Denise_White's Blog

Denise, it is natural for people to seek out the familiar, to try to find people like themselves for the sake of feeling as if they belong to a group.

There are others of us who enjoy meeting new people, making new friends, and don't take notice of ethnic, political or racial differences.

But segregation simply cuts people off from seeing other folks that could become friends. That's one of my peeves, as I believe a lot of the trouble and strife in the world is cause by people irrationally hating those who are somehow different from them.

People DO congregate with others of similar interest, motivations, gosls and especially a common HISTORY and it isn’t ALWAYS because of race alone..We see evidence of this when women congretgate, or men, or people who share a common language..For a LONG time you had BOTH a Chinese AND and Japanese district in San Francisco....We see it NOW for POLITICAL reasons as well..The Irish did it,,so did the Italians and the Germans and the Poles…We see it for religious reasons.. The Baptists do it and so do adheerents of all the OTHER religions..The Muslims, Catholics, Jews and yes ..EVEN the Atheists do it..Often we see, particularly in large cities, whole sections that are Identified by the group that is predominant there..
These Isolated “Cultural” enclaves weren’t ALWAYS a matter of forced segregation either..Often the people did these things “voluntarily”..
Now..ONE could make the argument that opportunity and availability played a tremendous role in this phenomenon and as such Discrimination , and NOT a Voluntarilly choice might have played a greater role here AND there would be a degree of validity TO that argument..On the Other hand,,WE see a resurgence of the isolationism mentality expressed in the desires to PRESERVE a given Cultural heritage..In the past such mentalities were immediately identified as “Supremacy” movements but NOW we see them in the form of Hyphenated Designations..
The point is that WE,, as a people AND a Culture, have come to accept a certain diversity AND a certain KIND of Discrimmination as a valid recognition of a particular Cultural Heritage. We

Segregation in neighborhoods was self imposed by immigrants who didn't speak English. They grouped together so they could get by. Same thing is happening today but not nearly as much; and that's good.

I always list my race as "Human". If you can do the same, that's good enough for me.

Nowadays we have African Americans, Asia Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans. If we could get away with it, the next would be European Americans. It sounds like an oxymoron to me. You are either African or American, Asian or American, Hispanic or American, etc... It's the labelling that calls attention to the fact of distinguishing a difference and invites segregation.
What's so wrong with being an American? Shouldn't we be proud of who we are as a nation and quit throwing in reasons that divide us into smaller nations on one land?

And generally speaking, most mutts are lovable!

If we can learn AS A GROUP to see one another as HUMAN BEINGS first, respecting one another as we OURSELVES wish to be respected, THEN and only then can we truly appreciate the value of the very things that make us all differant.

I'm with Whoopie Goldberg. She has a problem with the term "African American" and refuses to describe herself as such. She calls herself an "American". Well done. We don't need sub classes.

I am a white mutt American and I don't care if someone wants to label me! I like everyone, and the ones that don't like me, oh well, they are the easiest to kill with kindness. There is too much hate, we should all come together and celebrate! Celebrate, life, damn I am so glad I have it!

First and foremost in my mind is that opportunity must be there for any and all Americans. Choice is something everyone of us do almost unconsciously every day e.g., clothes, vehicles, foods, sports, et al. Sadly, the stigma of "race" has become part and parcel of the term "discrimination" but rather than go into semantics, suffice to say life is an ongoing series of choices. Some will make good choices, others not so good. Race has no bearing on the individual choices made, so take every individual at "face value" and leave prejudice to the less fortunate, imcomplete souls.

I remember public school too. The constant racial harrassment against me and my friends. The shake-downs for lunch money, the degradation, the threats, being beat up by 4 or more people just because I was alone...all of this because I am Caucasian/white. It was tough growing up in a non-segregated school.

I too found myself in situations where I was bullied in school and THEY were ALL Caucasion..
I Learned to DEAL with that in time and came away with the knowledge that scratch a bully, whatever the color of their skin, and you'll find a YELLOW BELLIED COWARD..

It is NOT the color of their skin that WE should oppose,,it is the ACTIONS that they employ..