@TrueTiger said in [Politics Super Thread \- keep it all in here](/post/1247918) said:
I see there has been more divide in America by the progressive left...
A section of a park in Seattle has been cordened off as a ""black people only section"",you must be black or have black ancestry to be in that section...
Absolutely makes me sick to see this crap unfolding,no wonders racism and hate are the standout in the country...
2 completely opposite viewpoints but apparently segregation is an outcome both would be happy with. Amazing
I find some of the rhetoric these days about race baffling (moreso in America than here).
People are proposing measures and ideas, ostensibly to fight racism, that a couple of years ago would have been considered highly racist.
- To stop racism, we apparently need 'black only' spaces and organisations, and whites should stick to their own (i.e. segregation)
- job applications, university admissions must consider a person's race
- To stop racism we must accept that races are fundamentally different, white people aren't capable of understanding black people bla bla bla
This kind of stuff is literally what neo nazis say, (the races are different, segregation of races necessary) and yet now it is touted as progressive anti-racism!
Call me naive, but I think colour blindness, not colour obsession, is how you end racism.
Yeah all good points. Astounding isn't it.
That being said, we do have some programs in place in Australia where some groups are given preferential treatment in trying to fix the racism or discrimination in the past. Stuff like Abstudy, stuff like trying to get more female workers in certain employment.
I agree with you though 1000%, having areas just for specific races is scary.
This is see as the secret to addressing historic (not systemic) racism in Australia as well as the US.
I do not believe we have ***systemic*** racism here in Australia, that is to say there are no laws or policies which discriminate or disadvantage aboriginals or other minorities. From my knowledge I think it is the same in the US. I do however see the echoes of ***historic*** racism in both countries in that it was only in 1965 that the Civil Rights Act was passed in the US and 1967 in Australia when the referendum was passed making aboriginals citizens. That is only two generations ago and it is obvious to me that the disadvantages inflicted two generations ago would still be felt today here and the US.
I strongly believe in a meritocracy and strongly believe in equality of opportunity not outcome but how do you juggle fairness of that with the acknowledgement of the disadvantage from historical racism, so recently?
This morning I listen to a podcast of John McWorter, a black academic and he was outlining the failures of affirmative action programmes in US universities. Basically it was a reasonable success in humanities and liberal arts subject and a failure in subject such as engineering in which measured outcomes were required for success. His point was that it was a success for the universities to virtue signal but a failure for students who either failed with large student loans or passed liberal arts subjects with a student debt and little prospect for employment.
It struck me that more needs to be done earlier. I would like to see an extensive High School Scholarship programme for private or selective schools for aboriginal and disadvantaged kids. Im sure it already exists to an extent but IMO that is critical to get these kids to the point where they truly have an equal opportunity to compete and find success.
Good Post T5150.
I'm not sure whether there is systemic racism or not in Australia. I guess it depends on how you define "systemic".
***I can't point to any racism that is built into our laws and constitution.*** Other people more invested in the issue may be able to. I'm sure that many Aboriginal people would talk about Australia's failure to enact a treaty with the original inhabitants as a case in point.