Does anyone else think Al Sharpton is a racist?

[*DAMN Hazard]

Yes, he is a racist, I hate this bullshit "freedom for blacks" its such bullshit. I'm not a racist or a nazi or anything but what the hell. He can talk all he wants about white people but if I went to a public place and talking about Blacks I would be stabbed.

And wtf is with this bullshit that blacks don't have rights? There are United Negro College funds only for blacks, but what if their was a college fund only for whites? How many people would bitch about that?

He can stfu because we live in a world with assholes like him saying that whites get special treatment when we live in a world where its cool to be black and every white person tries to be black and that we live in a world because someone like my sister ( a smart white girl) can't get financial aid because she isn't a minority and it looks good for banks and colleges to give to minorities. Wtf is up with this?

Does anyone else feel this way or should I start painting  swastikas on my wall?

[†FiRE Infection]

I'm not sure about the hole racist thing, and I think it would be a good idea for him to support blacks and immigrants, but Jesus Christ, he is literally going against the white race and talking about how "they are not America"  What kind of idiot does that?  You never go against a race or culture during a political campaign.  

I think he's taking his power trip with yelling into the mic about how great they can be too far.  He has to shut up and talk like a normal person, this isn't the church trying to get people pumped up.  I don't think it is right or fair for him to single us out, whites haven't done anything against him.  Personally, I am not racist against anyone, but I think Blacks actually get too much from the government trying to make them happy because they always complain so much, I sorta feel the whites get left out.  I don't think it is fair for him to run, and personally I'm a little scared about it.  Good thing it's not too likely for him to win, he's not pushing for any white votes.

[iBeer]

well i haven't felt any of this (probably cus i live in Canada, it doesnt seem to be as extreme here.) I have many black, latino, and especiall philipeno friends.  ive read some stuff about this guy, and he sorta reminds me of hitler; he was mad at the jews, one reason is because the hebrew people are renoun for keeping to themselves and not spending extravagently etc., even under heavy wealth.  He also acts like the blacks are a supreme race (once again, Hitler: blond hair blue eyed people were superior)   Ironic when u look at it..

[Mr. Lothario]

     I've thought for a long time that we white males need to rise up and sue for Affirmative Action benefits. Since every other race, gender, ethnic background, and preference in Chinese takeout restaurants is protected by very grumpy laws and given special preferential treatment, the white males are being oppressed by not getting special treatment. Say it with me! STOP OPPRESSION NOW! AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR WHITE MALES!




     (The real aim is, once we've got special treatment too, then everyone will be on equal footing and America can get on with things.)

[tasty]

I'm not vouching for the Reverend Al Sharpton, who is an extremist that relies on emotion and hyperbole to bring races further apart rather than together?

However, I do understand the reasoning behind affirmative action. While you may complain that minorities get special privileges (financial aid, etc), think about the privileges that you get purely based on your race and the location you were born (ie, USA)? I think when the two are compared you will find that you have more privilege than you ever imagined. This is an excerpt from a famous article on "White Privilege" by Peggy McIntosh:


I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege. So I have begun in an untutored way to ask what it is like to have white privilege. I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was "meant" to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools , and blank checks.

Describing white privilege makes one newly accountable. One who writes about having white privilege must ask, "having described it, what will I do to lessen or end it?"

Daily effects of white privilege

I decided to try to work on myself at least by identifying some of the daily effects of white privilege in my life. I have chosen those conditions that I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location, though of course all these other factors are intricately intertwined. As far as I can tell, my African American coworkers, friends, and acquaintances with whom I come into daily or frequent contact in this particular time, place and time of work cannot count on most of these conditions.

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.

12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

[tasty]

and the rest of them?

16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.

17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.

18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.

19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.

27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.

29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.

33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.

39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.

43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.

45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

[cookie]

i think affirmative action is wrong because how the fuck would you like to be black and go to harvard, knowing the only reason you're there is because of the color of your skin, not personal merits... how would you feel when all the other kids who had the due process looked at you like you didn't belong? I think it's just promoting/perpetuating discrimination.  But yeah, I think Sharpton and Jesse Jackson can cross the line sometimes... and in short, compensation is bs. if african american society ever plans to gain footing and end the problems that plague it, we need to start treating them as equals and not reinforcing the cycle that keeps them down.

[Jeb]

Its entirely ok for a black person to stereotype a white person.
If i make a black joke, i am a racist acording to society.

The problem that exisits amongst the black community is their "leaders" who inspire more race hatered. People like al sharpton live off the fear of a entire community who thinks that a cop will pull them out of a car and beat them "because of their skin color"
In seattle a policeman aprotched a car that was parked illegaly on the side of the highway, the man inside the car was smoking crack, when the police officer asked him to step out of the car the man pulled out a loaded gun and pointed it at the officer, in self defense the officer killed him. But wait, this man was black, so suddenly there are marches and almost riots because the officer must have killed him because he hated black people.

The ignorance and racism shown by the socalled black "leaders" is horrible for society. Last time i checked latin americans was the largest minority group, and who is their "leaders" who should out about racism? Where is the asian communits "leaders" (besides meth   ).

a great movie to watch that has a basis on some level to this issue is American History X, and if you want to see a truely depressing film about post civil war america rent "Rosewood". Both are great movies (if you discount the anal rape scene in American history X)
Please excuse all the spelling and grammer errors, i was testing my new vodka tonight

[Cossack]

Hmmm, maybe I got into a college only because I was an immigrant. Anyhow, the old saying is true, richer = more educated. Whites have a much richer and vibrant intelectual heritage. African Americans our in the whole, economicly disadvantaged. Their parents are too impovrished to pay for fancy private schools, many are not allumni of a college and therefor do not have connections as many white students have, and their schools are worse. They get some of the lower grade teachers, not to mention their parents cant really tutor them. The problem is that the African Americans dont have to tools to become more educated. However I think affirmative action should be directed towards the economicaly disadvantaged than to minorities in particular. Afterall, more poor people are white, while more of black people are poor. The poor white people (down in the South especialy) have the same problem, and thus they are left out.
     I do understand that when a white person makes fun of black people its racist, but when a black person makes fun of whites it is a comic act. Well thats just how sociotey(sp) works. If you think about it, the white american male is the most hated group of people in the world. Who dosent hate you? Blacks hate you because you put them under slavery once (eventhough its not fair to immigrants like me), Hispanics hate you because of the dirt poor wages you give them, and for going into their homeland and exploiting them. Damn Grengos. Asians hate you because of the same thing, exploitation and you declared war on a couple asian countries (even if they attacked you first).

[jn.loudnotes]

Actually, the sad thing is that you're all wrong.  Because in each of these examples, you talk about how, ex, "affirmative action is unfair to whites," or "blacks can stereotype whites"

The problem with all this is the attitude.  Although some of the items in the list of white priveleges were outdated and untrue today, there is one very simple reason these things exist.

That simple reason is that we label people by their skin color.  If we truly want to get past racism and end affirmative action and all stereotypes, we have to stop viewing people as a race.  Should a black or a white person care whether his "race" is represented on TV?  We have to get to the point where it doesn't matter.  Where people don't notice your skin color except as a modifier.

And why should we?  Do we make any judgements about people with blue eyes?  brown eyes?  hazel?

And hair color, outside of blonde jokes, is also neutral.  So why should skin be different?  As human beings, we're not really all that different.

As a society, we won't progress until we are able to ignore our physical characteristics.  Can you tell which race I am simply by my writing this?  I wouldn't think so. . .

And does it really  matter?

[cookie]

um yeah, that's kind of what i meant with the whole equals bit  

yeah sorry. . .I missed that part.  but still. . .it irks me that people still see race as anything important.  half the problem lies with those who identify so strongly with their race. . .I see no reason for it.   - ln

[tasty]

I agree that seeing people as a race is wrong, and that affirmative action is a somewhat ridiculous policy. But I don't see how things are going to change without it? people aren't going to just magically begin to see the world in a whole new light and remove their previous racial assumptions and prejudices. I think race should be deemphasized, as race is a social/geographical categorization and actually has very little biological basis at all. But if we deemphasize race, things like white privilege would never go away. They would probably get stronger as wealth disparities increase and the races become increasingly polarized. So its tough to know where to draw a line, or exactly what to do (if anything) about the race-based problems that exist.

[Cossack]

Well the whole point of my post was to instead service the economicaly disadvanatged  instead of just the minorities. Therefore poor white,blacks,hispanics,and asians get affirmative action. This is not looking at race, but your financial situation.

[KoS PY.nq.ict]

Then you'd have rich people complaining.

As for Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. I know plenty of black people that truly hate these nutjobs. Yes they do incite anger and hate in people who don't have enough sense to know right and wrong. Yes minorities usually vote democrat because democrats like having people depend on the government (ie. affirmative action, welfare, etc). That way they're in total control of one's life.
It's just all about people who want something for nothing. Some blacks still believe that white people owe them for what our ancestors did 200 years ago. People are lazy asses. Plain and simple.

[alaric]

I agree with cossack in that the real discrimination in our society is economically based. Money is the big factor in today's world. Honestly, nobody really cares what race anybody is anymore, it's how much money they have. I sometimes wonder if this whole race tension thing isn't just a tool of the rich people to keep the poor people down. It's about the haves and the have-nots. I know it's pretty thin but it makes sense: If you can keep the have-nots fighting each other, they won't fight their true common enemy, the haves. This keeps the balance of power pretty much the same as it's been for the last 100 years. Now I'm not saying rich people are bad, blah blah, I'm just saying it's interesting.

I also agree with cookie in that one of the big reasons there is so much race discrimination left in our society is because certain leaders seem be race-oriented. I can't help but think if  we stopped talking about "the white race" and "the black race" and "the hispanic race" most of the problems would all go away.

Grouping people by race, for any reason, is not a good idea because it forces people to be race-conscious. If you stop focusing and grouping people based on race those racial precognitions will disappear over time. Bringing race up every ten minutes is a sure-fire way to make sure it stays at the front of people's minds. This reinforces the differences between races and that's the absolute WRONG way to go about resolving racial tension. To resolve racial tension you must emphasize the similarites between the races.

That is where affirmative action goes wrong, it classifies based on race and that only strengthens the differences between people, it makes the problem worse.

[Agent Wallabie]

   I agree with Cossack on his post about the economical disabvanatage and how there is ppl with bad financial situatoins on all races. It's just the black community that speaks the loudest. You don't see enny ppl suporting the Navite Americans and they've been treated worse then enny other group in America.
   I don't agree with enny one eniterly In this topic and the way I believe will probly never be reached in a million years.

   Wallie~

[Cossack]

Then you'd have rich people complaining.

True they may complain, but without "economic affirmative action" a rich kid whose parents have connections or even a reputation, has a higher chance of getting in college than one whose parents are alchoholic hicks living in a trailer park in Alabama.

[cookie]

you know, this is going to sound silly, but i also think pop culture and even their own race keeps many african american familes down. When I listen to rap, much of it is about booty, basketball, and fast cars. How is this at all encouraging people to grow academically and as a person? I don't think it's motivating at all. It's also sad that often, trying to achieve a higher education is seen as doing something "white", which is absolute bs. Everyone is capable of and entitled to a higher education.. it just seems like they hold eachother down. Anyway, I think the true cure for the epidemics that plague minority society is encouragement and social support through communities and whatnot... financial aid just seems to entrench the problem more than alleviate it, and radicals like Sharpton and Jackson seem to incite more bitterness and hate than they do hope.

I also think loudnotes is dead on with what he was saying, but I think there are some problems we need to fix before that can really come into play.

[KoS PY.nq.ict]

I think its a good idea to look at our economic situation than what color our skin is. I was just saying that once economic affirmative action for lower class citizens is put into place, we'll have rich people complaining like us white folk complain about affirmative action.

I agree fully with you cookie. WOOT

[jn.loudnotes]

I think alaric pretty much sums up my argument but more effectively and without the vitriol.  But I'm curious . . . can any of you (who don't already know) tell what race I am by my posts?  And why would you think so?