Okay. . . a point well taken, however, I think it's worth noting that you don't know me, who I am, what I stand for, etc. . . to call me a racist or hater of blacks and others of color is, well, dispiriting to say the least.
It's funny 'cause I actually agree with you on most aspects of this topic. Yes, when referring to racism, it should be known that you're speaking of institutionalized racism and not discrimination. Yes, white people have more 'power' and are using this to keep the African-American 'inferior', and shit, if you're a racist, embrace this. But I'm not.
Paul may have crossed the line in starting this conversation, but I think he may have just been going out on a limb to discuss the topic. Personally, I DO think it's kinda questionable for a white dude to step up and start pointing fingers, when in most cases, his damn grandfather was out supporting lynchings, but, now that the topic has been raised, I think it's fair to say that discrimination exists both (and, I suppose, in many other) ways. I even thought about your insinuation that I was a racist, and I could honestly see what you may have been thinking upon making that statement. It's not fair, but kinda justified. It's true, for us white folks, racism against us is hardly something worth mentioning in that it is so uncommon, and to do so is kind of questionable when comparing this to the amount of racism that the Black in America recieves or is subjected to through the media/personally/through where they were forced to live/through the education they were forced to recieve, etc. . . so, I think I can understand, but I just jumped to stand up for this guy who I think didn't have negative intentions in raising this topic and just got bombarded by people calling him exactly what he was denouncing. There's no need to call Paul names, the response that would have been ideal would have been "yeah, that sucks, maybe you mean discrimination, not racism, etc. . ." then said, "however, for you to complain is unecessary as you don't even know what it is to face racism, etc. . ." Don't call the kid a racist, just let him know tht he might not be right in raising the issue in the manner in which he did so. I think you all might know taht he really didn't have such negative intentions when raising this issue. Now let's concentrate on what we can do to change things. . . maybe another post?