"Blackface" Discussion

Yeah, okay, if it works that way (and you may be right here) everyone will be offended by everything on the internet. And lately I really had that feeling. Is it right like this, though? To let other people who you just live with virtually to influence your life so heavily? Not sure.

And somehow I haven't seen that happen in the 25 years I been on the internet.

Simply respect other people. Its really easy. I don't see how it's difficult to simply respect other people about themselves.

If people want to be called one name and not another then don't call them the name they don't like. If people tell you that some costume is offensive to people around the world simply learn that and don't dress that way. I don't think its really hard to learn how to not offend different people or cultures.
 
Blacking up is steeped in racism because of the fact that it was intended to mock black people, present them as amusing, and to generally portray stereotypes that weren't true - not because they simply painted their face black. An act is not inherently anything until its motivations are judged. I absolutely will not try to argue with you about the history of blackface, because it's self evident. But that's not what happened here.

If we step away from race, and we shelve that for the moment and apply the same principle to something else, i.e sexism. Suppose I said to you:

'is passing over a female in a job interview, in favour of a male, sexist?'

If you replied yes to me, I would ask why your first instinct wasn't to question why the person did that and to instead rush to labelling it, perhaps the person was more qualified, perhaps they passed over them soley because they were a woman. One of those is sexist, and one is not. If you replied to me 'no, because it would depend on why he did that' I would then ask you why you applied that logic to this example but not to the one of race. Unless you can educate me on the difference between those examples that then means you no longer have to properly analyse a situation before deciding it meets the definition of something, I don't see how that is any different in that before you can term something racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic etc etc, you need to take apart the situation and judge the situation. 'Blacking up' to mock black people or present bullshit stereotypes, make them out to be amusing etc is of course immediately racist and there's a long history of that. Doing so because you truly believe that it enhances your costume whether you agree that it actually does or not is not racist. It's misguided, it's inappropriate, it's offensive to some people, it's ignorant and it reflects poor decision making. It's the wrong thing to do, and he should apologise for the offense he caused. It is all of those things but it is not racist. You cannot just term something as something because it bears semblence to something else. It isn't rational.

Somebody asked me earlier why I was seemingly arguing this over nothing, but I don't have the time to go back over the pages to quote it, but if it appears I'm doing that then I apologise. I think racism is a very, very serious thing. It needs to be stamped out, and it needs to be tackled head on. My ex girlfriend is black and on many, many occasions I had to console her after she suffered racism in her professional career and her personal life and though I have never experienced it, and cannot truly understand what it actually feels like I do know how it made her feel, and how bad it made me feel that she had to go through this and that there wasn't more I could do to change what she experienced. Equality is the key issue of this generation whether it's gender equality, racial equality, LGBT rights etc and I take it very seriously and I genuinely believe, and see anecdotally on this forum that every time somebody rushes to term something as something whether it's race simply because it involves skin colour, homophobic because it simply involves LGBT, or sexist because it simply involves something to do with gender that the discussion immediately shifts from the issue at hand, to one side vs the other clashing and throwing insults at each other, telling each other they're awful people, defending their choice of words, and generally they become more concerned with simply winning an argument than actually dealing with the issue at hand. If you throw such a charged word at someone they will of course defend it, because it's not something that should be thrown around lightly. It also devalues the impact of the word, and desensitises people to it. It's possible to simply be an asshole and not racist when it comes to something like this. This is not going to change anything for the future, it's just going to breed contempt between groups of people who end up in a situation where they can't be bothered to speak to each other because it just makes them all angry. I would much prefer sides to give and take, one side to say 'this is why this offends me' and the other side to say 'I understand that and I'm sorry, I can understand why your mind jumped to shit that's happened before and I should have known better and considered that, it was never my intention' and for both sides to find common ground rather than what we have now which is two opposing sides more interested in showing the other person why they're a piece of shit than actually improving anythng for anybody.

On a side note, I would also much prefer (and I obviously can't speak for black people regarding this but anecdotally my ex echoed this opinion so I'm not alone) that my children grow up in a world where they can present themself as whatever they want and not even give it a second thought. We had this recently with a white kid dressing up as Pocahontas for some party she went to and people blew up about it. Kids at that age can barely understand the concept of racism, they just want to emulate their heroes and you could make an argument about it being a compliment that they actively wish to portray themselves as something that previously nobody would want to, completely free from malice because to them it simply isn't an issue or worth thinking about, than continue living in a world where we help continue to keep the issue alive by identifying it and making out that it's bad. That world is the one where colour won't matter.

I’m not entirely sure what you want me to do with this large passage of writing.
From the hypothetical situation, to the black girlfriend, to the world without colour - how does any of this prove that blackface isn’t racist?

Matter fact, what is the difference between what Griezmann did and the minstrel show?
As we have established he hasn’t dressed up as anyone in particular.
Doesn’t have anyone’s jersey.
Nobody at the time had the afro
The black paint didn’t come with the costume - so he went to an extra length to paint himself black

So what is he doing?
The outfit was fine without the black skin, why did he feel the need to blacken up if it wasn’t to imitate being black?
At that point he’s just making a random impression of black people that’s based on stereotypes, no? The majority of black people don’t even wear an afro ffs.

People get defensive at the word racism because they’re so used to racism only existing among the extremes such as the KKK, they don’t know what racism is like for an actual black person on a daily basis.
You mention your ex getting upset at the racism she dealt with, I guarantee there were many more incidents she dealt with that she wouldn’t have spoken to you about, simply because it’s impossible to get someone who doesn’t experience it to understand how it feels.

Therefore, I’m not entirely sure where you believe it’s justified to suggest something isn’t racist to the very people who are on the receiving end of the act, all because something aren’t used to just how common racism is, therefore they are shocked to hear it so often, and their default position is to then assume that racism is being watered down.

On the contrary, racism continues to rear its ugly head and it’s only getting called out.
The other alternative will result in minorities continuing to suffer in silence for fear of disturbing the peace, and we’ve endured that for long enough.

It’s time to continue to have these awkward and uncomfortable conversations.
 
No, its a valid philosophical argument. You and others just want to be absolute about your interpretation.

Putting my personal preference aside. It has long been proven to be a racist gesture. No matter how slanted or philosophical you want to get about the issue.
 
88=code for Heil Hitler, having an 88 in your name is very offensive in Germany btw. You should know that.



Thing is, as I said before, this is not about someone who doesn't get his way of being called or something like that. It's not about hurt self definition here.
Should I really? :lol:

Just the year I was born. No Nazi sympathies here. Unless being born in 1988 is offensive too?
 
Should I really? :lol:

Just the year I was born. No Nazi sympathies here. Unless being born in 1988 is offensive too?

I bet that you made no effort to avoid that year though.
 
See, there you go again. If the act has been historically proven to be racist, what else is there to prove? sure he didn't mean it and has loads of black friends. That doesn't change the fact that it was a racist gesture. All this bollocks about "legitimately racist" is just mental gymnastics and nothing more.

You're being either deliberately obtuse or you can't see the difference that I've pointed out to you about 4 times. Either way, this conversation with you is pointless, you're seeing what you want to see. The act of putting on black face and mocking black people has been historically proven to be racist. Putting black on your face has not. The second part of the first sentence is the entire point. It's racist because of the mocking and the intent that historically went into it.
 
You're being either deliberately obtuse or you can't see the difference that I've pointed out to you about 4 times. Either way, this conversation with you is pointless, you're seeing what you want to see. The act of putting on black face and mocking black people has been historically proven to be racist. Putting black on your face has not. The second part of the first sentence is the entire point. It's racist because of the mocking and the intent that historically went into it.
Tend to agree. Context is important here. Very few things are inherently anything. Offence is taken and not necessarily always given.

Also, small point but a genuine question, why is 'coloured people' considered offensive, but 'people of colour' is not?
 
You're being either deliberately obtuse or you can't see the difference that I've pointed out to you about 4 times. Either way, this conversation with you is pointless, you're seeing what you want to see. The act of putting on black face and mocking black people has been historically proven to be racist. Putting black on your face has not. The second part of the first sentence is the entire point. It's racist because of the mocking and the intent that historically went into it.

I am not deliberately being obtuse. There is no fine tuned definition or set procedure when it comes to issues like this. The more you try to define it by book, the farther you are from actually addressing the issue.
 
I am not deliberately being obtuse. There is no fine tuned definition or set procedure when it comes to issues like this. The more you try to define it by book, the farther you are from actually addressing the issue.

Sorry but I couldn't disagree more. You're trying to take something at face value, in a knee jerk response with no willingness to explore it further, and no willingness to engage in any kind of dialogue to show that a.) you're right, or that b.) any of the points that I've brought up are incorrect, or not logically sound. If that's the way that you want to live your life then by all means I won't do anything to stop you. I'd rather be a rational person who attempts to see both sides before coming to a conclusion. I'm comfortable with having that mindset.
 
Sorry but I couldn't disagree more. You're trying to take something at face value, in a knee jerk response with no willingness to explore it further, and no willingness to engage in any kind of dialogue to show that a.) you're right, or that b.) any of the points that I've brought up are incorrect, or not logically sound. If that's the way that you want to live your life then by all means I won't do anything to stop you. I'd rather be a rational person who attempts to see both sides before coming to a conclusion. I'm comfortable with having that mindset.

Well..that escalated quickly. Anyways, I don't need to get into a discussion about something that has been historically proven to be racist. And I am more than happy to lean on that side of the argument instead of getting into a philosophical circle jerk discussion about it. Of course you are comfortable with having that mindset regarding this issue, because none of this shit affects you in any way, shape, or form to begin with.
 
Well..that escalated quickly. Anyways, I don't need to get into a discussion about something that has been historically proven to be racist. And I am more than happy to lean on that side of the argument instead of getting into a philosophical circle jerk discussion about it. Of course you are comfortable with having that mindset, because none of this shit affects you in any way, shape, or form.
That's my read too, goes for most of the recent discussion. Somebody claimed that labelling someone as racist is the real issue here, as if a person can't prove they aren't just by their reaction and following actions. It's all very try hard and snowflaky...
 
If you had taken the historic context you wouldn't have so much trouble calling the gesture for what it is. Instead, you choose to circumvent the issue by calling it insensitive, offensive and everything else under the sun.

You're refusing to accept that what is legitimately racist i.e historical use of black face, is not what happened here. There's not much more I can say to you if you won't accept that. If you believe that correlation implies causation then that's up to you but there's literally a saying that goes 'correlation does not imply causation' and it means that just because something looks like something, doesn't mean it is.

When an act has historically been used to a particular effect, it becomes loaded with those associations. It’s not really for you (i.e. not the victim/on the receiving end) to reappropriate it or begin to add qualifiers like ‘intention’ to deem its’ level of offensiveness. I think we start going in to pointless semantics when having to specifically label the nature of this offensiveness and risk insinuating that there’s nothing racially wrong with it.

It’s been acknowledged to death that someone who’s ignorant of these associations may not have been malicious in intent; but if clearly a huge number of black people take issue with it, and the discussion becomes ‘well let’s look at the dictionary definition of racism’ - something is wrong here surely.

I might use the N word with my black mate (I don’t) in private because we’ve that understanding and he knows How I mean it, but if I used out in public and someone got offended it would be pretty absurd for me to stand there and be like ‘hey man he’s my boy yo why you trippping he knows I don’t mean it like that :confused::confused::confused:‘.

Admittedly not the best of examples to articulate my point, but yeah.
 
Not feeling racist when you're wearing blackface does nothing to change how it affects those who see it. Your innermost thoughts don't change the impact blackface has on the people of all racesaround you, or the way it reinforces stereotypes and the idea that blackness is, at best, a joke.
 
It seems that the biggest issue with this, is calling it racist. It simply isn't. Racism has a clearly defined meaning and emulating somebody to the T for the purposes of simply looking like the person you are emulating does not fit any of the criteria of racism and no amount of mental gymnastics that those who are offended can do in order to insinuate that the person intended something that they did not, can change that. It may offend you, and fair enough - you can make a great case for that. It may be insensitive, and fair enough - you can make an argument for that too but none of those things are racism. That doesn't mean it's suddenly okay, but it's important to approach the issue for what it actually is, and not for what you think it is or what you're trying to tell somebody else they mean or have in their head when you have no way of knowing that.
Best post itt.
 
Quick question for the several sensible posters here who have pointed out that until this incident, they had never heard the term "blackface" before. Before yesterday, how many of you would have happily decided to paint your face black for a fancy dress party without asking someone's advice on whether or not it was a good idea, or conducting a quick google search first?

I only ask because I don't think anyone on this thread has condemned him for not being aware of the specific history of "blackface". Most of us have simply said that someone who profits from public exposure and social media, should be more informed and sensible about decisions which will reflect on them in public.

It's 2017. Ignorance is no longer an excuse.

As a person that went disguised as a Pedobear and giving a way candies to kids, I am not the most PC person to ask on that topic :p
 
I have never seen a black person in person growing up, neither do the vast, vast majority of my own countrymen, yet Vietnam, as do most Asian countries, are fecking racist towards people with darker skin colour.

The argument that 'we didn't have them here, so we couldnt be racist' cannot be any further from the truth.


Mmm, Good point. Trying to explain myself better, It was aa dorment racism as it was nobody to be racist towards to, so it was not a seen issue in the society, so it was not a perceived issue, so you can´t make people conscious of a problem if there is none, as well the policies can´t evolve if the problem does not "exist".
 
I never claimed I was representative of the Norwegian population, nor that Norway was the majority of Europe, so I don't know what you're on about.

You erroneously assumed I was American due to me seeing blackface as a negative thing, and I merely pointed out that I'm Norwegian to illustrate that it's not a view exclusive to Americans. In fact, there are probably dozens of people in this very thread who are not American yet still recognize it as something negative.


As for the parade and Balthazar: I've seen a lot of images, which range from a white dude painted brown (demonstrated here by RvN), to a white dude done up as a caricature of a black man. I think the first one is pretty bad, but at least it's not a caricature, and it seems innocent enough. The latter is, regardless of intent, racist as all hell. It's a depiction of black people that goes hand-in-hand with them being portrayed as lazy, dim-witted simpletons. There simply is no defending it, and suggesting it wasn't influenced by said caricatures is a boldfaced lie. And the same goes for Zwarte Piet.


As I said, there are exceptions, You knew the term and the history of blackface. Congrats. Now I know too, congrats to myself. But the vast majority outside th anglosphere, specially in US does not know. And the more people knows, thee better.

Out of curiosity, , Why from that bad make up (I agree in that) you concluded that is a portrayal of being lazy, dimwitted simpletons? I genuinely asking.

It is because it is similar to the blackface issue in US that the ones that they were portrayed like that they were lazy and dimwitted simpleton? because if it is for that case I can tell you that this make up was not inspired for that, or at least no on that context. It was simple bad make up, no second intentions. And that is why I am telling you that till now I would never make the conection of this kind of make up as a lazy, dimwitted simpleton black people steretype because I did not know anything about blackface and what it meant
 
There are two sides to this that will yield distinctly different perspectives. There's the philosophical side that can be debated ad nauseam on social media where anyone can advance the argument that a person's lack of intent is tantamount to not being racist; and there's the practical aspect where anyone who does this sort of thing would almost surely know that it could and would cause offense to various onlookers, and as such, they may decide that good taste should prevail and they shouldn't do it. I'm in the latter camp since its very difficult to do something like this without being guaranteed to not be considered offensive to random bystanders both in real life and on the internet.
 
There are two sides to this that will yield distinctly different perspectives. There's the philosophical side that can be debated ad nauseam on social media where anyone can advance the argument that a person's lack of intent is tantamount to not being racist; and there's the practical aspect where anyone who does this sort of thing would almost surely know that it could and would cause offense to various onlookers, and as such, they may decide that good taste should prevail and they shouldn't do it. I'm in the latter camp since its very difficult to do something like this without being guaranteed to not be considered offensive to random bystanders both in real life and on the internet.

I agree with you, but then we have to look at which level of offensiveness we can or we can´t reach, because if it is none, we better don´t open your mout the rest of your life or one way or another you will offend someone. We all did racist jokes, sexist, homophobic, about aids, cancer, nationalistic, etc...

You have to analize where, when, who and Griezmann being a public figure should know better, specially if he was the one posting the picture. he appologized, the world keep spinning and the thread growing :p
 
As I said, there are exceptions, You knew the term and the history of blackface. Congrats. Now I know too, congrats to myself. But the vast majority outside th anglosphere, specially in US does not know. And the more people knows, thee better.

Out of curiosity, , Why from that bad make up (I agree in that) you concluded that is a portrayal of being lazy, dimwitted simpletons? I genuinely asking.

It is because it is similar to the blackface issue in US that the ones that they were portrayed like that they were lazy and dimwitted simpleton? because if it is for that case I can tell you that this make up was not inspired for that, or at least no on that context. It was simple bad make up, no second intentions. And that is why I am telling you that till now I would never make the conection of this kind of make up as a lazy, dimwitted simpleton black people steretype because I did not know anything about blackface and what it meant
The latter one is clearly influenced by minstrels and caricatures such as this (from Tintin, a very European comic), or this. It's not just lazy or bad, it has a clear origin. Now, I'm not saying the people painted themselves like that to be offensive. It might very well be that they're simply ignorant. Regardless, that's about as racist as it gets when it comes to blackface.

That way of portraying black people was prevalent in Europe well into the 60s and 70s (could even have gone on longer, I'm not sure). Which is why the whole idea that this way of dehumanizing and ridiculing black people is unique to the Anglosphere needs to be put to rest. We Europeans weren't any better, but the comparative lack of black people to push back against our racism allowed us to think we were.
 
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If the act has been historically proven to be racist, what else is there to prove? sure he didn't mean it and has loads of black friends. That doesn't change the fact that it was a racist gesture. All this bollocks about "legitimately racist" is just mental gymnastics and nothing more
Agree completely with what you are saying.

The act has been proven to be historically racist. No amount of justification should be needed to explain why doing it today is still a bad idea.

I might artistically love the swastika. I might like it so much that I get it tattooed on my forearm. The pattern may bring me happiness and joy. In light of this, would I get away with having a swastika tattoo? Absolutely not. In my culture, the swastika is synonymous with racism and I know that by publically portraying it, I am causing harm to others. People would, justifuably, call me racist, even if I try to argue intentions otherwise.

Even if there is a line, why bother crossing it? Why rock the boat? Ignorance is a poor excuse. Let alone in Griezmann's case where he was caricaturing a black person in poor taste. Borderline mockery. What does that remind us of? Oh yeah, that elephant in the room: historical context of... blackface.
 
The latter one is clearly influenced by minstrels and caricatures such as this (from Tintin, a very European comic), or this. It's not just lazy or bad, it has a clear origin. Now, I'm not saying the people painted themselves like that to be offensive. It might very well be that they're simply ignorant. Regardless, that's about as racist as it gets when it comes to blackface.

That way of portraying black people was prevalent in Europe well into the 60s and 70s (could even have gone on longer, I'm not sure). Which is why the whole idea that this way of dehumanizing and ridiculing black people is unique to the Anglosphere needs to be put to rest. We Europeans weren't any better, but the comparative lack of black people to push back against our racism allowed us to think we were.

And I agree 100%. And I have been agreeing with that all along the thread
 
The latter one is clearly influenced by minstrels and caricatures such as this (from Tintin, a very European comic), or this. It's not just lazy or bad, it has a clear origin. Now, I'm not saying the people painted themselves like that to be offensive. It might very well be that they're simply ignorant. Regardless, that's about as racist as it gets when it comes to blackface.

That way of portraying black people was prevalent in Europe well into the 60s and 70s (could even have gone on longer, I'm not sure). Which is why the whole idea that this way of dehumanizing and ridiculing black people is unique to the Anglosphere needs to be put to rest. We Europeans weren't any better, but the comparative lack of black people to push back against our racism allowed us to think we were.

The Black and White Minstrels show was on prime time telly in the UK until 1978.
 
The Black and White Minstrels show was on prime time telly in the UK until 1978.
When I commented on this yesterday someone mentioned the National Slavery Museum in Liverpool and it prompted me to look at their website as i had forgotten this was opened a while ago.

On the site they mention a book I remember reading & loving as a child in the 70's " The story of Little Black S***o" - I have put part of the title in asterisks as it is a word that was used as a term of abuse later on and I don't feel comfortable typing it.

The story itself is absolutely fine but at a key point in time the illustration was amended to portray a grotesque stereotype and that is when the name of the character became a term of abuse.

It is actually a fun story about Tigers in India - something like the three little pigs / jungle book type story. It has since been renamed and re-illustrated and is no problem at all.

When I saw the book cover on the website i had a weird feeling of nostalgia but also repulsion at the illustration. I was a "normal" white kid in the 70's and this book was a treasured story at the time, along with Mr Bump and later Fantastic Mr Fox. So what can appear normal and mundane to you may be a negative portrayal causing pain and enforcing negative stereotypes.

Were my Parents racists for Buying it? - No, they were ignorant of what it meant. But if they insisted that others were "over sensitive" - that it was a good book and tried to get my daughter to read the 70's version....then they would be out of order!
 
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So this was circulating over the weekend at the darts championship final. (This is not the original tweet)

Aside from the intent, I’m wondering if anyone thinks this is racist but Antoine blacking up isn’t?

I would actually give this fella full marks for an accurate costume, hairstyle, even down the red nail polish and pearls - he actually made an effort to look like someone and picked up on all the details.
He’s clearly intentionally mocking her hence the ‘190’ sign, the blackface just makes this racist as well.
He’s not trying to portray an image or stereotype of all black people, but rather trying to portray an individual black person.

He intended to insult her, but he didn’t need the blackface to do that.
 
The latter one is clearly influenced by minstrels and caricatures such as this (from Tintin, a very European comic), or this. It's not just lazy or bad, it has a clear origin. Now, I'm not saying the people painted themselves like that to be offensive. It might very well be that they're simply ignorant. Regardless, that's about as racist as it gets when it comes to blackface.

That way of portraying black people was prevalent in Europe well into the 60s and 70s (could even have gone on longer, I'm not sure). Which is why the whole idea that this way of dehumanizing and ridiculing black people is unique to the Anglosphere needs to be put to rest. We Europeans weren't any better, but the comparative lack of black people to push back against our racism allowed us to think we were.

Such a simple but perfect post. To all the "Europeans" who have said that they can't be racist because they haven't seen black people.

The reason why race is such a big issue. Or sexual harassment has been such a big deal in the last year in the Uk/US is because they are issues that are actually being addressed and recognised. I'm half Nigerian and no one talks about domestic abuse in Nigeria but it dominates the landscape so much that its in our music, films etc but no one actually deals with it so no one says Nigeria has a domestic abuse problem.

Then you have some who talk about some utopian society which doesn't exist. Yeah it's all well and good saying in a ideal world there is no race. But we are not in an ideal world and only someone especially privileged in society would ever even try to suggest otherwise. I've lived my whole life in England, sound as English as anyone, dress well, talk with respect etc but everyday I suffer from some sort of racist incident. From people crossing the road because I'm walking towards them to my friends Making jokes about my hair. Ignoring all this doesn't make a better society and I'm sorry if it means at some point you have been racist but you should probably learn from that rather than ignore it.
 


So this was circulating over the weekend at the darts championship final. (This is not the original tweet)

Aside from the intent, I’m wondering if anyone thinks this is racist but Antoine blacking up isn’t?

I would actually give this fella full marks for an accurate costume, hairstyle, even down the red nail polish and pearls - he actually made an effort to look like someone and picked up on all the details.
He’s clearly intentionally mocking her hence the ‘190’ sign, the blackface just makes this racist as well.
He’s not trying to portray an image or stereotype of all black people, but rather trying to portray an individual black person.

He intended to insult her, but he didn’t need the blackface to do that.

Agree - if he just wore the outfit it would be a funny joke - blackface makes it crass...to quote Spinal Tap..."Its a thin line between stupid and clever"
 
'Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.'
Yeah, that's a bad argument. Nobody is trying to repeat slavery, as far as I know. Seems to me you people just want whites to feel ashamed for absolutely no reason. It's not like whites were the only ones who practiced slavery. If that was the case, then I would have seen some merit to your argument. But in the past virtually every single nation that has ever existed practiced it in one way or another. Africans enslaved other Africans, Arabs enslaved Africans in far crueler ways than Europeans did, European just bought these Africans from Arabs and other Africans. The Chinese, Indians, Persians, etc - everyone enslaved each toher.

Why the feck is the focus only on what white people did? Why don't you people try and put a focus on the problem as a whole instead of the usual "hurr durr evil white people enslaved peaceful Africans! Damn white devils and their crimes against humanity!". Sounds to me this is a form of thinly veiled racism towards white people in general, but hey - that's just me.

Everyone has the same rights these days. A black guy has the same opportunities as a white guy has, if he has the necessary qualities for the job (well, in some cases it appears they even have more rights, due to diversity quotas, I guess). Pushing more and more to the point of trying to make white people feeling guilty of what their ancestors did (what everyone else in history did) doesn't help you at all.
 
Yeah, that's a bad argument. Nobody is trying to repeat slavery, as far as I know. Seems to me you people just want whites to feel ashamed for absolutely no reason. It's not like whites were the only ones who practiced slavery. If that was the case, then I would have seen some merit to your argument. But in the past virtually every single nation that has ever existed practiced it in one way or another. Africans enslaved other Africans, Arabs enslaved Africans in far crueler ways than Europeans did, European just bought these Africans from Arabs and other Africans. The Chinese, Indians, Persians, etc - everyone enslaved each toher.

Why the feck is the focus only on what white people did? Why don't you people try and put a focus on the problem as a whole instead of the usual "hurr durr evil white people enslaved peaceful Africans! Damn white devils and their crimes against humanity!". Sounds to me this is a form of thinly veiled racism towards white people in general, but hey - that's just me.

Everyone has the same rights these days. A black guy has the same opportunities as a white guy has, if he has the necessary qualities for the job (well, in some cases it appears they even have more rights, due to diversity quotas, I guess). Pushing more and more to the point of trying to make white people feeling guilty of what their ancestors did (what everyone else in history did) doesn't help you at all.

It doesn't have to necessarily be guilt but more recognising mistakes from the past and being wary of repeating them. It's not as if racism being acceptable is some distant thing of the past either - in the US especially, you only have to go back a few decades to find a time when it was perfectly acceptable to discriminate against minorities. Plenty of people from that time period are still alive now. Similarly, other examples of racism have been highlighted in this thread - people may be afforded equal rights now thankfully, but that doesn't mean that racism has completely vanished, or that minorities aren't discriminated against at all.

Again, look at the US - the current actual President believed that Obama wasn't born in America purely because of his race; he's currently the most powerful political figure in probably the world's most influential nation. And it's hardly the only controversial thing he's said when it comes to race, even if he'll try to disguise his prejudices.
 
Seems to me you people just want whites to feel ashamed for absolutely no reason.
...and here we go, the crux of the problem (as I suspected). You and others are arguing because you feel that you are being blamed for something. You're inventing positions and arguing against them, rewriting history and exaggerating and playing down different things all in some misguided attempt to absolve yourself of something that is in your own head.

I can't speak for others but I'm not blaming anyone in this thread for things they haven't done and I haven't seen anyone else doing this, so maybe you should ask yourself why you feel this way? I can't tell you because I can't relate to your position just like you can't relate to mine (minority/majority, history's, life experience, etc), but self reflection is always a good thing.

As for the rest of your post.... I'm not even going to engage.
 
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