Racism is alive and well . . . we can pretend all we want but there are millions who still deeply regard themselves as superior to those of a different skin hue.

I was reading comments on a the latest Obama speech on the washington wire a couple of minutes ago and it opened my eyes to a clear fact . . . white americans needed the perfect excuse not to vote for Obama while trying to appear non-racist . . . Rev Wright gave them one.

I've seen black people on this thread make derogatory remarks about others whom they percieve as "too dark" and i wonder . . . we even hate our own color too? 

This thread isnt anything to do with Obama's candidacy . . . but i ask candidly - is race still a major factor in our daily lives?
I listened to Michelle Obama and Rev Wright and what i see are people speaking out against an institutionalised form of injustice that a lot of people would prefer to sweep under the carpet.

Ferraro accused Obama of going this far because of his color, i put it to you that Clinton has survived this far simply becaue of her skin color.

When will our generation overcome the cancer of RACISM?

Sorry Sir

But till Jesus comes, racism will still be alive and kicking

We humans thrive on segregationalism.

We segregate from the littlest things to big issues like the race matter.

It cannot go away

Why not focus the same attention on those who vote for solely on race as well?? I mean why demonize those who vote against him cause of his race but somehow to address those who vote for him cause of his race, which I imagine are of the same ratio

Was ferraro necessarily trying to be racist?? I don't think she was actually. Her questions are valid questions and straight forward. I believe it was meant to make people think more about what we are dealing with here and not supposed to be used the way it was. If you ask me, I would say we have a lot of over sensitive people on both sides who jump at any opportunity they can to play the race card. The media seems to be enjoying this the most.

As for racism ever going away, I think that will almost be on same level as asking us to do away with our sense of self. I don't believe we will ever get to that point. I mean even in the animal kingdom, with our supposed ancestors the gorilla, some form of racism does exists and they have been around longer than we have. I believe we need to deal better with understanding the need for people to be racist and accept and respect that need even as we protect ourselves from it anyway we can.

Racism, religion, tribalism etc are things we can not wish away
In most cases there are no rational reasons for them

Kobojunkie:

Why not focus the same attention on those who vote for solely on race as well?? I mean why demonize those who vote against him cause of his race but somehow to address those who vote for him cause of his race, which I imagine are of the same ratio

Far be it from me, i'm not demonizing anyone. I was not impressed when Obama won in SC, Bill Clinton was right to declare it wasnt really a test as the voters were largely black. Its sad that in the yr 2008 we still havent gotten past the issue of skin color.

Kobojunkie:

Was ferraro necessarily trying to be racist?? I don't think she was actually. Her questions are valid questions and straight forward. I believe it was meant to make people think more about what we are dealing with here and not supposed to be used the way it was. If you ask me, I would say we have a lot of over sensitive people on both sides who jump at any opportunity they can to play the race card. The media seems to be enjoying this the most.

I am in no way blaming Ferraro for her words. She has a right to her opinion and infact i do agree that she was asking a very valid question . . .

Kobojunkie:

As for racism ever going away, I think that will almost be on same level as asking us to do away with our sense of self. I don't believe we will ever get to that point. I mean even in the animal kingdom, with our supposed ancestors the gorilla, some form of racism does exists and they have been around longer than we have. I believe we need to deal better with understanding the need for people to be racist and accept and respect that need even as we protect ourselves from it anyway we can.

Isnt this a sad commentary on the human race? Even among ourselves some still look down on others for being born on the wrong tribe.

4Him:

Far be it from me, i'm not demonizing anyone. I was not impressed when Obama won in SC, Bill Clinton was right to declare it wasnt really a test as the voters were largely black. Its sad that in the yr 2008 we still havent gotten past the issue of skin color.

I am in no way blaming Ferraro for her words. She has a right to her opinion and infact i do agree that she was asking a very valid question . . .

Isnt this a sad commentary on the human race? Even among ourselves some still look down on others for being born on the wrong tribe.

But how do you conclude that it is a sad commentary on the human race when it could be potentially part of what makes us human in the first place. Bear with me here as I would like for you to maybe consider it from another aspect. From day we are born to the day we die, we continually try to carve out a place for ourselve. Those who work hard to be exact clones of other people are considered insane and disfunctional but those of us who step out to be different, in good way mostly, are praised for standing out from the rest; the intellectual tries to make sure to be seen as intellectuals especially when in a crowd of idiots; the beautiful like to be seen as beautiful, even in a crowd of other beautiful people. Racism is a way of separating oneself from a group. Is it really evil to be that way?? even in a case were you are racist but do not speak much of it ?? Or is it an innate part of every human being, expressed in a different way

@post
you no know be4? do you not watch comedies of dark people talking about white people? like that movie "Beauty Saloon", sure they joke about it, but we all know that deep within, there lies a slithering snake: racism. when will we get over racism? when everyone is the same color.

i mean, how can dark people claim that the whites are racist, yet makes shows making fun of the white people? is that not speaking loud for itself?
my point is that, Blacks will never get over what their forefathers went through, how they were dragged from their home into slave ships. . .and Caucasians will never forget how their forefathers were forced to abolish slavery and live equally with their inferiors. . that's just the way it is. . .

however, what we can hope for is that history does not repeat itself. . maynot be directly the same step, may not be with chains and whips, it may emerge in a different form. .

As long as different races exist, there will ALWAYS be racism. I wish this were not the case, but that is the reality.

@ Kobo, i perfetly understand that prejudice is a part and parcel of the human make up . . . however you must understand that when some talk about racism it is connection with the fact that it connotes an inherent power to negatively influence or deny others certain basic rights based on the misplaced idea of racial superiority.

It is prejudice when you refuse to marry me because i'm yoruba . . . it becomes racism when you deny me my inalienable rights because i dont fit a certain stereotype.

As long as different races exist, there will ALWAYS be racism. I wish this were not the case, but that is the reality.

sorry for double post,

I had always cringed with the thot of the white man and the enslavement of blacks due to color until I joined Nairaland. It taught me one thing : Racism is not a preserve of the white man. It is just basal human nature to be like that be them white or black. We are all Nigerians but we are also fighting our own kind of discrimination in the name of tribalism and nepotism. I honestly think that if the tables were reversed and the black man's world was suddenly the most advanced and civilised the story would still remain the same. The only change would be the race which is at the recieving, in this case the white man.

Would the human race overcome racism? Maybe if ,
1) From an evolution point of view, that we evolved to a more higher and intelligent being that is somehow blind to aesthetics of the eyes but more perceptive to that of the mind. As far as Homo sapiens is concerned, a cute face is better than an ordinary face. Tall is fine but short is evil. Rich is good and You are damned if u are poor.As long as we are still operating with these kind of parameters ,then it would only be wishful thinking for racsim to go away.

2) From a religious point of view, the second coming of Christ ( or whoever You are waiting for)

4Him:

@ Kobo, i perfetly understand that prejudice is a part and parcel of the human make up . . . however you must understand that when some talk about racism it is connection with the fact that it connotes an inherent power to negatively influence or deny others certain basic rights based on the misplaced idea of racial superiority.

It is prejudice when you refuse to marry me because i'm yoruba . . . it becomes racism when you deny me my inalienable rights because i don't fit a certain stereotype.

It is also prejudice when a person is refuse marriage cause of his or her sex, age, status, tribe, religion ,  the list goes on. All these are some of the cases where one can be denied his inalienable right because he does not fit a certain stereotype. If you see, it seems to be a part of the thread called life or a part of the human way expressed in different ways.

Uche2nna:

I had always cringed with the thot of the white man and the enslavement of blacks due to color until I joined Nairaland. It taught me one thing : Racism is not a preserve of the white man. It is just basal human nature to be like that be them white or black. We are all Nigerians but we are also fighting our own kind of discrimination in the name of tribalism and nepotism. I honestly think that if the tables were reversed and the black man's world was suddenly the most advanced and civilised the story would still remain the same. The only change would be the race which is at the recieving, in this case the white man.

Same here. I remember a white colleague asking me what i thought about racism and i told him blacks were also racist . . . he was surprised.
I think the notion of racism connotes a form of power over the party on the recieving end . . .

I thinks its a little different from what kobojunkie is talking about. The fact that someone chooses not to marry u because u have a flat nose is not racism but simply excercising a power of choice. . . its different from telling me ii have to sit at the back of the bus because u happen to have lighter skin.

Is it really prejudice not to marry someone because they are Yoruba

That is free will and personal preference in my view. You have to do what best suits you and your mentality/cultural make up. In terms of getting a job, housing and other such things, then maybe you can regard it as prejudice/racism depending on the extent, but in issues such as marriage and friendships and the like. . .its a very fine line - people must still be allowed to make certain personal decisions based on their own preferences.

4Him:

Same here. I remember a white colleague asking me what i thought about racism and i told him blacks were also racist . . . he was surprised.
I think the notion of racism connotes a form of power over the party on the recieving end . . .

I thinks its a little different from what kobojunkie is talking about. The fact that someone chooses not to marry u because u have a flat nose is not racism but simply excercising a power of choice. . . its different from telling me ii have to sit at the back of the bus because u happen to have lighter skin.

But racism wielded that power back in those days cause people, even in government with that mentality felt it was ok to impose those sort of laws on the people they seemed to consider inferior to themselves. I mean you can accomplish almost exact same in most any country if you had power to do so. Look at saudi arabia today where it is another form of prejudice that seems to be the order of the day. That is simply what results when prejudice is mixed with power and it can come in all flavours.

Today there still exists people with the "back of the bus" mentality but rarely do they speak or try to impose their will on others cause they realize that they do not wield that kind of power.

@ kobo that's exactly my point.
If i refuse to marry a hausa woman AS A MATTER OF CHOICE that cannot be classified as racism.
It becomes racist when i pass a law prohibiting hausa's from having anything to do with other tribes.

It is not racism to insist that my wife must be educated is it?

4Him:

@ kobo that's exactly my point.
If i refuse to marry a hausa woman AS A MATTER OF CHOICE that cannot be classified as racism.
It becomes racist when i pass a law prohibiting hausa's from having anything to do with other tribes.

It is not racism to insist that my wife must be educated is it?

I am not in anyway refering only to racism in this case but all forms of prejudice. Racism is a form of prejudice and like any other form of predujice when power is added, it becomes a problem but left on it's own, it really should not be. Your example above corroborates this.

debosky:

Is it really prejudice not to marry someone because they are Yoruba

Definitely, not. It is preferences like u said and as long as it remains personal then it is all good, I guess. But the truth of the matter is that it does not always reamain personal. U make a personal decision, before long it becomes a family decision and gradually with time it becomes a societal decision. A personal preference that one made "I will never marry a flat nosed chick " now gradually becomes a decision of the whole community.
Hitler made a decision and soon it became the mission statement of the Nazi.

Kobojunkie:

I am not in anyway refering only to racism in this case but all forms of prejudice. Racism is a form of prejudice and like any other form of predujice when power is added, it becomes a problem but left on it's own, it really should not be. Your example above corroborates this.

You reserve the right to express your power of choice (prejudice) as long as it does not interfere with my own ability to make personal choices.
Racism is a form of prejudice - perfectly true but it is the power behind that prejudice that is the issue here.

4Him:

You reserve the right to express your power of choice (prejudice) as long as it does not interfere with my own ability to make personal choices.
Racism is a form of prejudice - perfectly true but it is the power behind that prejudice that is the issue here.

But the same power can be applied with any other form of prejudice. So in essence racism or any other form of prejudice is not the problem, right?? The problem would be according power to a form of prejudice. 

I can have a racist neighbour we live with no problem for 20 years and that is acceptable. But the minute the law of the land decides to give my friend power over me, then the problem is not that my neighbour is racist, cause he has been that way for the 20 years that I have known him but that the law of the land has given him power to exercise his will over me. That power only comes when the law of the land bends in favour of a certain form of prejudice, right

Kobojunkie:

But the same power can be applied with any other form of prejudice. So in essence racism or any other form of prejudice is not the problem, right?? The problem would be according power to a form of prejudice. I can have a racist neighbour we live with no problem for 20 years and that is acceptable. But the minute the law of the land decides to give my friend power over me, then the problem is not that my neighbour is racist, cause he has been that way for the 20 years that I have known him but that the law of the land has given him power to exercise his will over me. That power only comes when the law of the land bends in favour of a certain form of prejudice, right

Let me explain . . . assume you have a white neighbour who hates blacks . . . does he have a right to dislike the color of your skin? Absolutely . . . it his right under the 1st amendment to dislike a particular skin color of his choice.
As long as his prejudice does not in any shape or form affect your own existence you have no right to force him to change his views.
That is why the likes of David Duke are free to walk the streets and stormfront.org cannot be shut down by the government.

I reserve the right to distrust my hausa neighbour . . . what becomes unacceptable is when i attempt to deprive him of his own no rights through no fault of his but simply because of my own preconcieved stereotype.

To a certain extent prejudice is good.

4Him:

Let me explain . . . assume you have a white neighbour who hates blacks . . . does he have a right to dislike the color of your skin? Absolutely . . . it his right under the 1st amendment to dislike a particular skin color of his choice.
As long as his prejudice does not in any shape or form affect your own existence you have no right to force him to change his views.
That is why the likes of David Duke are free to walk the streets and stormfront.org cannot be shut down by the government.

I reserve the right to distrust my hausa neighbour . . . what becomes unacceptable is when i attempt to deprive him of his own no rights through no fault of his but simply because of my own preconcieved stereotype.

To a certain extent prejudice is good.

True. That is why I say Racism/tribalism/sexism is not an issue. We are all free to choose whichever one we want cause we are all covered under the law, however when a person decides to impose that on another, an act which is clearly against the law, then the other side has a right to fight back, backed by the law. So, the racist is ok with is issues, the sexist is ok with his issues, the tribalist is ok with his issues as long as as long as they respect the legal rights of the other party.

4Him:

Let me explain . . . assume you have a white neighbour who hates blacks . . . does he have a right to dislike the color of your skin? Absolutely . . . it his right under the 1st amendment to dislike a particular skin color of his choice.
As long as his prejudice does not in any shape or form affect your own existence you have no right to force him to change his views.
That is why the likes of David Duke are free to walk the streets and stormfront.org cannot be shut down by the government.

I reserve the right to distrust my hausa neighbour . . . what becomes unacceptable is when i attempt to deprive him of his own no rights through no fault of his but simply because of my own preconcieved stereotype.

To a certain extent prejudice is good.

LOL you kill me David, to a certain extent prejudice is good, kindly retract that statement

Josboy . . . it is a form of prejudice when you make a conscious choice to marry only from a certain tribe, or a certain height of women or a certain shade of color . . .
To that extent prejudice is good.

Kobojunkie:

True. That is why I say Racism/tribalism/sexism is not an issue. We are all free to choose whichever one we want cause we are all covered under the law, however when a person decides to impose that on another, an act which is clearly against the law, then the other side has a right to fight back, backed by the law. So, the racist is ok with is issues, the sexist is ok with his issues, the tribalist is ok with his issues as long as as long as they respect the legal rights of the other party.

And look at the man that wants to hold Dangote to a high moral ground
Defending this utter nonsense

4Him:

Josboy . . . it is a form of prejudice when you make a conscious choice to marry only from a certain tribe, or a certain height of women or a certain shade of color . . .
To that extent prejudice is good.

When you limit yourself to anything, and I mean anything in life for sake of convenience that is not good. We all have prejudice beliefs but that in no way shape or form makes them right. That is mans imperfection.

JosBoy4Lif:

When you limit yourself to anything, and I mean anything in life for sake of convenience that is not good. We all have prejudice beliefs but that in no way shape or form makes them right. That is mans imperfection.

Prove it is just man's imperfection at play here.


Prejudice : A forejudgment; bias; partiality; preconceived opinion. A leaning toward one side of a cause for some reason other than a conviction of its justice.


In  the animal kingdom, we observe that some form of prejudice exists that animals use in selection of prey, partner, home etc. In Religion, we observe that God gives to some what he does not give to others cause He being wiser knows who can handle what better than the other can. I may not necessarily use the word prejudice when I am speaking of God here ( since I happen to be a religious person myself, considering the idea some have when it comes to the definition of the word) but I am sure you can easily get the idea here. I am certain it is clear nature itself seems to have some prejudice ( unless I need to go deeper to explain this). So why attribute this to man alone?

Racism only started when Caucasians became the leaders of the world. Prior to that, men respected the fact that they had different colours. Racism is simply a white invention.

Anyway, racism will always exist until Africa is respected for her achievements.

Ibime:

Racism only started when Caucasians became the leaders of the world. Prior to that, men respected the fact that they had different colours. Racism is simply a white invention.

Anyway, racism will always exist until Africa is respected for her achievements.

how reductionist and naively simplistic can you get?

Did the 'Caucasians' (depending on what you mean by that word) tell the Arabs to enslave black Africans way before the European slave trade began?

Did the 'Caucasians' lead Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan on their missions to enslave and subjugate sub-continents?

Human beings have always been scared of what they do not understand/fully comprehend, and man's base instinct is to take advantage of someone else because they are different. Blacks have not done any better - even amongst fellow Blacks! the genocides and so on are enough examples of that.

Would the perfect man and women in the biblical sense have had a prejudice on anything? NO
A bias against anything therefore is not warranted unless you can utterly prove that their is underlying difference.

If for example I prefer Honda over Toyota because Honda has better engines does that mean I am prejudice no.
But if I limit myself to marrying from a tribe or girls that are certain colour that is prejudice for no good reason except for preference that is not right.

Where do we learn that we belong to this group and should only associate ourselves with this ethnicity?
We are tought it by different levels of society. No one is born a racist, tribalist or prejudiced

JosBoy4Lif:

Would the perfect man and women in the biblical sense have had a prejudice on anything? NO
A bias against anything therefore is not warranted unless you can utterly prove that their is underlying difference.

If for example I prefer Honda over Toyota because Honda has better engines does that mean I am prejudice no.
But if I limit myself to marrying from a tribe or girls that are certain colour that is prejudice for no good reason except for preference that is not right.

Where do we learn that we belong to this group and should only associate ourselves with this ethnicity?
We are tought it by different levels of society. No one is born a racist, tribalist or prejudiced

YES,  How did I come to that conclusion?? Cause Adam (who I suspect you are referring to in this case) did not know the animals as he knew himself, he knew them as being below him and so this could be reason why he did not call them all man but made up other names for them. Even the woman he did not call man, but Wo-man, indicating she came OUT OF HIM.LMAO!!!

No one is born racist/tribalist or prejudiced I am not sure of that one.