Straight White Guy in SF.....I"m a minority!!

[AH]

i think there probably should be an economic component to AA, at least to a certain extent. the white kids at my inner city middle school with a collapsed roof certainly didn't have the same opportunities as the white kids at my suburban top 200 public high school in the neighboring town. but you can change your economic status. you can't change your race. which is why at a certain point, race based AA is more suitable to correcting some equalities than sheer socioeconomic policies would be. there should be room in the discourse to discuss how much of each is neccessary. to say that neither is is to be as dumb a fucker as William Graham Sumner.

scott (as usual) speaks the truth.  however, I would also like to point out an oft-quoted saying from my Law and Poverty seminar (best class ever, if your LS offers it, TAKE IT), the best indicator of being poor is if you are born poor.  YES you can def. get out, but it is ridiculously hard.  Think propety law and how it kept out AAs (yes a racial example, but it works for this as well). 

A lot of continued poverty for URMs who are poor comes from being kept from money-making ventures like real estate.  I was just thinking of this today because my family doesn't own a house and there is no way in hell anyone has an inhertience anywhere to give me. 

So, I am not saying it is the be all and end all, but income definitely has a huge impact on how far you will go in life and/or how much you have to overcome.

[AH]

I hope that racism becomes so rare that it can happen very soon.

Judging solely on my experiences in HI and NC, though, I don't have a lot of hope.

[AH]

That is true!

But why would the oppressors want to change the status quo?

[AH]

true scott, but wit my reflections of the future I think about how much harder it will be to by a house of my own, when I will have about (at least) $150k of debt, compared with people whose parents paid for their UG or even UG and LS

likewise, quality of education affects the college you get into affects the ls you get into affects where you work, so there could be problems there as well.

i am so glad we are having a civil discussion, btw! 

[LongShot]

One positive thing I can say....

I have worked with a lot of younger people.  Racism seems to be far less of a problem for them than my generation.  Perhaps as society has mixed more thoroughly, (especially here in California) people have ceased to see things as black/white.  As so many marriages between races and genetic mixing of so many different cultures, there's just too many colors now to be able to differentiate who's what. 

And it just becomes too much work to separate people out by color. You would need like 80 different categories. 

Then maybe over time we can face the real issues.....I'm hoping that actual skin color isn't the focus, because it shouldn't be.   

 

[florentino ariza]

i think a part of it is just general fear of the other, exploited by people who view it as a way to promote their own interests. i mean, 100 years ago look at the ethnic discrimination faced by the italians, irish, and others in America. it wasn't as bad as african americans faced, but it certainly was a serious problem with society.

[Mr. Incredible]

i'm a straight white male, and you better believe i won God's lottery when i was born. i'm just not a whiney prick who can't do things on my own.

Straight? Are you sure there chap? The other night you were talkin' about how much you wanted to suck some cock. Is that why you erased your profile and started over as a straight bloke?

[florentino ariza]

girls are hotter.

heteroflex is still hetero.

[Mr. Incredible]

girls are hotter.

heteroflex is still hetero.

OK. In my day we called it Bi-sexual. I guess this is the new hip lingo. Or is there a subtlety I am not aware of?


PS. are you the artist formally known as skaiserbrown?

[florentino ariza]

yes. the same, except with aspartamen instead of drama.

and no, bi-sexual still exists. heteroflexible is more being straight without sealing off the idea of hooking up with a guy. most likely after a lot of brews and a long drought.