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6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

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Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#81

Post by numeromancer »

[deleted] wrote: post #64
fixxer wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are generalizations really not allowed? Do we have to handicap our brains? I actually worked for the progressives and saw campaign analytics first-hand. It was one of the most racist things I've seen. And it works.

[deleted]

Ok, quick: see me as an individual. You have 5 seconds.

Note: Don't draw any conclusions about me that are based only on what little you know about me. You cannot, eg, draw conclusions upon that fact that I have an account on Hacker News. You must see me as an individual.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#82

Post by hyperpape »

dragonwriter wrote: post #69
hyperpape wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, your overall question is a good one, but #2 is a howler. The reported statistic I've seen is that 40% of Americans say they don't have a close friend of a different race. But I'm confident that 99% of white Americans have spoken to a black person. Except for a few states like Vermont, most states and most cities have significant black populations. See, for instance: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-di…

> But I'm confident that 99% of white Americans have spoken to a black person. I'm no more confident of that than in the 90% haven't made up statistic that this was offered in response to. The truth is probably somewhere in between (and may be closer to the 90% haven't side, especially if, as suggested in another comment, one excludes the minimal interactions around things like retail commercial transactions and the…

Eh, OP made a damn extreme claim. If you exclude extremely glancing interactions, I'd walk back the claim about 99%.

But I will say that any place I've ever lived or visited, the majority of White people would have had conversations with Black people. I just can't imagine someone in Pittsburgh, New York City or Raleigh not having done that.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#83

Post by LordKano »

ta86868 wrote: post #36
Someone1234 wrote: post #11

Couple of off the cuff thoughts: Why can't people use the expression "niger" in context? It was clearly meant as a racial insult, and I think people need to remember that that is the way it is commonly used. Replacing it with a placeholder doesn't make racism go away or make the word less racist, all it does it soften the racism used in that instance. His TSA story is more likely fiction. Is he saying that there are…

I have an acquaintance who looks white but was named Mohammed (he is Kurdish). He changed his name to "Michael" because, as he said, "It's easier to say... like for example at the airport." I agree about referencing the word "nigger", Louis CK has a bit where he says he hates the phrase "the n-word" because, "you still put the word 'nigger' into my head, so it's not like you didn't say it". But socially one probably…

Please, tell us that his last name was "Bolton"... please!

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#84

Post by wambotron »

rburhum wrote: post #23

I guess, for me, I never associate the name Jamal with black - to me it is arabic like Gamal Abdel Nasser. Then again I was born and raised in South America, so Gamal was not a curious name. It was the name that my "white" brother was given to by my middle eastern dad!

I initially thought the guy was going to talk about being mistaken for an Arab, but I can see the black angle, too.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#85

Post by emodendroket »

stefantalpalaru wrote: post #14

> [horrific racial expletive deleted] Nigga please... The only horrific things about a word coming straight from the latin root for "black" are the linguistic segregation behind it and the fact that this segregation is now willingly enforced by the minorities themselves.

"Shit" and "science" derive from the same proto-Indo-European root. Does it then follow that I can use both words interchangeably?

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#86

Post by [deleted] »

nashequilibrium wrote: post #56
alex8022 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source? I'm asking because I find it hard to believe (almost impossible) that 90% of white people have never spoken to a black person.

How many white people do you know that have spoken to a black person, not the lady at Mcdonalds but an actual interaction?

[deleted]

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#87

Post by hyperpape »

nashequilibrium wrote: post #76
hyperpape wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every single person I worked with in Rocky Mount had spoken with Black people and worked with Black people. They lived on the same streets and their kids went to the same schools. And many of those white people who interacted with Black people every day were stunningly racist (and I should say many weren't). Maybe they categorized "different types" of black people. But they could hold a civil conversation, then turn…

"In fact, PRRI's data show that a full 75 percent of whites have "entirely white social networks without any minority presence." The same holds true for slightly less than two-thirds of black Americans." Now isolate the 14% black population from all minorities, take into account how minorities cluster and the 75% number is for black friendship is probably even higher than 90%

This is the number I've seen: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/08/us-usa-poll-race-i....

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#88

Post by nashequilibrium »

hyperpape wrote: post #71
nashequilibrium wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The reported statistic I've seen is that 40% of Americans say they don't have a close friend of a different race." Firstly that says of another race, could be arab,persian, Italian, asian, etc... Secondly, no way in hell 60% of america can have a friend from a pool of 14% of America. This is impossible looking at how race groups tend to cluster.

More evidence you're confused about the US. In the United States, white people don't consider Italians a different race. They're white. You're right about the precise claim of what I said. But people who've never talked to a black person are disproportionately likely to have not talked to an Asian, Arab, etc. States that have high proportions of non-Black racial minorities tend to have higher proportions of Blacks.

Bullshit, I've heard white ppl talk shit about Jersey Shore and use racial slurs against Italians. Secondly look at the Silicon Valley numbers for diversity, how many Asian vs Black? So your point no black interaction == no asian interaction is incorrect.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#89

Post by TeMPOraL »

[deleted] wrote: post #64
fixxer wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are generalizations really not allowed? Do we have to handicap our brains? I actually worked for the progressives and saw campaign analytics first-hand. It was one of the most racist things I've seen. And it works.

[deleted]

Because brains don't have enough processing power not to generalize. You wouldn't be able to leave your house if you didn't use heuristics for inference all the time.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#90

Post by dragonwriter »

nashequilibrium wrote: post #56
alex8022 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source? I'm asking because I find it hard to believe (almost impossible) that 90% of white people have never spoken to a black person.

How many white people do you know that have spoken to a black person, not the lady at Mcdonalds but an actual interaction?

All the white people I know (since knowing people takes "actual interaction") have spoken to a black (or, at least, a multiracial person with black enough features to be generally considered "black" by observers) person enough to meet that standard, pretty much by definition.

But, while I think your 90% number is a substantial exaggeration, you do make a good point that this is probably far less common than most people think it is.

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