Americans only please: How do you feel about blacks? (Warning...Politically incorrect survey)

none of the above. I think that this is too complicated an issue as well. The simplistic cut is that I think that all most of the issues between races in the US are cultural not genetic. Obviously there are some genetic differences and I'm sure that genetically speaking there are other differences noticable beyond just skin color (for instance, susceptibility to certain diseases is known). However I've no reason to believe the genetic differences really determine where one ends up in life beyond the social effects they cause.

N.B. I'm a transplanted Scot, but I've been in the US for 17-18 years. I did not pick the first option ("All races are equal and should be treated equally.") because I only feel that the second half is true. I would be surprised indeed to find that, on average, different races were exactly equal in any given area. Which one is better? I don't know and don't care. Enviromental factors, not to mention differences between individuals of a given race, can easily swamp the genetic differences. One thing that I find amusing/sad about the black/white issue in the US is the boundary between black and white. I have a friend that I would consider white (he's approx. 3/4 white, 1/4 black) He considers himself black.

Where do these users come from?

I'm not american but know america a little bit. I voted because I wanted to see the responses.

lots of assumptions -- what the hell is "success in life" for one? I don't bloody well call the enslavement of measured time that is the rat race workplace "living", do you? this is a numb question.

I'm not American, so I didn't pick anything... I have this really un-PC set of opinions, so I don't think I should comment too much. Suffice to say I think 'human' is the race, not a colour skin.

I am american and I agree with lelle, the only race is 'human'. And at the rate the world is going I think that race is already lost.

Hey, I'm Canadian and I answered anyway you isolationist skum! :)

"Scum" is spelled with a C.

I have many blacks that are friends. When I was a child, I wouldn't bring them home because I thought my mom might treat them badly. That always bothered me. My boyfriend, Bob, also has many blacks that are friends, but his mom refers to them as "jigaboos" which makes me cringe. She told me once she wanted him to have a little pink grandson for her, not a beige one, not a black one. I guess prejudice is still alive and well in places, as much as I'd like to think it's a thing of the past. I agree with EB: even if my black friends are in exactly the same jobs as someone else, there are still people happy to put them down.

I've often wondered if there are any African American Survey Central users. I think all races should be treated equally, but all races are not equal. I have a strong impression that blacks are better at some sports. It's possible that whites are better at something too - but I'm not sure what that is. *** Twanger, I think blacks have better musical talent too (who invented jazz, rap, gospell, and rock&roll?). I do think some differences between black and white are genetic, possibly the result of evolving in Africa instead of Europe. I think that trying to convince everyone that we're the same is a bad tactic because we're not. There are many genetic differences, and that's a good thing! I always likes the phrase "celebrate diversity". While I think that blacks may have a genetic advantage in some sports (not hockey?) and music, I don't really know if whites have any genetic advantages. Perhaps blacks are more highly evolved than us white folk, perhaps whites should pass the evolutionary baton to to blacks...

Americain as in from the U.S, or as in from the continent. I am Canadian and I voted anyways.

*Sniff*, I am not American... I didn't pick anything... Why judge others by their skin color?

i dont think this is a bad survey at all. obviously people have opinions on the matter.

Twanger, forget about American sociopolitics and professional sports for a moment--look at international long distance running. Bill, I'm not sure about the musical side of things, because *taste* is a much greyer area for me. There are genetic differences along the continuum of human ethnicity that have nothing to do with prejudice. Asians tend to be shorter than Northern Europeans, have less hair, subtler body odor and more trouble processing alcohol. There's nothing racist about those pieces of information, although all of them could certainly be used in racist ways. I'm really interested that at least a couple of people said segregation and slavery were good ideas and that there is no place for blacks in America. Speak up! If you're shy, I'd advocate starting another account under an alias and speaking up...I'm really interested to know what lies behind that opinion.

Isn't it interesting that the creator of this survey did not put in a comment...

All races are created equal, and there are good and bad in all races. They are essentially the same answer. Also blacks do have the same chance of excelling if given the same opportunites; but no one will ever have the same opportunities as anyone else, that is unrealistic. On a side note I am a white man, and married to a woman who is a quarter black, but dark enough that she passes for full black. Most of her family is at least three-quarters black. So I may not be the run of the mill American for this question.

All i can say is that I used to live in a really bad part of town and sometimes they scare me....

I'd like to know why the people who checked off "blacks have no place in America" or "Salvery was a good thing" were such cowards that they refused to put a comment! Take off the white hood and show your face!

"fiore" commented that it was interesting that the creator of this survey did not put in a comment, and I didn't because I was interested in seeing some of the responses before I did so. Admittedly, my views are somewhat myopic, because I currently live in a really "rough" neighborhood which is also a predominantly black neighborhood. Before I moved here, I considered myself of the opinion that "all races are created equal", and I responded as such. But since having to have my children's bus stop moved because of the drug dealers offering myself or my wife drugs while we waited for the children to get off the bus, hearing gunshots in the middle of numerous afternoons two lots from where the children play, and watching the police cars and ambulances taking away the victims and perpetrators of fights, domestic violence, and the aforementioned dealers and gunman, my I find my views narrowing. I still feel that there are good and bad in all races, but I also feel (running for cover), that there are more of the latter in black America. I cannot help feeling this way, the best I can do is to feel bad about it.

I still haven't gotten the whole 'race' thing down. I don't see that pigmentation has anything to do with human characteristics. we are all human(unfortunately). I have found humanity in general to be (these overlap a bit) greedy, self-centered, short-sighted and stupid. when I meet a new person I have to get by the fact that I don't like humans. after that I try very hard to view each person equally. I will say that willingly or not I am prejudiced(my father is decidedly prejudiced, but other than that he is a decent guy). I grew up in the whitest state in the US (VT), and had very little contact with humans of other pigmentation until much later in my life. While I believe all humans are equal until proven otherwise, I do have to work against my upbringing to a degree.

I was the one who checked "Given the same opportunities as a white man, a black man has less of a chance of success in life." The reason I checked it is the reason so eloquently developed by elijahblue in her comment--given the same initial opportunities, a black individual will still confront racism, and therefor will still not be able to accomplish as much, all else being equal. ***In response to RedLion68, I can only say that I also live in a "bad" neighborhood, where there is an above-average concentration of black residents, and they hate the fact that it's a "bad" neighborhood just like I do; the fact that poor services are supplied to my neighborhood simply means that most people who have the option of moving elsewhere will do so, leaving a high concentration of poverty, which leads to all kinds of social ills. The fact that there is a higher concentration of poverty in black America than in white America probably reflects the differing histories of these populations. So ultimately I see the many black Americans who live in "bad" neighborhoods as victims, not perpetrators, of the difficulties associated with these neighborhoods. All together now: CORRELATION DOES *NOT* IMPLY CAUSATION!!!

huh?

In addition to being racist, this survey is also sexist ("Given the same opportunities as a white MAN, a black MAN", etc.). Not an attractive combination. Also, what do you mean by "given the same opportunities," anyway? That doesn't really exist, because even if he (sic) is given the same parental supervision, nutrition, etc. as a young child, he (sic) will still realistically face racism and prejudice once he (sic) gets out into the "real world." Even in the best of schools, he (sic) will learn about mostly the accomplishments of white men. Even in the best of workplaces, he (sic) will still most likely face at least subtle discrimination. I will stop myself from writing an essay on this. I'm sure others will finish the job. ***steve: my statistics teacher would love you. He informed us that spreading the word that correlation does not = cause was the most important thing an educated person can do to combat ignorance in the world today. It seems to be a losing battle though :(

Once again, what elijablue said. Bill: your comment about sports is one I find disturbing. Do you mean naturally better as a function of their race, or forced to be better by our society? In a society where, as elijablue said, blacks face prejudice, slanted education, and socially defined paths of what is OK and what is not OK for them to do, many are forced down one of the only tunnels with a light at the end of it in the eyes of peers and popular culture. Thus you find a disproportionate representation of blacks in sports because of their exclusion from more traditional lifestyles via the racism inherent in our system. I'm sure you would find a disproportionate percentage of white males as CEO's of large, successful businesses; does this mean they are "better" than blacks at this? No, of course not. And yet the dominant forces in the world economy and politics today are almost exclusively white males. Now, somehow, the dominant forces in the NBA today are black males (and also note, as elijablue pointed out, note the intentional use of "male" throughout, females are in a similar position as blacks and they have their respective professions that they are subtly herded into in our society [clerical work, nursing]). Is this because black children intuitively/naturally don't want to be president and want to play basketball instead, while women always dreamt of secretarial work? Once again, of course not, but that's the way our racist system makes it. Of course there are exceptions, and many women and blacks today have achieved positions of prestige, but the overwhelming statistical evidence shows these few to be in the minority. But think about it, who, in our popular culture today has more respect, Michael Jordan or Colin Powell? I'm sad to report that this would most likely be Michael Jordan, a "positive role model for black youth." Yet, if you compared a white basketball player to a prominent white politician (say, any president we've ever had), you would most likely find that the politician had more respect. Which would be the "role model for white youth today"? Why? Think about it...That is the less obvious racism that we have built into our culture/system today. ***Bill: you completely miss my point. I can see why you think this way because it is very tempting to accept the basic cause-effect reasons, but you'll usually find that if you look deeper they simply aren't true in most cases. Once again, if you take these statements to be true about black people you'd have to use the same logic elsewhere. Are whites better at economics and politics and blacks better at sports and music? You may be willing to accept that, but I'm afraid I'm not. A similar argument might go: White people originated the fields of physics and chemistry, therefore they are naturally better scientists and thus generally more intelligent. This argument is hopelessly flawed in more ways than I can possibly go into here. Your good faith and intentions regarding this issue are heartwarming and I don't mean to attack you personally because I realize you are an open minded individual, but I think there is a tinge of idealism embeded in your argument. It's kind of taking an optimistic view of the situation, which in turn can be bad because it tells people that less change is necessary..."Look at these few good things: sports, music, other red herrings...There's equality there, even black superiority, therefore all this other stuff must not be the fault of the system because the system works." It feels good to look at it that way, because then we can say it's not our fault, but that helps us to ignore the issue...We can accept the fact that there are no black people in my honors physics class because there are a few more on the football field. No, I'm sorry, but that's just not right. **I would suppose the people I am arguing against here would hold that blacks are better at boxing too, am I right? Yet look at the great boxers of the 1920's. You might be surprised that just about every one of them was Jewish. Yet you don't see too many Jews in boxing today. I suppose, biologically, one might rationalize this through a long 80 years of evolution. Over three generations, Jews have simply gotten much worse at boxing, and blacks have evolved to become the supreme boxers. Now I'm no geneticist, but I'm guessing that this reasoning comes up a little short. Is it a coincidence that Jews, then sharing the bottom of the American racial hierarchy with blacks, were the dominant players in the less than academic sports scene and now that that prejudice has been moderately overcome, med school attendance has risen drastically and boxing performance (possibly participation???) has decreased?

Bill, I'm guessing that there are more African American athletes because it's one of the few ways to break out of a bad neighborhood and poverty. And I'm guessing that's also why there's such a big drug problem; given a choice between no job, a menial job at low pay, or selling drugs for tons of money, I think I'd have a hard time making a choice myself. I've got my share of prejudices - I didn't really have any exposure to blacks growing up in an Orthodox Jewish environment, and the messages I got were not pleasant - but I'm working on acknowledging them, not blaming myself for having them, and changing them.

I very highly recommend the movie Bulworth - it completely addresses this issue. A most excellent film. I wish that Warren Beatty would run for office.

*The majority of serial killers are white males.

Almost every racial statistic can be better explained by an economic statistic.

***phi, you have summed up eloquently and concisely a thought I decided was too rambling and inarticulate to attempt to express. I commend you.

There are no racist questions, only racist answers.