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• Tom Johnsson

  As a White Canadian watching your interview with Angela Glover Blackwell, I was struct by the incredible double standard that exists for people of color. During my business travels in Canada and the US over the past 35 years I have noticed how the Black men that I have met and interacted with, have had to have better qualifications, better social and communications skills that their non-colored coworkers in order to hold the same job. This  suggests that Jim Crow is still alive and well with a more subtle and finessed double standard that is perpetuating inequality into the 21st century.

• Bob Scott

  I agree, the American public is unwilling to speak about race, but the qualification is, you don’t talk about race with people who you most need to speak with.  If the purpose of more honest communication between people to make the world a better place then we have to drop “demographics calling cards” like black or white and speak about behavior.

  My work is teaching 12 year old young adults science in an urban middle school.  The school’s population is mixed.  Any bad behavior one wants to highlight, such as rudeness to each other, parents gaming the system, to being tardy are behaviors that I see in every demographic grouping anyone ever heard of.  

  We have to speak about behaviors because that clearly defines what needs to be changed.
  I had a father tell me he was not a racist.  He told me he once said to his son, “See those Mexicans over there throwing trash on the ground, I don’t want you to litter.”  I explained when he connects Mexicans with littering in the mind of an eight year old, littering must be the national sport of Mexico.  All he had to tell his son is those men are not putting their trash in the trash can, be sure you put your trash in trash cans.

  Connecting a demographic to a negative behavior colors that group entirely.  How can Jews be the cheapest people in the world when Scottish people are the cheapest people in the world?  The issue is not where you come from or what language you speak but do you have good sense when it comes to balancing thrift and generosity.

  Bob Scott  

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Catherine-Mason/705689570 Catherine Mason

  I agree with Ms Blackwell especially on the incarceration issue.  I think we need to look at what we are doing when we criminalize so many actions that just about anyone can be imprisoned.  We need to look at our prison systems and analyze why this country needs to lock up so many of its citizens.  What a waste of resources.  We need to find out how to take the despair out of the system.  Why is it that so many feel that their only avenue to making a living is through crime?  Why is a life of crime so easy to turn to?  And once you have committed a crime, and served your time, why are you needlessly shackled with that crime for the rest of your life?  It becomes doubly difficult not to return to a life of crime when normal avenues are shut off to you.

  Why are the Republicans trying to turn the public school system into a private enterprise venture? Other countries do not seem to need to do this in order to have excellent schools.  And this would just about guarantee that decent schools would be unavailable to those who need them the most.

  I thought the reason to ban together in communities was in order to be able to protect the weaker members of the group, i.e. children.  So why has government, i.e. the means to be able to extend this protection to the group, become such an anathema?

• Lucius

  Look, American was a slave owning land since day one. Racism is endemic in the very fabric of America and its home grown version of christianity. Christian churches taught their flocks that Blacks and Natives were soulless chattel and savages. And how do you expunge a religious belief hundreds of years old?

  Why did the South change from Democrat to Repubican in one fell swoop after LBJ signed civil rights legislation? Why were avowed racists Strom Thurmond, Robert Byrd and others routinely elected to Congress? Why was Dr. King executed? Why did the birther movement begin the moment a black man entered the White House?

  We don’t talk about racism because it would mean indicting most of Us as essentially racist. It will take another 100 years for America to be post racial, if ever.

• Noreen Winningham

  Ms. Blackwell brought clarity to issues treated as too complicated to be comprehensible by simply and elegantly stating what lies at their heart. Why don’t Americans like to talk about race? The betrayal of humanity that is racism has left enormous emotional pain and anger. It is pain and anger that is suppressed in order to go on, to survive. It lurks nearer to the surface than anyone wants to admit. Certainly too close for subjective discussion around a topic that continues to divide and torture , not only individuals, but communities and the nation as a whole. It is a left-unsaid contributor to why so many men of color find themselves in situations that lead to incarceration. It is a left-unsaid contributor to why so many whites are afraid – if they are white, but not rich, then that is the fault of “the other.” Capitalism has trumped Democracy, and without the conversation on race that will allow reconciliation and disallow the politics of “divide and conquer,” America will witness its own decline. This need not happen, as Ms. Blackwell states, America is rich in resources and untapped human capital.

• Ffentressonly

   I think if we could eliminate the word “race” we could move forward faster.  It’s proven by science that we are all the one same race. The difference is our skin color which is provided as a protection from the sun. So, why not say it like it is?  When you talk about this issue, you should say “skin color” in place of the word “race”. 

• Radicalspaces

  Ms. Blackwell’s insight into our inability to come to terms with our history is amazing.  It has allowed our society to ebb and flow when it comes to inequality.  As Ffentressonly commented if we could find another word, some people would feel more comfortable about this discussion.  But that’s part of the problem.  Because it’s uncomfortable and brings up our baser instincts, we try to avoid it.  Sweep in under the rug.  But if we don’t then we will be our own undoing.  Race and class go hand-in-hand.  And because we all want to believe in the extremes of the American dream.  Not just that we can do better than our ancestors but that we ALL can be outrageously wealthy, we allow the blinders that the 1% put on us.  We need to look around and see we are more alike than different and work together.  Our wealthy class reminds me of Tsarist Russia.  I have mine, my fellow Americans are on their own.  I think we are all in this together, and even if I am not around to see the changes, I will still work toward them.  My legacy will be in the people I touch, the next generation that I help to educate and enlighten, not how much money I have or had.  

• http://g00.me/7k << Work at home, $60/h, link

   To learn to get along without, to realize that what
  the world is going to demand of us may be a good deal more important
  than what we are entitled to demand of it – this is a hard lesson.

• Beverly Theunis

  I like to talk about race because it is the profoundest of human problems, and I appreciate this opportunity to speak publicly on it. I feel sorrowful about racial discrimination for how it dispirits people and country. Since my childhood in the 1940s, I have seen tremendous improvements in relations between races and I am very glad for that. But we’re far from finished. I agree with Angela Blackwell on the importance of a good education for everyone because I believe it is the second most empowering human asset, with attitude the first. We need to rally around the idea that it takes a nation to raise a youth, and that each youth regardless of color or gender is representative of our future peace, prosperity, and survival of humankind. To me, that seems a good so basic, universal and self-evident that I felt, in speaking to its antithesis on government funding for higher education, Mitt Romney spoke against the Preamble to our Constitution. “We the People … in Order to … insure domestic Tranquility … promote the general Welfare … do ordain … “. What tranquility or general welfare can be found in a nation with masses of persons downtrodden through inadequate education, joblessness, or racial discrimination? What is the mission of our nation if not in the 52 illustrious words of that Preamble? Fulfilling it would be fulfilling the real American Dream. Not a word in it is about getting rich. But there is a lot in it about education, jobs, and racial equality.

• Dave Lupo

  I wish we would talk about race and racism, for if we don’t there will be no reconciliation, there will be no understanding. It will always be the big elephant in the living room everyone chooses to ignore. Racist attitudes are passed on from one generation to the next, perhaps unwittingly. Children hear snide comments from parents and take them to heart. And they carry them forward. Denigrating attitudes are found everywhere, even in your face, as with websites like Yahoo.com, who never miss a beat when a black athlete makes a mistake on the field or in life. There is a reluctance to challenge racism when it is perceived, for fear of being labeled as “playing the race card”. Such tactics are subtle and work against an honest discussion of racism in our nation today. But racism is entrenched and institutionalised, from racial profiling on the highways, to the high number of men of color in prisons. It will be extremely difficult to talk about it. For a nation that reports a high belief in God, as Gallup polls show, there is no corresponding high percentage of people who are willing to allow all God’s children to live together in peace. But racism is an afront to God, who fashioned all people on the earth.

• Beverly Theunis

  I want to amend my sentence, “Not a word in it is about getting rich.” More to my point is, “Not a word in it is about awarding special privileges to a wealthy class.”

• Firman

  Hi Mr Moyers,
  I was moved by the passing of  Mr Rapoport because of your friendship and impression of him.  I acknowledge his value to humanity. I find it encouraging to know he lived.

  I just saw your show with Angela Blackwell…where especially towards the end… important topics had crystallized and were spoken of.  My added thoughts were: if tax credits for social/educational investments could be given to the super wealthy it would be more of a win win…especially if current write offs were optimally limited.

  Also, I believe race was created (1879 AD by J.F. Blumenbach) then promoted as reality at a time when America needed cheap labor and to justify the forced labor of the past, pulling the wool over the eyes of innocent generations to come.

  Perception is reality but “race perception” via time and human nature has been removed by many individuals whom life has offered the opportunity to do so.

  We have all heard of the human race…there are no human races (the idea of which were falsely manufactured), yet most all Americans use the word race because they learned it as trusting children.

  The connection absent most wealthy people and many low income people is “they are a different race” which supports the belief of not expecting more…a lesson taught in childhood.

  Thank You,
  Firman

• Tobysgirl

  As a Euro-American,  I feel free to say that white people just don’t get it. Like men not wanting to think about what it’s like to be female, like people with money not wanting to think about what it’s like not to have money, white people don’t want to spend any time thinking about what it’s like to be black in America (or other countries; we are not alone in our racism). People congratulate themselves on not being racists, and then they indulge themselves in the prejudices now found acceptable.

  The best way to put it is Angela Davis’s succinct description: We have replaced crude racial stereotypes with CRIME, WELFARE, and IMMIGRANT. If you hear these words, you are listening to the racism now acceptable in our society, but what is meant is people of color. Think about immigrant: Have you ever looked at the people excoriated by the so-called liberal media? They look like native Americans to me, and they’ve been traveling without considerations for borders long before you and I got to these shores.

  In the health food store, an immigrant from Canada told me that “they” were the reason Waterville, Maine, was not such a nice place any longer. What she meant by “they” is the handful of African-Americans who have moved to Maine. She didn’t mention the fact that there is no longer much of a local economy; the former mayor, now governor, who is the epitome of vulgar ignorance; the loss of nice stores downtown; or anything else. It is “they” who have caused the problems.

  For some reason, people are not guarded with me, and I have heard more racist crap from white people who consider themselves liberal and well-educated than I can stomach. Anyone who thinks this is a post-racial society must be out of their mind.

• Fritz

  perhaps as  the 1% pushes more of the 99% toward feudalism, more white members of the 99% will begin to recognize the folly and embarrassment of their self-satisfaction and make a more honest and earnest effort toward intrgrity, equity and mutual salvation.

• Ber_lin

  No, Americans do not like to talk about race.  This is largely because we do not know how to talk about race effectively.  Instead we use racial discussions to point fingers and call names because, to us, race discussions are about racism only.  We also understand race to be a thing outside of our control given to us through nature and genes which means that there doesn’t seem to be a need to discuss it.

  I’m an anthropologist and it is my studied opinion that if Americans understood race from a cultural and historical perspective we would have more fruitful discussions about race and, perhaps, find more fruitful ways to deal with racial issues.  There are people who change race when they leave American and go to another country or come from another country to America.  There are groups of people who have historically changed race in America because racial categories change through time or are completely absent during some historical periods.  Angela Glover Blackwell, for all of her knowledge on this topic, speaks as if she doesn’t know this and, frankly, she’s hardly alone in America by having this misconception.

  Even PBS shows like “Faces of America” mislead Americans about race by tying our racial categories — which are cultural and do change — to genetic information that is poorly understood, and, therefore, poorly explained, by the show’s host.

  Race comes from within a culture.  It is the result of history and the mechanisms through which people maintain the status quo in their society.  There is no such thing as “race genes” such as “Black”/”White/”Asian”/”Jewish”, etc.  There are only population trends found in peoples around the world as genes pertain to blood type, etc.

  Learn about race history in America.  Read or assign others to read history books like “The History of White People”.  Learn what genes reveal about the human race.  Read or assign others to read the work of physical anthropologists like Stephen J. Molnar and Stephen Jay Gould.  Education is the key here.  If Americans were educated about what race is, and what race is not, we would be able to talk about race and it wouldn’t be so painful.

  To elaborate a bit about how Angela Glover Blackwell speaks of race as set (even if she may not think this way), her comment that America’s future was going to be one of more “people of color” than not is misleading.  Historically, Americans have managed to find ways to incorporate more people into the “White” category over time and, as a result, have managed to maintain the white majority status quo.

  It wasn’t that long ago that people of Eastern and Southern European ancestry were not “White” in America, yet today they are — even if they may not be considered as “White” as others.  Right now there are groups of people who do not fit into the “White” category in America, but who are as problematic as Southern and Eastern European peoples once were to us, who might find their way into that category in the near future.

  There is no perfect way to determine how race will evolve in a culture, but expecting that some status quo will be maintained and that historical trends tend to indicate future actions, I think it’s safe to say that the future of race in America is not necessarily going to be one of more “non-White” than “White”.  This isn’t a slam-dunk assumption.  Only time will reveal the truth.

  Regardless of our future population statistics, though, America still needs to get better at understanding and discussing race.  It’s an imperative for too many reasons to count.

• http://peachseedmonkey.wordpress.com/ Anita Jones

  We may THINK we’re not talking about race, but it enters the conversation the moment a person of color enters the room.

• Unkerjay

  “Blacks are more likely than whites to commit crime”  that’s the statistic bandied about that is used to justify the inordinate suspicion of blacks.  Similar statistics are used against immigrants and muslims.

  ABC’s “What would you do?” Bike theft, vandalism.  Remember it’s the BEHAVIOR that matters most, so we’re told.  Not suspicion, ACTUAL CRIMINAL conduct.  The stealing of a bike.  The vandalizing of a car.  The reactions from passersby RADICALLY different dependent on the gender / race of the individual:  white male, black male, white female.

  Nevermind what justifies suspicion, this is CRIMINAL conduct.  NO interpretation necessary.  Yet people still fall back on their initial justification, based on the statistic, that “blacks are more likely than whites to commit crime”.  This cognitive dissonance when encountering someone who is NOT black, engaged in criminal activity deserves to be rationalized, sanitized into consistence with the understanding that “blacks are more likely than whites to commit crime”.  Therefore, there must be some non-criminal reason for white males or females to be engaged in IDENTICAL behavior that justifies NOT treating them the same as blacks.

  This simply telegraphs to whites that they are less likely to be considered suspect of criminal activity.  That doesn’t make them BETTER, MORE law abiding, just confident in the knowledge that should they be discovered engaging in comparable CRIMINAL activity that they are more likely than blacks to be given a benefit of the doubt.

  That doesn’t make ANY of us safer because it’s a il(logic), (ir)rational interpretation of facts.

  The statistical black is a bigger threat than the (convicted, felon) criminal white.

  In a country of increasing diversity, we need a better yardstick than the statistic used to justify suspicion in the absence of proof while rationalizing criminal behavior at odds with the statistic.

  Suspect people based on credible evidence not just some statistic. 

  When the behavior is inconsistent with the statistic, let go of the statistic, modify your behavior rather than concluding that YOUR behavior is right and justified in spite of all contrary evidence BASED on the statistic.

  More blacks suspected equal greater number of blacks charged, arrested, convicted disproportionate to their numbers in the population. If, we got rid of the bias, found that whites are increasingly as likely as blacks to commit crimes, would that be an equally justifiable statistic (or suspect because of its conclusion at odds with the perception)?

  I think we need to question ANY efforts on the part of ANY of us to put it in autopilot.  I FULLY understand the science and psychology behind it. Doesn’t make me any less inclined to want to challenge it and be mindful of it because it leads to faulty conclusions.  People are unnecessarily suspected, arrested, charged, convicted and killed on the basis of faulty conclusions.

  Instead hold EVERYONE to the same standards and expectations.  Be willing to suspend, challenge (be mindful of) autopilot at the point it runs contrary to observable, demonstrable (lack of) evidence.  Know when your buttons are being pushed, by who, and why.  And refuse to be a
  lemming of the left OR the right.

  What a novel idea.

• phish

  Well said
  As a mom to a 15 year old 6’2 AA male the many things that one deals with and fear on a daily bases is all that most parents deal with and so much moreexample…I warned him not to wear a hoodie; about 5 years back, he thought it was cool because some game the kids like to play has a EuroLooking guy wearing a hoodie on the case.  I saw danger and insisted he not wear the hood unless it was raining or very cold.As we learned of the big deal the media made of TMartin wearing a hoodie my son remembered me “being beside myself” when he was wearing the hoodie.

• zip

  Tom
  Every black person who has parent focused on education is taught from the time of understand… some version you have to be better.  If you read bios of Rice,Powell,Obama their parent said their version of these words.  

  Notice how the investigations into Michele Obama college years ended when it came out that her roommate was not the most welcoming.  Nothing has changed; her girls will be more welcomed but only because they carry the name Obama still they too will face discrimination.

  Yes, there is a double standard look at how Obama faith was used against him or how he is thought to be Muslim by way too many people when Romney is thus far getting a pass for a faith that promoted the mark-of-cain views of blacks are less

• Revilosenoj

  I first want to say, I am in my eyes a good America, I love my country, I am a veteran as are my brothers but it is a shame the way our people are still treated in this country.  We have a system that puts forth a belief that we black people are criminals not worthy of trust, and should be marginalize as much as possible. I guess I was lucky to have the parents that I had.  A dad who was a share cropper in the south and a grand father that was born just North of slavery time.  They warned us of the plight of a police record, the valued education although  neither were educated themselves.  It was by the grace of some higher power that we made it out of the ghetto.  So many of my young brothers and sister don’t have the parents that we have or had and the jails are begining to fill.  Today babies are raising babies, today’s parents in the hood are friends to their children not parents,  and the latter is what they need but lack the skill to be one.  I live in Arizona where the majority believe that SB 1070 is a good law,   Its amazing to me we have gotten to a place where “Show me your Papers” is okay. as long as it doesn’t affect me Stop and Frisk is okay as long as it doesn’t affect me, making Prison a paying  business is okay as long as my 401K is making money from that Prison, Today Money trumps morality. Slavery was okay too as long as it produced wealth.  I wish I could share this program with the people I work with but I would be putting my job on the line, one because they can’t handle the truth and two they don’t want to know the truth in their minds race in America is not a problem so I have this time to vent to the choir thanks Bill for telling me what I already knew.  Hopefully your bully pulpit will have some effect.

• Jacquelinecallan

  Enjoyed this evening’s presentation: July 1st–Confronting the Contraditions of  America’s Past. I hope this information can be dispensed to our schools to enlighten young people about the real history of our country. Although it’s not “pretty” the truth needs to be told!

  Jacqueline Callan
  Tarzana, CA 

• Wilson Boozer

  Having watched the program that featured Khalil Gibran Muhammad twice, I still feel that there is an elephant in the room that has never been thoroughly examined as a reason for so much of the continuing strife in the black American community: segregated housing availability following World War II. Flush with cash from working in the defense industry, blacks were routinely refused financing to purchase suburban housing that was provided to whites either because of “redlining” or “restrictive covenants” that became official government policies under the Federal Housing Administration. Such policies remained in virtual effect until the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.

  This lack of financing resulted in the black urban ghetto, the single most disrupting influence on the black family, depriving those imprisoned in it of the opportunities that are available to so many other Americans. The Interstate Highway System provided a means of moving jobs to the suburbs, increasing inner city unemployment. It is also the reason for the concentration of criminal activity, born of desperation. An artificial geographic separation between races allowed the perpetuation of stereotypes to dominate, rather than perceptions based upon reality. A disparity of wealth accumulation between races from real property equity also occurred. This accumulated wealth deprivation denied investment opportunities to blacks, further increasing the gap. All of this can easiliy be verified by looking up FHA Racial Policies in Google.

  Unless this phenomenon can be acknowledged and acted upon, I see very little reason to hope that there will ever be better relations between races in the United States.