In The Heat of The Night

[Feanor]

I must ask Feanor, why is it okay for whites to hate and slander Blacks and Latinos, but it is not okay for Blacks and Latino's(out of sheer anger and frustration) to feel the same way? Your comments while intellectually correct are completely devoid of the emotional impact of nearly 500 years of inequality, nearly 500 years of frustration, and nearly 500 years of being looked at as an animal or second class citizen(which still exist today). Racism in America is is a extremely long term problem in this country, and let's face it, it was built on it from day one. Blacks and Latino's have been more than patient in trying to achieve equality in this country. Each and every time some level of success has been achieved, the powers that be change the rules, and minorities are back to square one. You can only take this kind of treatment for so long, and then you rebel (see riots in Miami, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, New York, and so on).

Sir T, where did I ever say it is OK for whites to hate & slander Blacks and Latinos? Never. Please make no such insinuation.

However, I am saying is that reciprocal Black/Latino/Asian racism isn't acceptable either. The racial situation has been and will be for quite some time a problem in the USA and elsewhere. BUT the solution will NOT include "minorities" responding in kind to "majority" racism.

Where is the race "neutrality" you want? Do you expect that first white need to be "neutral" and only then that Blacks and Latinos will need to be "neutral"? It just can't work that way.

So sorry if it sounds unemotional but Yes, Blacks and Latinos are going to have to keep on being patient. Patience may certainly include protests but not reciprocal racism. Most of all "patience" will include Blacks & Latinos getting out a voting for candidates who cleary espouse their cause.

Who is the poor in America? It is Blacks and Latino's and that is a fact.

The statistics show that in absolute numbers there are actually more poor whites than poor Blacks or Latinos; (not surprising since they are still the "majority"). Are there higher proportions of Blacks and of Latinos in poverty higher? Yes, not doubt.

So -- as an intellectual exercise, Sir T -- would the poverty situation be made better by equalizing the proportions in poverty? Should this be brought about by decreasing only the numbers of Blacks and Latino poor OR by increasing the number of poor white people? OR would it actually be better to reduce poverty overall? (Consider that the most egregious white racism is among the poorest and least educated whites.)

We have seen this before during the depression. Anytime whites find themselves unemployed in wide numbers, they blame either Mexican immigration, or they tend to limit the financial possibilities of blacks via institutional racism. During the depression, one all black town in the south remained very prosperous(largely because they could not do business beyond their community) because the dollar in their community change hands WITHIN the community 36 times before going outside of the community. Whites became jealous of this success, and burn the town to the ground, and killed nearly all of its residents. While we are not killing people today in mass like back then, we are killing their spirit by economically limiting them.

Well I would say it's progress that massing killings aren't happening today.

As for US illegal immigration today, I say that it reflects a deep hypocrisy in American society and the American economy. (1) Many resent the illegal incursion of some many of a foreign language and culture who (seem) to threaten their jobs and way of life in general. They resent that they are powerless to prevent this. (2) There is a significant portion of businessmen and farmers who want the cheapest possible labor; they are quite content that their workers remain undocumented and therefore underpaid and not subject to regular employee protections.