When did race ever become an issue?

[Daegus]

Back in Christ’s time it doesn’t seem as though race was much of an issue, seeing we don’t really know what race He was, or exactly what his skin color looked like, but nowadays it seems as though race is the most important thing to everyone.

The other day I overheard my mother having a conversation with aunt and she said something like “They (white conservatives) don’t like that Obama’s in office because he’s black. They can’t stand a black man being in office, and they didn’t want him to win the election”. That statement really leaves me perplexed. Why does it matter if Obama is black (half black)? Doesn’t anyone care about the man’s politics? Why is it a matter of race?

But to be honest, hearing my mother say something like that really doesn’t surprise me because she relies on stereotypes a lot (despite being Catholic) and is very lax on Church teaching (I almost have to harass her just to get her to go to Mass with me).

When did race become an issue? Why does it matter if you’re black, white, green or orange? Who was the one who started all this and where can I go to have a few words with him? (Don’t worry, I’ve fought off even the slimiest of skeletons before npatrol

 

[Fledgling]

When did race ever become an issue?..When the world became politically correct.

You must understand that only white people can be racist:shrug:

Black people can call us crackers, honkies, white scum etc…That’s ok because black people can’t be racist:tsktsk:…It’s impossible.

Remember that we white people must bend over backwards for our black brethren because they were once slaves 150 years ago.

You cannot show a hint of disapproval for Obama because if you do, you’re obviously racist.

Black people can be proud of who they are and where they come from…That’s their privilege.

White people?..Cannot.

When did race ever become an issue?..When we allowed ^^^^^that to happen.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Back in Christ’s time it doesn’t seem as though race was much of an issue, seeing we don’t really know what race He was, or exactly what his skin color looked like, but nowadays it seems as though race is the most important thing to everyone.

The other day I overheard my mother having a conversation with aunt and she said something like “They (white conservatives) don’t like that Obama’s in office because he’s black. They can’t stand a black man being in office, and they didn’t want him to win the election”. That statement really leaves me perplexed. Why does it matter if Obama is black (half black)? Doesn’t anyone care about the man’s politics? Why is it a matter of race?

But to be honest, hearing my mother say something like that really doesn’t surprise me because she relies on stereotypes a lot (despite being Catholic) and is very lax on Church teaching (I almost have to harass her just to get her to go to Mass with me).

When did race become an issue? Why does it matter if you’re black, white, green or orange? Who was the one who started all this and where can I go to have a few words with him? (Don’t worry, I’ve fought off even the slimiest of skeletons before npatrol

Conservatives didn’t want Obama to win because he’s a socialist. We don’t care what color someone is.

Race became an issue when people decided they could make money selling resentment.

 

[GEddie]

We are afraid of “outsiders”. That is part of our animal ancestry. Someone not part of the group is potentially competition for food and breeding grounds, or a potential persecutor.

Even in our LORD’s day, Jews hated the Samaritans and Romans, etc, even though “race” was unknown to HIS people because there was no long-range transportation.

And in our historical times, there was antagonism between European nations even though everybody was the same “race.”

A visible difference in facial or skin characteristics just makes finding the “outsider” easier and more reflexive.

Happy holidays and ICXC NIKA

 

[Garyjohn2]

Race was DEFINITELY an issure in Jesus’s time…even more than today probably.

Samaritans, anyone?

 

[GIR]

Oh YES we know what race Jesus is… for crying out loud he’s JEWISH! Curly hair, long beard and everything! It says so in the Bible. Why do people keep bringing this up?

as for the question at hand, what we could call “racism” emerged during the age of exploration, while modern eugenics gave it its current form. I suppose the antagonism between religious groups in the middle ages probably fueled things as well.

I would recommend reading various papal writings put out when these issues came to the forefront

 

[Barbkw]

“They (white conservatives) don’t like that Obama’s in office because he’s black. They can’t stand a black man being in office, and they didn’t want him to win the election”. That statement really leaves me perplexed. Why does it matter if Obama is black (half black)? Doesn’t anyone care about the man’s politics? Why is it a matter of race?

I’m a white conservative who doesn’t like Obama because:

his brand of “christianity” supports homosexual marriage

he federally funds Planned Parenthood, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and uses coercive financial help to poor countries if and only if they allow abortion

he choose to commit governmental licensed infanticide to protect his “prodeath” voting base instead of passing state laws that would provide emergency medical care to babies born during ‘botched’ abortions

he feels he must apologize for America

he refuses to say the word “God” when reciting the Declaration of Independence

he believes (like so many liberal Democrat politicans) that our personal money is “their” money and that it is their right to take it and spend it advancing liberal democrat ideals

and after all of the above, he has the audacity to attempt to “preach” to me, as if he owns the moral high ground.

 

[rskempf]

Race was DEFINITELY an issure in Jesus’s time…even more than today probably.

Samaritans, anyone?

I agree. Racism has been with us for quite a long time. Slavery in early periods is related to racism. This goes back to the time of Moses and beyond.

O’Bama being black has nothing to do with the disappointment most conservatives and some liberals hold toward him. It is his performance in office that causes concern.

 

[DaveBj]

Race was DEFINITELY an issure in Jesus’s time…even more than today probably.

Samaritans, anyone?

Yeah, not to mention Gentiles. Remember how Peter got into trouble when the racist gang at Jerusalem found out he had eaten with Cornelius? An ITALIAN?

DaveBj

 

[Daegus]

Yeah, not to mention Gentiles. Remember how Peter got into trouble when the racist gang at Jerusalem found out he had eaten with Cornelius? An ITALIAN?

DaveBj

I wasn’t sure whether Judaism/being Jewish was a race or not. Some people say it’s only a religion, some say it’s a race and some say it’s both. I don’t know what it is and assumed it was only a religion.

… And I thought Italy became a country in 1861… So how would Cornelius be an Italian? (Assuming you’re talking about the Peter I’m thinking about)

 

[Not_Sure_1]

Jews are a race. Look it up, they do admit to being a race. THat is why an athiest jew is still a jew. A Christian Jew even while Catholic, is considered Jew by race not religion. If a Jew was to convert to Catholicism, his race would still be jewish. They count themselves as a race, just like blacks count themselves as a race and whites count themselves as a race.

Cornelius was a Latin. Modern day Italians are descended from the Latins (mostly).

 

[dusty_david]

In the English colonies, race became an issue in 1619 with the first Africans sold by the Dutch to the colonists in Virginia.

The first documented arrival of Africans to Virginia was in 1619, when a Dutch trading vessel docked near present-day Hampton. Aboard were about 20 Africans who were traded to the English as much-needed workers to cultivate tobacco, the new cash crop of Virginia. The institution of slavery slowly crept into Virginia legislation. By 1660, slavery as we think of it today was established in Virginia. nps.gov/jame/historyculture/the-royal-african-company-supplying-slaves-to-jamestown.htm

Later various judicial codes in the southern states defined who was “black.”

various terms were coined during the 19th century to denote persons with varying degrees of African ancestry; these terms included mulatto for one-half black, quadroon for one-quarter black, octoroon for one-eighth black, and quintroon (or much less commonly, hexadecaroon) for one-sixteenth black. Other such terms include sambo, metif, mustee and sang-mele. wordiq.com/definition/One-drop_rule

The law treated black slaves a bit different than white citizens. Here’s a sample of South Carolina’s slave codes:

Runaways – 1712 – Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Slaves
Runaway slaves older than 16, absent for more than 20 days, received up to 40 lashes. Owners could pay the constable 20 shillings to carry out the sentence. A second escape was punished with an R being branded on the right cheek. Masters were fined 10 pounds if they failed to carry out the punishment. A third runaway attempt was punished by 40 lashes, and one of the slave’s ears was cut off. A fourth escape was punished by castration. If the slave died from this procedure, the master was compensated for his value from the public treasury. If the fugitive was a woman and she ran away a fourth time, she was flogged, branded with an R on her cheek, and her left ear was cut off. A fifth runaway attempt could be punished by the death sentence or cutting the Achilles tendon in one leg. Slave masters who failed to carry out the prescribed punishment were fined. A free black accused of assisting a runaway received a whipping and his forehead was branded. Slaves apprehended off their plantation who failed to show a pass could be beaten, maimed or killed. slaveryinamerica.org/geography/slave_laws_SC.htm

Didn’t mean to hijack this tread. Now please tell me again how this alien concept of “race” was forced on the citizens of the US.

 

[DaveBj]

I wasn’t sure whether Judaism/being Jewish was a race or not. Some people say it’s only a religion, some say it’s a race and some say it’s both. I don’t know what it is and assumed it was only a religion.

… And I thought Italy became a country in 1861… So how would Cornelius be an Italian? (Assuming you’re talking about the Peter I’m thinking about)

Acts 10:1–There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment…

DaveBj

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

I’m a white conservative who doesn’t like Obama because:

his brand of “christianity” supports homosexual marriage

he federally funds Planned Parenthood, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and uses coercive financial help to poor countries if and only if they allow abortion

he choose to commit governmental licensed infanticide to protect his “prodeath” voting base instead of passing state laws that would provide emergency medical care to babies born during ‘botched’ abortions

he feels he must apologize for America

he refuses to say the word “God” when reciting the Declaration of Independence

he believes (like so many liberal Democrat politicans) that our personal money is “their” money and that it is their right to take it and spend it advancing liberal democrat ideals

and after all of the above, he has the audacity to attempt to “preach” to me, as if he owns the moral high ground.

Among other things—such as the track record of his chief advisors.

Anyone can look up Saul Alinsky’s records, for example, and his policies. Pretty scary. In fact, very scary: If you have no ‘use’ you are better off dead.

Among the many problems with that is who gets to define ‘use?’

Oh, and the OP might want to take a peek at the record of Margaret Sanger, who pushed abortion because she didn’t want ‘too many of the wrong kind of people.’

 

[catsrus]

“Race” has always been an issue.
A LOT of people do not like Obama because he’s not 100% white though many of them try to gloss over it with other issues. I hear that particular racist talk often. If he was a 100% white guy conservatives still would not like him but race would not be one of the reasons. Plenty of libs do not like Obama for the race thing either.
Further, one must ask, if Obama was an old white guy, would he have gotten the voter turnout he did? I think not.
Food for thought.
My :twocents:.

 

[GEddie]

“Race” has always been an issue.
A LOT of people do not like Obama because he’s not 100% white though many of them try to gloss over it with other issues. I hear that particular racist talk often. If he was a 100% white guy conservatives still would not like him but race would not be one of the reasons. Plenty of libs do not like Obama for the race thing either.
**Further, one must ask, if Obama was an old white guy, would he have gotten the voter turnout he did? I think not.
Food for thought. **
My :twocents:.

Race can work both ways. I am sure that BHO was popular in part because his race represented a “change,” as did his youth.

Had he been old and white, he might still have been elected. Republican fatigue was strong that year. But he benefited from the “race factor.”

 

[Daegus]

I wouldn’t doubt that a lot of people voted for him just because he’s (half)black and more or less because of his politics. He’s also tall, relatively young, he doesn’t look like someone’s great grandfather and he also promises “change” which I’m sure helped a lot of people make their decision to vote for him.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

“Race” has always been an issue.
A LOT of people do not like Obama because he’s not 100% white though many of them try to gloss over it with other issues. I hear that particular racist talk often. If he was a 100% white guy conservatives still would not like him but race would not be one of the reasons. Plenty of libs do not like Obama for the race thing either.
Further, one must ask, if Obama was an old white guy, would he have gotten the voter turnout he did? I think not.
Food for thought.
My :twocents:.

Wow. That’s a lot of mud to sling. I wonder whether a conservative could get away with such racist and ageist assumptions and accusations.

 

[tomarin]

Back in Christ’s time it doesn’t seem as though race was much of an issue, seeing we don’t really know what race He was, or exactly what his skin color looked like, but nowadays it seems as though race is the most important thing to everyone.

The modern concept of race dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, which was partly motivated by a desire to ferret out Jews who had converted to Christianity yet allegedly secretly practiced Judaism. That was the first time that Jews had been singled out for mistreatment by their race alone not their (proclaimed) religion.

The ancient world didn’t have a concept of race equivalent to the modern one, although they were aware of course that people from different parts of the world looked different. Nevertheless they didn’t think of people as belonging to different discrete races, as a modern person would (even a non-racist one). Nationalities perhaps, but not races.

The discovery of the Americas and its inhabitants also presented a watershed moment in the history of race, as Europeans were not in agreement over whether the Native Americans were truly human. Ultimately the Pope proclaimed the unitary nature of humanity by insisting that Native American Indians had a soul like any other human being.

Modern scientific racism reached its heyday in the Victorian era, in which racism was regarded as legitimate science (as was phrenology to which it was tangentially linked) and humanity was thought to consist of superior and inferior sub-groups rather than sharing a single genetic patrimony. It’s largely been discredited now, in no small part due to the policies of the Third Reich. There are still a few holdouts in anthropology departments such as Vincent Sarich of UCal Berkeley.

Added: Jesus was a Middle-Eastern Jew so he probably looked something like modern-day Sephardic Jews like Neil Sedaka or Isaac Mizrahi.

 

[Daegus]

The modern concept of race dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, which was partly motivated by a desire to ferret out Jews who had converted to Christianity yet allegedly secretly practiced Judaism. That was the first time that Jews had been singled out for mistreatment by their race alone not their (proclaimed) religion.

The ancient world didn’t have a concept of race equivalent to the modern one, although they were aware of course that people from different parts of the world looked different. Nevertheless they didn’t think of people as belonging to different discrete races, as a modern person would (even a non-racist one). Nationalities perhaps, but not races.

The discovery of the Americas and its inhabitants also presented a watershed moment in the history of race, as Europeans were not in agreement over whether the Native Americans were truly human. Ultimately the Pope proclaimed the unitary nature of humanity by insisting that Native American Indians had a soul like any other human being.

Modern scientific racism reached its heyday in the Victorian era, in which racism was regarded as legitimate science (as was phrenology to which it was tangentially linked) and humanity was thought to consist of superior and inferior sub-groups rather than sharing a single genetic patrimony. It’s largely been discredited now, in no small part due to the policies of the Third Reich. There are still a few holdouts in anthropology departments such as Vincent Sarich of UCal Berkeley.

Added: Jesus was a Middle-Eastern Jew so he probably looked something like modern-day Sephardic Jews like Neil Sedaka or Isaac Mizrahi.

That’s a more precise way of conveying what I meant when I said that race wasn’t an issue in Jesus’ time. Meaning: It wasn’t an issue in the same way it is now then it would have been 2000 years ago.