that counteracts the racist garbage that FOX is dumping into our society. We will be losing John Stewart who has been calling them on their racism so we need a new alternative. The station could be like Media Matters, that points out the lies circulating in out society through FOX, radio, and internet. There is a steady diet of hate that people are getting lost in and most media tolerates it - they never even comment on the absurdity of it - other than Rachel.

Even pirate radio and pirate tv stations, locally too. Some friend of mine did a pirate radio station in Santa Fe and it rocked. We were eventually shut down but it totally kicked ass. We played whatever music we wanted and we had poets and interviews and guest speakers. We even had some offers from some other people in New Mexico to incorporate into a bigger station. Alas, my friends moved to Brooklyn and gave the radio equipment back to another friend. But I'm totally interested in starting up something like that again and am going to talk with some people locally about that possibility.

Thank you for that great suggestion.

There ARE tangible things the government can do with respect to racism. It can't, of course, change people's hearts. But it can address institutional racism, monitor domestic terrorist groups, address the laws with respect to prosecuting race-related hate crimes, initiate gun control measures, address inequalities in the justice system, deal with police brutality issues, etc.

As individuals we can look into our hearts, but that won't stop the racists. As citizens, we need to do whatever we can to ensconce anti-racist policies into law.

As liberals, we believe in the power of government. It can't do everything, but it can help.

Become government representatives.

Citizen involvement!

Thank you.

A good way to see how much progress is being made is to compare how racist your grandfather and his friends are/were to how racist your children and their friends are.

So true.

Thanks Nye Bevan!

But not all will. People love to pass their tribal hatreds down generation to generation. See Shi'a v. Sunni, for the last thousand years.

People of color suffer disproportionately from the economic injustices that face most all of us. Economic injustice produces despair and desperation, which in turn produce high rates of violence and drug use/trafficking. The latter also gives rise to violence, which again disproportionately affects people of color. Economic justice helps everyone, but it helps racial minorities just that much more.

No doubt. Very important!

Most definitely!

Spread the word. Work for economic justice.

Thank you Lizzie Poppet.

Teach younger people not to be racist, to respect everyone and to not judge based on other people's skin colors, ethnic origin, religion, etc. Dylann was obviously a young guy, but unlike a majority of the younger generation, he was warped by KKK rhetoric and desired a bloody race war that so many assholes and racists want.

Teach people about racism.

Teach people to not be racist.

Support groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center who teach tolerance.

Thank you romanic.

I'm in a very rural area. Lots of racism. I've broken up with a casual boyfriend over racist pejoratives and kicked people out of my apartment I will not put up with it for two seconds.

This is what it takes. Confront racism wherever you see or hear it.

No matter what color, we should never be afraid to speak out against injustice...

So true Quayblue. That rhymes, lol. Welcome to DU by the way. I hope you enjoy it here. I'd love to see you and many others keep contributing here. Always speak out!

And thank you for the welcome. I participate on and off because I get so angry sometimes, but I see good folks like you and that's why I always come back.

I come back for the good folks here too.

There's a lot of good ones.

If you haven't had a chance to read some other groups and forums here, check them out.

You'll find some of your favorites after reading or posting in them.

Call racism out whenever you see it. No matter where you live. No matter who you are with.

If you see some jackass like this punk kid who shot people in Charleston wearing a jacket with patches ask him what the patches are. If he proudly tells you they are for the past racist white supremacist apartheid government in South Africa, question him. Don't let it slide. I will leave it to the reader how you may want to handle it.

Thanks jen63. Call it out whoever you see it. Great idea.

Great points jen63. Do not tolerate casual or overt racism. Kick that shit out of your place. Don't allow shit where you eat. (Sorry if that sounds crude, lol).

Thank you everyone.

Hold police accountable for racially motivated killings of innocent Americans.

I'm inspired by those suggestions.

Good ones J.J.

to quote Richard Feynman. Racism is the metaphorical original sin of the United States. Lincoln's "forgive and reunite" policy was profoundly misguided and Reconstruction was ended decades too soon after a tepid and half-hearted effort at changing the social structure of the defeated south.

The only examples in history that are even vaguely relevant are offered by the post-WW II era. Germany and Japan were made to face the evil and the consequences of their actions. Societal attitudes were changed - albeit at the point of a howitzer during the occupation, but the change took root. Japan and Germany have been respectable members of the "family of nations" for more than 65 years now and show no signs of being anything else in the years to come. The lessons were internalized in a way that was never even tried in the US. The most rabid racists in this country might have been given the same treatment and seen the light but that horse left the barn 150 years ago. Their untrustworthiness and underlying evil were illustrated by the south's imposition of Jim Crow as soon as the Union troops left. They were never made to face and own their evil, unlike the Germans and the Japanese.

It is very hard, if not impossible, to uproot deep-seated antipathies in large number of people, particularly when those people are often possessed of fairly low-level critical thinking skills if they have them at all. Racism in the US seems now to be a tribal thing, and its most virulent form is no longer confined to one area of the country as it was in the Civil War and antebellum eras. Possibly expressions of racist thought can be more vigorously condemned in public, yet how does that address the "between the lines" racism spouted by the right-wing media?

There are no easy answers, and there may be no answers at all. New laws aren't the answer, because the enactment of a law does nothing to change the deep-seated, tribal animosities passed from generation to generation. The passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts surely prove that.

So I wind up back with Feynman. I don't know.

I appreciate very much what you're saying here.

I too don't know.

And like you and Richard Feynman I am not afraid to say I don't know. Wow, I'm in good company there.

I urge everyone to read this great post!

we insisted on unconditional surrender.

We must insist on unconditional surrender from anyone who continues practicing racism and bigotry.

seem to think we have a right to be ignorant more than a right to be enlightened .
EDUCATION SHOULD BE FREE .

Absolutely olddots!

That's a good one!

If anyone can share any stories about freely educating people around them, that would be excellent.

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

-Robert Kennedy

A truly great and sensitive man.

Yes, every little ripple sends out more ripples.

Thank you DemocratSinceBirth.

To all reading: what are you doing to send out ripples of hope, to act to improve the lot of others?

His duality is what I find most remarkable about him...


As I say, ad nauseum and ad infinitum, my heroes in junior high school were the martyred Kennedy brothers, Dr. King, and Muhammad Ali and they still are now.

ring true today.

I k & r'd it for bobby's speech.

Ruthless against racism is a good thing.

Ruthless for love for our sisters and brothers, white or black or yellow or red or gay or straight or trans is a good thing.

I love this RFK quote.

Nt

at every level across the board. Local, city councils, school boards, state offices, district attorneys, judges, the house, the senate, the presidency. Every single level!!

Thank you realFedUp.

By replacing the half of it that pretends racism is a thing of the past because BLACK PRESIDENT! and proceeds to gut the voting rights act and gift mostly white rich folks with the Citizens United ruling. They stink.

That is critical.

Let the racists on the Supreme Court fade off into oblivion. Get a Supreme Court full of compassion for our brothers and sisters. Preserve and strengthen the Voting Right Act. Overton Citizens United.

Thank you for bringing it up moondust.

The best thing was posted here a few weeks back by napkinz, so I am going to post it again...

The man in the mirror. The woman in the mirror. You are absolutely right Behind the Aegis. It starts with each one of us.

Learn history. Read books. Amazon has a great section on popular black history books. Read them. Watch movies like Selma, Malcolm X, documentaries like Eyes on the Prize, The Black Panther Mixtape, Chisholm: Unbought and Unbound. Learn.

So true, listen. Read. Don't claim to know better about what a black person feels about racism. Listen to them and do not diminish their experiences by claiming you know better.

Thank you for reposting that brilliant (and funny) video that napkinz posted a while back!

Please, everyone. Watch this video. It's hilarious and right on.

Get involved with the Southern Poverty Law Center here:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-involved

Talk with people from other places via skype and google hangout. Ask them about their experiences and share the ones in your town or state or country.

Participate in local group meetings. Just go and listen.

It's one of the best groups here at DU.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1187

Participate if you'd like. Read the group rules first.

So many members of that group I check in to read every day. I don't always comment but always think on something I read there.

Reject the narcissism currently dominating our culture.

We live in our own little bubbles relating only to those we believe think like us or use the same language as us.

We believe that 'friends' on Facebook are really friends.

We believe that 140 character Tweets are meaningful dialogue. And that cutesy graphics off of Facebook are going to stop racism because we used the word 'privilege' x number of times.

We use language that is alienating, contentious, and generalizing. All whites are racists. All blacks are thugs. All women are shrill. All straights are homophobes. We think and speak in soundbytes.

We forget that Fox news and Facebook memes are not all that different. We have forgotten how to relate. And we can't seem to decide which group is to blame and which group is the victim anymore.

This tragedy illustrates that once again. Is the kid mentally ill? Is he sexist because of one comment relayed? Is he racist? Did he do this because of privilege? Were the victims targeted because of their race? Their gender? Their religion? What? And everyone has an opinion.

And of course, that opinion is more right than another's.

Bigotry and racism end where there is social relations and empathy. The other is no longer so other than me. I and thou not us and them.

Well-said TM99. Thank you.

Reject the narcissism currently dominating our culture!

I and thou. Not us and them. You have read Martin Buber's book called I and Thou, I take it.

Do not wait for 'What will you do', that tv show!

Make this a reflexive reaction that comes through practice. Someone tells a racist joke, tell them that's not funny. Someone says something slightly racist, say 'Don't you think that sounds racist?' If they say 'I'm not a racist!' Reply 'I didn't call you a racist.' I said that sounds racist. You can do something racist and learn from it. That doesn't mean I'm calling you a racist. And stop being so goddamned defensive about it.

Thanks akbacchus_BC.

to stop the racist ideology and that is how change occurs. When parents preach racism at home, the children learn it and progress it to their peers.

Thing is, no matter how we try to eradicate racism, it will never go away. Racists will always be racists! After slavery, we have been trying to cope, then came indentureship, another form of slavery! Now we are free, educated in our own rights and for some reason, we are the enemy, I really do not understand that logic.

should train their kids to beat the shit out of racist kids.

But that's not very charitable I suppose.

Go engage some one else who would respond to you.

I'm sorry akbacchus_BC. I didn't mean to imply in any way that that is your opinion.

Would you like me to delete the post?

Do not live in your bubble. If you live in the south, go to the juneteenth celebrations this weekend. Go to "the people who don't look like you" festivals,cultural centers, community groups and make friends, real friends who run over to mow a lawn or drop off flowers and have tea, who goes to weddings and funerals and calls at 1am to make sure you got home OK. And have the kids sleep over and drop your kids off for birthdays, play dates, sleep overs.
It is up to white people to fix this. Poc are not the problem white people are. We have to stop this.

We have to stop this.'

Thank you! I quoted that in it's entirety because it's true.

White people have to fix this.

Do not live in a bubble.

Make friends, real friends.

Considered the biggest domestic terror threat in the U.S.

Great information about it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026864997

so just starting there. major party candidates refuse to admit what it's about. the shooter says why he did it, had a history of it, took action to show it and yet some on this board still refuse to aknowledge it.

out of some folks heads. Speaking up about it probably helps. At the very least to shine the light of knowledge. Many will get it. Those who don't, I suppose tough luck for them.

Embracing of diversity is something that has to be taught and to get people used to through positive interactions / experiences.

That's one of the best AZ Progressive.

It was mentioned on another thread here. Check it out, read or donate or join.

Through community organizing, mobilizing and education, SURJ moves White people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability.

We work to connect people across the country while supporting and collaborating with local and national racial justice organizing efforts. SURJ provides a space to build relationships, skills and political analysis to act for change.

We envision a society where we struggle together with love, for justice, human dignity and a sustainable world.

http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org

like the Southern Poverty Law Center, and give your friend a card that indicates your donation.

People really appreciate it. And it helps them to consider giving gifts like that as well, and to spread information about groups that work every day toward tolerance.

Tim wise has spoke many times on white privilege and the many ways that we as white people, with all of our good intentions, allow racism to persist.

Yesterday when the judge began the legal proceeding with his "statement" and thoughts for the killer's family it should have raised the hair on the backs of everyone who considers themselves an ally of the Black community. Not because I wish ill on his family, or have made up my mind about how he was raised, but because the judge spoke about "the other side" and allowed for sorrow for the killer's family before any of the victim's family members even had a chance to speak. And yeah, South Carolina.

I was shocked at how many people on this board thought his actions were innocent, even after the judge's past racist actions on the bench had been revealed. I don't assume that the members of this community who didn't get it are racist, I'd be willing to wager that many of them care about racism and consider themselves allies of the Black community.

I think that continuing to discuss issues, and then meditate on them and look at ourselves in the mirror is a great place to begin. I believe that racism won't be beaten back into a dark, shameful corner until we see the fullness of what racism is and how it plays out on a daily basis right under our noses, sometimes even with our support.

Thanks me b zola. I get surprised here by what others write too. Continuing to discuss issues, then meditating on them, they looking back at ourselves as you say, is most definitely a great place to begin.

If we can achieve a true mono-racial society we will be safe. At least until we start settling other worlds. Cause those guy's from the Pleiades are the Laziest slobs to grace the galaxy.

Thanks for the post

I don't believe praying does anything for anyone except, perhaps, the person praying. If it helps someone cope, good for them. But it's not enough by a long shot.

Even if you believe in God, action is needed.

Don't ever let a word or action that is racist pass. Fight it. Speak up. Stand for what is right

Great point.

Think globally - act locally. And be sure to:
Look in the mirror. Find your own racist inclinations. Meditate or pray for reducing or ending them.

So true my friend.