How do we fix racism?

[FaceHugger]

I don't think we ever can.

I'm half white and asian. So you can probably guess what I look like. A tan white guy. And for whatever reason people of all colors have shared their racist views with me. I guess because they thought I was one of them? Or just fair game because I wasn't really white nor whatever? I also grew up in a Navy town (Norfolk, Virginia) which meant all my friends were either Irish, Italian, Latino, or Black. I was the only asian guy in the very large bunch. Talking 50 friends, at least.

Anyways it is fucking shocking how racist everyone is out there. Being a child between worlds I never thought about race, not like others. I mean I knew I was a mongrel really.

 

[Slayven]

Been thinking about this lately due to an attitude some seem to have on this forum that racist people are helpless and that making inroads to them is useless.

I often remind myself of this article, which is probably one of the most memorable reads of the past couple years. It's about how the son of the Stormfront founder sees the light and acknowledges his racist past, and how he begins to move forward and repent. It wasn't because of someone shouting at him and calling him a racist, which only fueled him in the past, but because someone of color genuinely talked to him as a friend and treated him like a human being, was inclusive of him despite him being distant.

There's also a clear connection between class struggle and racism, with often the most poor and uneducated parts of the country being the most racist. When it comes to addressing this, often you'll hear people advocate they don't deserve a better life or a vote because they are racist. That doing nothing seems to be the solution.

And you also have people claim that maybe we should just wait for them to die to their kids can grow up in a more tolerant world and therefore be less racist. This has proven to be nothing but a fantasy with kids adopting the same ideology as their parents.

So what do you think are ammiplcable solutions to helping reduce racism for future generations? I don't think it's possible to completely wipe it out, but clearly we can do more.

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People love that sweet fairy tail of the marginalized raising up the oppressor, but that isn't real life. Marginalized people have to survive the effects of bigotry and do a little soft shoe so not to offend the oppressor and hope they see them as human?


Nah that ain't it chef, never was and never will be

 

[Stinkles]

Prima nocte! If we can't root it out, then we shall breed it out!

I'm doing my part to dilute the purity of the race. Of course four hundred years from now when it's mostly gone visually we'll find some other irrational or baseless reason to hate a group of people to make ourselves feel superior to them or because we benefit from creating hatred politically or economically.

 

[Ooopsklo]

Racism will never be solved. You'd have to kill everyone. Humans are always gonna be racist. It sucks but you just gotta try to lessen it

 

[Steel]

Someone opened the box for sure

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People look for excuses to feel superior to someone else. Race is an easy differentiator. Which is to say, if you just hit reset on humanity, racists would pop right back up.

Prima nocte! If we can't root it out, then we shall breed it out!

I'm doing my part to dilute the purity of the race. Of course four hundred years from now when it's mostly gone visually we'll find some other reason to hate a group people to make ourselves feel superior to them or because we benefit from creating hatred politically or economically.

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It'll be Gattaca.

 

[John Dunbar]

Well, yeah. There was a civil war over this and then they let the fuckers get away without getting punished.

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i don't think there were very many people involved in that conflict who were not racists.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Fine platforms that condone and allow it to spread

 

[Stinkles]

People look for excuses to feel superior to someone else. Race is an easy differentiator. Which is to say, if you just hit reset on humanity, racists would pop right back up.

It'll be Gattaca.

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I didn't save enough for the way back!

 

[bye]

People love that sweet fairy tail of the marginalized raising up the oppressor, but that isn't real life. Marginalized people have to survive the effects of bigotry and do a little soft shoe so not to offend the oppressor and hope they see them as human?


Nah that ain't it chef, never was and never will be

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Cities work because it introduces people whom are ignorant to other cultures. Can this principle not be applied to a smaller scale?

And mostly I'm not a fan of overly pessismestic outlooks like this one. What do you propose as a solution? That's kind of the focus of the thread, not to just continue to act helpless.

It's possible to acknowledge the struggle of marginalized people as well as address the underlying causes of why racist people grow up racist, I think. Would reparations and better education/free college not do both?

 

[Deleted member 2779]

We live in a society designed to generate social divisions and erase the history which established the structures necessary to continue said social divisions. The problem is that it's not in the interests of white people to acknowledge history and their consequent privilege. The question really is, how do you get people to give up their power?

 

[Deleted member 6230]

People look for excuses to feel superior to someone else. Race is an easy differentiator. Which is to say, if you just hit reset on humanity, racists would pop right back up.

It'll be Gattaca.

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Humans will always be capable of bigotry and prejudice, yes but Racism is a purely social structure cementing a hierarchal power structure based on pseudosciences to justify the subjugating and pillaging of the world by white supremacist colonizers. Race isn't innate to humanity therefore neither is Racism and if you hit a reset button in the world humans can create power structures based on skull shapes or eye color

 

[Steel]

Humans will always be capable of bigotry and prejudice, yes but Racism is a purely social structure cementing a hierarchal power structure based on pseudosciences to justify the subjugating and pillaging of the world by white supremacist colonizers. Race isn't innate neither is Racism and if you hit a reset button in the world humans can create power structures based on skull shapes or eye color

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Hierarchy's take advantage of pre-existing bias because that's much easier than creating new ones. Skin color's a lot easier to divide on, but yeah, discrimination based on skull shape and eye color exists. And has existed since, you know, we raped and killed off the neanderthals and other hominids with the weird shaped skulls.

 

[Slayven]

Cities work because it introduces people whom are ignorant to other cultures. Can this principle not be applied to a smaller scale?

And mostly I'm not a fan of overly pessismestic outlooks like this one. What do you propose as a solution? That's kind of the focus of the thread, not to just continue to act helpless.

It's possible to acknowledge the struggle of marginalized people as well as address the underlying causes of why racist people grow up racist, I think. Would reparations and better education/free college not do both?

Click to shrink...

Cities are still largely segregated. You can hate it all you want, but empathtize with margalized people for second and think how they feel day and day out. I don't know the anwer, I just know it isn't assigning racists their own black friend.

 

[Order]

And mostly I'm not a fan of overly pessismestic outlooks like this one. What do you propose as a solution? That's kind of the focus of the thread, not to just continue to act helpless.

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I'm not trying to speak for Slay, but seeing this said to a black person is kinda making me upset.

Speaking for myself, people have tried for fucking centuries to end racism, to just be seen as people. All the shit people are saying in this thread doesn't matter.

We know it's hopeless, our parents knew it was hopeless, our grandparents knew it was hopeless. Because at the end of the day, the people in charge will never listen to anything we have to say, they just wanna shut us up

 

[MrMegaPhoenix]

Focus on a societal strategy that removes class differences. Things like ensuring everyone is close to everyone else in regards to education, wealth, etc. the fact a lot of people have an "American focused" answer here says we still have a large problem with ignorance too. Class differences are currently a worldwide issue and it obviously won't be solved by "shaming white you tubers" or similar.

The problem still remains though that even if we didn't have a classism issue across the world, different countries are still poorer than others. So even if all the country's of the world have no classism, some countries will still be poor and treated with the same class issues.

Either way, it would still take decades. It would help to have less social media and tv news though, since that encourages "us vs them". i guess we just have to hope the more "I have my way and you are wrong" people would be influenced by a classless society and realise how harmful divisiveness is to how we live

I can't see this happening though, probably going to get worse instead sadly

 

[bye]

I'm not trying to speak for Slay, but seeing this said to a black person is kinda making me upset.

Speaking for myself, people have tried for fucking centuries to end racism, to just be seen as people. All the shit people are saying in this thread doesn't matter.

We know it's hopeless, our parents knew it was hopeless, our grandparents knew it was hopeless. Because at the end of the day, the people in charge will never listen to anything we have to say, they just wanna shut us up

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I suppose I find I hard to believe it's hopeless because it seems collectively we haven't done nearly enough to quell it at all

 

[Ogodei]

On the policy front, do more to lift up minorities with legislation, whether on economic or civil matters. The less of a gap there is between the races, the more the negative stereotypes will whither away.

On the social front, keep on what we've been doing: calling out racism where we find it and continuing to remind people of ways they can be innocently racially insensitive. Make it very costly for people to be publicly, consciously racist. Make it costly for them to be *privately* racist by exposing private racism to daylight where and when you can.

 

[Deleted member 41638]

Integrate/diversify society, starting at schools.

The key to solving a problem is to get the relevant collective on board with what the problem even is. Subsequently, you are going to have to get the majority of White America as a whole to admit racism against non-white folks is a modern day and devastating problem, and subsequently that they have the utmost responsibility in dismantling it since they benefit the most from it.

.....

lmfao, good luck.

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What does the majority of White America dismantling racism look like? Realistically?

 

[Slayven]

I'm not trying to speak for Slay, but seeing this said to a black person is kinda making me upset.

Speaking for myself, people have tried for fucking centuries to end racism, to just be seen as people. All the shit people are saying in this thread doesn't matter.

We know it's hopeless, our parents knew it was hopeless, our grandparents knew it was hopeless. Because at the end of the day, the people in charge will never listen to anything we have to say, they just wanna shut us up

Click to shrink...

Rememebr when all the liberals and lefties got mad at Tanisihi Coates for saying he felt no hope? What do they expect when day after day you got the leader of the country calling you every thing but a nigger and 32% agreeing with him and another 40% letting it slide because that 32% include their mothers, fathers, and grandmas. Day after day you see your children getting slammed on the ground like prowrestlers or shot in the streets. Then Allies to come out and be like "Watch your tone".

 

[Deleted member 6230]

Hierarchy's take advantage of pre-existing bias because that's much easier than creating new ones. Skin color's a lot easier to divide on, but yeah, discrimination based on skull shape and eye color exists. And has existed since, you know, we raped and killed off the neanderthals and other hominids with the weird shaped skulls.

Click to shrink...

So you think our idea of "race" is something that always existed since the birth of humanity? I'm going to tell you right now it wasn't. There being "White" people and "Black" peoples are much more recent inventions! And that's not to say that people with darker skin wasn't discriminated against before that just for having darker skin. That's bigotry. What I am saying is that the concept of Race as we know it today was created going along with this hierarchal power structure.

 

[Baji Boxer]

I don't think it can be fixed. It can maybe be mitigated and contained somewhat. Marginalized. Having a truly democratic government as we get closer to us white people not being a true majority may help.

-Voting rights protections need to be re-enacted (and enforced!) and roadblocks to participation need to be removed.

-Fix the gerrymandering situation.

-Rebuild various law enforcement institutions to be more representative of the comunities and populous, rooting out corruption and stupidity.

-Education needs reformed in a wide variety of ways.

That's a few things off the top of my head. There are also racism problems in housing, the justice system in general, healthcare, and buisiness that need addressed.

 

[Slayven]

I suppose I find I hard to believe it's hopeless because it seems collectively we haven't done nearly enough to quell it at all

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Now this is beyond insulting, especially on MLK jr day.

 

[Order]

I suppose I find I hard to believe it's hopeless because it seems collectively we haven't done nearly enough to quell it at all

Click to shrink...

If you're implying that black people need to do more to end racism then I don't think you were the person that needed to make this thread.

 

[Heromanz]

What type of racism are we talking about?
American style racism?
A complete class restructuring of the every single social institution system. Basically we need to reboot everything.

 

[Doran]

Keep fighting the find, grind, and time. Never settle.

 

[Steel]

So you think our idea of "race" is something that always existed since the birth of humanity? I'm going to tell you right now it wasn't. There being "White" people and "Black" peoples are much more recent inventions! And that's not to say that people with darker skin wasn't discriminated against before that just for having darker skin. That's bigotry. What I am saying is that the concept of Race as we know it today was created going along with this hierarchal power structure.

Click to shrink...

Bigotry against skin color is racism. What you're describing is the process that racism evolved into a pseudo-science which coincided with science becoming a more popular thing during the enlightenment, so people would obviously use this new popular way of explaining things to explain their racism and racial superiority with "facts and logic". The construct of race existed loooonnnngggg before then.

 

[Deleted member 1248]

Cities work because it introduces people whom are ignorant to other cultures. Can this principle not be applied to a smaller scale?

And mostly I'm not a fan of overly pessismestic outlooks like this one. What do you propose as a solution? That's kind of the focus of the thread, not to just continue to act helpless.

It's possible to acknowledge the struggle of marginalized people as well as address the underlying causes of why racist people grow up racist, I think. Would reparations and better education/free college not do both?

Click to shrink...

I live in a city. Everybody here is racist, just like the suburbs and everywhere else. It's just expressed differently.

I'm not gonna propose a solution because I don't think there is one and the constant suggestion that minorities have to be responsible for making bigots love them is nauseating.

 

[Deleted member 2779]

I suppose I find I hard to believe it's hopeless because it seems collectively we haven't done nearly enough to quell it at all

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Lmfaoooo

Ethnic minorities have fought and died fighting racism, you can sod off with that sentiment.

 

[Wyman Manderly]

It can't be fixed. Too many brains are wired to be susceptible to fear and are too easily manipulated by shit people with shit motives. Pushing it to the fringe of society and ostracizing anyone that endorses it is the best we can do. Very pessimistic point of view, I agree, but humans fucking suck.

 

[Deleted member 6230]

Bigotry against skin color is racism. What you're describing is the process that racism evolved into a pseudo-science which coincided with science becoming a more popular thing during the enlightenment, so people would obviously use this new popular way of explaining things to explain their racism.

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I'm applying critical race theory here. Racism is a hierarchal power structure based on what we're describing as Race. There's an in group and there's an out group based on their skin color which is describe as a "Race" . Racism is not just bigotry.

 

[Order]

Only on Era can someone post a "how to end racism thread" and then post some shit that shows they don't understand race relations an hour later

 

[Supermanisdead]

Racism is a power dynamic. I know people, especially centrists and the right, will disagree, but until we address the underlying class struggle of the modern world, racism will never end. Improving the lives of the less educated, wealthy and able-bodied is the only way to actually combat it. And the only way to improve these lives? Socialism. And I mean fully. Get rid of a greedy ruling class that exists to stoke fears within and around marginalized groups for their own profit and I guarantee that Facebook, FOX News, NYT, CNN, institutionalized healthcare, education etc. will stop polluting the minds of a vulnerable working class. Free access to healthcare, higher education, more public libraries, mental health awareness and destigmatization is a must.

 

[TheSaddestSort]

This will sound cynical as all hell, but you can't fix a problem when the majority in power wants to either pretend it doesn't exist or wants to go back to the good old days when it was more prevalent. You want a solution? Change the majority. Why do you think middle white America loses its collective shit every decade over rising immigrant populations and the United States losing its global economic dominance? It isn't just "economic anxiety".

 

[Deleted member 4367]

A good first step would be realizing that racism isn't just yelling the N-word at people or arresting/shooting somebody because of the color of their skin.

Everybody has racist tendencies. Because it's systemic and insidious and everywhere. Some people are less racist than others. Some people think about how racism might affect how they think so that they can minimize how it affects how they act.

I really think a lot of white liberals massively misunderstand what racism is, how it works and how it should be mitigated.

The first step has to be a realization that it's literally everywhere.

 

[bye]

Lmfaoooo

Ethnic minorities have fought and died fighting racism, you can sod off with that sentiment.

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I'm mostly talking about present day, my apologies for how it came off, and I was referring to policy.

 

[Deleted member 1248]

Lmfaoooo

Ethnic minorities have fought and died fighting racism, you can sod off with that sentiment.

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I guess the idea is that white folks are so hard headed that you need even more people to die before they start to value other people's lives.

It hard to be that insulting, but OP is magnificent at it.

 

[Deleted member 6230]

I really think a lot of white liberals massively misunderstand what racism is, how it works and how it should be mitigated.

Click to shrink...

Indeed

 

[PolishQ]

I don't think it can be fixed. It can maybe be mitigated and contained somewhat. Marginalized. Having a truly democratic government as we get closer to us white people not being a true majority may help.

-Voting rights protections need to be re-enacted (and enforced!) and roadblocks to participation need to be removed.

-Fix the gerrymandering situation.

-Rebuild various law enforcement institutions to be more representative of the comunities and populous, rooting out corruption and stupidity.

-Education needs reformed in a wide variety of ways.

That's a few things off the top of my head. There are also racism problems in housing, the justice system in general, healthcare, and buisiness that need addressed.

Click to shrink...

This. I don't agree with the idea that it can't be fixed, but I do subscribe to the idea that the way to do it is through passing antiracist policy.

Everyone in this thread: I highly recommend reading Ibram X. Kendi's excellent "How to be an Antiracist".

 

[Astandahl]

Long term solution is probably education.

 

[BAD]

There's common sense answers but I don't know how you implement actual solutions wide scale enough to make it happen at a meaningful pace

 

[jchap]

Keep blending together

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Long term solution is probably education.

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People need to be willing to shut up and listen before they can be educated. I know I didn't listen for a long time, and that's my fault.

 

[32X4LYF]

Make white people have to live at least 10 years of their lives as a subjugated minority without any of the privilege they're accustomed to.

Feasible? No. Would it help? Yes.

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Is this another one of these American based threads? Cause unfortunately racism is a worldwide issue. It isn't a "white" issue, it is a people issue. Racism is a vastly larger problem than what is just going on inside America. This fact only serves to make the outlook more bleak however. I honestly have no idea how humans as a whole would be able eliminate a hate as ingrained as racism.

 

[Top NHST Product]

People love that sweet fairy tail of the marginalized raising up the oppressor, but that isn't real life. Marginalized people have to survive the effects of bigotry and do a little soft shoe so not to offend the oppressor and hope they see them as human?


Nah that ain't it chef, never was and never will be

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Plus your old ass has been fighting racism for like a century so it's good to take your perspective into account.

Bye that was seriously a disgusting ass sentiment you expressed.

My education is in policy, I'm looking to pursue a doctorate and career in policy implementation. And just like in the thread that likely spawned this one, let it be stated again that policies purely focused on lifting all without acknowledging history and different experiences have not, do not and will not fix racism. You can't fix a problem if you refuse to accept why it exists in the first place. Just because the reality many people keep trying to get across sounds pessimistic doesn't mean that they have given up on fighting it.

 

[Kernel]

You don't. It will always exist.

You can do various things to minimize it's impact but I think a lot of people are just wired a certain way.

I think I read about it somewhere, social dominance theory.

 

[LazyLain]

How much of their budget do schools allocate to sportsball? Maybe some of that could be used for international field trips. I think being exposed to other cultures would help humanize them.

 

[TheCrackedJack]

If humanity lasts long enough this was always going to happen but I feel like racism based on skin color will just be replaced by something equally as dumb.

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Bingo, I think that's exactly what's going to happen in the far future. I imagine some The Expanse like society in the future where nobody cares what race you are but what faction/planet etc you are from.

 

[DigitalOp]

Pointless thread. Pointless answer.

If someone had a real solution, it would have been enacted already.

You're asking how to end racism when you probably reside in country that wholly benefits from it.

You're also asking how to end racism when a complete idiot fool was able to use it to ascend to the White House.

The question you should be asking is if White People will ever stop clinging to White Supremacy or will the Human Race go extinct first?

Fun Fact. The Human Race will go extinct first.

 

[Soph]

We're not going to fix it. It's part of our psychology.

The only way to "fix" it is to get rid of it entirely by crossbreeding the entire world. No worries, we'll find other ways to discriminate in that time.

 

[Blue Skies]

These are all great but I'd like to add a step about having more exposure. I find a lot of racism easily breeds from a lack of exposure to other cultures. Some people have complex reasons that form their racism, but sometimes it's literally as simple as "I grew up for 30 yrs in a place with no people of color and my only education on them is movies and the media showing me them as gangsters or terrorists."

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This is a big one I think.
Latinos are 18 percent of the American population yet only show up as less than 10 percent of the roles in Hollywood movies and usually as stereotypes.