The Zimmerman verdict has touched a nerve in the group. For the second week racial issues dominated the discussion. And yes there is a TED Talk about skin color. The conclusion is that skin color does matter, but not in the way you might think.
To combat prejudice, know the person. When sharing a foxhole or facing a common danger, superficial differences fade in importance. A universal draft, whether military or other service volunteering, would enable increased involvement of youngsters in a common goal. This may reduce childhood prejudice as well as inculcate patriotism. Money well spent when considering increased education and decreased crime.
If someone really wanted to discuss what they thought could be a difference between the way that a pure African blooded person might differ in the way that they think and learn could they get heard without being pilloried? Don't the schools separate students in classes via their abilities anyway?
I pretty much agree with the presentation by Nina Jablonski on skin color and believe the best means of combating existing ignorance, prejudice, bigotry, and the discrimination that goes with it is via a long range program of education and reeducation in schools and colleges about the scientific basis of race. Instead of being indoctrinated through the Census Bureau and those with superiority theories about supposedly separate and distinct "races," we need presentations that show how we are essentially all one. If we can get more people to think we are all somehow related, I believe we have a better chance of getting along with each other. We can see variations in skin color when we look at each other, but that has nothing to do with our abilities or our rights to equal treatment by each other and by government. We all don't have to like each other, although it helps if we don't automatically put each other in s separate and distinct box and presume that everyone in box X is like this and everyone in box Y is like that. At any rate, whatever we do as individuals, the bottom line is that government should act by whatever means necessary to ensure the equal rights and opportunities for everyone, regardless of who they are or what they look like.
To combat prejudice, know the person. When sharing a foxhole or facing a common danger, superficial differences fade in importance. A universal draft, whether military or other service volunteering, would enable increased involvement of youngsters in a common goal. This may reduce childhood prejudice as well as inculcate patriotism. Money well spent when considering increased education and decreased crime.
ReplyDeleteIf someone really wanted to discuss what they thought could be a difference between the way that a pure African blooded person might differ in the way that they think and learn could they get heard without being pilloried? Don't the schools separate students in classes via their abilities anyway?
ReplyDeleteI pretty much agree with the presentation by Nina Jablonski on skin color and believe the best means of combating existing ignorance, prejudice, bigotry, and the discrimination that goes with it is via a long range program of education and reeducation in schools and colleges about the scientific basis of race. Instead of being indoctrinated through the Census Bureau and those with superiority theories about supposedly separate and distinct "races," we need presentations that show how we are essentially all one. If we can get more people to think we are all somehow related, I believe we have a better chance of getting along with each other. We can see variations in skin color when we look at each other, but that has nothing to do with our abilities or our rights to equal treatment by each other and by government. We all don't have to like each other, although it helps if we don't automatically put each other in s separate and distinct box and presume that everyone in box X is like this and everyone in box Y is like that. At any rate, whatever we do as individuals, the bottom line is that government should act by whatever means necessary to ensure the equal rights and opportunities for everyone, regardless of who they are or what they look like.
ReplyDelete