Everyone is a little bit racist.
We prefer to be with people that are like us. That doesn’t mean one has to hate to make that decision.
Racial hatred is a different level of racism. White supremacist is another level of racism, one in which one believes they are better than another. At its fundamental core, racism is selecting those like us.
The term racism has been diluted and redefined and maligned for so long. It’s almost a useless term. The key is to solve. The problem of racism is to understand and state the problem clearly. Racism may very well be just a symptom of a problem. And that problem is people that are ignorant uneducated, insecure, frightened and seek avenues to help them feel better about themselves. The key is likely better education, teaching, self-worth, creativity, problem-solving, skills, and social connections.
Levels
1. Discrimante - choosing to be with membert sof our own tribe. No hateed, arrogance, just a preference. Accepting of other tribes, but preferring our own.
2. Racial hatred, superioritty, arrogance,
3. White Supremacy. Hatred, a willingness to use violence and guns.
4. Terrorism. Actively act on intense racial hatred, willing to use violence.
Racism in the USA - is it here to stay?
Sounds like today, but that was 1964 - over 50 years ago. Same headline. Realize how much else has changed in the last 50 years. But, apparently, not racial bigotry.
Today, we chant, we march, we sigh, we act disgusted - just as we have done for 50 years, over half a century, and still, we do very little.
Today, the Klan distributes recruiting fliers. Police kill young black men. A bigot shoots 9 in Charleston. Will this ever end? Of course not. Some people hate other people. Some people act on that hate. American (or global) society, you and I, cannot end racism or stop it. That's an unreasonable and unattainable goal. To succeed would require changing the attitudes of every person with hatred in their mind.
But, maybe we can make it better - maybe we can work towards a more just and positive culture. For months now, I have asked people, "Is there a problem with racism in America?" I get a resounding and unanimous Yes! Then I ask, "What is the problem; can you state specifically what the problem is?" All I get are pauses, silence, and numerous misdirected observations. One reason no one has yet stated the problem is that there may not be an issue with racism - the issues are more likely with insecure weak people marginalizing others so they can feel more comfortable and feel better about themselves. Narcissism, pride, ignorance.
Honkey cracker students react to 15 year-old Dorothy Counts attending their high school in North Carolina, September 1957
Some definitions of racism, racial discrimination, racial prejudice, xenophobia, bigotry, casteism
Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. Some sociologists state that racism has mutated from blatant expressions into covert kinds, which can be considered as embedded in social processes and structures - are more difficult to explore as well as challenge.Bill Nye says racism is completely pointless - it has no basis in nature. At least, not biologically. Which is why there is absolutely zero justification for a system that privileges white people over people of color (racism). We're all one species. Our skin tone varies quite a bit, facial features vary, and some of us prefer different types of music, but those are about the biggest differences.Nye puts it brilliantly: If a guy from Norway and a woman from Zimbabwe get together, and she gets pregnant, it's pretty clear what's going to happen nine months later. All you're gonna get is a human. Although Nye dismisses racism, he talks about tribalism quite a bit and the very real idea that there's an "us" and a "them."
All men really are not created equal. Modern genetic science is finding evidence that the races are not the same. In evolving in different environments on different continents, Caucasians (primarily Europe), Negroes (primarily sub-Sahara Africa), and Mongoloids (primarily East Asia) developed a long list of differing traits that have enhanced their survival. Negroes mature much faster physically and have better eyesight while Mongoloids mature more slowly but live longer. Caucasians have an average IQ of about 100, Negroes (in Africa and in the USA) average 70-85; and Mongoloids from 106-113. From William Saletan in Slate.comTribalismBeyond racism and sexism is the notion of tribal discrimination. Human nature suggests that we are more comfortable around people that are like us - insecure people want to subdue and defeat other tribes and hold them down so that their own tribe can excel. Racism will likely never go away - to overcome that ingrained tribal instinct will take decades and generations of cultural evolution. Governments need to manage it so that it doesn't harm the innocent or is unfair to certain tribes.
USA is a warring culture. We defend, protect, nurture, support, and love those in our tribe. Beyond the tribal boundaries, it depends on whether we perceive a member of another tribe as a threat to our own.
Note: not all is great within the tribe, one can still feel threatened by members. Our openness to other tribes is influenced by:
Competition
Insecurity
Labels
Threats
Opportunities
David Ropeik of Big Think explains: We identify ourselves as members of all sorts of tribes; our families, political parties, race, gender, social organizations. We even identify tribally just based on where we live. Go Celtics, go Red Sox, go US Olympic team! Evidence shows that humans have an innate tendency to divide the world into in-groups and out-groups. For much of human history, these groups have been largely defined by skin color. Which has led to non-white people getting the short end of the stick.
But there's also evidence that we, as humans, can rise above this. And that changing our culture can help us get there.
We are humans, after all. With brains that think.
Nice image that reminds us of the rainbow of people on this planet
Wisdom from Seth
I'm not sure the majority of white people know how to talk in a meaningful way about race. No, that's too careful: I don't think the majority of white people, including me, has a freaking clue about race. It's just too psychologically threatening. Other than to, very occasionally, say something more or less glib, or pseudo-profound, and then move on to some other topic, having "dealt" with race. As intense as my upset at what I perceive as the injustice of man's inhumanity to man may be, I'm beginning to think that's very likely just a sign of my only beginning to become dimly aware of the actual reality of race relations in the US, of what other human beings here are going through. As I, to use a chilling phrase, simply stand by. In a car or on the street, I think that the "protective" bubble of our psychological defenses against seeing deeply unpleasant truths about ourselves is a more difficult shield to penetrate than any exterior structural or procedural dynamic.
Those in power rarely ever even think about race, much less talk meaningfully about it, but that people of color think about it constantly. Her point being: We (white folk) have no need to. The matter is not pressing, not urgent. Which, of course, it would be for an entire people that find themselves consistently and predictably getting the short end of the stick, in ways ranging from the minuscule to the appallingly horrific.
...and it can perhaps can be summed up in a cursory way by saying that the wealthy are less empathic, less adept at social interaction because they simply don't have to be, while it's much more of a genuine survival skill for those who are not; for those who are, if you'll follow my extension, without the freedom and power, the various powers, that money bestows.
And I think history is fairly clear on the idea that those in power either themselves act as, or have systems in place which act as, gatekeepers, which among other things protect that power. Wittingly or unwittingly.
Human beings in power, generally speaking, are hard-wired to develop strong psychological defenses designed, consciously or unconsciously, to justify the "rightness" of the situation, and are predisposed to discount points of view which contravene this belief, and it is a belief, of the "rightness" of the situation. Social structures and laws created by those in power reflect those beliefs.
In Tulsa, 2014, Senior US District Judge Terrence Kern ruled that Oklahoma's ban on same-sex marriage discriminated for no rational reason. Judge Kern wrote:
Protecting the sanctity of marriage wasn't a valid reason for the ban, given Oklahoma's high divorce rate of opposite-sex couples.Encouraging procreation wasn't logical since opposite-sex couples aren't required to say they'll produce offspring in order to get a marriage license.Moral disapproval of homosexuals as a class, or same-sex marriage as a practice, is not a permissible justification."Exclusion of one class of citizens from receiving a marriage license based upon the perceived 'threat' they pose to the marital institution is an arbitrary exclusion based upon the majority's disapproval of the defined class. It is also insulting to same-sex couples, who are human beings capable of forming loving, committed, enduring relationships.
The majority view in Oklahoma must give way to individual constitutional rights."
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said, "I am troubled that the will of the people has once again been ignored by the federal government."
Wisdom from Nancy: If we allowed civil rights issues to be decided by "the will of the people," schools would still be segregated, slavery would still exist, and Ms. Fallin would not be governor since women wouldn't be able to vote, much less be elected to public office.
To those who oppose same-sex marriage: Please stop. Please find an issue that is more loving and caring in which to put your time and energy. The marriage equality issue is over. Civil rights won.
Victimness in America
Above is an ad for a store targeting Howard University students. Most of Howard's students are black - white students make up less than 3% of the student population. Tweets criticizing the ad started appearing soon after publication. The whining included complaints of oppression, persecution, and injustice. A spokesperson for the store said, "Unfortunately, an incorrect stock photo was used in the ad, and we apologize for this oversight. We wish all Howard University students a successful semester."
From a post by Seth Andrews, January 2014
"I'm persecuted. I'm oppressed. I'm hypersensitive, I have skin thinner than rice paper. I live to be outraged. I'll assume your worst intentions, and my passive-aggressive whinefest will spray in all directions. My oxygen is division, attitude and anger. I am {sob} so oppressed."
The problem with these Drama Porn Stars is that they've become the incessant car alarm that nobody listens to anymore. They're the Jerk Who Cried Wolf. Often inaudible beyond their tantrums are the other, genuine instances of hurt, oppression, discrimination and crisis that truly deserve our attention. That's where our attention and energy should be focused, not on those who construct a crisis as a cheap platform from which to appear taller and get noticed. Certainly, we should work for fairness, goodness, equality and healing in this world. But bursting into flame (and flame wars) anytime someone brushes against your delicate sensibilities is no way to live.
Calm your voice. Grow a thicker skin. Realize that it isn't a perfect world. Stop being a wild, reckless, stone-throwing grunt when the important battles require perspective, forethought, strategy and wisdom.
What you consider to be an affront to humanity might just be an honest oversight. Or simple ignorance. Or a misunderstanding. Or a circumstance that can be addressed with a better tactic than name-calling and tantrums. Or perhaps it's just a healthy reminder that you're not the center of the universe.
You might be genuinely oppressed. Or, you might just be a horse's ass. Be self-aware enough to know the difference.
Seth states it well. Have Americans gotten so fragile, insecure, and weak that they feel persecuted and oppressed just from hearing a word or seeing a photo? Instead of crying racism, sexism, and all the other excuses, maybe we should balance that with a bit more toughening up and letting it slide off our backs. We can't control what others say and do we really want the government to monitor and censor speech?
2005: Black professors at a university in Oklahoma complained that their percentage makeup doesn't match the percentage makeup of the general population. Here's how ridiculous that argument is - the NBA determines its starting lineup based on skill, talent, and expertise; not on the percentages of ethnic populations (which would probably be 3 white guys, 1 Hispanic, and one from black, Asian, Native American populations). Why are we okay with the NBA having racially unbalanced starters? Because we accept that a basketball team wants to win - they don't care about employing the underrepresented - we want to win. In education, apparently, its not about assembling the best, its about providing a job service. Educators don't care about 'winning', just fear of reprisals.
2016: California State University, Los Angeles offers segregated housing for Negro students so they can avoid “racially insensitive remarks" and other “microaggressions." The new “black living" community is being created in response to the Black Students Union's demand for a “safe space." A growing number of colleges, including the University of California, Berkeley, are setting aside special housing for Negro students.
Universities exist to prepare students to cope with a world of diverse attitudes and opinions. When a school shelters students in safe spaces (that exist nowhere else in society) they are depriving the student of valuable experiences. Another option: restore the balance of manning up and growing a tough skin and dealing with adversity as strong self-confident humans.
To address racism, there are some things we can stop doing
Demanding an end to racism does not work. Chanting 'Stop Racism Now' doesn't work. Those are just idle impotent words. Chanting might make the user feel better, but it does very little towards changing someone else's attitude. Groups of people saying it could instill fear - that always seems to work in a paranoid insecure society. Chanting and marching might even be antagonizing the very people that need to be reached.Telling white people, "You don't get it" doesn't help. Of course they don't, nor do most Black people. Almost everyone, of all colors, has experienced discrimination and unfairness, but we still may not 'get' the depth of what someone else is experiencing.Generalizing guilt on an entire group based on the actions of a few is not productive. One shouldn't fight stereotyping with stereotyping.Stop relying on government to solve social and cultural problems. The government and public companies can forbid display or use of racially insensitive symbols, words, and policies. That will help, but the real work must transfer to the individual and social groups.Rethink the quota notion that representation within a group should mirror the ethnic makeup of the population. Black professors at Oklahoma State University complained that their percentage makeup doesn't match the percentage makeup of the general population. Here's a parallel argument - the NBA determines its starting lineup based on skill, talent, and expertise; not on the percentages of ethnic populations (which would probably require a starting lineup of 2 or 3 white guys, 1 Hispanic, and 1 or 2 from Black, Asian, and Native American populations). Why are we okay with the NBA having racially unbalanced starters? Because we accept that a basketball team wants to win - they don't care about employing the underrepresented - they want to win. In education, apparently, its not about assembling the best, its about providing a jobs service. Apparently, educators don't care as much about 'winning', just fear of reprisals.Stop using the term African-American - it is just too divisive. Apparently, Americans with ancestral roots in Africa don't qualify to be called American. They are segregated into a separate group and referred to as African-Americans (more on this below).There are some things we can explore to minimize racism
Take the flags down - the Confederate flag has probly always represented the pro-slavery attitude and used as a symbol for intimidation and division. Any pride and heritage associated with it came from a PR effort to soften its negative association. The Stars and Bars symbol now belongs only in museums and history books, certainly not flying over statehouses and government buildings. Those structures should not alienate a segment of tax-paying citizens. Removing the flag may seem like an insignificant thing to do, but racism is ingrained so deeply in our culture that we've got to chip away at the symbols that continue to encourage discrimination and hatred.Continue to remove racist symbols from government and public tax-supported buildings and events. Now let's address the next divisive icon - the term African-American which is exclusive not inclusive. Either you're an American or you're not.Diffuse the power of the word nigger. Some in the black community use the word nigger or nigga but then get upset if someone outside the black community uses the exact same word. They acknowledge that permission to use that word is based solely on skin color (racism?) Remove the power of offensiveness from the word, since it's going to be used anyway. What if the black people spoofed the word or embraced it and thereby removed it's power. Like Yankee Doodle, Republican elephant, Democrat jackass.Rebel Wilson has built a career out of making fat jokes, but tries to make her humor empowering rather than degrading. "If you reclaim a pejorative word, it can no longer be offensive to you. There is power in that."
Acknowledge that, truly, all men are not created equal. That was a nice marketing slogan to help influence people during the
formation of a new nation. But, now we know it is just not true. Men (and women) differ in emotions, bone structure, birth defects, illnesses and diseases, size, and much more.Maybe we should address root causes: criminals, lust, drug laws, prostitution. Work towards improving those areas and that will likely influence and impact racial disparities.We can acknowledge some observations of the American culture: People will be more comfortable with and prefer the company of people like themselves; members of their own tribe.
The black community prefers separation.
• Some people will dislike or hate other people. Some will show that dislike with words and violence.
• Some people will use the word nigger, faggot, spic, and more. Freedom of Speech will continue to protect that.
• Some people will display racially inappropriate symbols. Freedom of Speech will continue to protect that.
The government, the wealthy, and those in power seek control of the common person to satisfy their donors and supporters.
With just 4.4 percent of the world's population, America has locked up a staggering 22 percent of the world's prisoners.
Corporate greed and legislation still abuse the poor in housing projects, taxes, food stores.
Many Americans use the 'race card' and accusations of racism to silence others.
Improve art and science education - the problem solving process, better rational thinking, skepticism, experimentation. To foster improved reasoning and creative problem solving. Critical thinking, not blind allegiance to heritage or inflammatory 'leaders'.Seek to understand why people choose to hate and why people are more comfortable with and prefer the company of people like themselves. Is it inherent in our species or tribal DNA?Greater empathy, walking in someone else's shoes and seeing through their eyes can help one understand oppression.
I share the story of Rosa Parks with my students - she defied tradition, the law to keep her seat on the bus in 1955 Alabama. I am unable to comprehend the courage it took for her, a 42 year old seamstress, to defy the law and the tradition.
I was sitting with a friend in a pew at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. During the announcements, Robert Schuller said we have a guest - Miss Rosa Parks. I nudged my friend and said "I have to go meet her afterwards." As soon as the service ended, I made a beeline to where she was seated and spoke briefly with her. I told her that I tell her story in my class and that she is an inspiration still today. She smiled and we shook hands.
More of us can participate. We can speak up more often and more loudly. Instead of staying silent, we can say, "Excuse me, that attitude/action is inappropriate."Find ways to help those with a fragile self identity to improve self-esteem to better deal with adversity. Some Americans are so insecure and weak that they are easily offended by words. Assertions of vulnerability have gotten more aggressive in the last few years. Emotional discomfort is regarded as equivalent to material injury, and all injuries have to be remediated. Young women on campuses - including aspiring intellectuals - seek to induce university powers to shield them from the umbrages of life.We have no control over what others think of us what names they call us or how they treat us we can control our own attitudes and responses to them and we can minimize negativity know that's not the right word.
American culture has yet to find an appropriate balance between being sensitive to others and the others being strong enough to handle insensitivity. It takes work on both ends of that spectrum. The attitude behind a word, phrase, image, gesture, or font is more important than the surface symbols. America is so diverse and such a mix of cultures, it seems hard to place issues wholly on one side or the other. I sure hope we seek a better balance soon. It is tearing us apart. Needlessly.
Acknowledge that much hatred, insecurity, and intolerance is fostered and encouraged by a belief in a specific God or Holy Book that often supports racial segregation.Race together?
When this question was posed to me, I asked,
"Do you include Hispanics as a different race?" Yes, we do.
"What about Native Americans?" Yes.
Well then, because I don't know the ethnic heritage of many people (where skin color isn't a giveaway), I can't answer the question. Here in Oklahoma, there are many Natives and so many mixed breeds that one can't tell by looking at the person. And, shouldn't we be working towards not being able to tell? If so, then this question is counter-productive. Starbucks may think they're helping. But not in this way.
Segregated history museums in sight of where MLK spoke of his dream
In Washington DC the new African-American War Memorial (no other war memorials are segregated by race) and the new National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMA-AHC) opened in 2016. The museum traces its roots to 1915 when the Committee of Colored Citizens formed to create "a beautiful building suitable to depict the Negro's contribution to America." In 1990, the museum project began in earnest. But, in 1994, the bill to develop the museum was killed: "Every other minority will want to ask the taxpayers to build a special museum for them."
In the aerial view above, the National Museum of American History is on the right and the new National Museum of African-American History and Culture is on the left. See - two American History Museums, separated by skin color. Should we remove all references and exhibits concerning Negroes in the Museum of American History and other existing non-racist War memorials? Negroes have played a major part in the development and history of the United States and there are vital stories to tell. These contributions should definitely be recognized and included in our national heritage and archives. In 1929, President Calvin Coolidge signed legislation for a memorial celebrating "the Negro's contributions to the achievements of America." But, a separate museum? Why segregate the Negro's history and contributions? Why not integrate? What did MLK, Rosa Parks and the countless others fight for - segregation and discrimination, or integration and inclusion? What a terrible insult to their suffering. Does it send the subtle message that Negro items are not good enough to be included in the collection of the Museum of American History?
Is the next logical step to build a Museum of Asian-American History and Culture (also NMA-AHC) and a Museum of Hispanic-American History and Culture (NMH-AHC)? Hispanics outnumber Negroes and also suffered discrimination so it makes sense to honor that culture also. Where will this end? The economics alone should scare us from these endeavors. Each museum will have duplicate staffs, directors, curators and each will fight for attendance. What if a significant artifact is discovered, say, Martin Luther King's pulpit - does it belong in the The Museum of American History or in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. If in the NMA-AHC, will it receive the same attention and attendance? Families that are watching their budget may opt for only one history museum - which ones will not be seen? Won't Negro families be likely to visit the NMA-AHC and forgo visiting the NMH-AHC and the NMA-AHC and the Museum of American History. Not a good outcome. Will they get a distorted and biased view of American history?
Update: In December 2020, Congress authorized the Smithsonian Institution to create two new museums: National Museum of the American Latino and Smithsonian American Womens History Museum
Defenders and promoters of racial segregation
The dark-skinned community may keep us from King's dream for a long time as they insist on racist segregated beauty pageants, racist segregated media, flaunting the 'race card', throwing white privilege in the face of nonblacks to shut them up, and racist segregated discriminatory organizations: Congressional Black Caucus, African-American Scholars, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Black Senators. There are still numerous racially segregated beauty pageants (universities have several pageants - one open to all female students, one for Hispanic women, one for Asian women, and one for Black women). I once met and commended Rosa Parks for her strength and courage and for helping to change history. I would be ashamed if she knew I had taught at a public university that still tolerates, honors, and promotes racial segregation.
There are so many examples of racial segregation and discrimination in our society, that it seems the Neo-Nazis, skinheads, and racist politicians may be trying to keep Negroes in their place by discouraging integration and maintaining a predominately white society. True integration would lower barriers, not raise them. One can't deny there are many racists around the world who still use hatred and violence that reflects their own ignorance, fears, and insecurities. Despite legislation to alter attitudes and behavior, the decision to accept a diverse population of inhabitants is a very personal decision that comes from empathy, love, tolerance, appreciation, and acknowledgment.
It will be a great day for humanity when the census, media, job applications, and admission quotas won't address race or ethnicity as we celebrate humanness, not racial heritage. Ethnic heritage should be honored and celebrated by individuals, communities, and naborhoods, but not so much by governments or corporations.
Racial or ethnic labeling
Not many Americans are of one single race or ethnic background. Almost all of us are mixed breeds. Often, labels are just sorta silly. Are they really necessary? Hopefully, some day, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: we will judge people on the content of their character, not on the color of their skin. Referring to people by their ethnic or racial heritage may someday not be necessary.
NiggerEven though its just a word, too many Negroid people are too fragile and insecure to handle this term. Strong confident people with self respect don't allow letters and words to offend nor insult them. One should be more concerned with the attitudes behind the statements, anyway. Some racists and the media have also made this term too inflammatory. Time magazine is so paranoid they just print 'n_____' which is actually more insulting - the reader fills in the blank which gives the word even more prominence and the code-playing game is just condescending and childish.
Dick Gregory, the groundbreaking black comedian whose 1965 memoir was titled Nigger said,
"Calling it the 'n' word is an insult. It should be just as much an insult to Jews if they started changing concentration camp to the 'c' word and swastika to the 's' word. You just destroyed history." Mr. Gregory, age 75, said he might even walk on stage, hand a copy of his book to a white woman in the front row and say, "Here, madam, take this 'Nigger' to bed with you tonight."
John Ridley, commentator and author, in Time magazine, comments on how the word is used extensively by Negro comedians, politicians, and public figures and asks why we must wipe out the work of satirists, historians, authors and numerous others. Ridley states that efforts to abolish the word are insulting because they suggest Negroes would allow themselves to be cowed "by six letters and two syllables." Unlike the politicians trying to squelch the word, those who embrace it are showing backbone by declaring "we're controlling it, we're owning it." Ridley wants to rob the word of its power, so that should his sons hear it as they grow up, their automatic reaction will be simply to laugh it off. Saying or writing N-word continues to make it a point of division and gives it its powerful potency to offend. Just say nigger and finish the thought.
Revolutionary soldiers embraced the British slur of 'Yankee Doodle' and removed its power and insult. The symbol of the jackass for the Democratic party was introduced in an editorial cartoon as a slur but the Democrats embraced it, as did the Republicans with the intended slur of the plodding slow elephant.
It's not the word, but the fear and insecurity that needs to be put aside.
Sean Carter (Jay-Z) wrote this in his book, Decoded
On the n-word: Oprah, for instance, still can't get past the n-word issue (or the nigga issue, with all apologies to Ms. Winfrey). I can respect her position. To her, it's a matter of acknowledging the deep and painful history of the word. To me, it's just a word, a word whose power is owned by the user and his or her intention. People give words power, so banning a word is futile, really. "Nigga" becomes "porch monkey" becomes "coon" and so on if that's what's in a person's heart. The key is to change the person. And we change people through conversation, not censorship.
Excerpts from the comedian/activist Lenny Bruce
Are there any niggers here tonight? Now what did he say? "Are there any niggers here tonight?" I know there's one nigger, because I see him back there working. Let's see, there's two niggers. And between those two niggers sits a kyke. And there's another kyke - that's two kykes and three niggers. And there's a spic. Right? Hmm? There's another spic. Ooh, there's a wop; there's a polack; and, oh, a couple of greaseballs. And there's three lace-curtain Irish micks. And there's one, hip, thick, hunky, funky, boogie. Boogie boogie.
Well, I was just trying to make a point, and that is that it's the suppression of the word that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness. Dig: if President Kennedy would just go on television, and say, "I would like to introduce you to all the niggers in my cabinet," and if he'd just say "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" to every nigger he saw, "boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie," "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" 'til nigger didn't mean anything anymore, then you could never make some six-year-old black kid cry because somebody called him a nigger at school.
- From Julian Barry's screenplay for Lenny - can be heard in Lenny Bruce: Swear to tell the truth
NiggaEvolved from the derogative term "Nigger"; Tupac best defined the distinction between the two:
Nigger - a black man with a slavery chain around his neck.
Nigga - a black man with a gold chain on his neck.
Slang term for homie, friend, buddy, bro; used primarily by Negroes but has spread to other races as well. At first, 'Niggas' was said only by Negroes, not by White folks. Because that pointed out the absurdity - discrimination based solely on skin color - that usage rule has eased up some. Unless in an awkward environment, non-Negroes can sometimes say Niggas.
"'Sup my nigga?" "How's it hanging my nigga?" "Yo, nigga wassup?"
This also shows the effect of rap artists and those in the black community who use the word nigger or nigga and then get upset if some white guy uses the exact same word. They acknowledge that permission to use that word is based solely on skin color (is that racism?).
BlackThe racial issue may be too simple to refer to simply as black & white. This terms reduce people to basic simple colors and may exclude Hispanics, Asians, Indians, etc. The term likely came from WEB DuBois' 1903 book, The Souls of Black Folks. This does seem to convey the least amount of offensiveness.
There is no place called Black America. Nor, White America or Polish America, etc. There are Black Americans, but those Black Americans live in America - they don't live in a place called Black America. Even as a seemingly harmless descriptive term, it still confirms the bias and ignorance of many people that America is divided into racial segments.
Jeopardy has been using this category name for decades. Many years ago, I wrote them a letter with the rationale for less divisive language. They responded and stated that they saw no reason to stop using the category title, Black America.
Colored peopleThe origins of this phrase are pretty bizarre. Colored laws were those that were not legally official - like an unwritten code, but not authentic. The 13/14th amendment that gave slaves freedom was tainted because the US Constitution applies equally to everyone and never acknowledged that slaves were not equal. The Supreme Court stated that the amendment, therefore, was a 'colored law' - and the people it referred to were, then, 'colored people'.
Person of colorThis never quite caught on during the 'Politically Correct' movement of the 1990s. Many people have such a low regard for politics and politicians that referring to the phrase as politically correct may have ruined the chances of this phrase being accepted into common usage. And its just too long and awkward. And vague: doesn't it include everyone but, maybe, albinos?
African-AmericanIn this country, American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate. - Toni Morrison
Africa is a continent with Negroid, Mongoloid, and Caucasian people. It is a continent of diverse cultures - Northern Africa is primarily Middle Eastern in culture and heritage, not Negroid at all. We celebrate being united in America but we can't be united as long as there are hyphenated Americans. The hyphenation denotes refusal to be an 'American' - it is, by its nature, very divisive and non-inclusive. Irish-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, Gay-American, Native American-American. The label 'African-American' conveys one of two messages:
1. Negroes are not good enough to be called Americans - they are in a separate class.
2. Negroes are better than 'Americans' and deserve their own recognition status with its own label.
Neither of these options sounds positive, productive, nor healthy for the USA.
From Louis Gossett Jr.
Feb 2015: Louis Gossett Jr. prefers ‘American Negro,' not ‘African-American'. “Eventually [labels] will go away. But until that time, the British chose [negro] and that was the word they used. “I call myself an American Negro, not an African-American, I'm an American."
Words from Raven Symoné
I want to be labeled a human who loves humans. I'm tired of being labeled. I'm an American. I'm not an African-American. I'm an American. I don't know where my roots go to. I don't know how far back and I don't know what country in Africa I am from, but I do know that my roots are in Louisiana. I am an American. I have darker skin. I have a nice, interesting grade of hair. I connect with Caucasian. I connect with Asian. I connect with Black. I connect with Indian. I connect with each culture.
Aren't we all a melting pot in one body? Isn't that what America is supposed to be?
Wisdom from Bill Cosby
They're standing on the corner and they can't speak proper English: Why you ain't, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be.
And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact, you will never get any kind of job making a decent living. People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an Education.
The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? Or who is his father?
We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa. I say this all of the time. It would be like white people saying they are European-American. That is totally stupid. I was born here, and so were my parents and grand parents and, very likely my great grandparents. I don't have any connection to Africa, no more than white Americans have to Germany, Scotland, England, Ireland, or the Netherlands. The same applies to 99 percent of all the black Americans as regards to Africa. So stop, already!
With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua, and Mohammed and all of that crap. And all of them are in jail. Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the naborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different men. We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We, as black folks, have to do a better job. Someone working at Walmart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard. We cannot blame the white people any longer.'
- William Henry 'Bill' Cosby, Jr, EdD, May 2004, at an NAACP event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that struck down school segregation.
If we segregate and classify Americans with descriptors, then shouldn't we also segregate buses, theaters, and naberhoods?
Of course not, but if we strive to remove segregation, it follows that we should certainly remove segregation in descriptors and divisions of Americans.
During the Ferguson riots, the media showed some protesters waving the A-A flag, giving credibility to the notion of the divisive term:
If we segregate and classify Americans with descriptors, then shouldn't we also segregate buses, theaters, and naberhoods?
Artist David Hammons created the A-A flag in 1990, the year in which David Dinkins was elected the first black mayor of New York City and America was deep into its decades' long culture wars. The flag is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
NegroThe author and prominent public intellectual, Ralph Ellison, wrote essays, gave speeches, sat on national committees, and was a member of exclusive clubs. He resisted the shift to 'African-American'. "The African content of American Negro life is more fanciful than actual," he said. "I emphasize Negro because it refers specifically to American cultural phenomena."
Jabari Asim, author of The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why, believes the term Negro was quite neutral and first used in 1555.
The term came from within the Negro community. It was used extensively by Negroes during their struggle for civil rights. Using Negro today is a way to pay homage and respect for those brave and honorable citizens. Below: Malcolm X in 1963 (holding up a headline too similar to some in 2014):
The other terms are media labels and came more from the mainstream establishment. Negro carries less baggage, less divisiveness. The term Negro has many positive historical roots:
The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was formed in 1909 and originally called the National Negro Committee and held gatherings called National Negro Conventions. Founders: Ida Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villiard and William English Wallin
The Negro World newspaper in Harlem, 1916
The Negro State Fair, 1917
The Negro Speaks of Rivers, by Langston Hughes, 1921
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, by Langston Hughes, 1926
Negro Women's Temperance Union
Oklahoma Negro Teachers Association
The Oklahoma Negro Business League
The Negro World's Fair in Muskogee
National Council of Negro Women
The Negro Motorist Green-Book, a guidebook by and for Negroes, by Victor Green
The Negro in Texas History, 1936
Time magazine in 1947 called All-Negro Comics "the first to be drawn by Negro artists and peopled entirely by Negro characters. The villains were a couple of zoot-suited, jive-talking Negro muggers, whose presence in anyone else's comics might have brought up complaints of racial 'distortion'. Since it was all in the family, Evans thought no Negro readers would mind." The characters were meant to inspire black people's pride in their African heritage.
Father of Negro Art, Aaron Douglas
Negro Leagues in baseball
Negro Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Opportunity, A Journal of Negro Life
United (or Universal) Negro Improvement Association, Marcus Garvey
The Negro Problem, contributions by Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and others
American Negro Exposition, in Chicago, 1940
Negro Victory Committee, founded in 1941 by Reverend Clayton Russell, sought to gain employment in defense industries that discriminated against black workers.
Negro was used extensively by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a term of importance, respect, and dignity.
NAACP Branch President Robert F. Williams promoted a combination of nonviolence with armed self-defense, authoring the widely read Negroes With Guns in 1962.
In May, 2008, the director Spike Lee said, "Clint Eastwood made two films about Iwo Jima, and there was not one Negro actor on the screen. In his version of Iwo Jima, Negro soldiers did not exist."
The New Negro and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
From Dr. King, Montgomery, Alabama, 1955: E.D. Nixon, a Pullman porter long identified with the NAACP, telephoned me late one night to tell me that Mrs. Rosa Parks had been arrested around seven-thirty that evening when a bus driver demanded that she give up her seat, and she refused - because her feet hurt. Nixon had already bonded Mrs. Parks out of prison. He said, "It's time this stops; we ought to boycott the buses." I agreed and said, "Now." The next night we called a meeting of Negro community leaders to discuss it, and on Saturday and Sunday we appealed to the Negro community, with leaflets and from the pulpits, to boycott the buses on Monday. We had in mind a one-day boycott, and we were banking on 60-percent success. But the boycott saw instantaneous 99-percent success. We were so pleasantly surprised and impressed that we continued, and for the next 381 days the boycott of Montgomery's buses by Negroes was 99 9/10 successful.
From a 1957 interview, MLK: I think I could best answer that question by saying first that the new Negro is a person with a new sense of dignity and destiny. With a new self-respect. Along with that is lack of fear, which once characterized the Negro This willingness to stand up courageously for what he feels is just and what he feels he deserves on the basis of the laws of the land. I think also included would be this self-assertive attitude that you just mentioned. And all of these factors come together to make what seems to me to be the new Negro
I think also I would like to mention this growing honesty which characterizes the Negro today. There was a time that the Negro used duplicity, deception too, rather as a survival technique; although he didn't particularly like conditions - he said he liked them because he felt that the boss wanted to hear that. But now from the housetops, from the kitchens, from the classrooms and from the pulpit, the Negro says in no uncertain terms that he doesn't like the way he's being treated. So at long last the Negro is telling the truth. And I think this is also one of the basic characteristics of the new Negro
After the first World War, there was a huge migration of Negroes from the South. By 1923, the section of Manhattan north of Central Park, Harlem, became predominantly inhabited by Negroes. Harlem's first cultural flowering came in 1919 when a few privileged Negro intellectuals nurtured a period of literary accomplishment that came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance and Harlem became known as the Negro Metropolis'. Writer W.E.B. DuBois and sociologist Charles Johnson shared a vision - that arts and letters might be the path by which Negroes could win some of the civil rights they were routinely denied. They began what they referred to as the 'New Negro Movement'. The two men made philanthropic connections and recruited writers, artists, and musicians - all in the hope of promoting a culture of understanding that would transform a racist nation. Some of the highlights: Langston Hughes published his famous manifesto, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain. Alain Locke, Professor of Philosophy at Howard University, and the first Negro Rhodes scholar, published Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro It was later expanded to become the primer of the Harlem Renaissance: The New Negro Anthology. It New Negro was defined as an enlightened, politically astute, and aesthetically aware person sprung from the progressive race rhetoric of educator Booker T. Washington and women's rights advocate Fannie Barrier Williams. Also published was the magazine Opportunity, The Journal of Negro Life.
During the Harlem Renaissance Negroes generated 26 novels, 10 volumes of poetry, 5 Broadway plays, countless essays and short stories, 3 performed ballets and concerts, and a considerable output of paintings and sculptures.
Then & now, I'm a Negro: The people who used that word gave it majesty
By Stanley Crouch, New York Daily News, Monday, January 11, 2010
As a writer, I find the term African-American unwieldy. I use terms like Negro, black, and am sometimes tempted to use colored because that range of skin tones is so undeniably epic. All of them are no more than words, but there is something far from backward about the sound of Negro and the magnificent people who used that word to describe themselves. They gave it majesty; they made it luminous. They inspired, organized and led what amounted to our most recent civil war. They welcomed all comers as they went about removing the teeth from the Grand Dragons of Southern racism.
America was bettered by those in the nonviolent multiracial civil rights movement. They did not call themselves African-Americans, which is a pretentious term conceived by Jesse Jackson and some black academics. Those so willing to pretend that they are Africans and not Americans, or who claim their Americanness almost as an unavoidable burden, are just caught up in yet another meaningless trend that has been swallowed by the country as a whole. Freedom of choice is finally the point, above all else. We are, after all, Americans.
Of course, Negro translates to Black in Spanish:
A healthy label
Now, lets work toward not having to use labeling terms at all. If one must use labeling (and sometimes it does help clarify communication), the term to use is a personal decision. Use what is appropriate, not what insecure people, politicians, nor the media insist be used.
Stop categorizing people with the census list just don't refer to people by group inclusion and exclusion
Is racism a problem here?
By Kamal Mazlan, The Vista, University of Central Oklahoma, March 2, 1989
Several Central State University students allege racial prejudice on campus, but are hesitant to complain to the administration because they say little can be done about it. The alleged racial incidents include:
a black student claimed his new dorm roommate refused to live with him.
a foreign student at CSU claims he was racially slurred as he walked past a small group of students.
a faculty member uttered racist remarks to a student in class.
Is racism prevalent at CSU?
"Yes, it is," said Dr. Lamona Evans, instructor in English at CSU. "If the (CSU) administration closes its eyes and ears, this problem will continue to exist. This campus must be integrated. "In Oklahoma. CSU has the largest black student population, about 3,500, in a state college. But because there's no integration, we are a black school within a white school." said Evans, who is also a faculty senator and sponsor of a black sorority at CSU. Evans said black students had complained to her about racist remarks made by faculty or unfair treatment at the dorms.
"Unless there is a push for affirmative action programs, there'll be no integration at CSU, only apathy," she added.
Dana Christman. CSU's housing manager, said the housing office doesn't make room changes based on racial discrimination, "but 9 times of out 10 the request to do so come from parents who do not wish their child to be in the same room with a person they've pre-conceived notions of. "We've the final say in a room change, but only if both occupants desire it. The policy is not intended to hurt anyone," said Christman.
"It is not serious problem for a commuter college like CSU, but it does exist," said Dr. April Haulman, coordinator of bilingual education program at CSU. "Minority students at CSU want some affirmative action by the administration. They want more minority role models. We've a few black faculty but not nearly enough, and no Hispanic faculty."
"There is a preponderance of ignorance (at CSU) on the realities of society," said Dr. Paul Lehman, professor in English. "Certain trees constituting as a forest, which means some people might want to view their culture as significant and all others as less significant." Such ignorance, he added, "permits racism and prejudice to grow and be nurtured. Changes has to come from the top, not just from the president, but from the Board of Regents."
Dr. Dudley Ryan, dean of student services, said he had received one complaint of racial prejudice at CSU in the past year but it was resolved between the parties concerned. "There are, however, complaints of racism we don't know of. The students usually voiced their grievances to someone they know or feel comfortable with.
"We want to be as open as we possibly can. The more avenues we have that students can complain to, the better we can deal with their problems," he added. "I do not view racism as a problem at CSU, and I haven't received any complaints," said Dr. Ronald Paddack, international student adviser. "But I wished more international students will seek to get more involved in student associations and activities."
When contacted, James Noley, Native American counselor at CSU, said he did not wish to comment on the matter at this time.
My response
Professor questions racism article
The Vista, Thursday, March 2nd, had an article about racism at Central State University. This is a sensitive area and I am confused by some points raised in the article:
There is "no integration at CSU" and there are 3,500 black students here. How could they be here if CSU was not integrated? Are any citizens denied access to class or organizations because of their racial or ethnic background?
There is "a black school within a white school." Where? It seems to exist only in the minds of people in positions of influence who continue to make such statements and perpetuate that myth.
There are people on this campus who make disparaging remarks about other people on this campus. How will a "push for Affirmative Action programs" change that?
"Not enough black faculty and no Hispanic faculty". CSU is not an employment agency, it is an educational institution supported by tax dollars. Don't Oklahoma taxpayers and CSU students deserve the best faculty, regardless of their race? There is a difference between personal prejudice and institutional racism. The "alleged racial incidents" mentioned in the article are not examples of institutional racism. They are all between two people who do not share the same value system. That is OK. They can even choose to display those values in an offensive, rude, or inconsiderate manner. It is unfair to place responsibility for their actions on the institution of Central State.
Here are examples of institutional racism:
The Miss Black CSU Pageant. Even though there is a Miss CSU Pageant open to all women, CSU sponsors a pageant for black women only. What subliminal inferiority message is communicated when CSU says to black students that they need their own pageant to compete? The sponsor of the pageant has finally admitted the pageant is blatantly racist, and would consider opening it up to all women. However, he would not change the name of the pageant. (I'm still waiting for the explanation of how an American Indian or Hispanic woman could be crowned Miss Black CSU.) Justification for the pageant was that "blacks feel more comfortable in their own pageant." This is the rationale we heard throughout the 60s and 70s to justify segregation. It-did not work then and it should not work now to justify discrimination.
The Black Peer Center. According to the affirmative action plan established by CSU, there was supposed to be a "student counseling center" to service the needs of all minorities on campus. Somehow, the name was changed to the Black Peer Center. How likely is it that Hispanic students will think the Black Peer Center is for them? All other minorities and ethnic groups are being cheated out of a service that was intended for them.
I sympathize with efforts for affirmative action. It is a tough position: trying to help minority students without being discriminatory in their favor. The Miss Black CSU Pageant and the Black Peer Center, however, are backward steps in efforts for an integrated America. It is wrong for a state institution claiming equal opportunity to condone racial discrimination, even if in title only.
I propose the following:
1. We not classify personal prejudicial remarks as "racial incidents".
2. We accept that as long as there are two humans on Earth there will be personal prejudice. Right or wrong, human nature dictates a difference in personal values.
3. We strive to eliminate racial discrimination and prejudicial treatment in state institutions.
4. We do not confuse items 2 and 3.
Violation of King's dream, March 1992
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once had a marvelous dream for our nation. In 1991, however, the University of Central Oklahoma conducted another (as implied by its title) racially discriminatory pageant: The Miss Black UCO Pageant. I once had the pleasure of meeting Rosa Parks. I congratulated her for having the strength to do what was right in the 1960s. I would feel ashamed if she knew I taught at a public university that 30 years later was still allowing a racially biased pageant.
The pageant is an insult to the courage, work and suffering of Dr. King and Rosa Parks. I challenge the university administration, the Faculty Senate and the Student Senate to end this blatant racial discriminatlon on our campus. If the pageant is allowed to continue, please do the following:
1. Stop declaring that "UCO does not discriminate on the basis of race."
2. Do not publicize the event during the period of Dr. King's birthday holiday. I'm pretty sure this was not in his dream. Today he would be disappointed and offended.
- Jim Watson, UCO faculty
Columnist scoffs at pageants
While never having had to put my neck on the chopping block, so to speak, I was active on the fringes of the civil rights movement of the early and mid-1960s. We lent our support to the cause of liberty for all, but especially to equal rights and opportunity for black people for the obvious reason that they were America's most unfairly treated group.
My role model at the time was Roy Wilkins (1901-1981), head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1955 to 1977. This man put his neck on the block many tunes, and it saddens me today that few of my students, black and otherwise, have ever heard of him - nor of Bayard Rustin, nor A. Phillip Randolph, nor Whitney Young. I wonder if David Dean. who feels the Miss Black UCO pageant is a means of preserving African-American culture, knows of these black heroes who gave so much of themselves for a better America?
Mr. Dean needs to realize that no one is saying that members of his ethnic group nor any other should be "stripped of their heritage." Cultural background is important. What Dr. James Watson seems to be saying, however, is that ceremonies which involve ethnic exclusivity have no place at public institutions. How does Anglo Pride Week sound? How about Miss White UCO? Bigoted? Certainly. How is Miss Black UCO different? Many feel it's not.
One other thing about Mr. Dean's letter bothered me. I have heard almost the exact phrases he employed used by members of the American Nazi Party, the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, White Aryan Resistance, and similar groups. They long have spoken of how their race "has been stripped of its heritage;" how they "deserve to be recognized as a separate entity, in order to maintain some type of identity of race and culture in this country." They feel that "white people" have few rights. Ironic.
What has become wrong with an identity as a decent human being rather than a group identity? That's how many of us try to deal with our fellow humans - as individuals rather than as members of a group. Woody Allen expressed it well in his "Random Reflections of a Second-Rate Mind": "We're not talking here about exclusive 'clubs' that serve no good purpose; they exist only to form barriers and provide additional differences amongst people so they can further rationalize their national distrust and aggression." Woody was speaking of Jews, but the application is universal. After all, ethnic conflict is one of the salient characteristics of our little planet. Yes, the Miss Black UCO pageant is ethnocentric. And, may we ask, in what way does it help to preserve black culture? How gratifying would it be if a number of UCO's African-American students would take the lead in asking for its abolition. After which they could join with all like-minded students m seeking the demise of the "other" Miss UCO pageant. Aren't such goings-on a bit out of date? Think about it.
- Dr. John George, Guest Columnist
Pageant-bashers pooh-poohed
In regard to Mr. Watson, Mr. Medawattage, Mrs. Redding, and definitely last, "the great" Dr. John George, I'm sure you've been applauded for stating your opinions. But, you have my word that I as well as many other minorities and "Grab a hold to your seats" whites frown on and despise your efforts to express your mis-informed and mis-educated ignorance randomly on an issue you have yet, if ever, to understand.
The question "What if there was a Miss White UCO pageant?," is as stupid and hypocritical as anyone who has asked it. First of all, the phrase "what if" usually is the response of an individual trying to contradict a truth.
Secondly, for how many years since the founding of this "great institution" has it been in every aspect a Miss White UCO (CSU) pageant? Oh yeah, something my four fellow colleagues forgot (or chose not) to mention. Besides, they ought to be glad there is a Miss Black UCO pageant, because if there weren't, I am most certain that in the years to follow, many of the Miss UCO crowns will be donned by beautiful and talented black women of which UCO has an abundance of. It s an inevitable reality anyway! Imagine this... Miss UCO of Edmond, Oklahoma ... African-American. First runner-up ... African-American. Second runner-up ... African-American. You get the picture.
Quote this, "You can change the name of the pageant, but you CANT TOUCH the advancement, pride or endurance of the African-American race."
I personally challenge you to research the origin of your forefathers and mine, then be man or woman enough to come tell me of which continent they originated. Nuff' said!
- Michael Williams, UCO Ebony King
Are all men created equal?
The Founding Fathers may simply have been wrong - maybe all 'men' are not created equal.
We now know enough about biology, physiology, anatomy, mental capacity,reasoning ability, etc. to accept that no two people are created equal. Tribal ethnic members are different: hair growth, hair shape, bone structure, facial features, skin color, musculature, mental functioning, artistic abilities, etc. We are each unique individuals. Now they may have meant that all men should have equal opportunities, but that is even an error. There are just too many exceptions - disabled people, mentally deficient people, athletic prowess, etc. So, the USA was founded (and many laws since) on a mistaken notion of equality. The framers of the US Constitution may have meant that they wanted their beliefs to be accepted (at that time women, disabled people, dark-skinned people, natives, and slaves were not considered equal). At the time the "United" States founding fathers wrote "all 'men' are created equal" into government documents, women were second class citizens and Negroes were not classified as citizens at all. There is almost nothing equal about us.
The myth of equal percentages
The notion that the makeup of a given body of people must match the ethnic makeup of the general population is harmful, discriminatory, and counterproductive to a united nation. The composition of a group should be based on individual merit, not ethnic quotas. Jobs can be filled based on race, sex, or handicapped status. Bosses will be rated on how they meet the quotas. The effect over time is reduction of performance standards and morale, with increased turnover and recruitment costs. A better plan would be to employ strongly-validated, qualifications-based selection, training and promotion policies. As it is in athletic teams - there are tryouts to see who plays a particular position the best. Imagine if population percentages were required on the basketball court. A team would have about 3 and a half white folks, 1 Hispanic, less than 1 Negro, and less than one half Asian person. 2-3 of the starters would have to be women. Why doesn't our culture demand that? Because teams - and their fans - want to win.
The myth of women being paid less
Equal pay for equal work figures are incorrect. If companies could get the same performance from women but be able to pay less, women would be getting many more jobs. The figure is based on overall percentages, not job for job. Overall, women are, by choice, in lower paying jobs (nurses, teachers, caregivers). Factors: less technical education and desire, need to be away from work for childbirth, desire to be home with children. While there are certainly some employers who pay women less, be suspicious of those who still claim there is a huge discrepancy in gender equity pay.
Men and women are not equal
There is almost nothing men and women share equally. Different bone structure, musculature, emotional feelings, body fat percentage, and on and on. Men and women are not equal. Never have been. We are each unique individuals. Some of the findings from The Female Brain, by Louann Brizendine:
Girls go to the bathroom together because they like to intimately exchange the important details of the day which increases their oxytocin and dopamine levels (the feel-good pleasure neurons).
Women use about 20,000 words a day; men about 7,000. Women have more communication events each day - gestures, words, facial expressions, and body language.
The male brain is 9 to 10 percent larger than the female brain, especially during pregnancy when the mother's brain shrinks 8 percent. The female brain has more connections between the two brain hemispheres and 11-12 percent more brain cells in the area that has to do with perceiving and processing language.
Women are considered subservient to men in almost all societies because of pregnancy. While Socrates and all other early great thinkers were sitting around thinking up solutions to problems and understanding the world, women chose to feed hungry mouths and wipe smelly bottoms.
A study in 2014 found that most brains have a mix of structures associated with traditional male and female traits and behavior, making every person an individual mosaic of gender-related characteristics. Israeli researchers analyzed 1,400 brain scans of 169 men and 112 women between 18 and 79 years old, zeroing in on brain regions whose size and pattern of connections are associated with gender differences such as aggression, empathy, risk tolerance, and spatial ability. They found that no more than 6 percent of brains were composed of all “male" or “female" structures. More than half the brains studied, however, contained a mix of these structures, indicating that most people fall somewhere along a gender spectrum, with some strengths and tendencies typically considered male and others female. The findings, says study author Daphna Joel, are consistent with a growing body of research suggesting that gender identity is formed through a complex interaction of genetic, hormonal, experiential, and environmental factors. “The idea of a unified ‘masculine' or ‘feminine' personality turns out not to describe real people," Joel tells LiveScience.com. “It describes stereotypes to which we constantly compare ourselves and each other, but more people are ‘gender non-conforming' than we generally realize."
We each have a combination of feminine characteristics and qualities and masculine characteristics and qualities.
Feminine characteristics
Nurturing
Caring and compassion
Sensitivity
Sense of fashion/style
Tunnel vision attention to detail
Intimate relationships
Verbal, wordy
Sharing
Secretive, coy, teasing, internal
Bitchiness
Speak French better
Masculine characteristics
Physical strength
Mechanical reasoning
More hirsute
Spatial reasoning and ability
Logic and mathematical skills
Aggression and assertiveness
Power and control
Assholiness
Confrontational
Authoritativeness
Briefer communicators, less wordy
Speak German better
Each person has a different combination, from heavy on the masculine side (moronic shallow testosteroned athletes) to heavy on the feminine side (moronic shallow flighty airheads). It seems that a good place to be is somewhere in the middle with a balanced combination of feminine and masculine qualities.
Design professions by gender characteristics
Masculine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feminine
Architects Industrial Theater 1 Graphic Fashion Theater 2 Interior
(sets, lighting, sound) (costume, makeup)
The guys' rules for women
Men are not mind readers.
Learn to work the toilet seat - if it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.
Shopping is not a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
Crying is blackmail.
Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!
Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like the soap opera guys.
If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.
You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
Men see in only 16 colors. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.
If we ask what is wrong and you say 'nothing,' we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.
When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.
Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or golf.
You have enough clothes.
You have too many shoes.
Why women think men are happier people
Your last name stays put.
The garage is all yours.
Wedding plans take care of themselves.
Chocolate is just another snack.
You can never be pregnant.
Car mechanics tell you the truth.
The world is your urinal.
You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.
Your wrinkles just add character.
People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them.
The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected.
Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
You can open all your own jars.
If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.
Wedding dress $5,000 - Tux rental $200.
Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.
Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
You almost never have strap problems in public.
You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.
One wallet and one pair of shoes and one color for all seasons.
You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.
You can wear no shirt to a water park.
You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.
The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades.
You can play with toys all your life.
Your belly usually hides your big hips.
You can 'do' your nails with a pocket knife.
You can do Christmas shopping for 12 relatives on December 24 in 40 minutes.
No wonder men are happier.
www.jamesrobertwatson.com/racism.html
