Adultwire -
One quick point. You say you got the shit kicked out of you 15 years ago when you were a kid due to your color (black). That really and truly sucks, no excuse for it. The fucks that did it should die.
But, fast forward 10 years from then, and guess what was happening to me?
Same damn thing, only the colors were reversed. Not sure if you had guns and such being a major problem back then, but I've had more than a couple guns drawn on me, in both "just seeing what the white boy would do" and "Man, just let me cap his ass so we don't get in trouble for stealing his bike" contexts.
Why has it come full-circle like so? I know not all blacks are like this, but from my enviromental expierence it seems low income (i.e. inner city) blacks seem to be EXTREMELY racist and hostile vs. the white population in the same prediciments. I could be wrong and have blinders on, but I can definitely say that to this day due to that, my heart still beats faster when there is a group older teenage black kids walking down the sidewalk towards me, vs. a group of white kids.
I feel guilty about that, but really when you think about it.. Why should I? It was a result of my enviromental conditioning and expieriences when growing up. I never once had trouble with a group of white kids beating the shit out of me for my bike or whatnot, but had on more than a couple occasions had it happen with the opposite color.
I think I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that in terms of physical safety, blacks have it better nowadays than whites. There are exceptions, and I could be completely off-base, but bear me out. If I get caught in the inner city ghetto here (and it's only fucking Minneapolis), chances are I WILL get messed with. If not physically, at least a hell of a lot of verbal abuse. If you don't believe me, I challenge you to come up here sometime and follow me at a distance.
Now if you went to white surburbia, you may get bad looks, etc. But are you really and truly afraid of a group of white guys kicking your ass? I'm not saying it's uncomfortable, but do you really feel for your safety?
I suppose the argument could be made for if you went to a hick low-income town in the deep south.. Hmm.
It's just fucking stupid how boundries are drawn by race. I fucking hate it. I tend to "discriminate" against people based on attitude now. If you act all ghetto and shit, you can fuck off. Plenty of white boys have the "I'm a hardass thug" bullshit going on too. But if you act intelligently with respect, etc. you can be my friend any day.
Of course, some idiot is going to call me a racist, but that's okay. You seem intelligent and reasonable.
I guess I've just always wondered what exactly the fear (other than not being liked) black people always talk about when living with whites in upscale neighborhoods.. I just don't get it.
In fact, maybe my entire post is moot. Perhaps it's just socio-economic conditioning? Argh.
Anyways, something needs to be done to make race not a fucking issue any longer. Plenty of other reasons to hate someone, most of them a hell of a lot better than color. Hate me because I get all the chicks (ha!) or something.
-Phil