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Regular_Atheist
Guest
There is a very worthwhile point here, but it’s amazing that the institutional racism of the US and the racism of US left-liberals is used to justify the position of US conservatism.
At any rate, racism is built into the very heart of United States culture and history, and more importantly racism is the child of capitalism. It won’t case to exist until capital (and the US) ceases to exist.
At any rate, racism is built into the very heart of United States culture and history, and more importantly racism is the child of capitalism. It won’t case to exist until capital (and the US) ceases to exist.
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ucfengr
Guest
Is racism unique to the US? Or to capitalist countries?
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J_Peterson
Guest
Boston is a very progressive city and is one of the most segregated. I remember the guy from SNL called Boston racist and people objected. I rolled my eyes. They apparently don’t know the beacon hill types that will give to charities but call the cops on a homeless guy smoking near their building. It’s very elitist.
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0Scarlett_nidiyilii
Guest
LOL I have patients who contribute to all the “liberal” causes, then mumble-grumble because the nurse aids are minorities.
Oh, and they refer to them as The Help or The Girls.
But somehow, being a republican makes me a racist.
Oh, and they refer to them as The Help or The Girls.
But somehow, being a republican makes me a racist.
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niceatheist
Guest
It certainly isn’t, but the persistence of slavery in to the mid-19th century, followed by what I think we can all agree was a persistent campaign in the former Confederate states to make economic and political conditions as difficult for African-Americans as difficult as possible, makes it rather unique among the developed nations. Mind you, the US isn’t the only country where slavery’s lingering effects still persist; it is sadly also present in the Caribbean and Latin American countries, and for largely the same reason.Regular_Atheist:
Is racism unique to the US? Or to capitalist countries?
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niceatheist
Guest
It’s a fair point, that even while Northern Liberals were heading Antibellum-ward to teach all them thar southern hicks about racial equality, many Northern cities had instituted just as an insidious form of segregation, and it is still a significant problem to this day.
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Ridgerunner
Guest
Reminds me of my youth. Many years ago, I had a girlfriend who lived in the “Garden District” of New Orleans. There were these large blocks of mansions with the most beautiful landscaping you ever saw. Between them were narrow blocks of very small houses. The narrow ones were where the blacks lived, and they all served the white folks in the big houses. In the half-light of the early morning, it almost looked ghostly as black women in white dresses left their houses to go to the white peoples’ houses to make breakfast and do the daily chores. Male blacks would come and tend those incredible gardens when the sun was full up.
In the evening, after the meal was cleared and the dishes done, they all would go back to those narrow blocks. Ghosts en masse, going home, many with a bundle of dinner leftovers under their arms, wrapped in brown paper.
Same as northern cities now, it’s just that the blacks and white don’t live right across the streets from each other in the north.
In the evening, after the meal was cleared and the dishes done, they all would go back to those narrow blocks. Ghosts en masse, going home, many with a bundle of dinner leftovers under their arms, wrapped in brown paper.
Same as northern cities now, it’s just that the blacks and white don’t live right across the streets from each other in the north.
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Ridgerunner
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Political, yes. Economic, not quite. There were always wealthy blacks in places like Atlanta, Memphis and New Orleans.
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niceatheist
Guest
I’ll give the southern states that. Their racism and white supremacy was worn proudly on their chests, whereas Northerners kept their’s disguised. “Oh, I want the colored man to be afforded every opportunity, providing he lives over yonder hill…”
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Ridgerunner
Guest
There used to be a saying in the South: “In the South, whites don’t care how close blacks live, as long as they don’t get too uppity. In the north, whites don’t care how uppity blacks get as long as they don’t get too close.”
Lot of truth to that.
Lot of truth to that.
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ucfengr
Guest
I don’t know. Slavery existed in the British Empire until the mid-19th century as well, and I suspect a lack of a Jim Crow type regime in Great Britain had less to do with a lack of racism and more to do with a lack of black people. Blacks have never been made up a significant part of Great Britain’s population (slavery was mostly in their colonies), so there was very little need to have a formal legal code. There was never a danger of blacks gaining substantial political power in Great Britain. The states of the Deep South, in contrast, had slave populations that made up, in some cases, 50% of the total population so there was concern (justifiable considering how poorly they treated blacks) among the white population that blacks might use their new political power to strike back.
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niceatheist
Guest
Britain abolished the Atlantic Slave Trade in 1807, and used the might of the Royal Navy to basically extinguish it. And while Britain certainly profited greatly from the Atlantic slave trade, slavery in Britain itself was never normalized to the extent that it was in Britain’s American colonies. The legal history of slaves in England and later Britain is a bit muddy, with some rulings favoring the legality of slavery and others suggesting that English law did not permit it, but certainly by the mid-18th century there was a growing consensus that English (and around the same time Scottish) law did not recognize slavery. The final nail in the coffin of slavery anywhere in the British Empire came in 1833 with the Slave Abolition Act (though it persisted in British Indian territories for another decade or so), but again, that was more to rectify slavery outside of the British Isles themselves.
In fact, I’ve often wondered how slavery became such a prominent part of British North American holdings, considering that there had been a pretty dim view of slavery even in the 16th century in England. My best answer is that there were some prominent Englishmen making a great deal of money off the slave trade, enough that Parliament was willing to look the other way providing it didn’t become too prominent in Britain itself.
In fact, I’ve often wondered how slavery became such a prominent part of British North American holdings, considering that there had been a pretty dim view of slavery even in the 16th century in England. My best answer is that there were some prominent Englishmen making a great deal of money off the slave trade, enough that Parliament was willing to look the other way providing it didn’t become too prominent in Britain itself.
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Regular_Atheist
Guest
Of course not, but saying that racism is integral to the society of the United States is not the same as saying that the USA is the only country that’s racist. The “segregation” of US cities is rooted in a long history of a nation based on racial oppression, segregation, and slavery.
Modern “scientific” racism is certainly a phenomenon that emerged under capitalism. Capitalism required the exploitation of much of the non-western world in order to fuel its growth, and it was in this context that racial identities and racist theories emerged. Much of American racism towards those who are black is rooted in New World slavery, an institution which was fundamental to the early development of capitalism.
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qui_est_ce
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niceatheist
Guest
The chief problem with that is that while Russia may have looked down on the residents of the Ukraine, they also view it as a historical fatherland. And Stalin wasn’t the first Russian ruler to ship people off to Siberia or move populations around. Look at a history of the Cossacks. A lot of Russian history evolves out of their own racial identity as the protector of the Slavs. Pan-slavism was a big part of the mess that went down in Serbia sparking WWI.
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GEddie
Guest
Progressivity GENERATES segregation, indirectly.
I lived in Austin in the late 1900s, but could not afford to do so now; the yuppification of the place has driven it out of reach for non-yuppies at the same time that it has anchored the “progressive agenda.”
So those of lower social echelon who are already there are forced into the lower-grade areas, or their neighborhoods become lower-grade areas. And those in the hilltops are ok with that, as despite the beliefs of their youth, they no longer find economic diversity to be attractive.
It makes sense.
ICXC NIKA
I lived in Austin in the late 1900s, but could not afford to do so now; the yuppification of the place has driven it out of reach for non-yuppies at the same time that it has anchored the “progressive agenda.”
So those of lower social echelon who are already there are forced into the lower-grade areas, or their neighborhoods become lower-grade areas. And those in the hilltops are ok with that, as despite the beliefs of their youth, they no longer find economic diversity to be attractive.
It makes sense.
ICXC NIKA
LeafByNiggle
Well-known member
The article in the OP describes a problem of “the worst racial disparities in the nation and some of the worst racial segregation” in a set of cities that were named. What is missing is a corresponding set of cities that have a better than average racial disparity and segregation. (Unless the racial situation is typical of every city of comparable size.) Anyone want to offer a proposed list of these “good” cities?
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ConcernedConvert
Guest
False, False and more False. There is no such thing as institutional racism. Find me one institution in the United States that is racist. No institution could afford to be racist even if they wanted to in today’s day and age.
LeafByNiggle
Well-known member
I don’t know if you are serious, but if you are I should point out that institutional racism has nothing to do with any specific institutional being racist. Read this for more info.
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