During the OJ aftermath, there was anger and frustration but no protests or celebrities ranting or black preachers calling for further action and I wonder if today, if a black man killed a white child we would get the same huge reaction by any of these same "players" in this drama.

Still, I really do get it - I understand to the slight extent that I can from my perspective - how frustrated and hurt black and hispanics must feel in this country that often never gives them an equal shot to the same extent the white race is. I don't know why racism exists in people and why it stands century after century and there is such mistrust among the races from way back. I wish I could figure it out. I've heard it said that if the tables were turned and whites were in the minority in America to the extent the black race is, whites would be just as discriminated against in every way. I don't know why, but I doubt that somehow.

Hopefully the protests and marches and Tweets will stay peaceful and eventually turn to include some other dead children and work somehow to make things better for their little peers still living. And I hope no children die in the protests due to fights or violent encounters such as occurred in Sanford that night. But unless I'm misunderstanding the burden of proof or evidence that exists and AG Eric Holder knows something I don't, it doesn't look like the fed has a single thing to charge GM for as to a civil rights violation of TM unless a lot of credible witnesses and documents appear with all kinds of hard and fast proof beyond reasonable doubt that GM had a pattern of hating black people, was racially biased against the black race and can show that that mindset then directly led to and was a substantial contributing factor to his shooting and killing Trayvon Martin.

This happens when your white to. Ever see Save the Last Dance and how the white girl was made fun of for being white in mostly all black town/school? It happens to EVERY race.

Great post! :thumbup:

I don't feel that Blacks have made it into a race thing , you are painting a whole group of people with a very broad brush. I am black and I have never thought that this was a race thing. To me this came down to a man who wanted to be a cop and a young man who wanted to be a thug.

At the end of it all I would not wish this on any parent and I pray that people can learn from this. By no means am I racists I love everyone but I do believe that people should be treated equally and intthis case and many others cases this did not happen. It takes everyone to make a change in our communities and in our nation. This is bigger than race because anyone child could be next and people would want justice for their child also. There is nothing wrong with protesting to get your words out there. I pray that everyone will be safe and keep God first while they protest.

I enjoyed having this conversation with everyone because we all have to understand that no one thinks the same and everyone has different feelings about the situations that go on in our nation. I am going to school to be a social worker and I think its good to hear different people views on life and the things that they think need to changed.

I will have a paper coming up in the fall and I will be writing my paper over this topic. Does anyone reject to me using anything they said on here? Names will not be used

Good post. I've enjoyed talking with you, too, and everyone. If we can't talk tough things out, we're right back in the old, awful days and hopefully our world has grown from those times. Tempers get frayed at times and words on a screen aren't as good a way to talk as face-to-face or even over the phone as there are no inflections and nuances to help communicate attitude at the time so a lot of things are taken other than originally intended, causing misinterpretation at time. Still, we make it work if we care about each other and realize we are all different and came up in this world in such different ways. I hope our country can grow from this terrible death of a child and start to work to make life better for all children in despair. I know we can somehow work harder to understand each other's point of view, think of how it is to walk in their shoes and speak up against hate. No place for hate of each other in a decent society!

Use anything you want and I hope your paper turns out brilliantly. :)

Taylor...first of all calm down....second the above statement in itself is racist and I find that extremely offensive. I am a black single mother of three, two of them boys. One was promised a scholarship to a college in Iowa...yes he qualified... straight A student....he never got that scholarship...I paid for that year in Iowa....coach benched him for the entire season...both he and the other Canadian black student that went with him. Coach did not like them....FACT...said that right to my face when I went down there. My son jumped through hoops to get into that college...did everything he was supposed to, got nothing back in return for his hard work. He couldn't transfer the credits he earned from that year in Iowa, when I told him to come home. A complete waste of time and money and one very disappointed young man.....and a seriously pizzed off mother.
As for my job..I am an operator for the fourth largest public transportation corporation in North America....worked my ass off for that job, a job I am proud off, a job I earned...it wasn't handed to me bc of my skin colour...I had to qualify for it....There is no way in God's green earth that we..people of colour have it easier than anyone else....I would really like to know where you got that information from?

Thanks you are awesome!!! I like and appreciated they way that you held a conversation with me while also being truthful to what you believed in. Thanks for your thoughts.

You just need to look at my facts

My heart goes out to your son. I know how it feels to try so hard for something and it doesn't go as planned. I look up to all single mothers not because I want to be one but because its hard work.

I'm not saying some don't have to work hard but it is a fact there are more scholarships for blacks then whites. I don't think that your skin color means you have to work harder and saying that like the one poster did is wrong and upsetting. I know a friend who said when she didn't get a job at a certain big business she was told off the record that there big boss had to have certain number of each race working there. There are also colleges that do this too. There is pretty much always gonna be racism but its not just to blacks its to everyone heck try being chubby you get treated a whole lot differently too. We should just be Americans and cut special stuff for races lets have a history month for each race lets stop this madness. The only way to stop this is to stop separating people by race WE THE PEOPLE need to do this.

I think whatever is now made "easier" or equal these days is to help try to undo and correct the centuries of slavery, 3/5th of a human rulings in our Constitution, Jim Crow laws and the 20th century back of the bus and separate drinking fountains and facilities and "No Coloreds Here" signs you used to see in shops and businesses just this past century right up until the 1970's, well past the Civil Rights Act!!! And the Jim Crow attitude still exists in many places and people's minds despite the Act outlawing the laws so I can't say anything can be easier for the black race. So anything a society can do to try to facilitate such a downtrodden group of people by another should be accepted and encouraged, even if it adversely affects us personally at times, until we can say every single person is looked upon as equal based on their race. It's the least we can do for such an abuse of power for so long.

not my facts at more facts lol

You call me racists but what where you doing when you made you statement. I think you are being rude and you need to calm down. I don't mind having a conversation with you but I will not argue with anyone.

The problem is I never had slaves and had nothing to do with it so I should not have to pay for it. There is no one around and alive who was a slave so no one should be treated differently now because of it.

That's your opinion and I have mine. You don't know me. You don't know I lived in mostly black neighborhood and went to a mostly black school until I was 8 and was bullied for being not only chubby but white it goes both ways. I also certainly was not racist when I dated a black guy for almost 3 years and talked about marriage and everything else.

This is a heated topic and I do not think it is fair that people get treated differently because of race. My dad is half Spanish and he has been treated poorly for it even his moms mom tried scrubbing his skin with wire brushes because she thought it was dirty. We are all humans we all have feelings, we all breath the same air so why can't the race thing just stop.

No one should have to pay for it. Slaves might not be around now but some families have passed down the thought and mind set that everyone is not equal. I have seen this from all races and its sad. So no you shouldn't have to pay for it but it is the right thing for all of us as Americans to do.

To pay for something we didn't do that's not true.

Ok so just like you say you not I'm not either. I don't know your life and I am not judging you at all. I do believe it goes both ways I never denied that. I feel like that's why we have to educate each other and our children to get them to understand that life should not be this way.

I never had a slave either but I'll bet you and I both have ancestors that did and have still-living relatives that participated in a society of Jim Crow laws and attitudes in the 1950's onward. I have relatives that allowed blacks to have to pass up empty seats in a bus to walk to the back or take their little daughters to relieve themselves in a different restroom way to the back in a public building, then come back in a drink out of a separate water fountain with a big demeaning sign over it! I remember going on stores with Mother that had signs saying blacks were not allowed inside - just a few decades back. Many of us have families that put up with all that going on. I am aware of anti-black attitudes still rife in parts of the country and in some people's minds that still want to keep black people "in their place" and refuse to hire or even do business with them unless a big enough company the government makes them. I saw it in the medical field. Plenty wouldn't rent/lease to them to this very day if laws didn't make them. Many will never invite a black family to dinner or hang with them or date them. The attitudes of today's white society are still quite shocking at times. And though I didn't own a slave or refuse to hire a black person, I recognize that they cannot routinely get many decent jobs or have all that fair a treatment every day throughout our land and until the day that happens, it will only benefit our society to try to make their lot in life that we once trashed now better when we can for the hateful attitudes that did and still exist all over - just a small way to try to fix great wrongs until the day there really is full equality. It never hurts a people to try to make things right for something their own ancestors and recent relatives created/allowed and still exists in some people and places in some forms.

Might be time to close it. I wish we could stop the ugliness.

Oh racism absolutely still exists, and it's very sad. I am not denying that and am always saddened when people can't open their mind a little bit, and just let people be people. I don't think it will ever completely go away but I do think we've made fair strides. But then again, I saw of that Cheerios commercial with a interracial couple caused quite a stir, which I find so ridiculous. Like I honestly wouldn't even think about that if that commercial came up on TV. My brain literally isn't wired that way. I don't think "oh wow, they are showing an interracial couple on tv" but I know at one point in time, people would've been very outraged, but that fact that people still were today boggles my mind. But again, this is something gay people are now dealing with. The discrimination. I'm fairly conservative on a lot of issues (leaning more towards independent) but socially, I am very open. I really could care less what people do so long as they are not hurting others. And I wish people could be less judgmental and more open minded and just not worry so much if it's not affecting them.

I think what irritated me the most with the Trayvon case was that I do not believe race was an issue or a reason for the killing and it was brought up because the media decided to twist 911 tapes around. Zimmerman was asked by the cops, and he answered what race the individual was. They did not play the question by the cops, and it caused a big stir and brought race into it. I just really do not believe we'd even be having this 12-page discussion on this case had it been a white boy killed by a black man.

Oh and wanna talk about racism? Try being a Muslim in this country, or someone Arab-looking. You could've been raised in America, and your parents and grandparents, and you ARE an American, but you are still going to be viewed differently, or as a 'terrorist'. Especially after 9/11. Talk about not having fair judgment placed upon you.

As far as the 'not owing anything' -- I do agree. I will never understand the mindset of some African Americans who believe they are owed something simply because people they never knew or ancestors were slaves. Sorry but I have to say it. No, I don't feel guilty about anything, because I was not alive, nor were my parents, nor were my grandparents. I have absolutely nothing to do with what happened to your ancestors. That's not to say I am demeaning or ignorant to what often went on. I am not turning a blind eye, or saying it didn't happen. It did, and it sucks, and it's a sad part of our history.

Unfortunately, slavery, of ALL types of people, has existed for a long time. African tribes at war used to sell their own people for goods with the Europeans (and look at what still goes on in Africa!!) I am not pushing blame aside from what some white Americans did to slaves, it's horrible no matter what. I'm always extremely saddened by what goes in this world, what human beings are capable of doing to other human beings, even children. It makes me ill so I try to avoid watching or thinking about it, but I do keep myself aware because I think it's important to know.

Thank you Keke...it is hard work, and I am proud I raised two wonderful young men...by myself! I have a nurse...my daughter, a police officer in training and a musician! The youngest son is the one that was promised the scholarship...now taking police foundations in school ...one very determined young man...told me to stop worrying...' I won't be another statistic Mom'.....right...stop worrying...:rolleyes:

How do they differentiate between the blacks and the whites....I find this difficult to wrap my head around. Do they say, 'no this is for the blacks, and bc you are white you can't have this scholarship?' If that isn't blatant racism I don't know what is....

You must be so proud!!!

Fwiw, I'm not in agreeance with Taylor that "blacks get it easier", gimme a break, it's hard no matter what color you are to get into college and finish.

But what I think she is talking about is minority scholarships. Actually in MD, Bowie University has minority scholarships for whites because it is a primarily black college.

Great post....thank you....
We have made some strides....I am now DRIVING the bus!... Racism still exists...up here in Canada it isn't as blatant, much more subtle...it is there, the profiling is there, every time one of my son's walks out the door the fear is there....I fear for my children...I have raised them to treat everyone the same as they would expect to be treated...yet the fear lives on.
Last year there was a blocko....block party. The party was on this very date last year...people on the street decided to hold a bbq. Not the greatest neighbourhood....but they had this party on a street that included two blocks of homes. Plenty of people of all ages attended....somewhere around midnight a fight broke out.
Yup you guessed it someone pulled a gun....two people where killed....one 14yr old black girl and one 21yr old Asian young man.....
That young man was my youngest sons' friend, they went to school together and played ball almost every weekend. ......My son was supposed to attend that Blocko...his friend told him to come....because I refused to give Jared my car to drive into Toronto on a Saturday night....he did not go.....I'm sorry two young people lost their lives that night....BUT God had his hand in that I still have my son....
There have been many instances where one of my boys was to attend something or other...the church party...yup at a church function a gun was pulled and yet another youth lost their life....my son decided not to go to that one as well....When will all of this end???

As the song says People are people, why should it be....you and I should get along so awfully? The Smiths....I think....

Thank you....yes I am one very proud Mom!!:D

Thanks also for the clarification....I was here googling to find out if this was true in the U.S., because it certainly isn't the case here....scholarships are available to those that qualify, regarless of race colour or creed.
However our Native Indians have their schooling paid for, but you must have your card...proof that you aren't some Joe Blow looking for a free ride

I do want to apologize if I hurt any ones feelings or came of as ugly or racist. I just honestly hate ALL racism and anyone being treat differently. We are humans lets all just be human. I think papers you have to fill out and stuff shouldn't even have a race section to fill out.