Anyone else out her watching the "Conversatioon on Race" on MSNBC?
Fascinating... thought provoikng...........

Wow... I feel so responsible... even though my family only has been here since the early 1920s.... the privilege we have as caucasians is amazing

The clip on children identifying which dolls were 'good' or 'bad'.... the little girl who was so hesitant to say that the black doll most closely represented herself... that brought tears to my eyes,,,,,


I'm remembering a time when I got onto an elevator with my three year old granddaughter, and an african american family entereed at the same time, and my granddaughter (now almost 15) said of the little girl "she's beautiful"..... I hope that m y granddaughter has the same ideals of beauty now as she did then...............

I didn't see the show, but echo your sentiments.

As a little girl, my daughter was so oblivious to racial differences , she used to refer to her Afro American friend's skin as "chocolate", and today remains unprejudiced. There are many positive signs that this generation of kids (mine are in elementary and middle school now) are not only very comfortable with any color skin, but even embrace diversification.

I don't know how I missed this thread. I didn't see the show, but really wish I'd known about it. I see "race" as non-existent, since there's no biological differentiation. I see skin color and features as a continuum... and a major blending has been taking place for the past 30 or so years anyway.

Again. I did not see the show Wylde references, but Terrie, I agree on the continuum , and am ELATED, with not only the level of racial inequities we no longer will allow. but with the next level we are going for here- we are now colorblind. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can only say "Thank you to EVERYONE who believed in this, worked endlessly to end racial discrimination and tolerated nothing less than racial equality!!"

It's *funny* that we should be happy about being color-blind. In my multi-cultural education class last semester, whites being color-blind is one more thing minorities point to as a negative. You can't win. I'd rather be color-blind, but culturally-aware. Ever notice that white people never use "white" to describe themselves? I never noticed that until I took that class. It really made me aware of lots of things that I, as a teacher, need to be aware of.

Absolutely, I agree that it's being comfortable with different cultures that's key. We've used skin color as the symbol for culture for so long that the symbol got mixed up with the thing it stood for. Saying you're color blind and everyone is the same is ignoring the rich cultural differences and our opportunity to be a stronger society. I have to disagree on one thing, though--when they don't feel the need to be PC, some white people do describe themselves as 'white.' You wouldn't see that so much in academia or some parts of the country.

color-blindness isn't the answer... which is why I am so happy that my grandkids look upon people of other heritages as "beautiful"... I have talked with my granddaughter and grandson since, and they both have friends of various heritages. They both think it's 'kewl' that they're learning about other cultures simply by visiting with friends.

Yes, i meant that, too. Embracing diversification.

It stills boils down to the fact that there is only one race, the human race.
Culture, heritage and "race" as it commonly discussed, are social concepts, not scientific concepts. If neanderthals were still here( and I'm not sure they are not), race would perhaps be a scientific concept when discussing humanoids.Much(but not all) of "race" as it is talked about TODAY, is more a discussion about culture. I think it's fine and even preferable to be colorblind so long as you are not culturally blind.
So YEAH! Celebrate diversity, don't fear it, don't shun it and don't stifle it!
I mean life without diversity would be like going through life with nothing but elevator music!

I don't know if this is pertinent to the thread but for part of my childhood, way back in the 50s, my family lived in a tenement. Run down, three family houses converted to nine or more family units. There was quite a bit of ethnic diversity there. Every one was poor. But every on helped each other out. Folks cooked meals and invited their neighbors. Some body with a car would give rides to the folks who didn't have one. No daycare back in the 50s. Didn't need it. Kids needed watching, the neighbors did it. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, it didn't much matter. Most, even though broke and living in squalor, helped each other out.

There's a line in the Clint Eastwood movie, The Outlaw Josey Wales. "Governments don't live together, people live together."

I'm so glad I took all those anthropology classes; they really opened my eyes and my mind to so much. While my major was physical anthropology and forensics, I loved the cultural stuff too... which I didn't have the patience for back in high school... which is why I got a "F" in anthro back then. Funny how life turns out, huh?

In Boy Scouts we had to take Diversity Training... and I was still of the mind that it's best to ignore our differences and only focus on the one thing that is "the same" that we are all people. I couldn't understand why we wanted to point out others' differences and so I fought against those training sessions. Now I sing a much different tune.

As Mr. Spock's Vulcan IDIC amulet represents: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations! Or, as it's been said here on Earth, "Variety is the spice of life!"

I suppose you all may shoot me later, but I think it is important first for all of us to see our similarities. Where do we come together? What do we share that is the same? It is also important that we share and celebrate our cultural differences.

I've many friends of differing cultural backgrounds, and I find that we are and became friends because of the things we share in common. As my friendships developed we have shared and celebrated our cultures.

Nope! No shootin' from here. Birds of a feather flocking together holds true for people, too. Look at older sections of cities. They're all divided into ethnic sections. Of course, you'd want to be with familiar things. But you can also seek out diversity.