[Harry Lavo]

"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
oups.com...

Harry Lavo wrote:
"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message

It's funny, the last job I had where I was in a position to hire
people I hired five people. Two were black-and I mean BLACK, one was
from the Caribbean and was -literally- BLACK, the shade of the inside
of a rollfilm camera, the other half Nigerian and half American black
from Mississippi-and one Native Alaskan Indian female (who did not
advertise the fact but whom I knew from an associate to be a lesbian.)
You know, I hired them because they were intelligent, personable,
individuals with solid records and they all turned out to be above
average employees.

Try though I might, I am a lousy bigot, What do you suggest I do to
improve my dismal record of lack of racial loyalty?? I just keep hiring
good people no matter what. (I did, however, turn down dozens of garden
variety ghetto dwellers, as well as a bunch of solid white peckerwoods
who were probably of impeccable white pedigree but were not too
impressive interviewees.)

That suggests perhaps that you are a good judge of character one-on-one
perhaps, or that these folks mimiced or had whie middle-class manners and
moreys. But it doesn't excuse your stereotyping or lack of understanding
about how culture, the physical envirnoment, family history, the
political
system, and lack of quality early education can conspire to perpetuate
problems. Society can intervene and help considerable. Instead
attaching
stereotypes and moral deficiency to large segments of the population
simply
helps justify inattention and neglect.. And when it is tied to race and
ethnicity, as it seems to be with you and Scott, its called "racism".

I agree that proper early education, environment, and the general
gestalt around an individual can make a substantial difference in the
life of that individual-to himself and the other people around him. But
if we refuse to see the forest because all the trees are individuals
and we repudiate forestism, we will wind up destroying the forest and
all the trees in it.

If a "racist' is a person that hates individuals of other races and
wishes ill on them soley because of their race, I am not a racist. I
want the best quality of life for Whites and also for Blacks, Asians
and partly or wholly indigenous American peoples. That means
acknowledging there are such things-that each Japanese is an
individual, but also a Japanese, and that Japanese share many
characteristics that separate Japanese somewhat from Chinese and much
more from Afircans and Europeans. And so it is with other groups.
Swedes differ from Finns-ask Linus Torvalds, a ethnic Swede from
Finland-but they are more similar than Swedes are to Albanians. Not
only in physical characteristics but in personality, in aptitudes. Now
if THAT is your definition of a racist, then yes-I am a racist.

One can recognize group differences and proclivities without being a racist,
so long as their social policy decisions are not based on the assumption
that all members of the group share that proclivity, or is based on the
assumption that that group is morally deficient and doesn't deserve help or
opportunity.


I submit most liberal whites, and ALMOST EVERY SINGLE Black and
Mexican is a racist by that definition too. Bizarrely, whites are the
least racially conscious groop there is, and more ironically it's
"conservative' whites that are the biggest race deniers.

The key word here is "conscious". Since whites have all the advantages,
unless thrust into a mixed environment (manual labor, some colleges, the
military, Americorp or the Peace Corps) most whites don't even have to thing
about racial issues, and may think in their naivete that the could not
possibly be racist. Then they can become politicians and promote extremely
damaging positions and policies (in racial terms) smug in their naivete.


I know because I was one. For a long time. But logic eventually broke
me.

I went hard, though.

If you can set aside your extreme prejudices for long enough to read a
book, I recommend two: "Race and Reason" by former Delta Airlines CEO
Carleton Putnam, and "Defensive Racism" by Edgar L. Steele. I don't ask
you agree with every single thing in both-I don't-or you indeed even
agree with anything in either. But you should be honest enough to be
willing to look at how the other half thinks.

I have been all my life....thanks for the references. But even though I
expose myself to how the other half thinks, so far I have not been persuaded
away from my core beliefs.