Originally posted by Neubob
Leadpig,
But do you honestly think that 'black leaders' such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are helping the situation?
Seems to me that having 'black leaders' at all, flies in the face of achieving real equality, because so long as you have leaders whose main defining characteristic is their skin color, their cause will never be taken seriously, and their words and intentions will always remain suspect. Martin Luther King was the great exception, of course, and his shoes have yet to be filled. And yet I think that today, a white man could fill those shoes just the same.
Those who seek colorblindness should lead by example, rather than demand colorblindness while sticking to their guns and nurturing their, dare I say, race-based interest groups such as the NAACP.
Do you not agree?
I don't think they are nessecarily helping the situation. Especially when they go around screaming racism, it seems, at everything that is happening. I think there are situations today of racism, (which is why programs like affirmative action exist, to even the playing field) to say anything else is foolhardy, and i think they are needed for those situations. To say racism doesn't exist and America is completely back to normal after slavery and the ensuing racism after it, is ludicrous. I see a bunch of white guys running around today, speaking of something of which they know nothing about, so i wish they would just shut up. But to run around saying everthing is racism in the other direction is quite ludicrous as well and i don't believe in that either.
However i see more instances of racism against different groups, cultures and races today and i wish they would fight for them as well. I have also seen, some instances, by some very radical black groups of racism against whites, which i think is even more scary. I think to myself, "do we really wanna go through that again?"
America is still not back together after it's racist past. And i think organizations such as the NAACP and the ALCU are good fighters in that regime. I do however believe that their power is being abused wrongly, other than what should be there're basic function of, "Help everyone that is abused and in need of equal treatment."
I still think they are nessecary. When situations such as the man from Vidor, Texas, not too far from where i live actually, are dragged behind a truck for two miles, to the point where his head, arms and torso are dismembered. I think organizations such as the NAACP and the ALCU are needed for that, but nothing more, they are being over used i feel.The goal is equality not, equality taken and given back the other way.
Do these organizations need to go away? Yes. But untill no one is dragged behind a truck or anything else happens for racial reasons i don't think they should. There in you have the question, are they supporting racism or fighting it. However when they respond to events like the one i just mentioned and others like it, no. The racism existed, something happened, and they responded to it. They shouldn't go around, having an alleged racist event, and then have everybody show up for it. That's my point people are getting overzealous i think and they are getting abused. Hence, you have the suspicion and disbelief i hear in the voices of people in this forum, who believe they are abusing their power, that's because they are.
Al Sharpton i don't know much about him. But Jesse Jackson i respect. I respect him, because he was in thick of the civil rights movement when it wasn't popular in the terrible 50' and 60's. When a man could get shot for doing what he was doing, get hung, his house blown up, his family killed. He marched alongside Martin Luther King when a car backfiring would cause them both to duck in fear. He was also there when there was no money in it, and it was not profitable financially to them. I don't know what's going on with him now, but those things i mentioned above tells me his heart was and most likely still is in the right place.
