HuskerBoard

When I was no older than 10 years old I was sitting in a golf cart with my uncle. He points to an old oak tree with a strong branch about 10 feet off the ground and says, "We call that a n***er hanger back home". So yes, yes it did and would still exist.

Yes. The media may sometimes add fuel to the flames but it would still exist without the media.

Racism exists in us all to some degree. Most of us are willing enough to crush those feelings and treat everyone with the respect they deserve as a fellow human.

The real Coach Carter spoke at my university and said every person is racist to some extent, which was followed up with a handful of white people saying arguing with him saying not everyone is racist. It was an interesting moment.

Everyone has a sense of racism. Just like you have a bias towards your family, most people are more likely to be biased towards who they relate to.

I kinda feel like it's indoctrinated into people from their elders and from education. I had no idea people were treated like second class citizens or slaves until we covered MLK and Civil Rights in 3rd or 4th grade.

CN Red nailed it. *Everyone* is racist to some extent. Even the people victim to racism are themselves racist. To some extent.

Irony - the Hispanic group that combats racism calls themselves "La Raza" or "The Race"

We're all the same humanRace huKser.

That's a good point savage. I grew up with good friends who were black, asian, middle eastern... I never thought they were any different or that they could be treated different than me until I was much much older.

Racism will always exist to some degree. I think the media does exacerbate the problem by sensationalizing and playing up any race element every time they get a chance.

What I wonder though is, would racism be near the problem it is if we quit creating "protected classes" of people and simply began treating everyone the same. It's supposed to be one of the big things in the US- "treat everyone equal" but somewhere in that effort our government has determined that it is of utmost importance to classify everyone and know exactly what race etc. they are. If it isn't supposed to matter, why ever inquire about a persons race? I think the s...

...sooner everyone (our government especially) begins ignoring race, the sooner racism will improve.

I think if anything, learning about race, seeing people fight for race issues, improves the situation. It gives me a continued awareness I would not have otherwise had.

It's a double edged sword for sure but I think it's more of a chicken or the egg thing. Why does a person need continued awareness of something that is not supposed to matter? If we want black and white to be treated the same, why ever differentiate between the two? (not that those are the only two, but you get my point)

JJ, there's a lot of flawed methodology in "treat everyone the same". Our country is still riding momentum that affects us from when it began - slavery still has effects ringing true today, segregation still has effects ringing true today. Every institution in our country was built by white people and is still disproportionately advantageous towards us. You have to acknowledge and embrace the differences in treatment because the playing field isn't equal.

What institution?

LOMS, I acknowledge that there are still some residual issues but I just wonder if we haven't made enough progress that maybe it wouldn't now improve faster and more completely if we quit highlighting the differences and using race as such a predominate differentiating thing. Really, it's just something I wonder about. Not claiming it would definitely be a cure.

I think LOMS gets it. Race is a construct that exists; "Not Being Racist" is an active moral to be learned. In the absence of learning, it is not achieved.