To WP: What Can Black People Do to Improve Race Relations in this Country?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can stop crossing the street, parking lot, etc. as slooowly as possible while looking straight at drivers, as if daring them to hit them. That happens constantly where I live, especially with young black people in their teens and 20's, and I am sick and tired of the "I dare you" attitude.

I hear you....sort of like how, where I live, 3 White teenagers walking side by side on the sidewalk and won't move so that other people can get by! You mean like that?

Sure, but if they're white kids they're just individual kids doing something bad. Once they reach a certain threshold of melanin they're a sad indictment of "black culture." Not that I'm a racist or anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make education, nutrition and intact families priorities in the black community.

I agree with this because all of the millions of black people all live in the same community so they can do this

[Anonymous]

OK, so OP posted this topic, asking for feedback. And then derides all the comments that are posted. Having fun?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, so OP posted this topic, asking for feedback. And then derides all the comments that are posted. Having fun?

How do you know which responses are from OP?
Besides that, it was an idiotic and incendiary question.
It did nothing but invite idiots to post dumbass stereotypes and mindless insults.
It most certainly did not invite thoughtful contemplation of better understanding between people with differences.
How helpful is it to tell a whole group of people to tell strangers who happen to look like them to pull up their pants and value education??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so OP posted this topic, asking for feedback. And then derides all the comments that are posted. Having fun?

How do you know which responses are from OP?
Besides that, it was an idiotic and incendiary question.
It did nothing but invite idiots to post dumbass stereotypes and mindless insults.
It most certainly did not invite thoughtful contemplation of better understanding between people with differences.
How helpful is it to tell a whole group of people to tell strangers who happen to look like them to pull up their pants and value education??

PP, just a hunch I have. I agree the whole thread is idiotic.

[Anonymous]

I am the foreigner PP.
let me get this straight
I don't care what other people think of me (black, white, whatever) if they are just in brief interaction with me (like cashiers). Just be civil like I am civil to you.
I know there are bad and good people in every race. However lets face it, there is a higher chance to have unpleasant experience of various degrees with people of certain types. Why would I want to take chances if it is brief encounters, and not deeper relations? For the latter I would be more than happy to go beyond stereotypes.

[Anonymous]

Focus on the love - the people that are friendly, caring and curious - no matter what their color. Teach your kids the same- there are good people in this world that show their openness through their actions. Those are the circles we can build together - focus on the love not the hate and teach your kids the same. Change comes through action and example - define your world and the good will follow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make education, nutrition and intact families priorities in the black community.

I agree with this because all of the millions of black people all live in the same community so they can do this

I hear blacks refer to the "black community" so why is it not appropriate? Specifically talking about how the black women in the black community get all pissed off when I let my biracial daughter where her hair natural or how AA women had so much to say about Gabby Douglas' hair during the Olympics. Some of the generalizations in this thread are way off but using the term "black community" is really common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like it would go really far for black people to:

1. Strive to appear educated.
2. Speak more quietly in public.
3. Pick their pants up.
4. Smile sometimes. Every black mother I am friends with on FB who has a teen or older son has zero pictures of them smiling. They all look angry and menacing.

5. Stop snapping your gum in public--it says you don't care about others around you.
6. Teach kids and teenagers that it is not okay to do passive-aggressive behavior to whites i.e. take up the whole side-walk and walk very slowly when you know someone would really like to pass by. Or wait until you are right next to the ear of someone else to bark at your friend across the street.
7. Try not to assume that every white person is probably racist and dislikes you. It's not true.

This is a tough question to answer but for me I really feel like it starts with the attitude of the black person I meet. It's a problem of not being able to leave the past behind. I find it worlds easier to get to know and stay friends with blacks who are African they are more trusting and less suspicious than African Americans. You feel like you are not categorized as "the enemy" or "potential enemy."

I am no way saying that whites haven't contributed to the problem but I am expressing what for me, would make things easier. Mostly, I am just so tired of being uncomfortable around blacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This question is directed chiefly toward whites (though others may chime in):


What role would you say that African-Americans play with regard to improving race relations in America? In other words, what can we do?

Are there things that you wish people would say (but don't) when discussing race? In other words, what are some alternative ideas/viewpoints that you wish would get mentioned?

Why do you suppose that race relations continue to be tense--nearly 50 years after the civil rights movement?


BW here, btw.

Black people are not a special category. In order for ANY human being to be a contributing member of society, "Ask not what can my country can do for me, but what can I do...."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so OP posted this topic, asking for feedback. And then derides all the comments that are posted. Having fun?

How do you know which responses are from OP?
Besides that, it was an idiotic and incendiary question.
It did nothing but invite idiots to post dumbass stereotypes and mindless insults.
It most certainly did not invite thoughtful contemplation of better understanding between people with differences.
How helpful is it to tell a whole group of people to tell strangers who happen to look like them to pull up their pants and value education??

NP here:

How would you have preferred for the question to have been phrased?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so OP posted this topic, asking for feedback. And then derides all the comments that are posted. Having fun?

How do you know which responses are from OP?
Besides that, it was an idiotic and incendiary question.
It did nothing but invite idiots to post dumbass stereotypes and mindless insults.
It most certainly did not invite thoughtful contemplation of better understanding between people with differences.
How helpful is it to tell a whole group of people to tell strangers who happen to look like them to pull up their pants and value education??

NP here:

How would you have preferred for the question to have been phrased?

Honestly it should not have been asked. It is a "clown question." But I will bite. It was not helpful to ME as an AA because I don't (and no one I know that is AA) displays the behavor that is put forth as examples in this thread. The question itself implies that all AA's act the same, that all AA's approve of some of the behavior and that, as an AA, I can actually control someone else's behavior.

White people get up in arms when someone say something like "White people are racists." The standard response is the AA should not generalize and paint all White people with the same brush. This is what this question is doing to AA's. IF some White person thinks that "snapping gum in public" or rude behavor is a AA thing, then that is YOUR problem, not mine. I think that some of the White kids I have encountered are rude, lack home training and would NEVER get away with that crap in an AA family I know. But I have enough sense and decency to not attribute it to them just being White.

[Anonymous]

Black man here. I totally agree that OP's question was a "clown question". I'm not even sure that OP is black or just someone trying to stir up the pot.

[Anonymous]

Not going to read through the thread (the little I've seen is enough), but OP- really?

[Anonymous]

This thread is disgusting. This is it for me and DCUM.