Does race matter?

[wufan]

I have a question related to a post and reply in the recruiting forum. One poster pointed out that there are very few black people in Newton. I don't know it this is true or not, and it's totally beside the point. A second poster thought that was insensitive. So, does race matter in relation to politics and sociology? If so how, and what should we do about it?

My guess is that the answer will be divided similarly along voting lines.

[Aargh]

I've been in a lot of smaller towns, but it's never occurred to me to count the population and then break it down by race.

People seem a little more willing to "go there" (put some emphasis on skin color as a generalization for all people with that skin color) than they were in the past. Some will blame Obama for dividing the nation. Others will blame Trump for empowering racism among those who already had it.

[pinstripers]

I don't think it matters. In Newton and Wellington, there are substantial Hispanic populations because of the presence of the railroad and the jobs it provided a couple of generations ago. I don't think that matters, but pretending it's not there, just seems silly.

[wufan]

But does it matter? Does being "white" (I'm white) define me politically and socially, or is it a phenotypical descriptor similar to hair color and eye color?

Stating surprise or sarcasm about the presence of a specific race in a locale is an interesting phenomenon in its response. If race doesn't matter, why make the statement at all. If it does matter, and someone points it out, why would anyone care? It matters and was mentioned. Neither reaction makes sense.

[rrshock]

I personally think that many people just use it as a way to describe someone else. Whether it's a good a bad thing is all determined in the contextual use of said adjective. I also sometimes wonder why race is used in certain scenarios. It really is a head scratcher as to how, when and why it is used. There are times for it and times where it doesn't belong.

I know Newton was used in the related topic, in which this was brought up. When I was growing up some 25+ years ago, there were major race issues in Newton. I think many of them have now been toned way down. Newton has also become a very diverse mix of people.

[pinstripers]

But does it matter? Does being "white" (I'm white) define me politically and socially?

Probably one of a couple dozen things that does.

[wufan]

Probably one of a couple dozen things that does.

Why? I don't think it does. I think ideas on the genesis of rights and responsibilities defines about 90% of my politics. The other 10% is defined by economics and defense. As to socially, I'm defined first by my family, second by my faith, and third by my community. There is likely a correlation to my skin color and my social ideas, but my ideas are that the individual are of primary importance. My skin color would only be important to someone that rejects individuality in favor of group dynamics, and someone that rejects the ideas of natural law in favor of the idea that rights are granted by the state.

[pinstripers]

Wow. I would think your height and weight would make a difference as well.

[wufan]

Wow. I would think your height and weight would make a difference as well.

Obviously my height and weight matters, I mean that goes without saying! I meant after the 96% of my being that is defined by my stature, then those other things matter.

[1979Shocker]

To answer the initial question: Does race matter? In everyday life, it doesn't matter, but in sports it does, or at least seems to.


Look at a black player versus a white player. There are two main physical differences between them besides color. One is body fat. The black player usually has less body fat. The other is fast twitch muscles. The black player usually has the fast twitch muscles. Both of those are an advantage when it comes to sports. So with everything else being equal (talent, size, weight, IQ, etc.), the black player usually has more athleticism. This can be an advantage in a sport like basketball where quickness and jumping ability are important.

[Aargh]

This happened about 30 years ago. I had a dart team in a league.. Yeah, yeah - it's darts, but we were serious. My wife and I went to one international tournament. My wife was on a team of 4 that tied for 3/4 after beating the Taiwan national team and the Canadian national team. I placed in the top 16 in one event. That's just to point out that we were serious throwers.

We had a 6'7" black guy on our team. There was a bar in Clearwater that sponsored a team, so we had a visit to that bar. When we got there the owner of the bar was wearing a Klan hood. He told the black guy on our team that he (the owner) had 4 brothers and there were only three ways out of town, so how was the black guy planning on getting out of town. He (bar owner) also sang a song that must have been named "Ain't No N***** Santa Claus" any time my teammate was throwing his darts.

In the '90s, I played in a blues band that featured a black singer who had toured nationally for about 30 years, had done a lot of recording on the Chess and King labels, and is in the Wichita Blues Hall of Fame. Our drummer was also black. We had owners of bars that claimed to be blues bars say they were hesitant to hire us because we had too many black people in the band.

When we did get booked in that club, I had customers come up to me on breaks and say that I needed to sing more songs because "it's getting awfully 'brown sugar' in here".

The prejudice didn't just run that way. I was invited to play a couple of songs and sing one at the concert when the Wichita Blues Hall of Fame was formed. The bass player with me and I were the only white performers there. There were a lot of disapproving looks when our black vocalist left the stage and I did a song that wasn't a classic blues song from a black group. I had played with about half of the inductees into the Hall and those guys had huge grins and loved what I did. Musically, we did a very rock version of blues. The musicians loved the fact that we were rocking and kicking ass. On a social level we were less well received.

I think things are worse today than they were in the '80's or '90's.

[ShockTalk]

I think things are worse today than they were in the '80's or '90's.

May I asked in what ways?

[wufan]

No denying racism exists. It absolutely does. Based on your experience, would you say race is important?

[ShockTalk]

No denying racism exists. It absolutely does. Based on your experience, would you say race is important?

Before you were asking if race matters. Now you ask is race important. Important in what ways? Culture?

[Aargh]

May I asked in what ways?

I think we've had 2 Presidents in a row who made their constituents feel empowered if they felt prejudice against the "other" race.