around still with the freedom of speech and say to the same race a word that the opposite race would considered prejudice if used, Why should race be an issue on talk shows? Why should Oprah all the sudden cut down and bring guest on to prove the point about how her culture was treated? It it is not my fault . Its not your fault for years ago. Who is to say it was your great grandfathers fault. However, we all are responsible and it is daily thrown in our face. oprah has shown that more clearly recently on her feeling of the opposite race with the guest she has on and the questions she ask. To me when you do the short you are the only causes the reason for divided race not the ones who were to blame years ago. Wasnt there race that sold off there people to the Europeans? Not the ture Blue Americans which is my race. If anyone should be causing a wedge between the cultures it should be the native indians. This was there country there land. What do they have to show for it ? A reservation? What days do we have marked on the calandar for any great war heros ? None. We have Presidents that have to share the same date on the caladar for their great leadership however, we have one man that has the whole day and schools close down and now we have his wife that is in vote to have her own day in honor of her. Do we have a day for the First Lady? And as far as 1 month of honor is a bit to much. What about every race ? Shouldnt they be honored to? There not so I dont want to hear that your treated unfairly. They have more rights than Mexicans, Chinesse, Japanesse or even Russians.