Racists are stupid... and not for obvious reasons!

[Adam West]

At college a guy I knew taught me that black and African American are not synonomous. He was described as African American while he was in the room and he blew up about how his family were native Australians. Meanwhile my cousin who is 4th generation South African was roundly screamed at by a government worker because she filled out her paperwork for college as African American and the worker said white South Africans don't count.

I have never seen a government form with the term African American used. Whenever the question of race is asked, I see Caucasion, Black, etc.

[jimsmegos]

The sad part in my personal opinion is that we still have a need for the hyphens. I like most others would simply prefer that everyone just be an American if you were born inside of these fifty states. However just this week my producer came across one of the most horrifying examples of racism that I have seen in a very long time. The worst part is that it comes from right here in Harrison, AR.

Long story short the guy who is the leader of the Klan in the state happens to live just outside of town. Now he has a 8 or 9 year old kid doing video clips on youtube spouting white supremacist crap in the form of "reviews for kids". I won't justify it by giving the name of the little Hitler or links to this obvious child abuse. It truly chills me to the bone that these people are able to do these sorts of things under the umbrella of the first amendment. Sweet Lord this stuff ****es me off.

On a side note; I met that fellow at a gas station for the first time 10 years ago when I first moved to the area. He was wearing what looked like a cross between an EMT uniform and a boys scout uniform. He wanted to introduce himself to me and ask me if I would like to join their little band of merry gestapo. At this point I informed the prick that my mother was black (not true but you see where I'm going) and told him to F himself and try spreading that white supremacist crap in Southwest Little Rock. I followed that statement up with one more descriptive adjective pointed directly in his direction. I won't say the word here among friends but just now it was a five letter word that was an absolute challenge to his bravado and manhood. Mind you I was 26 years old and much more of a hot head than I am today but in this case I'd still slap the taste out of his mouth.

To not like a particular individual is fine, but base that judgment on the persons actions and attitude not by their race, color, creed or sex. And when it comes to people ( I use the term loosely in this case) like the aforementioned truck head, brain washing a kid to believe this idiotic hate laced bull spit, makes me furious. That same statement can be applied to any and every extremist type from any group.

Forgive me for saying this but I just got riled up thinking about it. I hope the ******* gets hit by a big MULTI COLORED bus.

[Brazoo]

You are completely right, and I've no doubt caused a great deal of thread drift by trying to bridge the ideas expressed while setting up my own soapbox.

No - you're a voice of reason here. I think if anything I'm just taking this thing too far because I'm genuinely confused - and I'm not very good at leaving things at that. Sometimes I have to just leave things with the idea that people think differently and move on.

Anyway, life would be pretty dull if we all thought the same.

It helps to know that we're both speaking as fellas with a personal stake in multicultural relations! (as I keep reminding myself regarding the forthcoming onslaught of my extended in-laws starting tomorrow... Irish and Quebecois are a volatile mix)

Yeah, that's true - this idea of multiculturalism isn't just rhetoric or a catch phrase for us. Luckily half of my family doesn't even celebrate Christmas, so I'm not yanked every-which-way this time of year! Good luck with tomorrow and have a great time!

[Adam West]

I have a question and I'm only asking because I'm curious. If you are filling out a form that requires you to put check mark by your race and let's say one parent is caucasion and the other is black, hispanic, etc. what do you check?

[DocDrako]

This whole question of race bothered me so much in the 80's that I just started telling people I'm from another planet. Jupiter in fact. I have ties to German, Irish, and Native American people, but for the most part my heritage is German. Trying to be proud of that often causes issues because saying, "I'm proud to be German." to some people comes across as "I love Hitler." So I'm happy to say that I'm officially a citizen of Jupiter and have been for years. Nice planet here though. Too bad some of the people have to mess it up for everyone else.

I can't wait to go back to Jupiter.

[Mikey]

I have a question and I'm only asking because I'm curious. If you are filling out a form that requires you to put check mark by your race and let's say one parent is caucasion and the other is black, hispanic, etc. what do you check?

I think for US census purposes, Hispanic is white ... as well as Arab is white too.

So if your mom is European and your dad is Iranian or Mexican etc, you're white because both your parents are.

I think I read that.

As for half white/half black I think there's a "mixed race" option

[Megotu]

I have also seen the forms stating to check all that apply...

[saildog]

I have a question and I'm only asking because I'm curious. If you are filling out a form that requires you to put check mark by your race and let's say one parent is caucasion and the other is black, hispanic, etc. what do you check?

A small part of my job is to enter information that a respondent answers on a State Form into a system from which the State collects racial data.

It is the biggest joke you could ever imagine, yet the State is compiling data of some sort to make some kind of decisions and you can't leave the field blank, even though the fields have about as much thought behind them as...well, they should just be "White? Check Yes or No." The respondent can write in whatever they want (it's a fill in the blank proposition for them), but I can only check one of a few fields (see why this is BS???).

From memory the fields are:

African-American........(A legal resident alien from Cameroon is not African-American nor do they want to be identified as such so they state "Black". Sorry, no field for that.)
Mexican-American......(A legal resident alien from Mexico is not Mexican-American and many that are born here still choose to identify themselves as Mexican Nationals because that is what their parents are.)
Asian-American.........(Is this where I distinguish someone from the Philippines from someone from India from someone from Scotland???)
Hispanic......(This is what most people that the State wants us to check as "Mexican-American" state...and rightly so.)
Native American / Aleutian Islander / Pacific Islander.....yeah, this is the one that makes me laugh the most. Of all of the above mentioned fields, we are in Oklahoma AND YOU CAN'T EVEN MAKE A DISTINCTION IN THIS CATEGORY????!!!!!
Caucasian.........(Well, I guess???)

Holy crap, as a State, we are listed as 83% White, but of that 83% "White" there is a majority of the population that is an honest mix of any number of tribes with any number of African or European nationalities.

Just like most of Mexico and all of the Caribbean.

I'm Jewish(German from Russia)/Choctaw/Mexican/Scots-Irish.....and that is just what I can prove through ancestry.....not going back 40 Generations....just based on the crowd of us that still get together at family reunions. (Not a "foreign" concept here).

[BOTZWANA]

Yeah, that's true - this idea of multiculturalism isn't just rhetoric or a catch phrase for us. Luckily half of my family doesn't even celebrate Christmas, so I'm not yanked every-which-way this time of year! Good luck with tomorrow and have a great time!

Jehovah's witnesses?

[Hector]

Hispanic is NOT a race...a Hispanic can be of any race...as is in Latin America...brown, black, white, etc...

[Hector]

Just to end all this...and be brutally honest...we are ALL defecating organic creatures stuck in this little rock/water planet...we are all the same poo...

[saildog]

Hispanic is NOT a race...a Hispanic can be of any race...as is in Latin America...brown, black, white, etc...

That's what I'm saying, Dude.

Spaniards are called Hispanic and 99% of them are "whiter than me" and what most folks want to call "European".

Hell, "Jewish" is not considered a race on most forms, but it is both a race and religion.

[saildog]

Just to end all this...and be brutally honest...we are ALL defecating organic creatures stuck in this little rock/water planet...we are all the same poo...

And if you cut any one of us, the blood that runs out will be 100% Red when it hits oxygen.

[saildog]

Oh, my God...

It took me 42 years on this Earth and this thread to realize what "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" truly means.

[Mikey]

I always looked at it like this ... The entire human race can interbreed with eachother and produce healthy offspring.
That alone makes the notion of seperate races very superficial.