If you think racism is in the past

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by Sundae

Spexx, Classic's post makes complete sense to me. Racism as a widespread political/ social/ personal motivator will slowly cease to exist. At least I hope so. But there will always be those who follow behind social/ economic and political trends. The Amish for example - their numbers are so small as to not be significiant. And the influence of the Mormons...

I disagree. I see racism, like sexism and other social doctrines, as dynamic doctrines that fluctuate and change with time depending on the social conditions. The stereotypical white/black racism has certainly decreased in the past 70 years but even that has changed from a very direct racism to an indirect "no one to blame" type racism. Although, especially from talking to peers my age, I don't see the white/black racism disappearing as long cultural tensions exist since that is, in my opinion, the main factor keeping it alive today.

I don't think we can guess where it will head either. If cultural tensions and the inequality gap between white and black Americans decrease a full integration of the two groups may eventually happen. On the other hand, if social conditions go to complete shit then I would expect people to act like they always have: blame the group that is different from them.

Also, just because white/black racism is the most observed doesn't mean it can be labeled as racism in its entirety. The history of the US is a great example of different types of racism. Anglo-Saxxons used to be very racist against the Irish, Poles, and Scandinavians, but today most people couldn't tell if you are 100% Irish, Polish, or Swedish unless you have an accent. The elimination of those types of racism occurred because culturally they combined while this didn't happen with blacks, natives, or Hispanics.