Okay, I'll go first. 

1.  I first became aware of race when...

 I come from a very white bread, small town in Ohio where there were only white people.  My mom is white and my dad was Mexican but he was light skinned and green eyed so he reallyd didn't look obviously Mexican and I don't look Mexican.  My first memory about race is when we went shopping in another town and I saw my first real live black person before I had only seen them on TV so I thought all black people were famous.  I would point at them and go..."look like George Jefferson". 

2.  Do you believe your race is superior or inferior to other races, feel free to elaborate. 

Honestly after some encounters, I do.  I hate to be that way and I want to think that I don't judge people by their race.  If I'm being honest, I will admit that there are times when I feel other races are inferior.   Okay, I won't say inferior just different.  It annoys me when people act like because of their race that they are all in the same club and other races are excluded. 

3.  Is a color blind society possible or a worthy goal?

I think everyone should have equal opportunity regardless of their race.  I don't think people should have to lose their racial identity in order to in order to transcend race though.  ~That was a good bs answer.  I think I may have to become a politician - lol. 

4.  Have you ever felt that you were a victim of racism?

Yes, when I was in high school I had a manager cut my hours down to nothing and make me get a state id to prove my citizenship to keep my job even though I had already provided a social security card and birth certificate.  He told me that those didn't qualify because they didn't show my picture, even though they were the same documents I had to take in to get a state id.  Other workers did not have to do this and I think it was because of my Mexican last name.  Not a horribly egregious example but it is what it is.   

5.  If someone makes a racist statement, do you speak up or ignore it? 

I probably should speak up more often than I do.  I have to admit that I am more likely to speak up when someone is denigrating Mexicans than another race. 

1.  Hmm, I don't really remember.  Probably on TV...seeing as how it's pretty damned white where I'm from.  I never thought much of it, though.  Not like I was amazed or surprised.

2. Nope.  I've met people from all colors and creeds that were jackasses...also met some good people.  Being a douche knows no color.

3. "Color blind" is not possible and it never will be...for the sole fact that people can see.  We will recognize different races,  However, I believe that it should have nothing to do with how people are treated by society.  Should we tolerate each other and treat others as human beings? Yes.  Should we throw away the cultural identity behind ethnicities?  Most certainly not.

4. Nope.  Never oppressed anyone either.

5. Depends on the context.  I won't get upset because people say a word...but if they're actively being shitheads to someone...well, I don't take kindly to that behavior.

The word "race" carries little meaning for me.  It's just a made up term based on looks.  Ethnicity is more accurate because it actually gives a clue as to who a person is rather than their color.  Ehh...but that's a discussion for another day.

~Zoo 

1. I first became aware of race when... - I had an adopted Great Aunt who was Aboriginal and as a young child also had an Islander lady who used to look after my brother and I, kind of like an au pair except she didn't live permanently with us.

2. Do you believe your race is superior or inferior to other races, feel free to elaborate. - not in the slightest.  Culturally, I think the white 'race' has become diluted while others have rich and proud traditions that we could learn from.

3. Is a color blind society possible or a worthy goal? - I think it is worthy but generally held back by ignorance and narrow mindedness from all quarters.  Societal committment should not mean abandoning ones cultural roots but so often this is seen as the only way for intergration to occur.

4. Have you ever felt that you were a victim of racism? - Having lived in a foreign country as a child, I know what it feels like to be a minority although I don't recall actual incidents of racism directed at me.

5. If someone makes a racist statement, do you speak up or ignore it? - These days, I do.  I have family and friends who are conservative in their views of other races and cultures.  While I'm not provocative, I usually let them know I don't want to hear their sorts of opinions when in my company.  When I was younger and particularly while I was in the military, I simply bit my tongue and let things slide.

1. Well, I guess it was when my little sister was adopted.  I have a funny family.  My parents had two sons, both white white white.  Then they adopted me, I'm from South America.  Finally, when I was four, they adopted an adorable little biracial girl.  My lil' sis.  Our family photos are AWESOME!

2. Nope.  Not at all.  Especially because I'm kind of a bizarre amalgamation (sp) of several...

3. I think it would be awesome, but not possible.  People can see, like Zoo said, and there's no changing that.  But people shouldn't be defined by their race, either.

4. Not really, I look pretty white, because I don't go outside.  But people have mentioned/asked about my race before...

5.  I'm kind of too vocal, so...yup.

That is the correct spelling.

~Zoo

 

[quote]1. I first became aware of race when...
I think I've always been aware of it. I couldn't pin it down to a year - I've always been around people from different backgrounds.

2. Do you believe your race is superior or inferior to other races, feel free to elaborate.
Biologically - as a white man in Australia, I am utterly unsuited to the environment. Life would be much easier as an Asian, aborigine or African, because at least then I wouldn't get sunburnt so often.
Culturally - in some ways my culture's better - I have more personal freedoms than exist for many other ethnicities, but in other ways it's not - anglos often have less meaningful relationships.

<3. Is a color blind society possible or a worthy goal?
It's possible - you just have to mix up the tribes enough that there's other, easier ways of distinguishing them from us.

4. Have you ever felt that you were a victim of racism?
Sure. In Indonesia I would be treated much better than a local ever would be, both by local government and many people on the street. It was irritating and excessive at times.

5. If someone makes a racist statement, do you speak up or ignore it?
Depends. If it was ironic, it would be funny. But if they meant it, I'd probably speak up, although it would depend on their age. What I would tolerate from an old man or woman is different to what I'd put up with from someone around my age.

When I was a kid growing up in Berlin. We had American soldiers who were black and they spoke English. When I was very small I thought blacks were English.

I believe cultures can be superior to other cultures. But "race" as in "skin colour" carries no such possibility (unless we are talking about colour requirements, like "more difficult to spot in the dark").

An attempt to achieve such a society by taking skin colour into account in any way defeats itself.

A "colour blind society" is as worthy a goal as a society that doesn't care about hair colour or eye colour when judging an individual's character.

Yes.

Somebody fired rockets at my university because the students were Jewish.

It depends.

Where I live most of such statemens are meant as jokes. I laugh in most cases and speak up when I feel that the statements might have real-life consequences because some people actually believe the crap.

For example "all Englishmen look like ET" is funny and no Englishman has ever been harmed because some idiot thought that Englishmen look like ET.

But "all Gypsies are dirty" is not funny and many Roma have been discriminated against or even killed because bigots believe in such statements.

I found that it is most often politically correct liberals who don't understand that difference.

 

"Colour blind" is a metaphor for not taking into account skin colour (or race) when judging a person. It has nothing to do with being able to see, it is about being able to sort what one sees into relevant and irrelevant details.

 

True...but it's completely impossible to ignore color(nor should you, that's like pretending a piece of someone doesn't exist).  Whether or not you can change people's negative reaction to it remains to be seen.  I support the idea of a perfectly equal society...but I have doubts of it happening any time soon.  My point is "race" will always be noticed, but hopefully we can get to a point where it doesn't play an integral part into how people treat one another.

The metaphor isn't lost on me, but I like to take things literally in addition to it.

~Zoo

1. I grew up in Navy housing and was aware of different races from earliest memory.

2. Superiority based on what? Athleticizm? Historical significance? Length of Achilles tendon? Lung capacity? I know too much about myself to feel superior to anyone.

3. No and No. Zoo gots it right. Skin color is a part of a person just like any other attribute. Living in harmony doesn't require ignorance, it requires harmony in spite of differences.

4. You mean other than those few times little brown people were trying to kill me? I spent part of my high school years in Hawaii. It was the most racist place I have ever lived. Haoles are a minority there.

5. I wish I could say "Hell yeah, every time !" The best I can come up with is, "Hell, Yeah...sometimes". It is situational more than moral...I have an aversion to gettin my butt whipped...so I pick my responsed accordingly.

Thanks for pickin up the slack, Mama, I miss the "Fives", too.

I can attest to that.

 

This one nigger was kicking my ass for smiling on a sunny day.  I'M KIDDING.  LEVITY...don't hang me.

 

In all seriousness, my parents always taught me to treat individuals as just that.  No one was guilty by association with anything.

 

 

I'm absolutely sure beyond any doubt that my race, the human race, is inferior to just about everything due to a genetic predisposition to claim superiority based on ability to make Swanson's Frozen Dinners.  Were we to ever realize that opposable thumbs do not grant intelligence, I might change my outlook.

 

 

I'll assume you mean a society that ignores what color someone is.  I guess it's worthy, but hardly a fix-all.

 

 

Yes.  I lived as a white person in New Orleans for a while.

 

 

Not really.  Nor do I argue that the sky is blue when someone tells me it's red.  Being racist requires having a brain that doesn't do logic well (at all).  My speaking up to someone like that would be akin to beating my head against a wall.  I'd be more likely to tell the person receiving whatever was said (if he or she looked hurt or offended) "Don't listen to him...he's clearly a moron."  Maybe that counts as speaking up.

 

My dad beat my ass for dancing with a black boy at some pre-teen dance party at the AYA (American Youth Association) in Augsburg, W. Germany.  My brother, who was working the snack bar that night, told on me.

Caucasians account for less than 6% of the global population.  Everywhere we've set foot, we've ruled.  I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

It's not possible unless we all go blind.  And l don't see it as a particularly worthy goal, either.  Diversity means different.  How can we 'celebrate diversity' while simultaneously pretending these differences don't exist?

Many times, since (in my adult life) I have often lived in predominantly black communities.  That's ok, though, I've been the perpetrator as often as I've been the victim, so it all evens out.

I speak up, trying to top it.

 

 

 

There's a reason for that...and it kind of started with Vikings. Europe sucked for natural resources after the population got too big. So they started inventing things, like boats and weapons and stuff like that. Then they went around taking stuff and killing people(with weapons and disease). So...basically lack of resources and human ingenuity forced them to come up with new things in order to survive. Sailing around and killing people with crappier weapons than you was a pretty good way to get what you need.

Superiority? Nah...just access to better technology. It could've happened anywhere, it just seems Europe got lucky(unlucky) by having to invent something or collapsing. Thus setting the precendence for racism through the rest of time.

~Zoo

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1. I first became aware of race when...

I grew up in a small factory town where there was a lot of racism by both whites and blacks. It seemed like every time I'd walk by a group of black people, they'd call me "white boy" along with some derogatory statement.

2. Do you believe your race is superior or inferior to other races, feel free to elaborate.

Yes. Since I am a member of my race, that automatically makes us superior.

<3. Is a color blind society possible or a worthy goal?

No. I am already color blind and it makes it difficult to shop for clothing or do electrical work when the wires are color coded.

4. Have you ever felt that you were a victim of racism?

Yes, but it didn't bother me since it's common knowledge that my race is superior.

Just kidding. I've experienced prejudice against me because I'm Jewish.

5. If someone makes a racist statement, do you speak up or ignore it?

It depends.