Chris Rock craps on Al Sharpton. Surely folks like that, right? :lol2:

Raises hand. :wave:

Great interview.

 

When Obama was running for president, a certain kind of white person would routinely tell reporters, “He’s just not one of us.” Few reporters want to push that person to the wall and say, “What do you mean he’s not like you, unless you’re talking about the fact that he’s African-American?” Where else besides Ferguson would you hypothetically want to interview white people?

I’d love to do some liberal places, because you can be in the most liberal places and there’s no black people.

I assume one such place is Hollywood.

I don’t think I’ve had any meetings with black film execs. Maybe one. It is what it is. As I told Bill Murray, Lost in Translation is a black movie: That’s what it feels like to be black and rich. Not in the sense that people are being mean to you. Bill Murray’s in Tokyo, and it’s just weird. He seems kind of isolated. He’s always around Japanese people. Look at me right now.

We’re sitting on the 35th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel overlooking Central Park.

And there’s only really one black person here who’s not working. Bill Murray in Lost in Translation is what Bryant Gumbel experiences every day. Or Al Roker. Rich black guys. It’s a little off.

But the thing is, we treat racism in this country like it’s a style that America went through. Like flared legs and lava lamps. Oh, that crazy thing we did. We were hanging black people. We treat it like a fad instead of a disease that eradicates millions of people. You’ve got to get it at a lab, and study it, and see its origins, and see what it’s immune to and what breaks it down.

Have not read the whole thing, but I think as long as we continue to admit that there is an inequality, there will be. Racism will exist forever, no question about it. But as long as we continue to bring up inequality and admit there is a difference, there will be a difference.

 

Do you think the activists in the 50s and 60s were wrong to agitate against what they considered inequality?

See, I don't agree white people are the majority of the racism problem. When my son was dating a black woman, most of the racist comments came from the black community, not the white. They were far less accepted by blacks as a couple. Sure, there were plenty of racists whites too, but the majority of issues came from the side I didn't expect it to.

 

I wonder if the majority of the comments came from the black community due to our society for some reason be more accepting or less offended by black racist comments than white? In other words, the whites bit their tongue for fear or being called out but the blacks had nothing to worry about with their comments?

 

Many years ago as a kid I thought inter racial dating was awkward. After growing older an I hope wiser, I know find it awkward that people still have a problem with it.

Because of that there is likely no sure solution to creating 'equal' race relations. But I think we can improve them by cooling down the acknowledgement of the situation.

 

I think the only way that it could truly ever be "solved" is that both sides own up to their involvement in the issue, acknowledge it, and work together to move past it.

 

The likelihood of that happening isn't very good, unfortunately.

Do you think the activists in the 50s and 60s were wrong to agitate against what they considered inequality?

 

Not really, because I think in that time inequality was much worse than today (for example, interracial marriages were heavily looked down upon whereas today they are more widely accepted).

 

I think MLK [obviously] did it best: peacefully protest.

No. They have none at all. I think it's preposterous that anyone even suggest they do.

 

 

Since some of my sarcasm has been lost on people over the past week (or I've not been too good with people getting some of my jokes before things got out of hand), I'll go ahead and attach a #Sarcasm :jimlad: tag to this one.

Elect me POTUS and I'll figure something out. I promise.

 

#disregardmyskeletons

That plays a large role into it. Now how do white people make most blacks understand that everything that goes their way isn't because of race?

 

 

That's the million dollar question.

That is the Million Dollar Question I agree, but Blacks will never listen to Whites on this subject, that change has to come from within the black community. The is no way I can tell a Black person how they should feel or react to a situation.

I think Rock makes some really good points. Definitely makes you look at it differently.

To improve things, black people need to stop assuming that everything that doesn't go their way is because of their race. They also need not assume that every white person is racist.

 

Other than that, it's pretty much up to white people to change it, IMO.

 

What do white people need to do?

Elect me POTUS and I'll figure something out. I promise.

 

School lunches would be a lot better.

What do white people need to do?

 

Stop being racist for starters. :lol2:

 

Racism is learned. Babies aren't born being racist, so when white people hear others teaching racist habits, they need to call them on it. Correct each other in public when something racist is said, instead of sweeping it under the rug because there are no black people around. I really feel like self-policing would be a HUGE help in fixing this issue. Make it embarrassing for someone to be racist or make racist comments. People make those comments because they are comfortable, make it uncomfortable. Don't ask your sons and daughters if their boyfriends/girlfriends are white or black. It doesn't matter. (Black people can do the same on this one.) Don't worry about what your racist friends have to say about how you live your life, or what your kids are doing...

Guess who just joined the party? :lol2:

 

Our country's race history is ugly no doubt. Resentment is understandable, especially if current behaviors indicate that some have not learned.

 

It would be nice that all could get better with the snap of a finger, but obviously it's not going to happen that way.

 

It would also be nice if people today would quit having to take the blame for the bad behavior of our ancestors. I've never in my life wanted things to be as they were in the past, but I can only apologize for them so much. It's not my fault. I do my best in the present just to live in the moment and to be as respectful to others as I can, and take each person as they come no matter the color.

 

It takes a collective, both white and black to completely come around, but sadly that is idealistic and probably impossible.

 

It's hard to get humanity on the same page on just about anything. Getting them on the same page about race is no different.

 

I'm not too thrilled when I know that I've personally made great efforts my whole life to extend a hand, and it gets pushed away. That's not to say my hand hasn't been taken either at times, so some have played fair, and some have not.

 

I could walk through a black neighborhood with all good intentions, but that doesn't mean that everyone that I encounter will pay me that same respect, and have all good intentions in return. Me being white at times is all that I am guilty of.

 

I could still be the nicest and most accepting white guy in the world and still be mistreated just because I am white, which means I have to have the good sense in knowing that just because I mean no harm, I'd still be dumb as hell to chance it on a regular basis.

 

As I had mentioned in another post when I was a kid I was surrounded by a large group of black kids who beat the hell out of me for no reason and when one of the kids didn't want to punch me, the bigger kid (who had repetitively punched me in the face) threatened him that he'd tell his dad on him that he didn't beat up the white kid. That freaked me out and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was as if all these kids were raised to seek out white kids to beat up. But like I had said in that post I was also surrounded as a kid by whole groups of white kids and beaten the hell out of too so I certainly got a diverse example that hatred and bad behavior can come from just about anywhere, and that one race didn't hold the crown.

 

I'm not too thrilled either when some white folks say negative things to me about blacks assuming that I'm in agreement with them. I've seen all too often white folks be the most pathetic examples of humans that I've ever encountered. No race holds a monopoly on being pathetic. I have to have the sense too when around some whites that I could encounter trouble merely because I don't share their same sense of hatred and backward behavior.

 

That's not saying all white folks are bad either as I've encountered many who don't have a prejudice bone in their body, but I am tired of the image of the white culture being destroyed by the stupid white people that seem to want to represent all white people as idiots.

 

In my workplace I've worked with a whole diverse group of people from many races, and within that microcosm of educated professionals, I nary see any issue at all most of the time.

 

To be perfectly honest when I have seen examples of race issues on the job it was typically one or two blacks that knee-jerkingly were hyper sensitive and would use race as an excuse if something didn't sit well with them and typically it was either a result of their upbringing, and at times just an obvious cop out when trying to defend perhaps their own undesirable behavior depending on circumstances. It's as if they'd sometimes keep that argument in their back pocket and pull it out when convenient. There's one black man in particular that I remember who in general was a very nice guy, and I worked side by side with him on a regular basis and chatted with him about everything imaginable but it was ever so apparent that the one thing that he could not get past about me was that I was white. There was a limit to how much he was going to respect me, and even though I gave him 1000 % respect, it was so disturbingly obvious that me being white was the deal breaker. Sad.

 

No race there held any monopoly on slacking on the job as I saw it time and again from many people white, black or whatever. I must say that typically the most reliable and dependable employees were Asian or handicap people of any race, and I indeed did see great dependable people, white, black, males, females, young and old.

 

Life has shown me time and again that it's most definitely not about color. It's about character and upbringing. Anyone with any sense knows this. Our country is made up of all walks of life and it will continue to be. Many will grow, many will not. No one person can save us all from stupidity, but each and everyone of us is responsible for how we conduct ourselves. All we can hope is that more and more people wake the hell up, live in the present, get over the past, pay each other with mutual respect and just hope that the personal effort they make eventually outweighs the lack of effort from those too stupid to do so.

 

I can't say if it's ever going to get better, but all I can do is hope, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who does have hope. Humanity is such a big monster to tackle and in some ways it would appear that were just a cancer too far gone to save, but I still won't lose faith that just as it constantly sways this way or that way, that maybe, just maybe years from now we can all look back as one big diverse culture and shake our heads in disbelief at those awful times in our past that people were ate up with ignorance.

 

It's not perfect now and not by a long shot, but I do believe it's much better than it once was, so hopefully years from now we can again see where great strides have been made to again be able to say "It's much better now than it once was". We're either going to be viewed by future generations as people who made great efforts, or were going to be viewed as people who sadly dropped the ball.

 

Each and everyone of us white and black have to take personal responsibility to write our history in an effort to make it better for the future.

TL;DR