Regarding blackface ...

[marble falls]

Well, then there'd be no blackface anymore. Blackface is about trivializing the black experience. Its about making people into cartoons images.

[Mr. Quackers]

1. Partly

because the last (undisputed) Civil War veteran died in 1956 and the south in some ways doesn't know that they lost.

Do you think this shit gets resolved within less than a few generations? There's a long way to go.

[marble falls]

3. Regardless how long it takes, the process has to have a serious starting point. We still haven't ...

seriously started the process.

[Mr. Quackers]

5. There was a concerted attempt in the mid 20th century, but "The Movement" died out by Reagan

and there was plenty of right wing skullduggery to make sure the strides made earlier were punished.

You can have cosmetic changes to Jim Crow, but the underlying substantial factors have never been addressed.

One of those factors that needs to be addressed is compensation for lost capital due to a condition of slavery.

Not just in financial terms, but the social impact MUST be owned by white capitalists who have benefited from slave labor in generational transfer of fortunes, generational transfer of property, etc.

The social impact and financial impact both must be taken into consideration. This includes the slavery replacement called the "penal system" and the impact of brown and black people still not being considered fully human, let alone fully American. These intentional systemic consequences must be rectified.

Keep in mind: if every non-white person disappeared tomorrow, white people would just turn on each other.

[marble falls]

6. I felt we were approaching a post racial America when Bill Clinton was elected. Reality ...

smacked me in the face when Barack Obama was elected. I had mistaken "polite" racism for post racism.

[hlthe2b]

2. I lived in the deep South (three states) for much of my adolescence and young adulthood...

I have to think I may have encountered this, at least on tv, but what stands out in my memories far more is the horrific racist attitudes and language emanating from southern men of all ages--when no POC were around. It likely didn't end with making African Americans the butt of ugly jokes, but I made my escape whenever this kind of thing came up, so I honestly don't know. Perhaps it was limited to ugly racist talk and bluster....but I don't know...

Coming as I did from the Midwest and Rocky Mountain West, I always felt I was as suspect (unaccepted) as any Northern "Yankee", so I'm sure I missed a lot.

I surely don't mean to say everyone was racist (and I met a lot of people I found to be wonderful, friendly and progressive in outlook), but it surely was a lot more pervasive than some may want to admit.

So, what is happening now appalls me, but does not surprise me and I DO think it is merely the tip of the iceberg of what is likely to be revealed if people really "LOOK"...

When I finally returned home to Colorado after many years, I was just glad to be back in a place where no one ever talked about the civil war... ever. Of course the repercussions of that conflict and slavery continue everywhere....

[marble falls]

4. I understand a lot of what you feel. I learned racism from my favorite, extremely loved ...

grandfather I was named after's knee.

He actually went into overkill: the people he described I never saw. Maybe it was the b&w TV's ...
I did not figure out Nat King Cole (who's late '50's show I liked) was black until the late sixties. Somehow I live in Cleveland, would travel downtown on buses with my mother or with my grandfather who had an office in the Terminal Tower and somehow I do not remember seeing black people. I don't know if it is true children are color blind or my grandfather did such a good job describing what he hated so well there were was no one I saw who fit the description.

I remember specifically the first person I saw I knew was different by race. I asked my mother what was wrong with a black kid a few years older than me by our church at eight. She explained that he was negro.

I didn't talk to a black person till I was 12 and living in Akron, starting junior high school. After then I learned a liberal sort of racism. One that said we shouldn't expect anything from black people because they'd been held back so long that they needed more than just opportunity, they needed in effect to assimilate into a society that was white culturally. Not melting pot but refined. That there was no black "culture".

I've decided the attitude I can do the most about is my own and I hope I've done right by my children in trying to get them be open accepting of others no matter what other entails.