Mklangelo

I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It deservedly has the reputation as one of the most racially segregated cities in the country, and I'm happy to tell you why.

I'm a white man. I was raised by my mother, who didn't have a mean bone on her body. If you couldn't get along with her, you had problems. She had co-workers of every color in her life and I NEVER heard her say anything even remotely racist. That's some insight into how I was raised.

We have here a phenomenon here called "white flight". Whites in droves leaving the city of Milwaukee for the smaller towns and the rural areas just as soon as they can afford to. Why is that? Drive through the city. Do business in the western part of town and you will see clean streets and conscientious employees. Go into the inner city and you will see streets flowing with garbage, surly employees and sub-par service on a regular basis. You can't even write a check of half of the time or use a Visa, because businesses simply have gotten tired of bounced checks. I can go into businesses in nicer parts of town and write all the checks I want. I can't blame them. There is a grocery store on this side of Milwaukee that I have been going to for almost 30 years. I just decided that I will no longer be going there and I let the manager know why. I get treated poorly by their black employees. And as soon as a black customer gets to the register, we see a day and night transformation from surly to sweetness and light.

Society is decaying and America is in decline.

__________________
A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

- Mark Twain

Modest Me

I was under the impression that all big cities were dirty and full of crime.. But I guess thats just what they teach us here in the little ol' kentucky towns where if someone steals your stuff, you know who took it, and where to find it.

Society is decaying and America is in decline because you just realized how racist some people can be, or because you just realized how racist some people can be against white people?
Being "surly" to a race is a heck of a step up from enslaving a race.

I've never been to the rural areas of Milwaukee 'where the white people live', and I've never been to inner-city Milwaukee 'where the black people live', so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that your vastly different descriptions of these places has nothing to do with the races living there.

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Warning: Will talk about religion at the drop of a hat.

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Truth-Teller

Look, just put up with it.

They endured 500 years of enslavement, and they have every right to scorn you.

Modest Me

How long do we have to pay for something that we had ZERO control over Truth??
The whole "thats what we get for enslaving them" thing has been used up.
Its stupid to carry those chips on our shoulders for eternity over something that isn't even an issue today.
Besides EVERY white person does not have slave-owning ancestors, and EVERY black person does not have slave ancestors.

I refuse to believe that anyone is still genuinely upset over it anymore. If they act upset- they want something.

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joifulartist84

Africans were being enslaved by their own people long before whites came along.

__________________
Salutations from my corner of the universe,
Joi


"Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare. Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth."- Stephen Hawking

edropus

Also possibly consider the idea that in inner city areas where things are, frankly, really shitty, people under similar circumstances tend to band together. As far as you know, the 'night and day' transition might be because the guy behind you is the tellar's cousin, or brother, or friend, or neighbor that they just see every week or so.

Also, I notice absolutely no self-reflection here at all. As far as I know you walk around with a screwed-up expression on your face and always have one hand on your purse because you're afraid someone's going to steal it. I'd probably treat you like an asshole if you were doing this in my neighborhood just because everyone there was black, because you WOULD be an asshole.

The fact is that the exact same thing would be happening (and does happen) if you replaced the word 'black' with 'poor'. I live in the midwest and spent about a year in Washington DC. I was the only white person in my building and the only white person in many of the restaurants I went to. I got funny looks and felt out of place. All this did was make me start being way more friendly to black people when I notice they're the only black person around, becuase they get (at least) the exact same treatment.

It's not reverse or black racism, it's the nature of civilization as we know it today. And it's a hell of a lot better then it used to be. Things are going up hill, not down, in race relations, and the more old bigots die, the better things will get.

mandax

My roommate last year was convinced she was a victim of "reverse racism." We lived in crappy dorm rooms, two people to each room, and about forty girls on each floor. Well, one week, out of nowhere, it seemed like everyone was slamming their doors. It was driving us CRAZY. Sometimes it would be so powerful that the things in my room would shake. Well, my roommate wrote on our door (on a dry-erase board for all to see), "STOP SLAMMING DOORS." A week later, we had a floor meeting in which our RA said that someone wrote a letter complaining about noise on the floor. Now, it wasn't my roommate, but everyone assumed it was. And we began to be harassed. The two of us became known as the "crazy white bitches" of the floor. Girls would knock on our door and call our names, jiggling the handle. They'd let the door shut on our faces. This one girl, while in her car, stopped to let my roommate cross the crosswalk. But every time my roommate took a step, she would ease off the brakes and start moving again. My roommate would stop, and she would break once more. This continued over and over again until my roommate finally just ran across, then realizing the girl lived down the hall from us.

Was it reverse racism? I don't know, but it wasn't very fun.

Truth-Teller

You see, these are the racist remarks why black people hate whites.

They endured 500 years. Now it's time for you to endure.

What goes around, comes around. Thank God, Obama will be our next president.

joifulartist84

While I agree that it's silly to keep chips on your shoulder, it's still an issue because people let it be an issue.

And unfortunately there are still racist people in the world. It's just as unfortunate that some people assume that others are racist.

__________________
Salutations from my corner of the universe,
Joi


"Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare. Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth."- Stephen Hawking

edropus

And the British enslaved the Irish and Scottish in the exact same ways. It has nothing to do with race; people enslave people. It happens.

The whole 'they had it bad' debate doesn't mean it's YOUR FAULT. It doesn't mean that black people who are directly descended from african slaves should be able to get whatever they want and treat white people directly descended from slave owners like garbage. What it means is that the actual CIRCUMSTNACES in this country up to half a century ago (this is NOT THAT LONG ago, there are MANY people alive today who lived through it) still exist in the minds, mannerisms and trappings of our culture. Through governmental, societal and personal interactions, black people have historically been screwed over time and time again. When you do that to a group of people (based on race or not) trust issues develop. Is it really fair? No. But just like any other group of people based on race, religion or country, people by and large are paranoid and tend to stereotype. Black people have had a shitty run of it for a long time. It doesn't excuse anything, but it's something to at least keep in mind when jumping to these kind of conclusions.

Modest Me

Not all black people hate white people- just the racist a-holes.
Same for white people; not all white people hate black people- just the racist a-holes.

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edropus

I hope you don't consider yourself any kind of minority activist, because this kind of stuff is just as (if not more) dangerous to minority race relations then white-fueled anti-minority speak.

Modest Me

I know that racism is still somewhat an issue (hello I'm a white girl in Kentucky dating a black guy).. But slavery is not a sane issue- people who bring it up like its a weapon to be used against white people, make me mad.

__________________
Warning: Will talk about religion at the drop of a hat.

** http://theoddvillepress.com/ **

Truth-Teller

Oh I see, another racist.

This is comedy.

Modest Me

-I'm- a racist??
Are you kidding me?

__________________
Warning: Will talk about religion at the drop of a hat.

** http://theoddvillepress.com/ **