JohnnyNightrain wrote:It is absolutely mind-blowningly insane how many racist people post on a basketball message board.
It's mind-blowing how quickly someone on a message board will call someone with a different ideological POV a racist. When slavery ended I don't think is up for debate but the poster may just be mistaken as it happened long before any of us were born (and some of us were born in nations with no history of slavery).
I am not white and yet I don't really believe in "institutional racism". I do believe there are still quite a few racists who tend to give better treatment to their "tribe" than other "tribes" but I don't believe these things are really codified in law. If you keep looking for the racism in institutions it'll be the proverbial search for the boogeyman - all you're going to find is some people of varying degrees of racism who rose to certain levels of power in certain situations. I don't think it is nearly as pervasive as many believe but "tribalism" to some degree is hard-wired into all of us (blacks, whites, browns, asians).
I think the big problem generating problems in America is lack of opportunity for those with impoverished backgrounds and that includes poor white people who actually out-number poor black people and poor Latino people. The USA tends to be a "cream rise to the top" kind of nation that doesn't tend to help out those of any color who are born in abject poverty. Successful black people tend to have successful black kids. Successful brown people tend to have successful kids. Successful Asian people tend to have successful kids. Successful white people tend to have successful kids. I don't think people mind this so much as they mind those born to impoverished backgrounds facing quite a difficult journey to reach "middle class" status.
To switch things up would be to pursue something more socialist in nature but the American citizens voted against that when they had the chance with Sanders running neck and neck with Clinton early on in the primaries. I think switching the attention from fighting racism to creating low-crime neighbourhoods with quality healthcare and education systems that make it easier for people to rise out of poverty would be much more beneficial to everyone without alienating and dividing us all into our tribes.
Anyhow just my thoughts on the matter as a non-citizen but frequent visitor of your nation who is neither black nor white.