But how is he or she treated on the job? Does he or she get stopped by the police due to racial profiling? How is he or she treated by other white people when jogging down the street? Do white ladies clutch their handbags when he or she passes by or rides up an elevator?

Having a better job doesn't mean a damn thing when it comes to treatment and access in society.

Thank you for getting it. That is the first step in a one-thousand mile journey, as Lao Tse would say.

I never mentioned anything about collective guilt. In fact, for the record, I don't like that whites should have guilt. Instead, I would prefer that whites would have a sense of conscience when discussing racial disparities in society.

Having a conscience is quite different from having guilt.

I'm sure they do. But again, what are they going to do with the information? Sit on it? Or try to make things better by having a conscience when trying to discuss issues on race?

The murderers of James Byrd Sr. are still alive. Some of the old Sheriffs who collected poll taxes from Black folks in the South who wanted to vote, are still alive. Some of the lynchers during Segregration are still alive. The members of the all-white juries who had set the lynchers free are still alive. The murderer of Emmett Till is still alive. The bomber of the Selma Four is still alive. The list goes on and on. There are plenty of white people who participated and complied with Jim Crow segregation that are still alive and kicking.

And again, guilt has nothing to do with it.

My relatives as well as other older Black people who had to face the violent actions of white people complying with the system of Segregation are still alive too. Rep. John Lewis (D.-Georgia) was nearly knocked unconscious by police when he protested for the right to vote. He's alive. And of course, Jesse Jackson, who witnessed the murder of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King is still, most verifiably, alive.

Collectively, people also have to see how history has treated other groups in society as well. The Germans are trying to work with their collective past from the Third Reich. Why can't whites do it in America?

Well, I beg to differ. But I thank you for the attempt.

I just did.

I have, if you would read what I have been saying. But you're too caught up on the "collectivity" of it all and pronouncing me racist for saying so.



I never said I thought you were racist. I did say that what you had proposed in a previous post contributed to a "racist lie". I furthermore said, that I didn't think what I said was racist in nature. But, I can't change your mindset if you think I am out to make you one. I'm sorry that you think that way. I'm just trying to stay on topic with how I perceive the nature of this issue.

Who died and made you Simon Legree?

Funny, you've done nothing but insult and dismiss what I'm trying to say. But I still take it and continue to converse with you. That says a lot.

It depends. When people immigrate here, they have to not only deal with the system and society of their old country; they also have to adjust to their new country as well. The old country has its own historical events that have juxstaposed different groups and sub-groups in their own country.

But, to be more specific, if I were a white immigrant, I'd have to deal with the nationalist pressures from the anti-immigrant crowd (which has its own baggage stemming back from the early 19th Century to the present day). And then, it doesn't preclude the fact that by virtue of white skin (although with a different accent), I would still experience the same privileges in getting access socially and racially. After all, there have been books written about how certain immigrant groups from Europe came to America and received harsh treatment from nativists. And then, when they had risen economically, they became "white". That is the story of the Jewish, Italians and Irish.

Just because someone comes from somewhere else in which white values were pushed in order to afford superiority, doesn't mean that it goes away when coming to America. Some people coming from mono-lithic cultures still have a problem with multi-culturalism. It doesn't make them racist. It just helps perpetuate certain attitudes. And this knowledge does not preclude them from not knowing what has happened in the past and making sense of it, especially having a respect for it and trying to change the system so that it benefits all of us instead of some.

But, it might be a different ball of wax if one was an immigrant from an African, Asian or a Middle Eastern Country. By the color of the skin, they not only have to face the same social disparity afforded to skin color (Arabs especially so due to the "terror scare" peddled by the current administration); they also have to deal with the nativists who don't like to see immigrants come here. They have a double-edged sword to carry.

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