Race and work in general(long and boring)

[grstup]

This is a very long one, be warned.
I really hate it when there is a inappropriate pulling ofthe race card. I really do.(I thought I should add ,I am from a minority group, not sure why it should matter but I know it would ,just wanted to say anyway) Why do people do this. Don't you realise you make other black/minority groups suffer when you do this.
Also if you dare speak up and say, that is an inappropriate use of the race card you immediately get shouted down.
So now no one from a minority group can be criticised? Is that right? Are you sure you wanted to be treated as equals? Or are you just taking advantage of the situation?
If you are so angry/disappointed you can't be a better person perhaps you should look for a way to improve yourself insted of putting the blame on other people.

I have always had a suspition that those people who want to get somewhere in life will keep trying pushing for greater things in life, to try and find a way to better themslves. A good education, finding a good job,having good business sense. They will get knocked back (same as everyone) pick themselves up and then try again. If they find a clear incident of discrimination they will deal with it in the best way that they can, by reporting it to management, or to a relevant standards agency etc.

They will not use it as an excuse to gain a free service or shout it at the customer service representative.Sitting in a cab and trying to cheat the driver when he asks you for payment for his services is not racism, nor is denying you that discount that you were not entitled to anyway. Infact behaving unreasonably and then attempting to escape taking responsibilty for your actions by claiming you are being discriminated against isn't one of them.

Let's look at where this so called discrimination is.
If you want to set up a business and never actually invest any of your money back into expanding your buiness, it won't grow and infact will probably fail. When other people are starting up a business, do you see them buying a brand new car, or designer clothes? No, I bet you see them poor, buying clothes from the charity shop. Walking past expensive resturants like they don't exsist unless they have a client they want to impress. I bet they don't wake up in the morning and say, "hmm, how can I get my friends to think I am much better than them?" they are probably thinking "hmm, I have been working on my business plan solid for 3 weeks now. Maybe I should call my best freind Juile and catch up on her news."You can't look at rich sucessful people on the tv and think i would love to be like them. Most of them, even though they claim to be poor are well connected.
What you want to do instead is think what can I acomplish if I put my head to it? Can I retrain for a job that might not promise to make me a millionare overnight with a minimum of effort but will give me a reasonable income so I can live in a nicer area and send my children to a better school?

Try not to think how can I be like Paris Hilton but instead how can I improve my situation?
Do you want to know why overnight sucess stories are such a marvel? Prizes for whoever gets it, yes, it's because it doesn't happen very often.

[Boozy]

This is a very long one, be warned.
I really hate it when there is a inappropriate pulling ofthe race card. I really do.(I thought I should add ,I am from a minority group, not sure why it should matter but I know it would ,just wanted to say anyway)

In regards to this kind of topic, I think the fact that your a minority matters. As a white person, I've always felt a little uncomfortable disagreeing with someone who declares a situation racist even when I don't see how racism could be involved. I've always said to myself, "Well, how would *I* know? I've never been at the the receiving end of racism. I may not be able to recognize it in its more subtle forms." So its nice to get your point of view.

I definitely agree with you that the inappropriate pulling of the race card is detrimental to everyone. Everyone knows the story of the "boy who cried wolf". I'd hate to think that actual racism could be be ignored because of situations like that.

I also agree with you that its detrimental to an individual to blame racism or general social trends for failure. I think that racism is a definite hurdle in many ways, but the second someone says, "It's impossible, I'll never get ahead, why even try?" then they're guaranteed to fail.

I just saw "The Pursuit of Happyness". Its based on a true story, and its not about racism (although the protagonist is black). Its about a man who doesn't take no for an answer, and doesn't let obstacles discourage him. I'm not much of a sap for movies, but even I found it inspirational. I figure, if he can become a success after all of that, what's MY excuse? I highly recommend it.

[protege]

Racism will never end, as long as people (of *any* group) continue to play the race card.

Before I go on, let me just say that I have *nothing* against minorities. Most of them are decent, hard-working folks. However, they sometimes get tossed into the group, which I'll call *scum* that doesn't do jack shit, except get into trouble. This "scum" is actually a *very* small percentage. However small, the things they do make the entire group look bad. It's unfortunate.

Lately though, the scum has become an issue out in the 'burbs,' simply because of the crap that they do.

For example, there's an apartment complex (Green Gables) just over the hill from me. Recently, they started accepting Section 8 tenants. Now I have no problem with people trying to provide a place to live for their families. However, within a few months of that, it was no wonder people started calling the place "Green Ghettos." Why? Well, the dozen or so drug busts, plus the prostitution ring didn't help matters--that complex ended up not only losing tenants, but their Section 8 status as well. As if that wasn't enough, the county was trying to buy up some homes for their HUD program...and those sales then got blocked. Long term residents were simply afraid of that happening in their neighborhood, and leaned on borough councils to block the sales.

Again, it's unfortunate because some of those people were just trying to take care of their families, and had nothing to do with this. They were squeezed out because of the scum. Now *that* truly sucks!
===========

Then there's one thing that bugs me. Why is it that whenever a racist comment gets uttered about a minority, it's front page news...but if it happens against a white person, nobody cares? Are we exempt from racism? Sorry, but that's not right. Racism is wrong no matter *who* it's against. As long as this kind of double standard exists, racism won't vanish either.

[AFPheonix]

It's an opposite swing in the pendulum. You have to remember, that institutionalized racism against blacks was still in place as late as 1964. That wasn't all that long ago.
Unfortunately, it's just going to take time for people to get over themselves. Thankfully, each new generation that comes up is gradually more colorblind (although it's human nature to find something else about people to pick on. We're like freaking turkey chicks, I swear)

[Rubystars]

I've been singing that song from the Pirates 3 movie Hoist the colors. I realized that someone who hadn't seen that movie could mis-hear it and go complain.

I hate to get a certain minority as customers, not because they're all that way, but just because they, as a group, tend to play the race card constantly and demand a bunch of things they're not entitled to.

I have to walk on eggshells with these minorities and try to give them the best of everything lest I be accused of racism, and sometimes it still doesn't work.

They are almost always the ones to bitch and complain when I check their money for counterfeit, ask their ID for any reason, ask if I need to scan something or if they brought it in with them, have to turn them away from a register for any reason, etc.

They often demand to have exceptions made for them regarding policies that everyone else has to follow too.

I can understand getting upset over actual racism, I'm not fond of that either. The level of paranoia is crazy though!