Has Black Americans become too comfortable to care about what is happening around and to them?
111006
Strong words, but to me this sounds like the same basic argument I hear from feminists. “Why have we abandoned the fight?”.\n\nIMO people have abandoned the fight because the fight has been fought and won. People were fighting to be free and to have equal rights and responsibilities. They have those things.  And one of the freedoms they have a freedoms to do whatever the hell they ant with their lives.\n\nIf a woman decides she wants to get married, have 6 kids and be a housewife for the next 60 years many feminists are outraged. When a black man decides they want to work a 9-5 job and never go into debt to buy a house you are outraged. What you are both forgetting is that freedom has to mean freedom. If people aren’t free to do those things just because YOU think they aren’t worthy lifestyles than they aren’t free at all. They’ve just exchanged Jim Crow for Johnson Pressley. Instead of being forced to sit at the back of the bus you would force them to sit at the back without realising that you are still telling them where to sit against there will.\n\nGive it a rest Buddy. Give your Brothers and Sisters the benefit of making their own decisions about how they live their lives.  I agree there are a lot of things stacked against black people in America, but people are free to fight against them if they wish. The point being that they have to wish to do so. You telling black men they have to fight those things even when they clearly don’t want to is simply racism directed at blacks by blacks. If anything that is worse than racism coming form whites. AT least when it was the whites the enemy was outside.
368317
people dont know whats politically correct anymore.... they are trying not to affend.... when they really are...
432830
im not racist either but i understand the black people concern, all the ones i have seen have 15 kids a brand new car and livin off the government, im sorry it dont work like that, get off your ass and get a job, like the rest of us, i better stop before i get on my soap box big time
859895
There's a book entitled, "Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria and other questions on Race" by Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum that addresses this question from a sociological and psycological point of view. It's a good read. \n\nI can tell you why I feel comfortable gravitating towards black, at least at first. One thing we (fellow black people) automatically have in common is our personal experience. The biggest group of people still affected by hate crimes, according to the FBI, is black people. Another thing is that I get tired of questions. I understand that people are curious about black people, but sometimes I don't want to explain the history of why some black people are sensitive about hair, or why we are "allowed" to say the n-word and they are not.\n\nAlso, I'm a person in a subculture where most of my friends are white just because there aren't many black people involved in the culture in one area. It gets lonely sometimes. \n\nI do think black people need to branch out more but there are legitimate reasons for why they "segregate" themselves. Also, why not try to talk to some of these black people one on one? Often, black people will let you in if you interact with them individually.
846575
Black people feel that because their ancestors were the victims of slavery & oppression, they have the right to complain about what white people do. I feel sorry for the whites today that have to constantly watch what they say around us. It causes white people to act more hostile towards blacks. I think black people need to have a sense of humor & stop gettting offended when whites open their mouth to say something...life is just too short to harbor any resentments.
872964
I gather you're also in the comedy business. Or at least in some profession that creates fantasies. There is no doubt in my mind that anti-black racism is huge problem in much of American society. You might be surprised to hear that your kind of position on it was fairly common even when there was active segregation and Jim Crow laws. Nobody seemed to be racist then either. Some just thought Martin Luther King was "moving too fast," or that "left-wing" agitators were "causing all the problems," and yet others were "sure" that blacks by and large were happy with their situation - and that "equal but separate didn't mean racism at all." \n\nI've worked for some of the most prestigious U.S. corporations, and I can guarantee you that racism is practiced in a myriad of subtle and not-so subtle ways. I have also watched as "white flight" changes the demographics (and value) of huge areas overnight. And that just covers jobs and housing.\n\nYes, progress has been made, very often against violent, even murderous resistance. But to say it's not there is self-serving wishful thinking. It's easy to point to the shrill nonsense of idiotic poverty-pimps and say, "See. They're just whiners and defenders of criminals!" etc. But when you do the research you will find the problem almost anywhere you care to look.
160033
Where do you live now?  I mean, I have lived in several places on the east coast, and the south, as well as visited several cities between the east coast and going out as far as Texas, and I have not noticed it to be true.\n\nI personally never grew up noticing or noting differences in lighter skinned and darker skinned Black people.  I guess because, as a child, my mother never pointed it out to me. I think that when you are young, if someone points it out to you, then you grow up being more cognizant of it.  (And I grew up in the SOUTH).\n\nMaybe, for those lighter-skinned Black people that you feel act that way, they feel they have something to prove.  Black people's self-image, regardless of their complexion, cause them to act in whatever way they feel they have to prove they are "Black enough" or "acceptable enough" in diverse setting (meaning when they are not just among other Black people).\n\nWe, meaning Black people, just need to be ourselves, which is really dictated by what part of the country we grew up, and not try to please or appease someone else.\n\n(just my opinion)\n\nLM
575205
I couldn't agree more. Black people realize this too. But most will simply say you are ignorant for noticing what needs to be noticed, so that blacks have some motivation not to slip into the "N" category.
1108923
Do you mean blacks in America, or Europe, or Africa?  Not trying to be inflammatory, just a question.  Because each group has a different perspective.\n\nI'm white, so I'd admit that I don't have the same perspective as you, but I'll try to answer as an American.\n\nFor a long time, blacks lived with the stigma of slavery and inferior status, which was thrust upon them upon a racist society.  Recently, not soon enough, they have realized that are not inferior and been proud of their heritage.  It is certainty an atrocity the method of arrival to America that blacks endured, which white Americans can not apologize enough for, but many blacks have learned to take advantage.  So now more and more black people are taking advantage of the opportunities afforded them as Americans.  The problem still remains that some blacks still view themselves in a slave mentality that makes them dependent on white society.  What they should do is view themselves as part of the larger American society, that now for the most part views racism and discrimination as a shameful chapter in America.  Sure there are still backwater bigots out there, but for the most part they are no longer in position to discriminate.  They just have their primitive ideas, what are no longer the normative viewpoint.\n\nI'm sure I'm oversimplifying black culture and views in America, but I still believe that there are wonderful opportunities in America that aren't available elsewhere.
916634
Yes, there maybe some issues here but alot of what you have said is true.  Why there is not an an admission of this is unknown to me....I think that in this era people are uncertain of thinking this way since the desegragation and the ongoing violence that race still provokes(Rodney King for ex.).  People that remember this violent time in our county (1960's) do not want it to be repeated and those that have mearly learned about it have been conditioned to ignore the white issues surrounding blacks because it has become "politically incorrect".  There is a seemingly new race "war" brewing...Black's vs. Mexicans.  Now that is ALL our great nation needs..............
776755
Yes its a big fear and a legitimate one. The changing in any way our ability to communicate and/or speak freely our opinions is way overboard and needs to be curbed. Of course this isnt the America I grew up with either, it used to be said that you could talk about anything as long as you didnt do it. Now thats not true at all. We cant speak plainly anymore everything has to be polically correct and phrased just right to not injure the delicate feelings of some person miles away. When I was a child we called it like it was and if some people were classified as something it wasnt because of their color for many people of color were respected members of society in farm land. We didnt have to wonder about the quality of a man we knew who he was by his actions and by his manners.  Gingrich has his own agenda Im not real sure what it is yet but its there and will come out in the wash so to speak.
433184
Interesting you ask about a simplifying America. I think we are becoming so PC America is becoming more complicated. Somehow we've fallen into an everyone must feel good all the time society. We try to please everybody. When you try to please one group someone else/group is offended or disgruntled. In the end we have ridiculous lawsuits, laws court rulings, etc... And for most of us who don't care or don't want to hear about it... we just say look, suck it up. \nComedians poke fun all the time. Racial, femenist, sexual innuendos and so on....they are hilarious because some Americans are so up-tight about everything. A lot of times it is not only the joke that's funny, but the thought that you know someone is going to be jabbed at in a usually tasteful way. Relax, YOU WILL BE OFFENDED at some point in your life. It happens who cares. Everyone gets a turn.  \nMaybe, deal with it right there, don't you dare become a victim and wallow in self pity. No matter who or where in America you are, you have at minimum, the ability to voice your complaint. In other words simplify your situation at hand. But for the sake of sanity, DO NOT INVOLVE THE GOVERNMENT~!!!\nI think America needs to become more simplified. Not obvious, plain and clear disrespect for each other, but a little less PC and MUCH MUCH LESS from the ACLU...would go a long way in the simplification of life. \nI know I know, there are a million other factors that affect this issue, but you know, a lot of those can be dealt with by common sense.
962503
Honestly? I don't think our society (if you mean American society) has ever become sensitive to police brutality against young black men. Or black males of any age. \n\nHowever, it may seem like there has been a sudden shift in occurances of police brutatlity because they (police force) are getting worse in their out-of-control behaviour and actions. The cases of needless deaths of non-violent victims are occuring almost on a daily basis. It is dawning on people how corrupt the department, as a whole, has become. Officers shoot unresisting, unarmed men in the back now and it's outrageous and WRONG.\nIt is white and black men, white and black females.\n\nIt's disturbing. And it's scary. They're getting away with it, and being paid to do it. As a citizen of the general public, you don't even have to make 'a wrong move' to get shot to death today.\n\nAn 18 year old drunken boy was staggering to his own front door to get away from a frightening police squad and they shot him in the back 3 times because .... because why?\nHe was incoherently drunk, young, disoriented, scared and trying to get away from being pelted with beanbags. They had no provocation to shoot him but they did.\nHe was a white male.\n\nIn my opinion, it's not about race anymore (though for some officers it certainly is). For ALL police officers, it's about power now. If you do not surrender yourself completely to a police officer and show to them you are at their mercy, they will do whatever they have to, whatever they want to MAKE YOU. When their lights turn on, your rights are turned off.\n\nEver read the side of their vehicle?\nTo Protect and Serve. \nBut it isn't to protect and serve us. lol\nIt is to protect and serve themselves. \nWho are they?\nThey're employed by government.\nAnd that's exactly who they're going to protect. \nThey are merely an end result of our own government - which, clearly, is out of control and frankly, not at all ours anymore.
674131
Read this site and the various questions on it. Look at how people spend their time and their mental energy....\n\nPeople are too self-absorbed to care about unknown people in some faraway land. The American Dream has become the American Nightmare, with morals at an all-time low. Citizens are raped, murdered and assualted for no reason other than fun! Why should they care about privacy of others, when they dont care about their lives? The American people have become so absorbed in their rights, that they have forgotten about the rights of others.
370088
first let me tell you that alot of blacks are scared of black people too...it's not a bad thing like you think the only thing that you need to do is stop listening to all the negative things those around you have to say and take the time to get to know some black people...just a few at a time in a mixed crowd...before to long you'll begin to realize that we are people just like you, and just like all races, there are good ones and there are bad ones...just give me a holla if you ever have any more questions...
443638
I think blacks(African Americans) feel comfortable in using the word,because they have adapted an separate meaning from the word's original intent, but get mad when other races use it because it was used as an insult to our race for so long! But to be honest, some black people are offended when they word is used so carelessly and freely by other blacks, because it was a word to express the ultimate disgust and disrespect for a race that whites did not even consider human...we were considered 3/5 of a person!!! So actually, NONE of us should use "their" (not their meaning white people, but their meaning RACIST people) term of disrespect for us as a term of "brotherhood"...but it happens.  I don't know why its so comfortable for it to just slip out of our mouths!!! But when I think about how painful it must have been for our ancestors to be disrespected in such a way, it always makes me think more conciously about what come out of my mouth and not use the word freely as a slang term.\n\nBTW...I like your question because you were not a smart azz in asking it!!! And its something that Black people definitely should think about!!!
264727
Yes, it seems that most Americans have forgotten the attacks on our nation, and the thousands who have died. It seems  most are willing to let  Islam take control of Ameerica. Almost no one is worried that iran will have nukes, and will be able to launch an attack on a Major American city.  It seems that all these people have become liberals who worry about the rights of criminals and aliens, than our own rights.  It seems that we have put restrictions of  Freedom of the Press and Free Speech when  they call for punishng  cartoonists who draw satiric pictures of   Mohammad. yet, it is ok to draw satiric pictures of Jesus.   Yes, most of us have forgotten, and do not care anymore. The thousands who died in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pensylvania are gone, and no one cares anymore.