Topic : 09/22 Are You a Racist?

The second guest who stated that we need to" stop seeing color and just see people" is right.  I totaly agree with this young man.  his friend perpetuates the racist problem when he makes statements like "he acts white" and "he can't keep a beat".  If we are going to stop racism forever, we need to respect all people, their likes and dislikes shouldn't be grouped into color, and this gentleman is to be commended for speaking the truth, even when he is persecuted.   

There are t.v. stations like BET, and also the negro college fund, but you don't see anybody calling that racist.  Why is that okay? Im a bit confused on this.  I realize that in the past, people of color were treated terribly, but should I be punished for what my ansestors did?  No, we need to start rewarding people on merit, start teaching people in the poverty stricken parts of our country so that they can feel like they are capable and strong.  and seeing each other as Americans--no more color differences!!!!!!!!! This is not what Rev. Martin Luther King dreamed! Quit classifying people!  

As for welfare, this is not a color issue either, it is a divorced and single mother issue! Our government rewards mothers of any race for not keeping their husbands and boyfriends around.  I as a married woman who has many medical bills can not get any help for my youngest child, because I am still married to his father, but my older child can get all kinds of help and they don't even care who his daddy is!  This punishes fathers who are doing their part and trying to pay the rising cost of medical insurance for sick children and wives.  Our country is mixed up! 

Question:  Isn't it 'profiling' what you just did by stereotyping liberals?  I consider myself  a liberal and I find I agree with you in some aspects.  My husband is not a police officer but he does fight "criminals" in his own way.  My husband is a Marine, also willing to fight for those who bash on him, demoralise his job, and so on.  I trluly appreciate what your husband does and what all other officers do....however, I believe it is also profiling to assume NO cop EVER racially profiles people.  Oh, BTW, please tell me if you answer yes 

Are you willing to work in the fields, rain or shine? 

Are you willing to pick fruit and pack it everyday for hardly any pay? 

Are you willing to cut anybodys grass for some cash? 

Are you willing to do all the dirty work MOST mexicans , or Illigals do? 

I am mexican american, and even so, I agree there should be more control in our borders...mexicans or not.  However, unless you are willing to do all the above, dont bash on them please because unlike bums, most try very hard to work and provide and be good citizens.  After the Pearl Harbor attack, how is it the government was able to round up AMERICAN japanese and keep them in our own version of "work camps.?" Believe me, if the government wanted them gone, theyd Be rounded up and gone.  

You know cops don't just mess with people because you're black. That is such a load of crap. I do think they abuse they're badge and they do forget who it is they really work for. But honey, I'm as white as they come, and I could be here all night telling stories about the tapes I have about the abuse of the people by the police department. And the people on my tapes are all white as well. Just for the record. And being followed in the stores by security. I hate that. I get that a lot. I'm white!! 

So maybe age has something to do with it instead. We're all so quick to jump to race. And I've never stolen a thing in my life... So I doubt race has a thing to do with it. And the reason the anti-drug ads all have black people in them (and they don't really. At least not in my part of the country) is because every druggie knows you go to the miniority if you want better dope! 

No, not ever black man/woman fits these descriptions. No, not every black man/woman is this awful experience. And I'm sorry you have to deal with these worries. But everyone has something of this nature, I think, to have to deal with in life. I certainly have. And I'm white, German even. I'm from a middle class family. You'd think all good things in life would come to me... I should fit that text book description. But life doesn't happen like that. So she's not alone. Her trials will be her own and she will be stronger or weaker because of them. That's up to you and how you raise her. My parents taught me not to believe everything I see around me and to make my own decisions about what I believe and what affects me and how. I suggest you teach her the same and she'll be just fine. 

I think everyone knows this but just doesnt want to admit this, there is a difference between the blacks who live in the ghetto and the professional ones! I think many people are right on this board about blacks thinking they are entitled to not work collect money from the government and act crazy whenever they want to. 

 I go to the store to buy groceries and I cant even find a register where I can pay because they are all talking to each other thinking they can just stand there and talk among themselves and just disrespect you!! 

my husband goes into a store and in front of him are a black couple standing in the middle of the aisle he tries to get by but they arent moving he says excuse me and the black lady turns around and says "what does that mean are you trying to make me move" he just gets out of the way and doesnt say anything back. 

I personally think they have no respect for anyone or anyhting!! 

Now onto the hurricane thing... Do you honestly think our President is going to put his life on the line for people who are killing,raping and rioting in the streets...come on its not worth it for him!!! 

these people came from nothing and they are not going to care what they do to hurt others in the process!!!! 

Let me see yes you are right the Negro college fund,BET tv,black history month, black magazines, and so on!!!!! now we would be racist if we had white tv or white history month or anyhting to that nature. 

Dr. Phil, how cynical of you to quote those statistics on whites vs. blacks in the welfare system. You didn't state the statistic in the way you KNOW they actually are.  As a PERCENTAGE of the black population and a PERCENTAGE of the white population, more blacks ARE on welfare.  And you know this is the more significant representation of the facts. 

Growing up as a white girl in the suburbs I dated numerous black boys in my school.  I carried the banner of equality like a crusader.  Then as I got older and out in the work world I saw all the ways blacks approach work differently than whites. I saw a sense of entitlement to my tax dollar...I saw bad attitude, I saw political correctness gone wild and accusations of "racism" lodged by blacks against the very employers who had HIRED them ! Help me out with that one...the white guy hired them...but because the white guy actually expected performance and when it didn't come, the black (or white) employee was fired, the black employee screams "racism".  I see women do the same thing...they cry "sex discrimination".   I'M NOT A RACIST.  I could care less about the color of anyone's skin.  What I am is sick to death of is the BEHAVIOR OF BLACKS, it's their actions, their behavior, their attitudes, not their color that I will battle with every cell in my body because our country is becoming a trashy, loud, course place with standards going lower and lower every day.  THE PEOPLE OF NEW ORLEANS CHOOSE TO LIVE THE WAY THEY DO...I'VE LIVED THERE. THEY CHOOSE NOT TO WORK, THEY CHOOSE TO HAVE CHILDREN THEY CAN'T AFFORD TO CARE FOR, THEY CHOOSE TO TRASH THEIR OWN HOMES, THEY CHOOSE TO NOT PAY THEIR BILLS.  THEIR BLACK MAYOR DIDN'T CARE ENOUGH ABOUT THEM TO SEND HIS OWN SCHOOL BUSES AROUND TO THEIR HOMES TO PICK THEM UP TO SAFETY. BUT the images of those people at the convention center and the superdome are the ones the media and the black community have grabbed on to and exploited so Jessie Jackson & Al Sharpton's VICTIM INDUSTRY will continue to thrive for years to come.  I guess Condoleeza Rice, Bill Cosby, Colin Powell and many, many other responsible, successful blacks were somehow whisked along through life in white face make-up.  Just like there are trailer park whites and highly successful whites, there are trailer park blacks and highly successful blacks.  The difference is trailer park whites don't have anyone they can blame for their lack of discipline and responsibility.  I didn't used to have a problem with blacks' 30 years ago when they really DID have a tougher time in the job market...now the red carpet has been rolled out and everyone walks on eggshells around them to keep from being accused of racism. I'M SICK OF IT. I'M SICK OF BLACK BEHAVIOR, NOT BLACK COLOR !!!!! 

I am just stunned at seeing post after post after post about how "The Blacks" are poor by choice, on welfare by choice, the most populous race in prision, how racist THEY are, all followed by "But *I* am not a racist!" 

While there are SOME blacks who have made bad choices, as have SOME whites, SOME Hispanics, and so on, the black population is the only one which came to this country by force, and was deliberately ripped from it's own culture and heritage-the effects of which are still painfully evident 400 years later-for proof just read these posts.   

I am married to a black man. We have a 5 year old. I don't know a single member of my husband's family, extended family, church membership or group of friends who has ever been in jail. I know of one who was on welfare, but that was after she was thrown into the street with two small kids by her partner. I DO know, however, that every single black person I know personally has a story of being somehow mistreated because of race. Whether it was the women who grabbed their purses in fear of an elderly black pastor in an elevator, the teenagers thrown against the wall and searched by police because they "fit the profile" of a group of muggers---some 5 miles away, mind you, and never mind these boys were 14 and 15 and dressed fro CHOIR, and the real muggers were in their 20's; whether it's my own, suit-wearing white collar husband being followed by security in the stores....there are dozens of examples. And that happens every day all over the country to blacks, for no other reason than they are black. 

Has there been progress? Yes. Are some black people responsible for their own bad situations? Yes. But the white population is the one in power, and that makes a very big difference in every thing from education to jobs to health care. 

I would love to think that my daughter's generation will truly be one od equality. But reading these posts I don't see it happening. Not when so many people are still out there, spouting,"I'm not a racist but, THOSE BLACKS..."  

Dr. Phil, I don't know if you get a chance in your busy life to read these boards, but I don't think you get through to anyone who really needed you to today. We have, as I see here, a VERY long way to go before racism is no longer a problem in this country. It hurts my heart to think that there are people out there who would see my daughter, in all her innocent beauty, and think "There goes another one of THEM," and assume she will end up in prison, on welfare or somehow do some wrong to white people.  

The really sad thing is, without ever seeing a program like this, without ever reading the hate spewed by some people, my daughter already knows white people are considered "better" in this society. Maybe it's that most of the anti-drug ads on  TV have black children in them. Maybe it's that the vast majority of people in pretty much any job, save the service ones that she sees are white...maybe it's that she can't find more than a handful of books about kids of color...I'm not certain, but she already knows that she has an uphill climb, and that makes me lose sleep at night. 

I have read the postings about today's show, and I wonder if anyone is actually hearing everything that is being said...I have never heard so many people at one time making the claim that they "aren't racist". That is something that should not have to be said...do people assume you are? There are comments flying around such as (and I am Paraphrasing here!) "all poor people are angry, all black people are racist, white people are racist", etc.  Didn't anyone watch the show before exploding onto this board? If Dr. Phil wants to find great proof of how some people generalize whole races based on individual experiences, he only has to look at his own message board! 

On the other side, many of the comments I have read were refreshing and intelligent.  

What I took from the show was that discrimination is a problem for many people that needs to be acknowledged. I admit I would love to convince myself that we have reached equality in this country, but we have not. Yes, discrimination occurs against different people of different races. But I truly believe that the only way to deal with it is one situation at a time. We can't lump people together and try to find a "fix" that will work for everyone. It is everyone's individual responsibility to fight racism and discrimination when they encounter it. It is a problem that can't be dealt with easily or simply. I truly hope that everyone can gain some insight not only into the issues raised by the show, but also into our ownshortcomings.