Black People

[DonkeyChip]

I think it has some merit. We're tribal by nature...and now blacks are a little more 'part of our tribe' as opposed to 'that other tribe'.

[Mr Rick]

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Liberal eliteist white democrats are extreme hypocrites and always the most racist. I would say that democrats on average are more racist than republicans. However, liberal democrats speak with their actions instead of their words.

They preach equality among the races but don't want to go near minorities and it shouldn't be surprising to anyone that they don't want their children to go to the same school as black children.

As far as whites NOT wanting to move into places like Harlem, that's pretty easy to understand. They will be the target of violent crime due to their skin color.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is laughable - the whole post. It turns out that liberal whites are currently moving to Harlem in a process that we in NYC call gentrification (i.e., the opposite of white flight). Real estate values are terrific in Harlem and Harlem has an outstanding housing stock. Brownstones (4 story buildings that can house one or more families) sell for $1 to $2.5 million as opposed to areas of Manhattan where they sell for 4 to 5 times as much. The whites that I know that have moved to Harlem are principally liberal - but that is true of most people who live in NYC and especially Manhattan. They also place a value on living in a diverse community.

The extent of your ignorance however, is quite profound. NYC white liberals did the same thing for the last 40 years in the Upper West Side which used to be a predominantly black and latin community. It is now an upscale predominantly white community - in which we are now seeing wealthier and more conservative whites move in.

I had a discussion a week ago with my white liberal brother who recently moved to Harlem with his white wife and two children - about the possibility that Harlem would eventually turn into a predominantly white community and how sad that would be for the black community if it came to pass - because of the historical significance that Harlem has to blacks. I hope (as did my brother) that Harlem will remain an integrated community of people who value racial diversity and are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

[Mr Rick]

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So does that mean that this country has become basically colorblind? Possibly.

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No. As has been noted in many previous posts overt racism has diminished in this country over the years - but this country is nowhere near colorblind. I was speaking with two parents of kids at my daughter's school, a black mother and a white mother who is married to a black man. These were areas of current racism alive and well in NYC, that they chose to share with me:
1) Well dressed black professional cannot get a taxi to stop for him.
2) Black Professor at college who has far more credentials than typical white tenured professors is still waiting to become first black tenured professor in his area of teaching.
3) The greatest fear is that police will stop/search/question/arrest/chase their children simply because they are black.

I do think that 9/11 has taken heat off of black americans with respect to how white americans view/treat them. My sense is that many white americans shifted their nastiest prejudicial feelings to the arab perpetrators and sense a joint victimhood with black americans. Who are to a large extent being asked to bear the burden of retaliation in Iraq (regardless of how false the "retaliation" is).

[Thremp]

2) Maybe he sucks at teaching?
3) Why would they be worried?

[drunkencowboy]

Black people have had it tough. Imagine looking at your ancestors as slaves instead of "honorable people" like most of you do. I dont mean that slaves werent honorable as Im sure they were - but you know what I mean. I just think it would be hard to grow up in a white nation when you know everyone around you knows that your ancestors were slaves... This will be a problem for mankind for a long time - this is why slavery is sick...

[DonkeyChip]

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Imagine looking at your ancestors as slaves instead of "honorable people" like most of you do.

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"Honorable people" like...slave masters? I can't imagine anyone looking at their ancestors as 'slaves' and being ashamed in any way. They were enslaved.

[drunkencowboy]

I didnt word it very good - honorable wasnt the word i was looking for - but you knew what i meant so F off.

[gamblegood]

I lived in Atlanta for 2 years and NYC for 1 year and found New York to be much more racist but I did live in Staten Island not Manhattan.

[dragon14]

Mr. Rick,

Gentrification is a process where whites begin buying up more property at the point where the white and black population demarcation is. Whites are not heading for an all-black enclave, they are buying up properties on the borderline of white-black areas.

There is an area of Harlem where lots of whites live, and there is an area where virtually no whites live. Just because an area is named Harlem doesn't make it a black area.

The upper west side historically has had very few blacks living in any portion of it. Here's a link that shows NYC's race divisions over time Link

You might look at the white map for the year 2000 and note how the white population is primarily moving into areas that border predominately white areas. Also note that whites dominated the Upper West Side in both 1960 and 1970 contrary to your statement.

Another common aspect to gentrification is that it often involves young, single whites and/or gay whites who do not have to consider their children in moving to a gentrifying area. Finally, whites rarely if ever send their children to schools in the black area of a city.

And did you consider why real estate is so much cheaper in Harlem, Mr Rick? It's because whites pay a large premium to live in majority white areas. Once an area of Harlem becomes 80-90% white, it will be only slightly cheaper than other white areas of Manhattan and only because it is slightly farther from the park and Midtown/Downtown.

[vkh]

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1) Well dressed black professional cannot get a taxi to stop for him.

[/ QUOTE ]

That reminds me of an experience I had with a cab driver in Manhattan about 10 years ago.

The Cabby was African; he had just moved to the United States about 2 years earlier. We started talking about driving a cab for a living, and I asked him if he ever got stiffed by passengers. He replied that yes he does, but that only by a certain profile of potential passenger, and that now he profiles his "pick ups" to avoid that certain type of person. So naturally I asked him what this profile was and he replied "Black People." It was stunning because he himself was black. He went on to tell me that he has not had a good experience with "American Black" people since moving to the U.S. He described how in his first job working in a factory he was pressured by his "American Black" co-workers to "slow down" the pace at which he was working, since he was making them "look bad." And how eventually they turned on him and got him fired.

It's a good example supporting the argument that perceived racial differences are really cultural differences and have very little to do with the obvious superficiality of skin color.